Initial Training Squad

[Mikey Brown]

His height is even more surprising given he was a hooker for Gosforth.

I don't think I ever knew that. I'd assumed 8 or perhaps a 6, and had I been told he played lock given when he played I'd have accepted that as more than reasonable.

Edit - Actually this suggests (even allowing for he's perhaps wearing heels rather than having studs going into the ground) he could play lock pretty much whenever;



And he wasn't rake thin by any means.

Gosh. Was Mark Cueto kicking around that long?

[Puja]

I'm just saying that since Hartley blazed the path, being a troubled youth out of Rotorua Boys High School with a penchant for terrible haircuts seems be a direct path into the upper echelons of English rugby.

I mean seriously, you really want to claim this on the basis of English blood?

A direct path? They're not exactly rugby league players - Hartley wasn't capped by England until he'd been in the country 6 years. Harrison's only just started playing regularly for Saints this season and has only made it into a preliminary training squad after having been in the country 5 years.

Suggests to me that they both needed a significant amount of work to bring them up to standard after leaving NZ.

Puja

Unlike all those 18 year olds strolling straight from the playing fields of Eton into your national squad.

He's older than Itoje, Kruis, Billy V, Ford, Watson and Nowell. Clearly you in NZ should work on your development of young talent to try and get it up to our level.

Puja

[Banquo]

His height is even more surprising given he was a hooker for Gosforth.

I don't think I ever knew that. I'd assumed 8 or perhaps a 6, and had I been told he played lock given when he played I'd have accepted that as more than reasonable.

Edit - Actually this suggests (even allowing for he's perhaps wearing heels rather than having studs going into the ground) he could play lock pretty much whenever;



And he wasn't rake thin by any means.

Gosh. Was Mark Cueto kicking around that long?

Nope........14 is possibly Jon Sleightholme......doesn't look like Tony Underwood from behind. Is that Catt on the left?

[Digby]

I don't think I ever knew that. I'd assumed 8 or perhaps a 6, and had I been told he played lock given when he played I'd have accepted that as more than reasonable.

Edit - Actually this suggests (even allowing for he's perhaps wearing heels rather than having studs going into the ground) he could play lock pretty much whenever;



And he wasn't rake thin by any means.

Gosh. Was Mark Cueto kicking around that long?

Nope........14 is possibly Jon Sleightholme......doesn't look like Tony Underwood from behind. Is that Catt on the left?

Yes it's Catt, and I thought it looked more like Sleightholme than Hunter

[Banquo]

Gosh. Was Mark Cueto kicking around that long?

Nope........14 is possibly Jon Sleightholme......doesn't look like Tony Underwood from behind. Is that Catt on the left?

Yes it's Catt, and I thought it looked more like Sleightholme than Hunter

I'd discounted Hunter as looking a bit short for him. Mind I did think Catt was Callard initially!

[Digby]

Nope........14 is possibly Jon Sleightholme......doesn't look like Tony Underwood from behind. Is that Catt on the left?

Yes it's Catt, and I thought it looked more like Sleightholme than Hunter

I'd discounted Hunter as looking a bit short for him. Mind I did think Catt was Callard initially!

There's also Hunter (or whoever did his boots) tended to get the black polish and just polish all over, so he'd perhaps not have had the strips of white showing. You just never know when this sort of info will prove useful

[Peat]

His height is even more surprising given he was a hooker for Gosforth.

I don't think I ever knew that. I'd assumed 8 or perhaps a 6, and had I been told he played lock given when he played I'd have accepted that as more than reasonable.

I could be talking bollox of course- I was told that, but could have been made-up! Second row from his era much more likely.

A quick google of Jack Rowell Gosforth turns up two articles alleging he was a second row.

[Banquo]

I don't think I ever knew that. I'd assumed 8 or perhaps a 6, and had I been told he played lock given when he played I'd have accepted that as more than reasonable.

I could be talking bollox of course- I was told that, but could have been made-up! Second row from his era much more likely.

A quick google of Jack Rowell Gosforth turns up two articles alleging he was a second row.

Thanks for that

[jngf]

Spotted Steve Ojomoh at No.8 in that photo. Should have been first choice No.8 far more often than he was in Cooke and Rowell era. Very explosive and better than Richards or Clarke at 8 from '94 onwards imo.

[Oakboy]

Spotted Steve Ojomoh at No.8 in that photo. Should have been first choice No.8 far more often than he was in Cooke and Rowell era. Very explosive and better than Richards or Clarke at 8 from '94 onwards imo.

I always thought Ojomoh was a classic 10/70 player. He did 10 minutes worth of eye-catching stuff and very little in the other 70.