What can be done to save English Rugby?

As a Welshman I can make a fair unbias comment.

I think we have seen a lot of restructuring in the team setup, not only England, but Wales and Scotland too.

England haven't quite clicked yet. I am not sure about Corry as captain. He is an excellent player but I wouldnt want my skipper to be subbed most matches, it upsets the applecart. You are missing a strong character like Johnno.

Lewsey should be playing this weekend - he is a quality wing and fullback and has never let you guys down. Robinson can't choose what his best 15 is, he hasnt been able to do that since he took over which is worrying, maybe international rugby isnt for him. When he gets it right (or the person that replaces him if/as when needed), English rugby will be back ... but will it be in time for the World Cup. Will Wilkinson ever get back to his best - it would be nice to see.

As for Wales. They need a full time coach who will sign a contract, their best players back from injury and playing rugby every week and to oust the over paid, over the hill WRU board.

As a result of the above, it hasnt been a great 6 nations to watch this year, except perhaps for the positive development of the Italians.
 
sh4rk said:
England team to face Ireland at Twickenham:
T Voyce (Wasps); M Cueto (Sale), J Noon (Newcastle), S Abbott (Wasps), B Cohen (Northampton); A Goode (Leicester), H Ellis (Leicester); A Sheridan (Sale), L Mears (Bath), M Stevens (Bath); S Borthwick (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps); J Worsley (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), M Corry (Leicester, capt).
Replacements: S Thompson (Northampton), J White (Leicester), D Grewcock (Bath), L Dallaglio (Wasps), M Dawson (Wasps), D Walder (Newcastle), M Tindall (Gloucester).
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Dear Christ!
Robinson has made every change except the ones that were most needed.
-The line-out has been fine throughout the championship, but we lost three in a row when Mears came on. Result, Thompson axed.
- Lewsey the most consistent performer in Englands backs. Axed.

The back row have been stuffed in every match so far but they all keep their places.
Harry Ellis dawdles up to the breakdown and then takes three steps before making slow loopy passes over the fly halfs head- yet he gets recalled. I can list 4 better English qualified 9's (Richards, Hodgson, Dicken, Perry) none of which are even in the squad.
I agree on dropping liability Grewcock, and Voyce deserves his place but at Cohens expense surely.

Dave Walder looks to be the only new addition to the squad, but do we honestly think he might play at 10 in a World cup knock out game.

Where are Tom Palmer, Magnus Lund, Ben Skirving, Paul Sackey, Jon Clarke, Mike Lipman, Tim Payne, Shane Drahm - they've all played for England A. When the first's are playing this poorly and still getting picked over you what message does it send to your 'emerging' players.
Or are Under 28's considered too green for a home game these days?

[/vent steam] :mad:
 
I am going to the England A v Ireland A game on Friday night at Kingsholm. I will keep an eye on the team to see who perhaps needs to make the step up.

I agree with Richards and how could I have forgotten about Sackey, boy that lad is fast. :)
 
AJUK said:
I agree with Richards and how could I have forgotten about Sackey, boy that lad is fast. :)
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You would now he's a Cherry and White, but I should point out he was Gus Pichot's understudy at Bristol for a while. We made him good ;)

I'd be up for promoting the entire A team and seeing how they went to be honest.
At least we'd learn something that way.
Have they announced the side yet? Tell me Perry's not in it. We need him fit for the relegatin run in. :(
 
robinsons made changes but in nearly all the wrong places in my opinion:

lewsey - englands most consistent pack post world cup, i've never seen him let england down.

cohen - how does he keep his place, hes done nothing for England recently apart from knock-on and turnover. I'd love to see sackey get a go, as he was class for us, and that was despite never getting the ball, and for wasps I hear hes been very good.

ellis - slow and his pass is pretty dire, personally i'd like to see Paul Hodgson or Perry (from Bristol) given a go as Hodgson is great in my opinion (albeit biased) and he also really talks to the forwards which i think is a great thing for a scrum half to do. Perry also impressed me when i've seen him play this season on tv.

Much as I love to laugh at thompson his throwings been good this season, his loose play terrible, but i've never been that impressed with him in the loose, and mears didn't seem to do that well when he came on.

Grewcock, i think hes been ok, and i prefer him to borthwick despite his hot Headidness.

the back row have been played off the park nearly every match, yet all keep their places. Moody might be good at chasing kickoffs, but i'd rather see a flanker who does a flankers work around the breakdown than try and be a wing or centre. Worsley i just don't rate, he never makes me think hes going to put in a match influencing performance like richard hill used to do.
 
Team to play Ireland A at Kingsholm:

England A:
Mark van Gisbergan, Paul Sackey, Jon Clarke, Ollie Smith, Chris Bell, Shane Drahm, Shaun Perry (capt), Tim Payne, Andy Titterell, Stuart Turner, Tom Palmer, Louis Deacon, Andy Beattie, Michael Lipman, Chris Jones

Replacements:

Matt Cairns, Nick Wood, Dan Ward-Smith, Tom Rees, Nick Walshe, Sam Vesty, Delon Armitage
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I think I would promote four or five to the first team for Ireland.

I think Clarke outside Abbott has the potential to be a stellar centre combination in attack. Will be outmatched by BOD and D'Arcy in defense though so Lipman on the openside to plug the gaps.
Deacon in place of Grewcock on the bench.
Paul Sackey in for Cohen as a sub, with Lewsey reinstated.
Perry in for Ellis. Dawson stays on bench.

Any other armchair coaches agree with my bold selection policies? (Or think I'm talking nonsense). :p
 
I am very much looking forward to a few pints o' Guiness and a good game of rugger on Friday night at my beloved Kingsholm. I hope the A team go into that game with something to prove.

*stokes ticket lovingly* :)
 
Mad old tory said:
Mate, what you burning them for :eek::rolleyes::D
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I wish I had, they were absolutely appalling, I fear that the problems in English Rugby go a little deeper than just poor form. :(

If last nights A performance is anything to go by Ireland are going to tear us to shreds.
 
AJUK said:
I wish I had, they were absolutely appalling, I fear that the problems in English Rugby go a little deeper than just poor form. :(

If last nights A performance is anything to go by Ireland are going to tear us to shreds.
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Luckily all is not lost, The under 19s rounded of a good championship with a 32-9 win over Ireland and the U21s won the Grand Slam with a 40-5 win over Ireland :D :D

Add to those lads Tait, Varndel, Seymour and Lund and you have a very bright future.

What we need to do now is clear out the dead wood that is Robinson and his staff and get a progresive coaching setup in place that will allow all this younger talent to gain top flight experience and develop into world beaters.
 
Nothing wrong with English Rugby. Largest number of players, richest union and a large competitive and lucrative league.

Englands national team has lost its way but I think that is because it is getting stale. Too many coaches and players have been in the set up without interuption for too long. Larder, Lydon and Robinson should be let go after the World Cup, really they should have gone with Woodward. Thompson, Tindall and a few others have had it easy with respect to their places and should have been dropped in the past just to keep the competitive spirit alive. New Zealand aren't all teary eyed about players, form is king.

To be honest when it was obvious England were struggling this year, against Italy basically, the coaches should have used the opportunity to blood up and coming players in international rugby. The back row should have had at least one player with less than five caps starting every match. The backs should have dropped one winger for an unknown to start every game. Tait, Olly Smith, Simpson Daniel, Voyce, Varndell, Barkley amongst others (injuries not withstanding) should have being starting games in key positions like inside centre. The problem with waiting till the Autumn internationals/summer tour or next years 6 nations is the southern hemisphere teams are not a good introduction to internationals and the the next 6 nations is too close to the World Cup.

Basically bad strategy, poor form of key players and too much stagnation have wasted the last 2 years and look to waste the next 18 months. But England have it easy and are failing through lack of vision not lack of resources.
 
I was at the game today, and England looked a beaten team as soon as ireland scored a try. They just didn't look really up for it, there wasn't any of the passion i've seen when i've seen england stuff us at twickenham in years gone by. To me thats a fault of the management not getting the team up for it.

However, Englands backs just looked to have hardly any cutting edge. They were far to flat, and seemed to have forgotten the basics of running straight, draw the tackle and pass. They were looking for contact too often, and really lack a creative spark. Ultimately they just looked bereft of ideas in the attacking idea, which needs addressing very soon if they're to do anything at the world cup.
 
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