Alternative England

[Doorzetbornandbred]

Parallel Universe time, Eddie has quit the job after all the vitriol on twitter from Barbara and Derek from High Wycombe. Bill Sweeneys been on the blower, in a cost cutting exercise youve got the job as Head Coach. You can pick a 36 player squad for the rest of the 6N's based on form pre Eddie picking his squad. Anyone who was injured is miraculously fit again. Who would you pick?
The 2 form locks for me have been Attwood and Launchbury.
Only a bit of fun nothing serious. Curious how different a RR England squad would look from Eddie's pick.

[Stom]

Mako, Genge, Obano
George, LCD, Barbeary
Sinckler, Stuart, Covid denying twat
Itoje, Hill
Launchbury, Lawes
Willis, Underhill, Curry, THill
Mercer, Simmonds, Billy
Youngs, Randall, Robson
Ford, Smith, Simmonds
Farrell, Lawrence, Slade, Tuilagi, Marchant
May, Watson, Daly, Thorley, Malins

Mako
George
Sinckler
Itoje
Launch
Willis
Curry
Mercer
Randall
Ford
May
Farrell
Tuilagi
Thorley
Watson

LCD, Genge, Stuart, Lawes, THill, Youngs, Simmonds, Marchant

[Which Tyler]

I'd be very close to Stom.

Marler, Mako, Genge
George, LCD, Dunn (Barbeary as apprentice)
Sinckler, Stuart, Someone who doesn't deny Covid (Street as apprentice)
Itoje (c), Hill, Launchbury, Lawes
Willis, Underhill, Curry, Earl, Wilson, THill, Dombrandt (Mercer's taking himself out of contention)

Spencer, Robson, Randall
Ford, Smith, Simmonds
Farrell, Lawrence, Slade, Tuilagi, Odogwu (James as apprentice)
May, Watson, Daly, Thorley, Malins (Steward and De Glanville as apprentices)



Marler
George
Sinckler
Itoje (c)
Launchbury
Underhill
Curry
Willis / Wilson

Robson
Ford
May
Tuilagi
Slade
Watson
Malins

Bench I'd be looking more at getting some game time into the inexperienced players rather than just the next-best

Front row is doing fine, 3 genuine options in all 3 positions. 4 proper choices at LHP and hooker.
Second row is doing fine. Itoje should be our captain by now, then we've 2 experienced pros who any country would be happy to have fitting alongside him. Then we've 2 younger guys to train up as future planning (even if I'm not personally convinced by either of them they look to be "good enough")
Backrow is an embarrassment of riches, and none should be thinking themselves secure in the squad, let alone the starting XV. There's some experimentation with balance to be done, but otherwise the net couple of years is about getting the less experienced members more comfortable at this level. In theory, you can only pick a bad backrow if you start putting locks back there - so pick on form and what the opposition would least like you to. As you can't just keep chopping and hanging, I'd be looking to rotate between Underhill, Curry, Willis, Wilson and Earl - Billy can come back in if/when he finds his mojo again, Dombrandt if/when he's picked up a bit more polish. Simmonds, Ludlam et al will have to either up their game, or wait for injuries, sorry guys.

Halfbacks.... Hmmm... Youngs isn't good enough, but there's nobody obviously better, so we either need to identify someone promising and gamble, or ease 2-3 options in from the bench. There's no-one I'm convinced by at SH, but we can't repeat the mistakes of the last 6 years by refusing to look at any of them. Ford is our best FH, Farrell is a decent international FH but lacks flexibility; Simmonds and Smith need to get out on the pitch a dozen times each and see what they can do. Both halfback positions are conundrums; one because there aren't any obvious options, and one because there aren't enough spaces for the options we have.
Centres... We've got plenty of OCs, with a variety of form, health and experience; we've just let our best bets at IC move to Scotland and Wales, due to trying to fit both Ford and Farrell into the XV. Lawrence needs to be stuck with, I'd be working on Exeter to get Slade a dozen starts at IC rather than having to experiment at international level, and never having the freedom to finish the experiment.
Wing slots are doing fine, May and Watson are both world class, Daly can be, Nowell and Coka (once fit mentally as well as physically) offer good options, and there are plenty of younger guns looking to force their way in.
Full back - Daly is in possession, but very vulnerable to someone else getting their feet under the table. Malins is in prime position there, Tom De Glanville looks like he'll provide the competition as a like-for-like replacement, Steward as a more traditional style.

[Mikey Brown]

Dombrandt? Pah! He wouldn’t even bother getting up off the sofa if you offered him a cap.

[Danno]

Dombrandt? Pah! He wouldn’t even bother getting up off the sofa if you offered him a cap.

[Scrumhead]

The thing is, we DO have exciting players. We just choose not to use them or don’t allow them to express themselves.

Can we play like France? Maybe not quite, but a halfback combination of Randall and Smith if given the freedom to play would be exciting to watch. Particularly if paired with Lawrence and Odogwu in the centre and Malins at 15.

Right now, the French are showing the value of running, skilful rugby which is entertaining to watch.

[Beasties]

The thing is, we DO have exciting players. We just choose not to use them or don’t allow them to express themselves.

Can we play like France? Maybe not quite, but a halfback combination of Randall and Smith if given the freedom to play would be exciting to watch. Particularly if paired with Lawrence and Odogwu in the centre and Malins at 15.

Right now, the French are showing the value of running, skilful rugby which is entertaining to watch.

Yup. It's not the players in the squad that's the problem it's the fekking Godawful gameplan. That and the fact they all seem to be terrified to do something Eddie hasn't prescribed first, Ford included now sadly.