England 42- Man Squad for SA

Thought I'd do a little breakdown for everyone here:

Prop:
D Cole (Leicester Tigers) (25 Years, 28 Caps)
A Corbisiero (London Irish) (23 Years, 15 Caps)
P Doran-Jones (Northampton Saints) (27 Years, 3 Caps)
J Marler (Harlequins) (21 Years, 0 Caps)
M Mullan (Worcester Warriors) (25 Years, 1 Cap)
M Stevens (Saracens) (29 Years, 44 Caps)

Hooker:
J Gray (Harlequins) (23 Years, 0 Caps)
D Hartley (Northampton Saints) (26 Years, 39 Caps)
L Mears (Bath Rugby) (33 Years, 39 Caps)
T Youngs (Leicester Tigers) (25 Years, 0 Caps)

Lock:
M Botha (Saracens) (30 Years, 6 Caps)
T Palmer (Stade Francais) (33 Years, 37 Caps)
G Parling (Leicester Tigers) (28 Years, 5 Caps)
G Robson (Harlequins) (26 Years, 0 Caps)
G Kitchener (Leicester Tigers) (22 Years, 0 Caps)

Flanker:
C Fearns (Bath Rugby) (22 Years, 0 Caps)
J Haskell (Otago Highlanders) (27 Years, 42 Caps)
T Johnson (Exeter Chiefs) (29 Years, 0 Caps)
J Launchbury (London Wasps) (21 Years, 0 Caps)
C Robshaw (capt, Harlequins) (25 Years, 6 Caps)

Number 8:
P Dowson (Northampton Saints) (30 Caps, 5 Caps)
B Morgan (Scarlets) (23 Years, 5 Caps)
T Waldrom (Leicester Tigers) (29 Years, 0 Caps)

Scrum Half:
D Care (Harlequins) (25 Years, 32 Caps)
L Dickson (Northampton Saints) (27 Years, 5 Caps)
B Youngs (Leicester Tigers) (22 Years, 22 Caps)

Fly Half:
O Farrell (Saracens) (20 Years, 5 Caps)
C Hodgson (Saracens) (31 Years, 38 Caps)
T Flood (Leicester Tigers) (26 Years, 47 Caps)

Centre:
A Allen (Leicester Tigers) (25 Years, 2 Caps)
B Barritt (Saracens) (25 Years, 5 Caps)
J Joseph (London Irish) (20 Years, 0 Caps)
G Lowe (Harlequins) (22 Years, 0 Caps)
M Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers) (20 Years, 10 Caps)
J Turner-Hall (Harlequins) (24 Years, 2 Caps)

Wing:
C Ashton (Northampton Saints) (25 Years, 23 Caps)
U Monye (Harlequins) (29 Years, 13 Caps)
D Strettle (Saracens) (20 Years, 0 Caps)

Full Back:
M Brown (Harlequins) (26 Years, 6 Caps)
B Foden (Northampton Saints) (26 Years, 27 Caps)
A Goode (Saracens) (24 Years, 0 Caps)

So pleased for many, and expected on alot of parts. Interesting with Carl Fearns. Gutted for Kvesic getting injured a week before the end of the season . Alex Goode selected is a meh player, a very good club player who'll make an average international. But, he does deserve the call up. Wade and alot of the kids given the chance to go for it. Very pleased for Lowe and Joseph. Can't be far away from first caps and pushing Barritt and Tuilagi hard for the spots. Alot will have changed by the next 6Ns. With the addition of hopefully Miller, Ford and Kvesic, things look VERY bright for England indeed.

Pleased!!!!

Dave Strettle 0 caps?

It's deleted C Wade and gone over D Strettles stats. Argh stupid thing.

shame to see alot of injuries but also good opportunities. loving that haskell is back, but is it just me, or is matt stevens crap? he can't go 5 mins without giving a penalty away. plus i've always thought monye should be there instead of strettle. shame cueto is too old for lancaster now

Meeeeeeeat_ wrote:shame to see alot of injuries but also good opportunities. loving that haskell is back, but is it just me, or is matt stevens crap? he can't go 5 mins without giving a penalty away. plus i've always thought monye should be there instead of strettle. shame cueto is too old for lancaster now

Don't ever. EVER. Mention his name again with England.

James Short, Charlie Sharples, Anthony Watson, Jonny May, heck even Ross Chisholm, I hope are infront of him.

why whats wrong with him? i'm confused

I really don't like Matt Stevens... I've seen him successfully complete a turn over once but that's about the only redeeming thing ever

i agree harmsy, he's not even a strong scrummager so he's pretty much useless i think. anyone gonna tell me whats wrong with mark cueto? after courage's comment i feel like there's something i dont know..

Cueto is too slow for a test wing. And that should have been an end of it many seasons ago.

Had he moved to centre or even 15 (for Sale) in 2008 I might have remained a bigger fan, but he didn't.

quindecagon wrote:Cueto is too slow for a test wing. And that should have been an end of it many seasons ago.

Had he moved to centre or even 15 (for Sale) in 2008 I might have remained a bigger fan, but he didn't.

Ok i will accept alot about being a test wing is speed. However the current magners league and prolific international scorer was famously called slow by an Irish pundit and he went on and is one of the deadliest wings around, I am of course talking of Tommy Bowe. Cueto is in the same mould and he has a killer instinct that some people fail to fathom. I am talking about stepping inside the final defender when you are near the touchline, or spotting the intercept that no one sees or even just keeping a cool head and not swan diving *Cough - Ashton - Cough*

oh okay i thought from courage's reaction he'd like done something disgraceful. and i have to agree with mouseonfire, he may not be the fastest, but he's got the instincts and he's got the skills so he's better than strettle there and with england, 9 times out of 10 he'd beat the first defender. plus defensively, come on he's leagues above strettle.
aside from being a bit slower than some others, i'd say the only thing against him really is his age.
having said all that monye is probably just as good, faster and younger.

That would be Tommy Bowe who wants to play 13 as he doesn't have the pace to really be the threat he'd like to be on the wing.

quindecagon wrote:That would be Tommy Bowe who wants to play 13 as he doesn't have the pace to really be the threat he'd like to be on the wing.

Are we discussing the wings that Burt has picked to go to SA? Well, I wonder if I have an opinion quin?
Interesting that he has so many centres, I wonder if he is considering JTH at wing as well?

I do like the like of the midweek side though, plenty of talent to see!

Hey guys. Wll i'm from Leicester so for me it's really good to finally see Thomas Waldrom picked. Hopefully he will start as he has been playing awesome for Leicester! Excited Monye is back he is fast and a very strong defender, personally I think Strettle needs to be dropped... He just cant finish... I think this well be a good test for Wayde... Heard alot about him but not seen him play yet.

As for Matt Stevens... HE SHOULD NEVER WEAR AN ENGLAND JERSEY AGAIN! He is one of the main reasons we lost against Wales in 6 nations! I dont even think he is good enough for the premiership to be honest... But he must be doing some thing to impress the coaches?

Sceptical about Tom Youngs getting into the squad... He has play good for the tigers, but he isn't even starting for them? Perhaps this shows our lack of strong hookers? Glad Haskell is back as well He certainly has a physical presence!

yep i agree with pretty much everything you just said, i've always thought that about strettle. and stevens, i dont know perhaps he's bribing them to play him...
i was thinking lately as well, he may not be first place fly half but i don't think flood has had the opportunities he deserves since the world cup. him and youngs, when they're on form, especially together, they can be world beaters so glad he's still in contention

The thing is, it's when they're on form, and Youngs hasn't been on form whilst wearing an England shirt for some time. Flood has been more reliable certainly, but he's got far more good competition for the flyhalf spot.

yeah thats a good point actually. maybe like croft he'll come back to form in time. hopefully the competition from dickson and farrell will encourage them to improve their own games

agrimsley wrote: I wonder if I have an opinion quin?
Interesting that he has so many centres, I wonder if he is considering JTH at wing as well?

He's taken a lot of centres to not include May in the squad somewhere, no idea why.

Meeeeeeeat_ wrote: i don't think flood has had the opportunities he deserves since the world cup. him and youngs, when they're on form, especially together, they can be world beaters so glad he's still in contention

Flood wa injured during the 6N, or just back from injury. I'm not sure when apart from then England have had a chance to select him post the RWC. I'm not sold he is or ever can be world class, but he might be England's best 10. But what opportunities should he have had that he deserved but misssed out on?

oh fair enough then if he was injured. i was talking in the six nations because lancaster released him back to leicester a few times so i assumed he was sold with farrell and wasn't really interested in flood anymore. i just think really he's got more to his attacking game than farrell, though saying that i dont follow premiership that much, just the occassional game, so he could be better than i think

matt stevens face looks like a pig too

Flood was only just back from injury and had little to no game time. And Farrell was very impressive at 10.

What happened is a long way from saying Flood is off the radar.

ok fair enough then i was wrong about the flood thing. and i agree farrell was awesome, his kicking was undoubtedly why we won 4 games and not just 2, or even 1, and thats not just his goal kicking. i just think flood sparks the back line to move a bit more

I've never like Flood, dunno why really, he's a decent player, but I just don't like him.

Ugo Monye, on the other hand is tops, should have seen many more caps in my opinion.

Good to see Haskell back too, in fact all round looks like a solid squad, lets hope they stuff the Saffas.

Monye is tops???? Are you being serious? He is definitely worse than Strettle, Ashton, Wade, May... Im not convinced he should have ever been in an england squad! Hes fairly quick but thats about it