England A vs All Blacks XV, 8 November at the Rec

[Captainhaircut]

Not too bothered about Porter- I think he’s ok but not really convinced he’s ever going to be international level. I feel the same about Englefield though- would have thought Bracken would have made more sense. Possible he gets called up for the Spain game as seen as less risky?

No Joseph is annoying. Must be injured.

No Hendy is boggling. Hopefully not got a big injury…

Rest is good. Particularly like Richards and Michelow. They haven’t had a lot of minutes but they carry hard and carry a lot in the tight which we are missing in the main squad.

[Scrumhead]

Batley was meant to be skipper … oops

Richards vs. Sodeke was an either or for me, but I think the former is more deserving.

[Scrumhead]

Batley was meant to be skipper … oops

Richards vs. Sodeke was an either or for me, but I think the former is more deserving.

[FKAS]

Good point on Joseph, a Ojomoh and Joseph midfield could have been really fun with OHC coming off his wing and attacking the line.

[Puja]

Also at Bath, Tom dG and Miles Reid are a bit hard done by.

Crumbs - hadn't even clocked TdG's omission! That's even more baffling!

Puja

[SixAndAHalf]

Good squad overall - it seems that they have ignored the players who are prem regulars but won't ever trouble the England side (e.g. Tizard, Porter)

Biggest omission for me is Charlie Bracken given I'd have him not far off the EPS (and he's in the younger age bracket) and I'd also liked to have seen Will Joseph if fit and maybe Ben Redshaw as a 15.

Both of the Quins centres (Beard and Northmore) who have been in a number of senior squads have been ignored - are they injured? Likewise Oghre doesn't feature.

[Which Tyler]

Omitting Porter when it looks like Benson has been pencilled in to play FH seems very odd to me. I would have thought he was a much better option than the 2 SH's named in the squad and has a club connection. Think Carr-Smith has shown up well this season and looks a more rounded player than Englefield. Also at Bath, Tom dG and Miles Reid are a bit hard done by.

I get the omission of Reid, mostly because England have so many backrowers who could at least do a job internationally. Michelow isn't one of them though (nor Roots, but that's a closer call).
Utterly baffled that TdG can't even get into a wider A-squad. There simply must be something negative about him that I'm not seeing. I'd probably have him in the senior squad (given absences of Furbank, Daly & Carpenter), and certainly ahead of Hodge, Hendy, Hall & Calouri

[Scrumhead]

Good squad overall - it seems that they have ignored the players who are prem regulars but won't ever trouble the England side (e.g. Tizard, Porter)

Biggest omission for me is Charlie Bracken given I'd have him not far off the EPS (and he's in the younger age bracket) and I'd also liked to have seen Will Joseph if fit and maybe Ben Redshaw as a 15.

Both of the Quins centres (Beard and Northmore) who have been in a number of senior squads have been ignored - are they injured? Likewise Oghre doesn't feature.

Weird for the likes of Oghre and Beard to miss out completely. Northmore is injured (quelle surprise).

I wouldn’t write Tizard off yet TBH. 25 is still pretty young for a lock and he’s been in good form this season.

I can only assume Joseph isn’t fit as it was widely reported that he was in the squad. I also expected Redshaw to be included given he was a regular under Mapletoft for the U20s.

Kerr has a lot of potential but no more than Woodward who is weirdly ignored.

Even if we’re ruling out the likes of Reid, Clement or Will Evans, I’d argue Arthur Green or Schmid would have been more promising back row options than Michelow.

[Captainhaircut]

TDG was part of that group that had that the A game against Scotland called off in COVID so maybe that is held against him?

Would be crazy harsh given his age at the time and the fact many more senior were involved.

[fivepointer]

On the plus side - there are a few - Batley gets a long overdue chance and is made captain! I like that a lot.

[Captainhaircut]

Quite a few injured in the names being thrown around. Beard and Clement both out and have been nigh on all season.

We don’t know who is carrying an injury and may just need a few weeks off either.

Think Michelow is being hard done to a bit. Was absolutely excellent for the under 20s. Carnduff has barely played a game for Leicester either but feel like people wouldn’t complain if he was in..

[twitchy]

That's a handy team, I will watch this for sure.

[Scrumhead]

I was just thinking about players who have recently been involved but made neither squad either due to injury or non selection and you could make a pretty handy squad from that group too:

1. Rodd / Brantingham
2. Oghre / Blake
3. Davison / Kloska
4. Ewels / Tuima
5. Clark / Tizard
6. T. Hill / Capstick
7. B. Curry
8. Dombrandt / Barbeary
9. JvP / Randall / Porter / C. Bracken
10. Bailey
11. Muir / Ibitoye
12. S. Atkinson / Woodward
13. Northmore / Beard
14. Hendy
15. Furbank / Carpenter


Bold = capped
Italic = called-up

Mad when you think all of those have represented England (or received a call-up) in some capacity in the past 12 months.

That also doesn’t include the likes of Will Joseph, Jack Bracken, Carnduff etc. who are definitely on the radar but yet to be included.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Good squad overall - it seems that they have ignored the players who are prem regulars but won't ever trouble the England side (e.g. Tizard, Porter)

Biggest omission for me is Charlie Bracken given I'd have him not far off the EPS (and he's in the younger age bracket) and I'd also liked to have seen Will Joseph if fit and maybe Ben Redshaw as a 15.

Both of the Quins centres (Beard and Northmore) who have been in a number of senior squads have been ignored - are they injured? Likewise Oghre doesn't feature.

Redshaw is only just back from injury. Could say the same for Gus Hall mind.

[Lizard]

I haven’t read all this thread but see there is some comment around whether the AB XV is NZ’s offical second most senior team for the purposes of player capture. It is not.

Despite fielding a number of “2nd XV” senior sides under names of varying stupidity (Junior All Blacks, All Blacks XV, etc) and the Māori All Blacks, NZ Rugby has not officially nominated a “Next Senior National Team” under WR Regulation 8 since 2020. Even when they did, they hardly ever selected an actual team.

You can download the official nominated teams back to 2013 here https://www.world.rugby/organisation/go ... ext-senior

[Puja]

I haven’t read all this thread but see there is some comment around whether the AB XV is NZ’s offical second most senior team for the purposes of player capture. It is not.

Despite fielding a number of “2nd XV” senior sides under names of varying stupidity (Junior All Blacks, All Blacks XV, etc) and the Māori All Blacks, NZ Rugby has not officially nominated a “Next Senior National Team” under WR Regulation 8 since 2020. Even when they did, they hardly ever selected an actual team.

You can download the official nominated teams back to 2013 here https://www.world.rugby/organisation/go ... ext-senior

That is a very useful list; thank you! Wild that Eswatini have a nominated second team, but New Zealand don't.

Puja

[Lizard]

I’ve never seen any official explanation why we don’t. It might be because we hardly ever pick a 2nd XV so why bother. It might be a PR move to avoid criticism for capturing young dual (or more) qualified players that aren’t realistically going to be longterm test players.

[FKAS]

https://x.com/IbukunChels/status/198605 ... fC26A&s=19

The England A side was named and then taken down so unsure whether it's correct or not. Roots as captain instead of Batley makes me assume there's an error or two in there.

[Epaminondas Pules]

I like that a lot of it is true!

[twitchy]

[Epaminondas Pules]

Confirmed

England A team to face All Blacks XV
15. Josh Hodge (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)

14. Noah Caluori (Saracens, uncapped)

13. Angus Hall (Saracens, uncapped)

12. Max Ojomoh (vc) (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)

11. Ollie Hassell-Collins (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)

10. Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, 1 cap)

9. Archie McParland (Northampton Saints, uncapped)

1. Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints, uncapped)

2. Jamie Blamire (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps)

3. Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)

4. Tom Lockett (Northampton Saints, uncapped)

5. Joe Batley (Bristol Bears, uncapped)

6. Ethan Roots (c) (Exeter Chiefs, 4 caps)

7. Tom Pearson (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)

8. Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)

Replacements

16. Kepu Tuipulotu (Bath Rugby, uncapped)

17. Tarek Haffar (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)

18. Vilikesa Sela (Bath Rugby, uncapped)

19. Ben Bamber (Sale Sharks, uncapped)

20. Fitz Harding (Bristol Bears, uncapped)

21. Caolan Englefield (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)

22. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Sale Sharks, uncapped)

23. Adam Radwan (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)

[Epaminondas Pules]

Like that a lot!

[Captainhaircut]

No issues with that really although Hall at 13 a bit surprising.

Some of the younger lads like Sodeke, Michelow, Jibulu, Richards can play next week.

[fivepointer]

Has Hall played this season? Seems quite a swift promotion, though he is obviously a talented lad.

Pack looks pretty solid, not sure about the half backs and i'm no fan of Hodge at FB.

Should be interesting but alas is on Premier sports.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Has Hall played this season? Seems quite a swift promotion, though he is obviously a talented lad.

Pack looks pretty solid, not sure about the half backs and i'm no fan of Hodge at FB.

Should be interesting but alas is on Premier sports.

Yep. Played against Oxford Uni, then off the bench in Prem then for Ampthill just to get minutes in him. Had a niggly ankle injury that kept him out of the U20 World Cup and missed bits of pre-season with it.

Is definitely a swift promotion, because of what he could be, rather than what he is now.