England A vs. Scotland A

[FKAS]

Has he?

Fairly vaguely. A couple of more click baity articles have taken it as a hint that he might play at 12 but I think it sounds more like Gatland wants to trial a hybrid type role like Bath used with Burgess and that England failed spectacularly to replicate. Basically remove him from the tight game and get him leading the line speed outside and carrying away from the heavy impacts up front.

pretty much as at Exeter.

Probably but maybe to a greater degree. The lack of real talent at 12 could mean there's a temptation to try Simmonds at 12 in a friendly though. With the experienced Henshaw in tandem and Russell at 10 that could work or be a disaster but most of us would be interested to see it.

[Stom]

He won't play at 12. He'll just stand at 12 a lot.

[Banquo]

Fairly vaguely. A couple of more click baity articles have taken it as a hint that he might play at 12 but I think it sounds more like Gatland wants to trial a hybrid type role like Bath used with Burgess and that England failed spectacularly to replicate. Basically remove him from the tight game and get him leading the line speed outside and carrying away from the heavy impacts up front.

pretty much as at Exeter.

Probably but maybe to a greater degree. The lack of real talent at 12 could mean there's a temptation to try Simmonds at 12 in a friendly though. With the experienced Henshaw in tandem and Russell at 10 that could work or be a disaster but most of us would be interested to see it.

I don't think Gatland is that daft, though it might happen in extremis in a non test match. It wouldn't interest me.

[Raggs]

It might happen mid week (Are there midweeks?), if he's struggling for numbers and wants to keep actual centres available for tests.

[FKAS]

It might happen mid week (Are there midweeks?), if he's struggling for numbers and wants to keep actual centres available for tests.

I can see it being done during one of the pre test games for the last 20 minutes or something and then quickly discarded and as Stom says standing at 12 from lineouts and employed in the Chiefs style role. Maybe from the bench in the test matches with the Lions looking to move around the Big Bok back in the first 50 mins and as the wear down bring on more mobility to try and take advantage.

[Mikey Brown]

Are you the one writing these click bait articles?

[I R Geech]

When are the squad announcements for England?

[Digby]

pretty much as at Exeter.

Probably but maybe to a greater degree. The lack of real talent at 12 could mean there's a temptation to try Simmonds at 12 in a friendly though. With the experienced Henshaw in tandem and Russell at 10 that could work or be a disaster but most of us would be interested to see it.

I don't think Gatland is that daft, though it might happen in extremis in a non test match. It wouldn't interest me.

What if you could have Simmonds at 12 and Hogg at 10?

[FKAS]

Are you the one writing these click bait articles?

No. Between work and family this is my only procrastination.

England squad announcement Thursday.

[Puja]

BBC are trying to make a story out of Wales not selecting Tommy Reffell. Not much in it when you read the actual quotes by Pivac - it appears one of the quotes is actually about Dan Thomas rather than Reffell! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/57383233

Don't think he'd be in my England squad anyway. With Underhill, BCurry, Hill, Martin, Ludlam, Earl, Barbeary, Willis, and Dombrandt all competing for back row slots, I wouldn't see him featuring in one of the tests and I definitely don't see him throwing over his age group allegiance to Wales just to get an England A game. Poor sod's unlucky though - dual qualified for two teams who at various times over the past 20 years would've given him 50 caps but currently won't give him the time of day.

Puja

[Puja]

Ed Robinson and Alex Codling named as attacking and lineout coaches respectively for the summer.

https://www.englandrugby.com/news/artic ... r-fixtures

Puja

[Stom]

I’d like to see codling back at Quins, actually. Rumors of a falling out with Gustard were the main reason he left, weren’t they

[hanuman]

Are the games being televised live/

[Scrumhead]

I’d like to see codling back at Quins, actually. Rumors of a falling out with Gustard were the main reason he left, weren’t they

That was one rumour, although there were also rumours about Codling’s health.

Rumours aside, it would be factually accurate to say he never stays anywhere very long.

[Danno]

Are the games being televised live/

Yeah, Channel 4 is showing them

[Scrumhead]

Is the A game included? I thought that was just the actual tests?

[fivepointer]

The A game is live on C4 too.

[Puja]

The A game is live on C4 too.

Ooh, that's good news. Have you got confirmation of that anywhere - I was looking to see if that was the case today, but couldn't find anything.

Puja

[fivepointer]

The A game is live on C4 too.

Ooh, that's good news. Have you got confirmation of that anywhere - I was looking to see if that was the case today, but couldn't find anything.

Puja

https://www.englandrugby.com/news/artic ... week-squad

An updated squad will reconvene on Sunday 20 June, ahead of the England A fixture against Scotland A at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, Leicester (Sunday 27 June, 2pm KO). Premiership finalists will not be available for selection for this squad.

Following the final, Jones will further update his squad for England’s two Test matches at Twickenham Stadium in July - USA on Sunday 4 July (2pm KO), and Canada on Saturday 10 July (3pm KO). All three fixtures will be shown live on Channel 4.