RugbyRebels

Per BBC:

"Mike Brown says it was "heartbreaking" to miss out on England's Rugby World Cup squad and the Harlequin believes he is still the country's best full-back.
The 34-year-old Quins stalwart, who has 72 caps, was involved in pre-World Cup training camps but missed out on Eddie Jones' final 31-man squad.
"I tried to put everything I had on the training field, but it wasn't enough in the end," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"That's the nature of team sport and selection - it's one man's opinion."
Brown won the last of his caps in the summer of 2018, but believes he is capable of performing at the highest level.
"I feel like I'm the best English full-back, and I think I showed that last season," he said."

Maybe, he has a point. I'd have taken him ahead of McC.

I probably would have had him as well, but I do like Eddie's theory of filling the fringes of the squad with tyros who will be excited to be there even if they don't get much game time, rather than experienced heads who might be disappointed and drag the mood down if they're not in the first XV.

Puja

Goode makes as a similar claim about showing who was best last season. Neither looks a great fit at test level

Digby wrote:Goode makes as a similar claim about showing who was best last season. Neither looks a great fit at test level

Arguably, though, he has not done it at international level whereas Brown has.

Yes, though Brown has plenty of piss poor games at test level too.

As with many of EJs last minute changes heading into the World Cup I wouldn’t have really blamed him for doing it a year or two earlier when that player was actually playing poorly. But this was simply not the form call.

Maybe it’s not a coincidence that a few guys’ form really picked up when not being involved with England though.

I would agree it's easier to play at a much lower level than test rugby

And that when a player loses his international place, he's likely to work a lot harder and put effort into improving himself to try and get it back.

Puja

Damned if I can see any improvement in Brown. The last update was when he learnt not to merely kick if the ball went down our left and run when it went down our right, which was almost a shame in itself, you don't get much in a test 15 that says schoolboy on quite that level.

Also I suspect it varies, some players must surely work harder to stay in a team

Thought he was dropped because him and Teo had a scrap?

Freddo wrote:Thought he was dropped because him and Teo had a scrap?

I don't know he'd've got in anyway. Did one last service to the team by making sure Te'o didn't go though.

Puja

Daly has spent a year proving Brown is our best fb

p/d wrote:Daly has spent a year proving Brown is our best fb

I think the best balanced back three is Brown at FB with Daly and May on the wings. Why on earth Jones played Brown on the wing even for 5 minutes, I will never understand.

Now, what is our best back three? I'd still choose Watson at FB with Daly and May on the wings but Jones had the chance to try that in the warm-up games and chose not to.

I think Jones will pick Daly at FB with May and Coka.

p/d wrote:Daly has spent a year proving Brown is our best fb

He’s spent a year showing what we missed in attack when Brown played, and what we miss in defence without a excellent positional 15 who is good under the high ball.

His best position is 11, and with some imagination could get a similar return in attack

Oakboy wrote:

p/d wrote:Daly has spent a year proving Brown is our best fb

I think the best balanced back three is Brown at FB with Daly and May on the wings. Why on earth Jones played Brown on the wing even for 5 minutes, I will never understand.

Now, what is our best back three? I'd still choose Watson at FB with Daly and May on the wings but Jones had the chance to try that in the warm-up games and chose not to.

I think Jones will pick Daly at FB with May and Coka.

Yep. Contrary to what others think Brown does offer a lot in attack, though admittedly that is generally through heavy traffic opposed to flashy running across the pitch. That said Eddie wants what he views his best players on the pitch and he was always going to shove one of our wide boys into the 15 berth.

Going to a WC without a specialist for each position will always be a risk.

Oh, and Coka's defence surely takes him out of the running as being a first choice

Digby wrote:I would agree it's easier to play at a much lower level than test rugby

You can't genuinely have confused what I said for being the same as this. I think you're about as objective on this as I am.

p/d wrote:

Oakboy wrote:

p/d wrote:Daly has spent a year proving Brown is our best fb

I think the best balanced back three is Brown at FB with Daly and May on the wings. Why on earth Jones played Brown on the wing even for 5 minutes, I will never understand.

Now, what is our best back three? I'd still choose Watson at FB with Daly and May on the wings but Jones had the chance to try that in the warm-up games and chose not to.

I think Jones will pick Daly at FB with May and Coka.

Yep. Contrary to what others think Brown does offer a lot in attack, though admittedly that is generally through heavy traffic opposed to flashy running across the pitch. That said Eddie wants what he views his best players on the pitch and he was always going to shove one of our wide boys into the 15 berth.

Going to a WC without a specialist for each position will always be a risk.

Oh, and Coka's defence surely takes him out of the running as being a first choice

I am a Browny fan.
Solidity at the back - brave.
Brown knew his way to the try line and (honestly) had deceptive pace - but even I noticed that sometimes he did not give the scoring pass when it was on.
Someone above talks about Brown having default plays defensivley either left or right of the pitch, I think England look to do different things with the ball now than maybe they did then (ok that maybe tail wagging the dog in terms of we have more skilled and creative footballers on the park).
Hes 34 - he should be at this world cup but was essed about covering wing as Eddie fannied about trying to find his replacement.

p/d wrote:

Oakboy wrote:

p/d wrote:Daly has spent a year proving Brown is our best fb

I think the best balanced back three is Brown at FB with Daly and May on the wings. Why on earth Jones played Brown on the wing even for 5 minutes, I will never understand.

Now, what is our best back three? I'd still choose Watson at FB with Daly and May on the wings but Jones had the chance to try that in the warm-up games and chose not to.

I think Jones will pick Daly at FB with May and Coka.

Yep. Contrary to what others think Brown does offer a lot in attack, though admittedly that is generally through heavy traffic opposed to flashy running across the pitch. That said Eddie wants what he views his best players on the pitch and he was always going to shove one of our wide boys into the 15 berth.

Going to a WC without a specialist for each position will always be a risk.

Oh, and Coka's defence surely takes him out of the running as being a first choice

If you want a carrying flanker 15, mikey is indeed your man. As we now have plenty of carriers surplus to needs Good yeoman for a while. As I said, I don’t think Daly should be there either though.

I don't really get why we stuck so long with Brown only to change for faults that were self evident from before he was even picked by Burt. And it's not the only player that comment holds for.

Digby wrote:I don't really get why we stuck so long with Brown only to change for faults that were self evident from before he was even picked by Burt. And it's not the only player that comment holds for.

That we can agree on. I quite like what we’re doing with Daly at the back in attack but it all seems a bit out of the blue, considering Eddie had everything all mapped out from the start. Or so he said.

I still think he can do basically all of it from the wing where he is, strangely, very good positionally in defence.

Did Watson get enough of a test at 15 to change Eddie’s mind about anything?