Eddie Jones has named the England team to take on Argentina this weekend.
15. Mike Brown
14. Jonny May
13. Jonathan Joseph
12. Owen Farrell
11. Elliot Daly
10. George Ford
9. Ben Youngs
1. Mako Vunipola
2. Dylan Hartley
3. Dan Cole
4. George Kruis
5. Courtney Lawes
6. Chris Robshaw
7. Tom Wood
8. Billy Vunipola
Replacements
16. Jamie George, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Charlie Ewels, 20. Teimana Harrison, 21. Danny Care, 22. Ben Te’o, 23. Henry Slade.
Are you happy with this selection?
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
Harrison over Hughes is the only interesting factor here the rest was very predictable
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Given the players released back to their clubs this is exactly the team I expected. I hope we see T’eo and Slade get a bit more time on the pict in this match. I would also like to see Daly at 15 with JJ moving to the wing for a bit.
Harrison on the bench instead of Hughes? Odd one I think given that Hughes is a much better ball carrier and it also means we have no real cover at 8. I do NOT want to see Wood playing at 8 again in an England shirt as I think Farrell could probably do a better job than he did last time.
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Hughes has been a bit of disappointment this year for club and country, and I believe Harrison has spent time at 8 too, but really none of the incoming back row options look inspiring (Woods, Harrison, Hughes). I wonder if the “perfect year” was not on whether EJ would have taken a punt on a more inexperienced (at club level) rookie, like Beaumont. Still I suppose we have to remember that these players are there due to injuries to Haskell, Clifford, Sam Jones, Mike Williams and Itoje.
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Benjit
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but isn’t it time you stopped picking on Kiwis, albeit this time, in YR own team?
And where were you on the 2nd Ireland v NZ match blog?
Yr absence was, for once, so sorely missed & I was so worried, that I posted yr dets on to the Missing Persons Bureau!
Relieved that you’ve finally surfaced from yr foxhole apparently unscathed.
Toodle pip.
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Struggling to see how I have picked on kiwis in the above post Don.
Sadly I missed both Nz Ire encounters and don’t recall being particularly vocal in your blessed comuppance. I find the above rant bizzare, but I’ll bite anyway…
Up until 2007 I always appreciated the way the ABs played, but the increasing sense of entitlement, arrogance and preciousness of the team and fans has made cherish each and every defeat, however seldom they come.
Winning it seems is no longer enough. You feel the need to destroy teams by fair or foul means. What a shame.
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Am expecting this backline can do some serious damage with quick ball.
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“to do” NOT “can do”!
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No Sanchez for Argentina and Isa dropped to the bench
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Bizarrely, Isa, Landajo and Sanchez on the benc- probably the three individual dangermen!
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Sanchez didnt even make the bench
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Mostly predictable. Roko & Wood apart.
It’s good to give guys a run out to see how they’ll stand up to ‘test match pressure’, although with Fiji’s Keystone Cops defence, that pressure was somewhat dubious, but the 1 game in & nxt game out policy doesn’t make sense to me.
Why’s he playing Arthur Daly @ wing? If a center gets crocked, how would his exp out of posi help in this situation? And how does it help Roko’s confidence after 2 yrs in the wilderness? Smacks a bit of Lanc’s days to me.
And the SL like persistence in collective responsibility @ ruck & playing 2 No. 6’s @ open side still perplexes me. Not to mention, the 2 No. 10’s.
Must come back to bite them in the end. NZ DON’T DO THIS & speed bump apart, it hasn’t hindered their progress in recent yrs (Opps! There I go, AB cheer leading again!).
Won’t matter much v Argentina as they’re away & hardly seem to field a full team these days due to their policy of not picking o/seas players. Even when/if the latter do get together, they lack cohesion due a lack of continuity. They also lack precision @ speed @ the highest level in back play & KICK (& fight?) tooo much.
And expect the ref to cane them of course.
England will likely throw it about a bit as per Fiji & Jones is upping the tempo, which he has to do to compete @ a higher level. However, they also need to do this against better teams than Argentina (& SA) & up their skills & decision making, as, v Fiji again, they looked sluggish @ times.
England will likewise need to tighten their defence as Fiji made them look mugs a couple of times when scored tries.
All this is not so important on Sat, but it will be in the future when they face stiffer opposition. It’s good to get in good habits & sharpen up in games like this 1 which is likely result in a comfortable English win.. in the end?
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“And expect the ref to cane them of course.”
And without a hint of irony!
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Benjit
Just check out the pen stats.
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Considering England have beaten every top 10 team in the planet this year, bar Argentina and the AB’s, and you’ve just dismissed Argentina – I can only assume the below quote simply means, no rugby team can be considered any good without the AB’s approval.
“However, they also need to do this against better teams”
No one suggests the AB’s aren’t miles ahead of everyone, but to be so flippant about a side standing out as second in the world right now legitimises claims that NZ are arrogant and lack class.
On the playing style side of things, why do England need to mimic the AB’s? We don’t have Kiwi players. SL tried to years to make Robshaw a fetcher, to turn players like Burrell and Barritt into Ma’a Nonu. Never going to happen.
Jones’ brilliance has been in that he is creating an English style with the skill sets he has available – so far it seems like a pretty good decision so your questioning of it seems misplaced.
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Jacob
Stephen Jones of The ST, the arch ‘England lover’ dismissed Argentina as ‘injury ravaged’. Of course he may have made this up, but how does this elevate England’s subsequent win?
SA have gone down the dunny (ask Italy) & arguably the OZ series apart (Oz lost their midfield, & chopped & changed there & @ fwd & England did ship 40 in the last for e.g.), so you seem to take diminished wins as authentic.
Stats only tell part of the story & most of England’s other wins over the last 18 mths have been @ home. Also check out some of the pen counts in their favour.
It’s also ironic in the extreme to me for you to state that ‘NZ are arrogant and lack class’ (the latter is blatantly untrue if you’re opining about on field rugger), when I’ve endured exactly the same exp from the English for 40 yrs over here. Try asking some of the other minority countries in the Union.
It’d be marginally more bearable if England had a record to boast of, but with yr loss ratio v NZ for e.g., I’d have thought you’d occasionally have kept yr head down, but not a bit of it.
You also misunderstand ‘mimicing’ NZ’s ‘style’. It’s NOT a ? of that, but when you’ve got the ball, score TRIES, when you haven’t, stop the opposition form doing so! Yr lot could aspire to that methinks, esp after last yr’s 6N.
As for ‘Jones’ brilliance has been in that he is creating an English style with the skill sets he has available’, define this. You create yr own skills, then practice, practice, practice, till you’re the best. And it’s a mind set thing, like running it (might score 7!) rather than being clapped for kicking (usually worth, er 3?) as a safety 1st option as often as not.
His ‘ brilliance’ BTW, has seen him tin tacked from Saracens & the Reds. Can’t think why, but he’s had a checkered career @ best, so let’s see where he goes from here. Bit early to tell yet – as another ‘England’ commentator also currently wonders.
So how is MY ?ing misplaced?
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Re: Daly playing out of position think of him as England’s slightly less talented Ben Smith. Capable of playing across the entire backline and better to have him in the team out of position than missing entirely. I’m suprised it has taken him this long to breakthrough as a start but Eddie seems to know what he’s doing
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Kiwi humility – fact or legend?
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the 2 number 10s? It seems that Ford and Farrell play better as a pair than they do apart. 2 playmakers is a very SH thing to do.
And Daly has experience at wing, fullback and centre – he’s a utilty player.
I know Don loves to do down the English, and every loss they experience will be a vindication of his criticism in his head, but for the most part I don’t see the issues here. Roko has been told where he stands, and had a good game – I’d expect him to be a squad player come the 6 nations, with Yarde dropping out, but I don’t think it will damage him.
And as for the contention that they have to do it against better teams than SA and Fiji – well, sure. Like Australia, Ireland, Wales and France?
The only team left is NZ. And yes, that’s another step up, but Engl;and have now won 12 straight including a bunch away. I don’t understand this utter negativity. You’d think england had only beaten Namibia, rumania and Uruguay the way you talk.
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Ah but you seem to forget that everyone plays badly against England so when England win it was the oppos fault and England are still “Average”.
We still have plenty of room for improvement but we openly acknowledge that, we are showing plenty of ambition to improve and are delivering more than we have seen for years
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Leon
Some of this “Average” stuff about England comes from yr own commentators.
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McMurphy
Yr comments are too general, non specific.
My ‘doing down the English’ the English for example?
Don’t respect blowhards much, from anywhere, but what have I said that is non factual, & then factual for that matter?
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