Italy v England - March 15th

First topic message reminder :

Thought i'd get one of these up and running and I haven't spotted another.

Firstly, congratulations to the boys for a superb performance against Wales, backing up a strong showing versus Ireland. Will the usual complacency be an issue this year? The lat two occasions we've faced Italy it's actually been both a poor performance and a lot closer.

Any changes anyone would like to see made? The full EPS squad available is listed below:

Forwards

David Attwood (Bath Rugby)  
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)  
Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs)
Joe Launchbury (London Wasps)  
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)  
Joe Marler (Harlequins)  
Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby)    
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)  
Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks)  
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)  
Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Matt Kvesic (Gloucester Rugby)
Matt Mulan (London Wasps)
Ed Slater (Leicester Tigers)

Backs

Mike Brown (Harlequins)  
Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints)  
Danny Care (Harlequins)  
Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)  
Owen Farrell (Saracens)  
George Ford (Bath Rugby)
Alex Goode (Saracens)  
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)  
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)  
Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby)
Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby)
Chris Ashton (Saracens)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)

Chjw. Around 4-5 year's ago when mullan converted from hooker his work around the park was phenomenal,there was a video of him on you tube.Not sure if he has reigned it in to concentrate on getting his set piece right.

i really do worry about this game, it's going to be really close for 60 minutes. I don't think we'll get anywhere near the required points to win the 6 nations.

Premature congratulations to Marler. I don't think this is a bad thing. He's done excellently and it gives us a chance to give Mako a run out with Mullen also brought in. Grand.

At this point I really don't care about the championship. It's all about the performance (which includes winning, I don't be fancy pants stuff). Put in the performance and if you're good enough you win. It looks like we probably weren't good enough this year. But the team building and experience generating never stops.

I'm glad the term Woodshaw is catching on

ChequeredJersey wrote:I'm glad the term Woodshaw is catching on

I prefer Chrom Robwood. Sounds like a Game of Thrones character. Tris Woodshaw sounds like a very camp fashion designer.

Whereas the centre partnership of Lily Twelveburrels sounds like a female action hero

Looks like its confirmed Marler is out now

lostinwales wrote:Looks like its confirmed Marler is out now

Clearly his priorities are all wrong

He's just giving Mako a chance. And making sure he's fresh(ish, apart from the sleep he won't be getting) for Sarries at Wembley

doctor_grey wrote:

lostinwales wrote:Looks like its confirmed Marler is out now

Clearly his priorities are all wrong

I dont know, you have to think about future prop resources

Happy birthday to big Phil Vickery. Sadly, another year older means another year closer to retirement, but hopefully England can go well tomorrow and maybe even win the championship for you.

He can cover both sides cant he ...think they will call him up as cover? It would be good to see him and BOD go out together.

Risca Rev wrote:Happy birthday to big Phil Vickery. Sadly, another year older means another year closer to retirement, but hopefully England can go well tomorrow and maybe even win the championship for you.

Never going to happen.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:He can cover both sides cant he ...think they will call him up as cover? It would be good to see him and BOD go out together.

I think they were planning on staying in and Big Phil would cook for them both.

Excited to see Mako start, hopefully with a point to prove he'll bring his Sarries form to England.

yappysnap wrote:Excited to see Mako start, hopefully with a point to prove he'll bring his Sarries form to England.

Just hope Mako doesn't get injured. He'll be key for Sarries vs Quins if he makes it through this game unscathed.

Mako will probably murder whoever we have at TH vs Sarries, given that it's Sinckler who is raw or PDJ who is rubbish

ChequeredJersey wrote:Mako will probably murder  whoever we have at TH vs Sarries, given that it's Sinckler who is raw or PDJ who is rubbish

To be honest I am more interested in hopefully seeing Mako run at Care. The Quins England quartet are in great form. Need to look at plan to keep them quiet (going to be tough but do able in my opinion). Those guys are the heart of the Quins side. Only need to see the dip in form with them absent.

Whoever is at TH for Sarries either Stevens or Johnston needs to handle Marler. Burger will have the task of keeping Robshaw quiet. Get Mako running at Care, Brown (don't have an answer).

Brown, don't let him get into the game. Don't kick to him, so he gets frustrated and looks for work which might leave space at the back. Target Smith (assuming Williams and Monye aren't both fit, which is frankly a fair assumption) with your kicks and this will both marginalise Brown to a degree (unless the backlien clicks but then there's not much you can do and Sarries are good at stop Nev and Care) and play of Smith's huge weakness under the high ball

beshocked wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:Mako will probably murder  whoever we have at TH vs Sarries, given that it's Sinckler who is raw or PDJ who is rubbish

To be honest I am more interested in hopefully seeing Mako run at Care. The Quins England quartet are in great form. Need to look at plan to keep them quiet (going to be tough but do able in my opinion). Those guys are the heart of the Quins side. Only need to see the dip in form with them absent.

Whoever is at TH for Sarries either Stevens or Johnston needs to handle Marler. Burger will have the task of keeping Robshaw quiet. Get Mako running at Care, Brown (don't have an answer).

Im glad you've ackowledged that Beshocked. I think hes really developing nicely and has been one of the quiet unassuming reasons for England playing so well. Yet he's getting very little praise. Ive said it before...he's made the loss of Corbs far more easier than many people thought.

It will be good to see Mako get a start aswell though. I dont think Corbs will make it back...so its Marler and Mako for that LH spot and we need both to continue developing as they are.

beshocked wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:Mako will probably murder  whoever we have at TH vs Sarries, given that it's Sinckler who is raw or PDJ who is rubbish

To be honest I am more interested in hopefully seeing Mako run at Care. The Quins England quartet are in great form. Need to look at plan to keep them quiet (going to be tough but do able in my opinion). Those guys are the heart of the Quins side. Only need to see the dip in form with them absent.

Whoever is at TH for Sarries either Stevens or Johnston needs to handle Marler. Burger will have the task of keeping Robshaw quiet. Get Mako running at Care, Brown (don't have an answer).

Sarries usually put too much pressure on our half backs to allow us to play. Unless something changes I can't see that stopping either.

Shouldn't the team be up as well now?

We should be able to counter that though with Robshaw and Brown and Easter as first receiver options. Need to win the breakdown which is the huge challenge

The England team? It is...

Hot off the presses:
15 Mike Brown
14 Jack Nowell
13 Luther Burrell
12 Billy Twelvetrees
11 Jonny May
10 Owen Farrell
9   Danny Care
1   Mako Vunipola
2   Dylan Hartley
3   David Wilson
4   Joe Launchbury
5   Courtney Lawes
6   Tom Wood
7   Chris Robshaw
8   Ben Morgan


16 Tom Youngs
17 Matt Mullan
18 Henry Thomas
19 Dave Attwood
20 Tom Johnson
21 Lee Dickson
22 George Ford
23 Manusamoa Tuilagi

GeordieFalcon wrote:

beshocked wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:Mako will probably murder  whoever we have at TH vs Sarries, given that it's Sinckler who is raw or PDJ who is rubbish

To be honest I am more interested in hopefully seeing Mako run at Care. The Quins England quartet are in great form. Need to look at plan to keep them quiet (going to be tough but do able in my opinion). Those guys are the heart of the Quins side. Only need to see the dip in form with them absent.

Whoever is at TH for Sarries either Stevens or Johnston needs to handle Marler. Burger will have the task of keeping Robshaw quiet. Get Mako running at Care, Brown (don't have an answer).

Im glad you've ackowledged that Beshocked. I think hes really developing nicely and has been one of the quiet unassuming reasons for England playing so well. Yet he's getting very little praise. Ive said it before...he's made the loss of Corbs far more easier than many people thought.

It will be good to see Mako get a start aswell though. I dont think Corbs will make it back...so its Marler and Mako for that LH spot and we need both to continue developing as they are.  

Absolutely GF. We all seem to have fairly short memories when it comes to Corbisiero though, his reputation as a superstar was only really made on that Lions tour when he was called up as injury cover. Before that he was well regarded but I don't think seen as the second coming.

ChequeredJersey wrote:I'm glad the term Woodshaw is catching on

Yep it just seems so appropriate to their style.

chjw131 I think it's only you calling Corbisiero a superstar.

Geordiefalcon to be honest I don't think we've really missed Corbisiero at all. He's too much of an injury worry. Can't even say that Saints, his new club have either.

It's nice to see that when players are absent, their replacements can come in and no one gets too worried - e.g. Morgan replacing Billy V. Mako replacing Marler.

Chequeredjersey it's easier said than done targeting Smith because the ball might go to Brown instead. What I want to see is a good kick chase.

Yappysnap it's not exactly a bad tactic to target halfbacks. If it ain't broke.....

Well if the Italy of last week show up then England should be in perfect position to run up a score.

It really is no pressure for England; the title is a fanciful dream out of their hands. They shouldn't worry about it.

Play with freedom and ambition.

England by 25.

An extra year seems to have made all the difference with Marler

It's okay lads, I've had a premonition. We're going to win 80-0 tomorrow and Ireland and France are going to draw 48 all. Paddy Power have our win at 126-1, get your mortgages on it now.   

What, 126-1 that we win the 6N?!

No, that we win 80-0!

Oh. I was going to say I'd head straight to the bookies with those odds!

You're not anyway? What about my premonition?

Only if you are contractually obliged to cover my losses

Do you accept payments in chocolate digestives?

No. Only gold, pounds sterling or harlequins tickets

ChequeredJersey wrote:No. Only gold, pounds sterling or harlequins tickets

Too posh for the likes of me.   

We're not going to beat Italy by fifty or sixty points, away. We stand more chance of losing. A good performance and a decent win will make me happy, and if Ireland also lose to France (by no means impossible) then I'll be over the moon.

Well the U20 beat Italy 52-5. 8 tries and it wouldn't be enough for tomorrow.

HammerofThunor wrote:Well the U20 beat Italy 52-5. 8 tries and it wouldn't be enough for tomorrow.

But does that mean the Italian U20s are better than the Wales U20s based upon performance against England?

Its a real shame bomber went for MT over Yarde, as obviously we should be using a winger to exploit a tiring Italian team.

Hopefully this will be the day that our wings cut lose. I would really like to see May play with some confidence as to date he has not really done himself justice. However I do think the experience will play dividends down the track.

Just got back from the bookies, they were a little perplexed but i've managed to put everything on that 126-1 scoreline that Cumbrian predicted.

Can't wait to start rolling in the winnings!!

doctor_grey wrote:

HammerofThunor wrote:Well the U20 beat Italy 52-5. 8 tries and it wouldn't be enough for tomorrow.

But does that mean the Italian U20s are better than the Wales U20s based upon performance against England?

No Doc I think you will find Wales have a rotation policy & were resting their best lads for the other sides.  

kingelderfield wrote:Its a real shame bomber went for MT over Yarde, as obviously we should be using a winger to exploit a tiring Italian team.

Hopefully this will be the day that our wings cut lose. I would really like to see May play with some confidence as to date he has not really done himself justice. However I do think the experience will play dividends down the track.

I hope Jonny May runs in a straight line today! At least once surely isn't too much to ask?

And a big game for Jack Nowell. If he goes tryless then he might be discarded by the time of the NZ tour with Yarde, Foden and Wade back from injury. Let's face it - he's had four games thus far and made very little impact.

Cumbrian wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:No. Only gold, pounds sterling or harlequins tickets

Too posh for the likes of me.    

Well what ya got ? Sheep ? Fleeces ? Mint cake?

gregortree wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:No. Only gold, pounds sterling or harlequins tickets

Too posh for the likes of me.    

Well what ya got ? Sheep ? Fleeces ? Mint cake?

Brown ale and string vests in winter are the main export...

Best of luck to you English boys today. Not sure you will get the points you need (if it was in England I would say yes) but I am sure you will win well. If Ireland do lose to France then you will be deserved champions.

doctor_grey wrote:

lostinwales wrote:Looks like its confirmed Marler is out now

Clearly his priorities are all wrong

i can't tell if your joking or not?