Comments on: England’s travails against New Zealand highlight how much they need Tuilagi http://www.therugbyblog.com/englands-travails-against-new-zealand-highlight-how-much-they-need-tuilagi Rugby Union opinion and discussion, for the fans, by the fans. Wed, 21 Dec 2016 15:40:51 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6 By: Pablitohttp://www.therugbyblog.com/englands-travails-against-new-zealand-highlight-how-much-they-need-tuilagi#comment-372428 Wed, 12 Nov 2014 15:15:28 +0000 http://www.therugbyblog.com/?p=35408#comment-372428 Well if playing with a team that finds it difficult to get over the gainline is an issue for Farrell, then perhaps we should choose a fly-half who has to deal with this week in and week out and still plays well.

Oh hello Mr Cipriani

Farrell normally has an armchair ride from the Sarries pack but when it gets tough, he doesn’t know what to do. He drops too deep, his kicking game isn’t accurate enough and he offers no running threat to mix it up and keep defences guessing.

We all knew that England would be short of penetration with Barritt at 13 but with the injuries, what other option was there? Would personally have gambled on Slade but can understand why Lancaster wouldn’t

Of course we need Tuilagi back to give us some oomph in midfield, and failing him then Burrell.

If we could end up with centres based around Tuilagi, Eastmond, Burrell and Slade then I would be pretty happy. If Slade kicks on the way I hope he will, then those 4 would be a concern for any opposition defence.

With guys like Barritt, 12Trees, Joseph for back-up and young folk like Sam Hill or Ollie DeVoto coming through, then we would be in decent shape if we can keep injuries down.

BTW – am not even thinking about Burgess yet, but he looms over all of the above, like a giant man-shaped iceberg

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