England v Australia, Sat 13 Nov KO 5.30pm

[Spiffy]

Oh. No. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby ... ralia.html

"Unleash", eh. They sound like a pair of vicious hounds ready to rip the opposition apart, tear out their throats and vital organs. Poor old Oz - they must be quaking in their boots!

Poor old Smith.

[badback]

Oh. No. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby ... ralia.html

"Unleash", eh. They sound like a pair of vicious hounds ready to rip the opposition apart, tear out their throats and vital organs. Poor old Oz - they must be quaking in their boots!

Poor old Smith.

Yeah

[FKAS]

Farrell was always going to be selected, best result is him at 12.

[Mikey Brown]

What was the “oh no” in reference to?

As far as I can see this article is saying it’s essentially a choice between Smith (previously Ford) and Slade in midfield, or is there something I’m missing?

I was hoping for something a bit more having knowingly clicked on a DM link.

[Digby]

The unknown with the Aussies, other than where they are with tightheads, is their work rate. Some games it's been excellent, some games teams are just running through the lines (off the ball) in attack and defence. It'd be easy to say they'd be up for it against England, but in theory they'd be up for it against NZ, and yet they waddled around in a fashion which would have annoyed Nick Easter

Rennie nearly has something, whether he can work out what that is and make it consistent I don't know. But in any given game they can beat anyone

[jngf]

I quite enjoyed Slade in his outings at 15 too actually, but I can't see any real need for investing in him there for either Exeter or England. It's nice to have his flexibility available if he is on the bench with no fullback, but that's about it unless he decides he wants to throw away all of his development as 1 of only 3 serious centre options for England in the last few seasons.

It's curious you see him as stodgy and 'less than exciting', maybe he's not the fastest but he can create magic when the mood takes him. My issue is seeing the same handling errors and defensive lapses still popping up. He looked all over the place at the start of the Premiership season (as did many Exeter players tbf) but does seem to have got his form heading in the right direction now.

I think Slade doesn’t have quite the pace needed to cover wing as other options (Joseph, Daly and Jack Knowell) can but ironically has playmaking skills underused at 13 - as a 12 option I think he’s a helluva more exciting prospect than you know who however!

[jngf]

Farrell was always going to be selected, best result is him at 12.

Use Farrell as decoy runner? ...every time

[jngf]

I would love to have seen Hooper v Sam Simmonds - titanic clash of the flying flankers - but not going to happen with Eddy

[Puja]

Ignoring the above rancid bait, was interested to see in an article that Sam Underhill is fit and available for the Aus game. I'd kinda assumed that he would be out of the game with a head injury, but it appears not. Good news, although it'll mean a bit of a reshuffle mid-match when he does get injured.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Obviously I'm happy if he's fit as he's a great player, but I assumed the same from the way he looked when he came off. Surely he can't be 100%.

Was also looking forward to seeing Dombrandt get a start, and worry if it's a tight game Eddie won't trust bringing him on with more than a few minutes left.

[SDHoneymonster]

Oh god I'm so confused by that.

[Tom Moore]

I was not expecting that lineup. Or bench, come to think if it.

[SDHoneymonster]

That backline absolutely SCREAMING 'Please don't make me make the decision I need to make.' Never a fan of a 6-2 split... except for when it's to include both Dombrandt and Simmonds. There could be some sexy results on that front. But yeah, the backline is horribly imbalanced. Poor old Marcus.

[p/d]

Good to see the Curry at 8 was a success and Burt’s use of Manu as a wing hasn’t gone unnoticed

The things we do to ensure we can field our test match animal

[Puja]

1. Genge
2. George
3. Sinckler
4. Itoje
5. Hill
6. Lawes
7. Underhill
8. Curry

9. Youngs
10. Smith
11. May
12. Farrell
13. Slade
14. TUILAGI?!
15. Steward

[p/d]

Genuine question, where has he earmarked Simmonds to play?

[Raggs]

Tuilagi has posted his fastest GPS speeds on England records. If he comes off the wing a lot, it's perhaps not terrible.

I do worry about the kicking game though, I don't want him fielding kicks...

[SDHoneymonster]

Genuine question, where has he earmarked Simmonds to play?

It's not actually a 6-2 split at all, Simmonds is covering the centres...

[Puja]

Oh god I'm so confused by that.

So say we all. No number 8s on the pitch, but two on the bench. What's the bet Dombrandt ends up at lock for part of the game?

I can kinda see the logic of the backline though - Uncle Eddie has been trying to do away with a winger and replace it with 3 centres for a while (Marchant, Daly, and Joseph on the wing). I can definitely see the attraction of using Manu as a floating winger who can come in and f*ck up the opposition defence where they don't expect him, instead of using him as a fixed object that the opposition can spot early and target. I'm certainly more in favour of it now that he's slimmed down to an early outside-break Manu body, rather than later-style BigBosh oops-all-muscles Manu. And it certainly is better than just pairing Faz/Slade in the centres and not having any penetration at all.

However, spare a thought for Radwan who has gone from starting to not even in the XXIII. Hope Jones has done some personal man management there, as otherwise that's a pretty shitty way to treat a young player.

This feels like an experimental XV, with Jones trialling various tricks and ploys and experimenting with players' versatility that he might want in a RWC squad. Bit disrespectful of Australia, although hopefully he's right and they can be disrespected with impunity.

Great to see Quirke in there though. I have such high hopes for him.

Puja

[Oakboy]

It's like a compromise dream to avoid having to make important decisions.

[El Tigre]

First time I've commented on here in some time but......WTF!

[El Tigre]

I'm expecting one of Dombrandt or Simmonds not to make it on to the pitch unless injury forces Eddie's hand

[Oakboy]

I wonder what Australia make of the selection. Might they be delighted that Farrell is at 12? I think they would have preferred not to face Smith/Tuilagi/Slade at 10/12/13.

[Puja]

Genuine question, where has he earmarked Simmonds to play?

It's not actually a 6-2 split at all, Simmonds is covering the centres...

He's actually likely the closest like-for-like that we have for Tuilagi, so he's probably right wing cover.

Puja

[p/d]

Oh god I'm so confused by that.

So say we all. No number 8s on the pitch, but two on the bench. What's the bet Dombrandt ends up at lock for part of the game?
Puja

Which makes you wonder why Ewels is on the bench