England squad for start of 6N’s

[Digby]

Does Eddie mean more btw than Nowell would be the blindside winger where possible?

[Renniks]

Does Eddie mean more btw than Nowell would be the blindside winger where possible?

This actually makes a lot of sense to me…

Give Daly / May / Watson lots of space to attack, and they have the pace to defend the wider channel
Give Nowell / ???? the tighter spaces to break through (he does this well), and less space to defend (no being burnt on the outside)

Where does Big Joe fit? He almost certainly could do a job in tight spaces… but is absolutely lethal when given lots of space too

[Mikey Brown]

Does Eddie mean more btw than Nowell would be the blindside winger where possible?

This actually makes a lot of sense to me…

Give Daly / May / Watson lots of space to attack, and they have the pace to defend the wider channel
Give Nowell / ???? the tighter spaces to break through (he does this well), and less space to defend (no being burnt on the outside)

Where does Big Joe fit? He almost certainly could do a job in tight spaces… but is absolutely lethal when given lots of space too

Tl;dr Nowell has some talent but isn’t a particularly good winger.

[Stom]

Nowell has a lot of similarities with another England player a lot of people have shat on for many years...

Mike Brown.

- Not the quickest outside back but not as slow as made out.
- Strong in contact with good leg drive
- Doesn't often pass, but still makes a lot of assists due to breaking through the first line of defense but not being able to finish on his own
- Can get done on the outside when defending a wing
- Tenacious and doesn't give up
- A very hard worker

Seriously, stick him at FB, not Daly.

[Digby]

Stuart Barnes agrees with you Stom, at least as far as the Ireland game goes

[morepork]

Do I detect some tentative optimism on here?

[Renniks]

I don't want my FB (or arguably, my wingers) to have those attributes though…

That's why I don't completely dislike this potential idea of a blindside winger - because Nowell, and Brown, are definitely good players. So find a role that works for them… It also might set us apart from other teams for a bit

[Digby]

I don't want my FB (or arguably, my wingers) to have those attributes though…

That's why I don't completely dislike this potential idea of a blindside winger - because Nowell, and Brown, are definitely good players. So find a role that works for them… It also might set us apart from other teams for a bit

Not having pace in the backs frequently sets us apart from other sides

[Oakboy]

I don't want my FB (or arguably, my wingers) to have those attributes though…

That's why I don't completely dislike this potential idea of a blindside winger - because Nowell, and Brown, are definitely good players. So find a role that works for them… It also might set us apart from other teams for a bit

Not having pace in the backs frequently sets us apart from other sides

As long as he has pace with a couple of players (May and Daly, say), Jones seems to set more store by power/size (Farrell, Coka, Tuilagi, T'eo). Somehow, he never gets the balance right. Maybe, he should just opt for skill (Cipriani).

[twitchy]

Does Eddie mean more btw than Nowell would be the blindside winger where possible?

I din't see the press conference but he's just having a bit of fun I think.

[Digby]

Does Eddie mean more btw than Nowell would be the blindside winger where possible?

I din't see the press conference but he's juts having a bit of fun I think.

Almost certainly so, nonetheless technically how it might work is of interest to me, but then I'm not very interesting

[richy678]

Nowell has a lot of similarities with another England player a lot of people have shat on for many years...

Mike Brown.

- Not the quickest outside back but not as slow as made out.
- Strong in contact with good leg drive
- Doesn't often pass, but still makes a lot of assists due to breaking through the first line of defense but not being able to finish on his own
- Can get done on the outside when defending a wing
- Tenacious and doesn't give up
- A very hard worker

Seriously, stick him at FB, not Daly.

Agree. Browny copped a lot of flack from the back play purists, when I saw him as a highly competent, tough, fast enough full back. he knew the way to the line as well.

[Stom]

Nowell has a lot of similarities with another England player a lot of people have shat on for many years...

Mike Brown.

- Not the quickest outside back but not as slow as made out.
- Strong in contact with good leg drive
- Doesn't often pass, but still makes a lot of assists due to breaking through the first line of defense but not being able to finish on his own
- Can get done on the outside when defending a wing
- Tenacious and doesn't give up
- A very hard worker

Seriously, stick him at FB, not Daly.

Agree. Browny copped a lot of flack from the back play purists, when I saw him as a highly competent, tough, fast enough full back. he knew the way to the line as well.

Copped?
Saw?
Knew?

Don't you mean
Cops?
See?
Know?

He's back and he's going to play for England! And he's playing damn well for Quins. Got his mojo back and his hair...Though it's harder to tell it's him now

[richy678]

Nowell has a lot of similarities with another England player a lot of people have shat on for many years...

Mike Brown.

- Not the quickest outside back but not as slow as made out.
- Strong in contact with good leg drive
- Doesn't often pass, but still makes a lot of assists due to breaking through the first line of defense but not being able to finish on his own
- Can get done on the outside when defending a wing
- Tenacious and doesn't give up
- A very hard worker

Seriously, stick him at FB, not Daly.

Agree. Browny copped a lot of flack from the back play purists, when I saw him as a highly competent, tough, fast enough full back. he knew the way to the line as well.

Copped?
Saw?
Knew?

Don't you mean
Cops?
See?
Know?

He's back and he's going to play for England! And he's playing damn well for Quins. Got his mojo back and his hair...Though it's harder to tell it's him now

He can go and get stuck in at the rucks again then.
Browny will probably be talismanic and Eddie will feed us some bullshit with a twinkle in his eye about tactically dropping him to get him fired up...or some old flannel.

[Timbo]

I don't want my FB (or arguably, my wingers) to have those attributes though…

That's why I don't completely dislike this potential idea of a blindside winger - because Nowell, and Brown, are definitely good players. So find a role that works for them… It also might set us apart from other teams for a bit

Not having pace in the backs frequently sets us apart from other sides

Not really.

[Digby]

I don't want my FB (or arguably, my wingers) to have those attributes though…

That's why I don't completely dislike this potential idea of a blindside winger - because Nowell, and Brown, are definitely good players. So find a role that works for them… It also might set us apart from other teams for a bit

Not having pace in the backs frequently sets us apart from other sides

Not really.

Tbh I did wonder about adding the Scotland caveat, though in our case we often have more choice

[Timbo]

Not having pace in the backs frequently sets us apart from other sides

Not really.

Tbh I did wonder about adding the Scotland caveat, though in our case we often have more choice

You really think that England have frequently picked particularly slow back lines when compared to other teams?

[p/d]

Seriously, stick him at FB, not Daly.

Amen to that. Wouldn’t bother me if Daly only made the bench. A 15 he ain’t

[Digby]

Not really.

Tbh I did wonder about adding the Scotland caveat, though in our case we often have more choice

You really think that England have frequently picked particularly slow back lines when compared to other teams?

I really think we've picked slower backlines than we ought to have, I don't really care about other sides

[Spiffy]

Seriously, stick him at FB, not Daly.

Amen to that. Wouldn’t bother me if Daly only made the bench. A 15 he ain’t

He's shown that he's a good wing. Daly/May are probably England's best wing pairing.

[p/d]

Seriously, stick him at FB, not Daly.

Amen to that. Wouldn’t bother me if Daly only made the bench. A 15 he ain’t

He's shown that he's a good wing. Daly/May are probably England's best wing pairing.

Yep, you are probably right. Just feel the competition for those berths is healthy enough that a place on the bench isn’t necessarily a bad thing

[Oakboy]

Seriously, stick him at FB, not Daly.

Amen to that. Wouldn’t bother me if Daly only made the bench. A 15 he ain’t

He's shown that he's a good wing. Daly/May are probably England's best wing pairing.

IF Daly recovers his full form and confidence you are right. For Dublin will he have, though? Jones is entirely to blame for wasting his time at FB and, basically, buggering him up.

[twitchy]

It's bizarre how few full backs we have. We shouldn't need to be converting players from other positions.

[Stom]

It's bizarre how few full backs we have. We shouldn't need to be converting players from other positions.

But we do have FBs. It's just Eddie didn't want Mike Brown for some reason...

Plus Watson was injured. And Goode and Pennell not selected.

Doesn't seem "few" to me.

[richy678]

It's bizarre how few full backs we have. We shouldn't need to be converting players from other positions.

Englands problem has always been at 12. We've had the odd one or two that could play 2nd 5/8th and do the modern physical bit.

We didn't really have an openside after Backy finished - till perhaps now? I thought Tom Rees was the chosen one but he broke.
Mind you some coaches had different ideas about playing a fetcher.

We've had some very good fullbacks over years - I go back to Peter Rossborough, but we could throw in names like Dusty Hare, Jonathon Webb and Josh Lewsey without thinking too hard.