England: Autumn Internationals

First topic message reminder :

England squad for autumn Tests:

Forwards: Jamie Blamire (Newcastle), Callum Chick (Newcastle), Jamie George (Saracens), Tom Curry (Sale), Trevor Davison (Newcastle), Nic Dolly (Leicester), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), Charlie Ewels (Bath), Ellis Genge (Leicester), Jonny Hill (Exeter), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Courtney Lawes (Northampton), Lewis Ludlam (Northampton), Joe Marler (Harlequins), George Martin (Leicester), Sam Simmonds (Exeter), Kyle Sinckler (Bristol), Will Stuart (Bath), Sam Underhill (Bath)

Backs: Mark Atkinson (Gloucester), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Tommy Freeman (Northampton), George Furbank (Northampton), Max Malins (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester), Raffi Quirke (Sale), Adam Radwan (Newcastle), Harry Randall (Bristol), Henry Slade (Exeter), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Freddie Steward (Leicester), Manu Tuilagi (Sale), Joe Marchant (Quins), Ben Youngs (Leicester)

In Positions:
1.Marler, Genge
2.George, Blamire, Dolly
3.Sinckler, Stuart, Davison
4.Itoje, Hill
5.Lawes, Ewels
6.Curry, Martin
7.Underhill, Ludlam
8.Dombrandt, Simmonds, Chick

9.Youngs, Randall, Quirke
10.Smith

11.May, Radwan
12.Farrell, Atkinson
13.Tuilagi, Slade
14.Freeman, Marchant
15.Steward, Malins, Furbank
-------------------------------------------------
England v Tonga - 6th November
England v Australia - 13th November
England v South Africa - 20th November

It's a been a long time since we were your feeder club KC.....and I've never said a bad word against Ford

I just like to play devils advocate to Sam's over the top Tigers bias, the rugby universe requires balance.

I'd love to see changes at half time.

Ps Slade really does get careless with his passes at times.

lostinwales wrote:Manu is looking very slim and is playing very well. He and Slade are switching between 12 and 13 as before.

Manu slimmed down after his last couple of long layoffs at Tigers. Then has slimmed down again after his latest with Sale. It's a recurring theme that he keeps coming back very lean and playing very well. Manu's issue is just staying on the pitch. Despite the limitations in his game the good things he does are done to a world class level.

Slade's best England performances have been in partnership with Manu.

Soul Requiem wrote:It has to be said it wasn't great from Steward and i'd want my full back making the tackle not relying on someone else to do it. If that was Daly we'd all be rightfully admonishing him.

Steward is 20 in his first meaning international. Daly is 29.

Steward will lesrn from those sorts of things.....Daly never did

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:What a tackle from Lawes! Awful defending from Steward, Lawes really saved his bacon.

Same player has just left Underhill requiring medical treatment after stepping him in a space similar to a phone box.

Can always count on you and those Tigers tinted glasses Sam!

I'd have liked to see Steward make the tackle stick personally. I don't think it's awful though because having watched TV for years he's more than capable of stepping out of what looks like certain tackles as demonstrated by England's best tackler being left on his backside on TV's next carry.

Soul Requiem wrote:It has to be said it wasn't great from Steward and i'd want my full back making the tackle not relying on someone else to do it. If that was Daly we'd all be rightfully admonishing him.

Totally agree.

When you have the touchline and space to line, the fullback SHOULD be making that tackle. No excuses....it's not really a debate for me. A sign that Steward still has work to do....luckily it was against Tonga, not SA.

Steward has caught 3 high balls in the first half. Overtaking the amount Daly has in his England career.

Yay Dombrandt.

Dombrandt on yes

I'm not sure I would expect a fullback to always stop Veainu there to be honest. Flip the sides with Radwan or May free down the wing after an intercept, Veainu tracking across I'd expect them to be able to finish it off and be disappointed if either England wing didn't finish the opportunity.

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:It has to be said it wasn't great from Steward and i'd want my full back making the tackle not relying on someone else to do it. If that was Daly we'd all be rightfully admonishing him.

Steward is 20 in his first meaning international.  Daly is 29.

Steward will lesrn from those sorts of things.....Daly never did

Steward is touted as this defensive rock....he's a monster and he should smash him into touch. Daly rightly gets hammered for defence.

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:It has to be said it wasn't great from Steward and i'd want my full back making the tackle not relying on someone else to do it. If that was Daly we'd all be rightfully admonishing him.

Steward is 20 in his first meaning international.  Daly is 29.

Steward will lesrn from those sorts of things.....Daly never did

There has to be an acceptance that he needs to do better in those situations which i'm sure Jones and the backroom staff will highlight. If he arcs his run for instance he negates the effectiveness of TV stepping.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:It has to be said it wasn't great from Steward and i'd want my full back making the tackle not relying on someone else to do it. If that was Daly we'd all be rightfully admonishing him.

Totally agree.

When you have the touchline and space to line, the fullback SHOULD be making that tackle. No excuses....it's not really a debate for me. A sign that Steward still has work to do....luckily it was against Tonga, not SA.

Sarge, hes 20! Of course he has things to work on....

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:It has to be said it wasn't great from Steward and i'd want my full back making the tackle not relying on someone else to do it. If that was Daly we'd all be rightfully admonishing him.

Steward is 20 in his first meaning international.  Daly is 29.

Steward will lesrn from those sorts of things.....Daly never did

Steward is touted as this defensive rock....he's a monster and he should smash him into touch. Daly rightly gets hammered for defence.

Yes...and how many experienced senior fbs have been embarrassed by Veinu

Manu....we've missed you!

Argh Manu. The upside and downside of him all at once there. That needed to be draw the man and give. Ball in two hands.

Manu is running very good lines in midfield though.

king_carlos wrote:Argh Manu. The upside and downside of him all at once there. That needed to be draw the man and give. Ball in two hands.

Manu is running very good lines in midfield though.

Er it was Youngs who butchered it tbf.

Soul Requiem wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:It has to be said it wasn't great from Steward and i'd want my full back making the tackle not relying on someone else to do it. If that was Daly we'd all be rightfully admonishing him.

Steward is 20 in his first meaning international.  Daly is 29.

Steward will lesrn from those sorts of things.....Daly never did

There has to be an acceptance that he needs to do better in those situations which i'm sure Jones and the backroom staff will highlight. If he arcs his run for instance he negates the effectiveness of TV stepping.

Hes 20 im sure there's tons theyre working with him...and back at Tigers...jeez

No 7&1/2 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:Argh Manu. The upside and downside of him all at once there. That needed to be draw the man and give. Ball in two hands.

Manu is running very good lines in midfield though.

Er it was Youngs who butchered it tbf.

The penalty was given because the player Youngs was passing to was tackled off the ball and so not there to take the pass.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:Argh Manu. The upside and downside of him all at once there. That needed to be draw the man and give. Ball in two hands.

Manu is running very good lines in midfield though.

Er it was Youngs who butchered it tbf.

Manu had support and should have given rather than taking contact. Youngs then shovels s*** after Manu takes contact and flings it back with the man he's shoveling it onto taken out.

Come on guys. Youngs passes behind Curry anyway.

I don't like that as a yellow, looked like he tried flicking it up to then gather at the second attempt.

Sinckler has just taken someone out late with no arms.

Despite his suspect defence, it's nice having a FB who can catch.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Despite his suspect defence, it's nice having a FB who can catch.

Come off it.

Get smithy on....

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Despite his suspect defence, it's nice having a FB who can catch.

Ah dont be silly Sgt

If Tigers sign Adam Radwan then Sarge is going to finally turn on Ford too.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Come on guys. Youngs passes behind Curry anyway.

The penalty was for Curry being interfered with before the pass so who knows. Could have been a crap pass might not have been.

Second Youngs try is really nice. Strips the 8 and then turns on the pace.

Finally Smith is on.

Waiting for 7.5 to complain that Youngs didn't dive elegantly enough for that to be good play...

Like the Youngs of old!

king_carlos wrote:Waiting for 7.5 to complain that Youngs didn't dive elegantly enough for that to be good play...

Why? I don't want Youngs in the team for his slow sloppy passes not his running.

Smith on whilst Manu and Slade are still outside him. Delighted by that. Give them minutes as a partnership.

king_carlos wrote:If Tigers sign Adam Radwan then Sarge is going to finally turn on Ford too.

Never going to happen

formerly known as Sam wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Come on guys. Youngs passes behind Curry anyway.

The penalty was for Curry being interfered with before the pass so who knows. Could have been a crap pass might not have been.

Second Youngs try is really nice. Strips the 8 and then turns on the pace.

Yeah I rewound it. The pass was behind Curry anyway.

Lots of dropped balls

Nice maul defence there.

It hasn't been great so far, trying a bit too hard. Precision needs to be the priority.

Nice couple of touches for Atkinson.

Well we haven't scored with Smith on yet. Furbank must be better

GeordieFalcon wrote:Well we haven't scored with Smith on yet. Furbank must be better

Nice timing!

You'd want England to be ruthless here. Rack the score up.

Lawes, Curry and Genge ahead of Itoje for the captaincy seems an odd decision.

I like Dombrandt's offloading game but I'd like to see him back his power and get over the line on those last two occasions. The pass to Genge was in no way necessary he should have been able to power over from there. The one to Ewels was nice but I'd have still like to see him back himself.

formerly known as Sam wrote:I like Dombrandt's offloading game but I'd like to see him back his power and get over the line on those last two occasions. The pass to Genge was in no way necessary he should have been able to power over from there. The one to Ewels was nice but I'd have still like to see him back himself.

The first one especially. Nice to see such an attacking option at 8 though. First time since Morgan.

formerly known as Sam wrote:I like Dombrandt's offloading game but I'd like to see him back his power and get over the line on those last two occasions. The pass to Genge was in no way necessary he should have been able to power over from there. The one to Ewels was nice but I'd have still like to see him back himself.

Like Steward, hes young and will learn...

Dombrandt has been quiet and is taking a while to get into the game, but he is getting better

Genge my potm unless something bizarre happens now.

I've been often critical of Genge st this level...so it's only fair to praise today. Hes had a good game. Just quietly gone about his business