Six Nations Squad Announcement

[Mikey Brown]

Both Willis brothers included?! Wow.

Seriously though, when is this supposed to be happening?

[Stom]

Forwards: Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby), Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Theo Dan (Saracens), Trevor Davison (Northampton Saints), Ben Earl (Saracens), Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs), Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears), Jamie George (Saracens), Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints), Guy Pepper (Bath), Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints), Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks), Vilikesa Sela (Bath), Sam Underhill (Bath).

Backs: Henry Arundell (Bath), Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby), Elliot Daly (Saracens), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs), George Ford (Sale Sharks), Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints), George Furbank (Northampton Saints), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Max Ojomoh (Bath), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath), Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers).

[Oakboy]

Is Fin Smith out for the 6N?

[Oakboy]

Just realised - no Lawrence! Is he injured too?

[Stom]

So...

Genge, Iyogun, Rodd
George, LCD, Dan
Davison, Sela, Heyes
Chessum, Clark
Itoje, Coles
Curry, CCS, Pepper
Pollock, Underhill
Earl, Fisilau

Mitchell, Spencer, JvP
Ford, MSmith
Dingwall, Atkinson, Ojomah
Freeman, Slade
IFW, Arundell, Daly, Murley
Furbank, Steward

Interesting...

[FKAS]

Sela over Fasogbon, surprising and disappointing as I'm not sure Sela will get game time which means Davison in the 23.

Fisilau in is a plus. No Ilione is a shame, he's just not had enough time to show form for (re-) selection.

Lawrence dropped?!?

[FKAS]

Ah hold on.

Rehabilitation in Girona: Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Ben Curry (Sale Sharks), Ollie Lawrence (Bath), Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks), Fin Smith (Northampton Saints).

Not considered for selection: Oscar Beard (Harlequins), Charlie Ewels (Bath), Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints), George Martin (Leicester Tigers), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), Adam Radwan (Leicester Tigers), Will Stuart (Bath).

[Oakboy]

So, Furbank IS fit?

[Danno]

Slade

Otherwise no real complaints given the injuries up front.

Anyway, Im back bitches.

[Mikey Brown]

Pleased for Fisilau.

Props unsurprisingly looking a bit odd.

Spencer, Slade, Daly… yeah sure they can do a job. Every time Daly is written off he seems to perform though.

Back 3 looks a bit odd if Freeman is at centre, with no Roebuck and Furbank hardly playing.

It will be interesting to see which of those backrows are considered as 8s.

[Puja]

So, Furbank IS fit?

I mean, he's not my type, but I suppose I can see how the Wing-Commander moustache might do it for you.

Both Willis brothers included?! Wow.

Seriously though, when is this supposed to be happening?

I am the most gullible person alive, cause I went, "Wow, really?!" before realising.

Anyway, Im back bitches.

Wooo! Welcome back!

Genge, Iyogun, Rodd
George, LCD, Dan
Davison, Sela, Heyes
Chessum, Clark
Itoje, Coles
Curry, CCS, Pepper
Pollock, Underhill
Earl, Fisilau

Mitchell, Spencer, JvP
Ford, MSmith
Dingwall, Atkinson, Ojomah
Freeman, Slade
IFW, Arundell, Daly, Murley
Furbank, Steward

Thank you for the public service.

Overall, pretty happy with that. A bit disappointed at no Fasogbon, but he's not been hammering the door down and I'm hopeful that Badwicket is doing with him what he did with Heyes of refusing to gift him a squad space on "potential" and challenging him to kick on before he'll pick him ahead of the old guy. Clark seems in favour with the camp - hopefully will get to see a bit more of what he's about and just glad it's not more wasted time with Isiekwe.

Would've been happier without Spencer, Slade, and Daly, as I don't rate the first two and the latter surely won't keep his place all the way to the RWC with the cavalcade of superb wingers available. No Muir or Caluori is a surprise given Bigjump's liking for a kick-chaser - hopefully that's a sign Roebuck's expected to be fit for Wales and not that we'll have Freeman on the wing and Slade at 13. Spencer is better than he was, but still such a step down from Mitchell and is always so torpid at international level. I'd rather have had a young apprentice in camp (and would've been okay with dropping JVP for that if we wanted to keep Spencer's experience, cause he's not been brilliant this year and still coming back from injury) and shown Friday or Bracken what the step up looked like.

Other than that though, generally pretty pleasing. No surprises or shocks, which is good this close to a RWC.

Puja

[Stom]

Pleased for Fisilau.

Props unsurprisingly looking a bit odd.

Spencer, Slade, Daly… yeah sure they can do a job. Every time Daly is written off he seems to perform though.

Back 3 looks a bit odd if Freeman is at centre, with no Roebuck and Furbank hardly playing.

It will be interesting to see which of those backrows are considered as 8s.

Makes me think we could see Steward at wing again...

Ahead of Caluori...

[Oakboy]

If Quirke is fit (for a change), he's our 2nd best SH, IMO.

[Puja]

If Quirke is fit (for a change), he's our 2nd best SH, IMO.

I had forgotten him! Would probably agree with you on the form he was in at the turn of the year, but I don't know whether he is fit - pulled a hamstring at the start of Jan and hasn't been seen for Sale since.


Promising comment from Bigtalk in his press conference: "Players coming to Girona are not too far away from being back on the grass." Would be good to have those five available for the second game at least.

I forgot to say in my earlier comment, it's a big call to take Iyogun ahead of Obano. The latter has been in belting form and has so much experience, but Iyogun really looks to have stepped up and his performance against Bordeaux, where he came on for Fischetti's yellow and immediately turned the tide in the scrums to the extent that he stayed on when the yellow elapsed, was a big statement.

Sad for Oghre as well. I said in another thread that I think we're too hard on Dan and I do like him, but Oghre can't really do too much more than he's currently doing.

Puja

[Captainhaircut]

Lawrence’s constant injuries are another reason to invest in Freeman at 13…

Sela ahead of Fasogbon is bizarre. Maybe he will become a better player but surely we’re not throwing Sela in if Heyes or Davison get injured?

Dan over Oghre feels wrong currently as mentioned.

Main worry with the squad is that it points to Daly playing on the wing. Which would be utterly depressing.

[Mikey Brown]

11. Arundell 14. IFW 15. Daly

Could this be the answer given that’s where they play all their club rugby?

[TheDasher]

There's a lot to like about the squad.

Sela over Fasogbon I'm ok with as Sela is clearly a hell of a talent and frankly if he can scrummage well enough which I'm sure he can it's great to have that carrying ability as an option. Would have been happy with Fasogbon too though, probably over Davison to be honest.

Daly on the wing would be bad as there are better wingers but don't forget his best ever spell for England was on the wing. Agreed though, painful to have him there versus other options.

I like Arthur Clark a lot but not sure he's next cab of the rank after Coles yet...

Agree on Quirke, he'd be my number two 9 too.

Murley isn't of international class in my view, appreciate Roebuck and Radwan are out but still, I might have just gone for Cokanasiga as a squad back up.

[Which Tyler]

Lawrence’s constant injuries

Am I missing something here?
He had 1 last year, and IIRC 1 as an U20...

And, like every other rugby player, the odd week or to here or there.

I'd be tempted to drop him on form, but I'm not going to hold 1 achilles injury over him as being a sicknote

[Adam_P]

Murley isn't of international class in my view, appreciate Roebuck and Radwan are out but still, I might have just gone for Cokanasiga as a squad back up.

Or Investec player of the year nominee Hendy

[Stom]

There's a lot to like about the squad.

Sela over Fasogbon I'm ok with as Sela is clearly a hell of a talent and frankly if he can scrummage well enough which I'm sure he can it's great to have that carrying ability as an option. Would have been happy with Fasogbon too though, probably over Davison to be honest.

Daly on the wing would be bad as there are better wingers but don't forget his best ever spell for England was on the wing. Agreed though, painful to have him there versus other options.

I like Arthur Clark a lot but not sure he's next cab of the rank after Coles yet...

Agree on Quirke, he'd be my number two 9 too.

Murley isn't of international class in my view, appreciate Roebuck and Radwan are out but still, I might have just gone for Cokanasiga as a squad back up.

Murley does almost everything needed for an international wing...And has become probably our best finisher.

[Oakboy]

Murley isn't of international class in my view, appreciate Roebuck and Radwan are out but still, I might have just gone for Cokanasiga as a squad back up.

Dash, I don't think Murley is top drawer but he's a better player than Coka, IMO. I'd have picked OHC ahead of either because he is almost as good as Roebuck under the high ball. With Roebuck close to recovery, reportedly, that would seem to align more with SB's usual preferences on wing pairings (i.e. IFW/Arundell + Roebuck/OHC).

Daly is seen as wing/FB cover, presumably but his presence makes little sense to me if Furbank is fit and Fin is back soon (releasing Marcus to cover 15). Maybe, SB rates Daly as the main cover for Roebuck which is OK, I suppose. He's never been an international standard FB or OC but he did look the part on the wing till the horrible Australian swapped him with Brown for some peculiar reason.

[Captainhaircut]

Lawrence’s constant injuries

Am I missing something here?
He had 1 last year, and IIRC 1 as an U20...

And, like every other rugby player, the odd week or to here or there.

I'd be tempted to drop him on form, but I'm not going to hold 1 achilles injury over him as being a sicknote

He missed the last test of the autumn injured and is then injured again. I may be wrong but he always seems to be getting niggles- certainly not holding the Achilles injury against him.

[fivepointer]

Must be something about Fasogbon the coaches dont like. Here's hoping he has a monstrous game tonight.

Dan keeps getting selected for these squads and its really high time he showed why. Its not like there arent other options available.

Clark is a good call but Bamber can consider himself a bit unlucky. At least there's no Isiekwe. Fisilau just gets the nod ahead of Hill, Barbeary, Kenningham and Ilione. Such riches to choose from.

Disappointed for Quirke and Carpenter.

Dingwall, Atkinson and Ojomoh pleases me.

[Mikey Brown]

There's a lot to like about the squad.

Sela over Fasogbon I'm ok with as Sela is clearly a hell of a talent and frankly if he can scrummage well enough which I'm sure he can it's great to have that carrying ability as an option. Would have been happy with Fasogbon too though, probably over Davison to be honest.

Daly on the wing would be bad as there are better wingers but don't forget his best ever spell for England was on the wing. Agreed though, painful to have him there versus other options.

I like Arthur Clark a lot but not sure he's next cab of the rank after Coles yet...

Agree on Quirke, he'd be my number two 9 too.

Murley isn't of international class in my view, appreciate Roebuck and Radwan are out but still, I might have just gone for Cokanasiga as a squad back up.

Murley does almost everything needed for an international wing...And has become probably our best finisher.

It’s fielding/covering kicks really isn’t it. Not that I think that’s any sort of strength of Cokanasiga or Radwan.

[Stom]

So, what's your 23 from that?

Genge
LCD
Heyes
Itoje
Chessum
Curry
Underhill
Earl
Mitchell
Ford
Arundell
Dingwall
Freeman
IFW
Furbank

George, Rodd, Sela, Coles, CCS, Pollock, JvP, MSmith
OR
George, Rodd, Sela, CCS, Pollock, JvP, MSmith, Daly