England (and other home nations) tours 2017

I've just had a quick google and can't find if England are touring this coming summer?

Of course, this is a Lions summer - so a few players will be away (along with the entire Wales squad, despite then finishing mid table in the 6N). Plus, a lot of players will need a break.

So maybe there's no tour planned. Or is there a trip to Japan or Canada for a second string side? (That of course risks a huge loss of ranking points - as they don't account for Lions tours).

Argentina isn't it?

England toured Argentina the last time the Lions were on - would be good if they could again.
Real test of squad depth.

The question is....will it be the full Argentina from the championship they play...or a developmental side.

And will they play the South American select side aswell as they did last time. Think Billy got a hattrick against them didn't he?

It would be tier 1 tests for the likes of -
Genge, Alec Hepburn
Brookes, Hill, Sinkler
Tommy Taylor and LCD
Hughes, Ewers, young back rowers like the Wasps trio, maybe Underhill
Wade, Haley etc.

Loads of chances while the Lions are touring. The only catch is if Argentina field a strong side is that a couple of losses would impact IRB rankings - something I am sure EJ wants to protect.

GeordieFalcon wrote:The question is....will it be the full Argentina from the championship they play...or a developmental side.

And will they play the South American select side aswell as they did last time. Think Billy got a hattrick against them didn't he?

It will probably be the full Pumas side. Previously, it was understrength because there was a trade-off for player release for the Rugby Championship. Now most players are in Super Rugby with the Jaguares, so there's no problem with availability.

You can see details of the squad which played France this summer here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_France_rugby_union_tour_of_Argentina

That's great - should be a strong side then. So EJ will have to think long and hard about who he has available to take. As I said above, there will be a lot of emphasis on IRB rankings and seeding for the next WC. England cant afford to take an entirely developmental side.

propdavid_london wrote:That's great - should be a strong side then.  So EJ will have to think long and hard about who he has available to take.  As I said above, there will be a lot of emphasis on IRB rankings and seeding for the next WC.  England cant afford to take an entirely developmental side.  

No - it won't make any difference for the June tours.   The pools are decided next May.  This current Rugby Championship, upcoming November Internationals and the Six Nations next year will decide final rankings for seedings and the pool draw.

That's good - development squad it is then

Send a strong team down but give a few key players who played a lot of games a rest.

Can't find the dates. It'll probably be one week after the premiership final, and half the squad will get called up to the Lions as injury replacements.

Would like to see us play uruaguay instead of a crap game v a mix of semi pro players.
Would take a touring squad of (Underhill still has another year in Wales after this so a no no).
1) Genge, Hepburn, Mullan
2) Taylor, Cowan-Dickie, Youngs
3) Hill, Brookes, Sinkler
4) Lawes, Williams
5) Kruis/Launchbury, Ewels
6) Robshaw, Clifford/Harrison,
7) Kvesic, Evans (although i wonder if Eddie will ever pick Kvesic)
8) Hughes, Beaumont
9) Robson (Hoping he might be in lions/Simpson, Care
10) Burns, Cipriani
11) Roko, Yarde
12) Slade, T'eo, Mallinder
13) Daly, Marchant
14) May, Wade,
15) Haley, Hammersley