Props best avail, but M. Vunipola can’t scrummage. Corbs should have been taken if at all poss, esp as Morgan, e.g., not fully fit either.

Hookers best available but he needs Hartley to throw in as others can’t or are rookies. Hartley could have sat out Fiji, then played. Could come back to bite Lancaster.

Launchbury, Parling & esp Morgan all short of a gallop, but presumably they have ‘leadership quals, are made of ‘the right stuff’, but are on a wing & a prayer to be match fit in – 4 wks. Also lack a true No 7 open side flanker. SH playing with 2. Likely beaten at breakdown without Armitage? Robshaw should be @ No. 6.

Also reckon a fit, wily Easter should have been included over the non-match fit Morgan.

1/2backs okish, but who is 1st choice? Also, Joe Simson faster & plays without fear. More unpredictable.

Cipriani should have been in as 1ST choice (as per SCW, Carling), Ford 2nd. Latter made too many unforced errors (4 in 1st 7 mins!) v in France & kicked aimlessly at times as v Saracens. Inexp & over rated club player. I’d have left Farrell out. A goal kicker & tackler only. England need game breakers/changers here. Don’t have them.

Centres; Barritt ok as defender only. Joseph, Slade only creative 3/4s. Latter a rookie again. Will he handle the pressure? Gamble, but plays with his wits about him I think, so worth a punt. Burgess has no exp in posi apart from failed Bath try-outs, Denver training camp matches & ONE Int’al game! A lunatic’s selection. Prob should have included most of the bath back line for cohesion, skill, incl Eastmond, who has QUICK feet etc; teach him to ‘D’.

Back 3, Brown apart, are okish. Whether they’ll stand up when the heat’s on is debateable. Some exp here with the likes of Strettle &/or Ashton would have made more sense as latter 2 were top TRY scorers in the Prem.

I foresee England’s home advantage & likely ref calls as an edge, but with their scrum, line out & breakdown flopping v France in Paris, they’re going the wrong way in the rankings. The Ireland game will be huge for cred & confidence, but I don’t see Joe Schmidt as being too keen on coming 2nd in that 1.

Lancaster’s under the cosh & I reckon he’s a liability with his record, some of his irrational picks & lack of inventive tactics for this WC. Apart from that, all’s Red ROSEY in the English garden… & you never know in a WC. Brian Ashton’s side lost 36 zip to SA, but got to the final, so time will tell…, but, on balance, I still think I’d rather be the PM even with his latest immigration figures than Stuart Lancaster as England’s coach right now.

The scrum could probably do with Mario Ledesma being poached & jetted in pronto. Alt, lots of scrum machine sweat between now & the Irish game.

The line out? No solution. Unless practice makes perfect. Lancaster hamstrung himself by precluding Hartley. Why didn’t he simply sit DH out for the Fijian game, but keep him for training within the squad?

The break down? With the issue of 2 No 6’s in his pack, Lancaster’s policy of ‘collective clear out’ by the likes of Cole, Lawes etc has surely been exposed – @ last! Doesn’t he keep an eye on the SH Ch’ship? The Saffas & Oz are playing with 2 No 7’s! NZ have gone with V V (last up anyway) who is a more dynamic ball handler & runner @ ‘blind’ side.

If Lancs offers little in the way of innovation himself & with the breakdown failing last Sat, why not emulate the SH? Put Robshaw @ 6… & Armitage @ 7. Oops Can’t do that. It’ll ruin the future of English rugger. But seriously, play the nxt best true 7 then? Kev? Croft? Some one who can out run a snail @ least.

Fee-fi-fo-fum, J. Schmidt smells the blood of an Englishman!

The clock’s a tickin’.

And the Ireland game takes on ‘essential win’ importance for any semblance of England’s (& Lancaster’s) credibility.

Trouble is Joe Schmidt is the smarter coach & he’ll be looking to put down another WC marker & seek to bury England @ Twickenham.

Easier said than done, but whose side is yr money on?

This team lost 6 on the bounce to the SH over the last yr or so.

They’re now down to 5 in the rankings when Lancaster said they’d be 2 (by now).

Lancaster is the problem, not the solution. What he says (about ‘closing the gap’ etc, etc) doesn’t stack up with the reality of his record.

What can be done? Nothing. It’s already too late.

England’s advantage is home games & ref calls.

It’s worth remembering that a strong England team lost to France in 2003 (which turned out to be our only loss in 24 games), but that wasn’t the end of the world. We responded by dishing out and almighty hammering the next weekend, we need to see the same response this time around.

Also agree that Slade looks a more rounded centre who plays what’s in front of him… but, with hardly a game to prove himself? What is Lanacaster thinking? Does he think? Or too much about the wrong things?