RugbyRebels

Out of boredom and some disillusionment around the latest training squad, here’s my view on the long term future:

1. Obano / Boyce
2. Singleton / Walker / Barbeary*
3. Stuart / Painter
4. Skinner / Dombrandt**
5. Witty / Kpoku
6. J. Willis / T. Hill
7. B. Curry / Ludlow / Ludlam***
8. Mercer / Chick
9. Vellacott / S. Maunder****
10. J. Simmonds / M. Smith
11. Cokanasiga / Radwan
12. J. Williams / Redpath / Butler
13. Marchant / Lawrence / Dingwall
14. Ibitoye
15. Malins / Mallinder

*This kid looks great at U18 and I reckon he’ll be fast-tracked at Wasps
**He hasn’t yet played for Quins but I have high hopes
***Let’s see how good he can actually be with some game time
****Apparently better than Jack and already getting Premiership game time at 18

Clearly some of these like Mercer and Cokanasiga are a lot closer to caps than others and some are wildly speculative but there’s definitely a few reasons o be optimistic I’d say.

Didn't realise Johnny Williams was only 21. Might start to nurture a bit of Eng hope for him now.

Edit: he's turned 22 in Aug.

Yeah I was sure he'd been talked about for so many years he must be 25+ by now.

I'm not sure how long-term this side is meant to be, but with currnt players like Genge, George, Itoje etc. likely to be around for a good few years it's quite an exciting prospect.

Mikey Brown wrote:Yeah I was sure he'd been talked about for so many years he must be 25+ by now.

I'm not sure how long-term this side is meant to be, but with currnt players like Genge, George, Itoje etc. likely to be around for a good few years it's quite an exciting prospect.

George is older than you may think...

Bit of a mix really - I can see the likes of Mercer and Cokanasiga picking up caps as soon as the AIs and Willis and Obano might have already done so but for their injuries. Singleton is also firmly on the radar.

The rest are varying distances away - some could easily be in the picture striaght after the World Cup whereas others are a lot more of a speculative punt.

Stom wrote:

Mikey Brown wrote:Yeah I was sure he'd been talked about for so many years he must be 25+ by now.

I'm not sure how long-term this side is meant to be, but with currnt players like Genge, George, Itoje etc. likely to be around for a good few years it's quite an exciting prospect.

George is older than you may think...

Not you again.

George turned 21 on Tuesday.

Mikey Brown wrote:

Stom wrote:

Mikey Brown wrote:Yeah I was sure he'd been talked about for so many years he must be 25+ by now.

I'm not sure how long-term this side is meant to be, but with currnt players like Genge, George, Itoje etc. likely to be around for a good few years it's quite an exciting prospect.

George is older than you may think...

Not you again.

George turned 21 on Tuesday.

Ffs. Do you not know anything about rugby? It was Wednesday.

Lewington is only mid twenties I think.

How long in the future are we talking about? 2023 or 2027 RWC?
Also Genge is younger than Obano.

Yeah - I was specifically looking at uncapped players. No specific timescale.

Scrumhead wrote:Yeah - I was specifically looking at uncapped players. No specific timescale.

If we add in the capped players 25 or under, it becomes something of an incredible looking potential squad...

Genge, Obano, Boyce
LCD, Singleton, Walker
Stuart, Painter
Itoje, Isiekwe, Skinner
Witty, Kpoku, J.Hill
Willis, T.Hill, Underhill
TCurry, BCurry, Ludlow, Ludlam, Earl
BillyV, S.Simmonds, Mercer, Chisholm
S.Maunder, J.Maunder, Randall, Vellacott
Ford, Smith. J.Simmonds, Hardwick
Cokanasiga, Earle, Radwan
J.Williams, Lozowski, Redpath, Butler
Slade, Marchant, Lawrence, Dingwall
Ibitoye
Daly, Malins, Mallinder

And there's a lot coming through in weak areas for us this past 15 years: OSF, SH, IC...

Wouldn't be surprised if Ibitoye doesn't become as big as somethink.

Also from a biased one eyed POV Olowofela seems to have overtaken him currently.

I think Ibitoye has the ability to be something special, but right now, Olowafela is getting game time and looking good.

TBH not sure how I forgot him ...

Tigersman wrote:Wouldn't be surprised if Ibitoye doesn't become as big as somethink.

Also from a biased one eyed POV Olowofela seems to have overtaken him currently.

Shoot, me too! I saw the list and thought: there's a Tiger missing. So added Hardwick. And then thought: I'm still missing someone...

Stom wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Yeah - I was specifically looking at uncapped players. No specific timescale.

If we add in the capped players 25 or under, it becomes something of an incredible looking potential squad...

Genge, Obano, Boyce
LCD, Singleton, Walker
Stuart, Painter
Itoje, Isiekwe, Skinner
Witty, Kpoku, J.Hill
Willis, T.Hill, Underhill
TCurry, BCurry, Ludlow, Ludlam, Earl
BillyV, S.Simmonds, Mercer, Chisholm
S.Maunder, J.Maunder, Randall, Vellacott
Ford, Smith. J.Simmonds, Hardwick
Cokanasiga, Earle, Radwan
J.Williams, Lozowski, Redpath, Butler
Slade, Marchant, Lawrence, Dingwall
Ibitoye
Daly, Malins, Mallinder

And there's a lot coming through in weak areas for us this past 15 years: OSF, SH, IC...

I love how we’re pretending Farrell won’t be there

Including the capped players, I think we’ll be looking at a post World Cup squad from:

1. M. Vunipola / Genge / Hepburn / Obano / Boyce
2. George / Cowan-Dickie / Singleton / Taylor / J. Walker
3. Sinckler / H. Williams / P. Hill / Stuart / Painter
4. Itoje / Isiekwe / J. Hill
5. Launchbury / Skinner / Ewels / Kpoku
6. J. Willis / Underhill / T. Hill
7. T. Curry / B. Curry / Ludlow / Ludlam
8. B. Vunipola / Mercer / S. Simmonds / J. Chisholm
9. Robson / J. Maunder / Vellacott
10. G. Ford / J. Simmonds / M. Smith
11. May / Cokanasiga / Radwan
12. Farrell / J. Williams / Redpath / Butler / Hardwick
13. Slade / Joseph / Marchant / Lawrence / Dingwall
14. Watson / Ibitoye
15. Daly / Malins / Mallinder

Personally I think that’s a pretty impressive list.

Scrumhead wrote:

Stom wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Yeah - I was specifically looking at uncapped players. No specific timescale.

If we add in the capped players 25 or under, it becomes something of an incredible looking potential squad...

Genge, Obano, Boyce
LCD, Singleton, Walker
Stuart, Painter
Itoje, Isiekwe, Skinner
Witty, Kpoku, J.Hill
Willis, T.Hill, Underhill
TCurry, BCurry, Ludlow, Ludlam, Earl
BillyV, S.Simmonds, Mercer, Chisholm
S.Maunder, J.Maunder, Randall, Vellacott
Ford, Smith. J.Simmonds, Hardwick
Cokanasiga, Earle, Radwan
J.Williams, Lozowski, Redpath, Butler
Slade, Marchant, Lawrence, Dingwall
Ibitoye
Daly, Malins, Mallinder

And there's a lot coming through in weak areas for us this past 15 years: OSF, SH, IC...

I love how we’re pretending Farrell won’t be there
.

Hahahaha. This has made my night.

Sadly, I can’t help but go through the list and wonder who will fail to fulfil their potential, who will suffer a career ending injury and who will be ruined by the grind of the Prem.

Mellsblue wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:

Stom wrote:
If we add in the capped players 25 or under, it becomes something of an incredible looking potential squad...

Genge, Obano, Boyce
LCD, Singleton, Walker
Stuart, Painter
Itoje, Isiekwe, Skinner
Witty, Kpoku, J.Hill
Willis, T.Hill, Underhill
TCurry, BCurry, Ludlow, Ludlam, Earl
BillyV, S.Simmonds, Mercer, Chisholm
S.Maunder, J.Maunder, Randall, Vellacott
Ford, Smith. J.Simmonds, Hardwick
Cokanasiga, Earle, Radwan
J.Williams, Lozowski, Redpath, Butler
Slade, Marchant, Lawrence, Dingwall
Ibitoye
Daly, Malins, Mallinder

And there's a lot coming through in weak areas for us this past 15 years: OSF, SH, IC...

I love how we’re pretending Farrell won’t be there
.

Hahahaha. This has made my night.

Sadly, I can’t help but go through the list and wonder who will fail to fulfil their potential, who will suffer a career ending injury and who will be ruined by the grind of the Prem.

Well he is 27...

Is Olowafela playing well? Haven't seen much of him yet

TheNomad wrote:Is Olowafela playing well? Haven't seen much of him yet

He looks young, slight, and inexperienced, understandably so. He's learning a lot from his current stint in the Leicester team, rather than actively playing well.

Puja

Stom wrote:

Mellsblue wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:
I love how we’re pretending Farrell won’t be there
.

Hahahaha. This has made my night.

Sadly, I can’t help but go through the list and wonder who will fail to fulfil their potential, who will suffer a career ending injury and who will be ruined by the grind of the Prem.

Well he is 27...

Only ~5 more years

Given the chat on the EPS thread and no RWC games today, I thought this might be worth revisiting ...

7 out of the list in the OP are now capped (Singleton, Skinner*, Ted Hill, Ludlam, Mercer, Marchant and Cokanasiga).

My big hopes are for Alex Mitchell, Max Malins and Jack Willis.

I’d also love to see Will Stuart or Joe Heyes kick on at tighthead too.

Tom Willis may be a longer-term name to emerge to. Lots of people in the know claim he's a better all round player than Jack

Peej wrote:Tom Willis may be a longer-term name to emerge to. Lots of people in the know claim he's a better all round player than Jack

He is young and he could emerge, but I don't see it at the moment. He's a different type of player from Jack apart from anything else. Jack has a freakish ability to hunt turnovers, which goes beyond anything I've ever seen in the English game and it sets him apart. Tom's been okay when I've seen him, but nothing that marks him out as a star of the future.

Same with Sam and Jack Maunder - "people say" that Sam is better, but I still favour Maunder the elder for his speed of service and haven't seen anything in the younger yet to make me think he's something special.

Puja

Scrumhead wrote:Given the chat on the EPS thread and no RWC games today, I thought this might be worth revisiting ...

7 out of the list in the OP are now capped (Singleton, Skinner*, Ted Hill, Ludlam, Mercer, Marchant and Cokanasiga).

My big hopes are for Alex Mitchell, Max Malins and Jack Willis.

I’d also love to see Will Stuart or Joe Heyes kick on at tighthead too.

Pity about Skinner but its a good sign that a few of the players listed have made their debuts. A lot of good names in the original list and some will come through over the next season or two.

Keep an eye on Marcus Street and Alex Coles from last years u20's.

From what i've seen Ibitoye looks really sharp this season. He stalled a bit last year but has potential to go far.

Its very early and i'm only basing this on one game, but i liked the look of the 20 year old Sam Wolstenholme who played SH for Wasps at the weekend. Looked a to have a very tidy service and got around the pitch well. With Vellacott picking up a long term injury, he might be getting a few opportunities.

Scrumhead wrote:Given the chat on the EPS thread and no RWC games today, I thought this might be worth revisiting ...

7 out of the list in the OP are now capped (Singleton, Skinner*, Ted Hill, Ludlam, Mercer, Marchant and Cokanasiga).

My big hopes are for Alex Mitchell, Max Malins and Jack Willis.

I’d also love to see Will Stuart or Joe Heyes kick on at tighthead too.

I like the look of Hinkley- looked to be learning every game