England A vs All Blacks XV, 8 November at the Rec

[FKAS]

Has Hall played this season? Seems quite a swift promotion, though he is obviously a talented lad.

Pack looks pretty solid, not sure about the half backs and i'm no fan of Hodge at FB.

Should be interesting but alas is on Premier sports.

Yep. Played against Oxford Uni, then off the bench in Prem then for Ampthill just to get minutes in him. Had a niggly ankle injury that kept him out of the U20 World Cup and missed bits of pre-season with it.

Is definitely a swift promotion, because of what he could be, rather than what he is now.

Borthwick loves a utility option as well doesn't he. 13/wing/15 Hall could be a very useful option in the squad.

[charlesdeboeuf]

Has Hall played this season? Seems quite a swift promotion, though he is obviously a talented lad.

Pack looks pretty solid, not sure about the half backs and i'm no fan of Hodge at FB.

Should be interesting but alas is on Premier sports.

Yep. Played against Oxford Uni, then off the bench in Prem then for Ampthill just to get minutes in him. Had a niggly ankle injury that kept him out of the U20 World Cup and missed bits of pre-season with it.

Is definitely a swift promotion, because of what he could be, rather than what he is now.

Borthwick loves a utility option as well doesn't he. 13/wing/15 Hall could be a very useful option in the squad.

He’s the new Tobias Elliott!

[Epaminondas Pules]

Has Hall played this season? Seems quite a swift promotion, though he is obviously a talented lad.

Pack looks pretty solid, not sure about the half backs and i'm no fan of Hodge at FB.

Should be interesting but alas is on Premier sports.

Yep. Played against Oxford Uni, then off the bench in Prem then for Ampthill just to get minutes in him. Had a niggly ankle injury that kept him out of the U20 World Cup and missed bits of pre-season with it.

Is definitely a swift promotion, because of what he could be, rather than what he is now.

Borthwick loves a utility option as well doesn't he. 13/wing/15 Hall could be a very useful option in the squad.

Can play 12 too

[FKAS]

Yep. Played against Oxford Uni, then off the bench in Prem then for Ampthill just to get minutes in him. Had a niggly ankle injury that kept him out of the U20 World Cup and missed bits of pre-season with it.

Is definitely a swift promotion, because of what he could be, rather than what he is now.

Borthwick loves a utility option as well doesn't he. 13/wing/15 Hall could be a very useful option in the squad.

Can play 12 too

Good performance at the weekend and he'll get nicknamed "Luke" cause he's the New Hope

[Epaminondas Pules]

Borthwick loves a utility option as well doesn't he. 13/wing/15 Hall could be a very useful option in the squad.

Can play 12 too

Good performance at the weekend and he'll get nicknamed "Luke" cause he's the New Hope

One thing you’d hope is that backline won’t die wondering!

[charlesdeboeuf]

Caluori’s aerial game is absolutely incredible.

[Oakboy]

After 25 minutes NZ have kicked to touch nearly every time from deep.

[Captainhaircut]

Backline has been a mess.

[Which Tyler]

Any working streams?
Took me 25 minutes to find one that only works on the tablet - and dropped out shortly before half time

[Oakboy]

Something of a hammering now. We were incohesive unsurprisingly. Few players really impressed though several, OHC for instance were useful.

The biggest issue for me was the over-use of box-kicking as usual. Speculative kicking is not the way to play NZ. Give them easy possession and they make good use of it. It's not rocket science to recognise that.

[FKAS]

Backline has been a mess.

I mean Mark Mapletoft is in charge, not really a surprise.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Just finished watch the first half. Blamire has had an utter mare. Ojomoh with a couple of really nice touches and a couple of really poor ones. Pack doing ok.

Both wings have done well.

The attack looks very scrappy. It’s not the backline as such as it’s as much forwards fucking up as backs.

[fivepointer]

Disappointing result.

limited highlights here.

[Stom]

Yeah, looking at those highlights, that was crap.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Just finished watch the first half. Blamire has had an utter mare. Ojomoh with a couple of really nice touches and a couple of really poor ones. Pack doing ok.

Both wings have done well.

The attack looks very scrappy. It’s not the backline as such as it’s as much forwards fucking up as backs.

Second half….well it’s all about mistakes really! So may knock ons! Just kept gifting the ABs set piece after set piece. Great defending, turn over, knock on give the ball back to them!

Sub front row all made an impact.

Overall backrow were outclassed and a far more experienced side that could actually hold onto the ball had the upper hand by a bit of a distance.

OHC our best player.

Pleased for Caluoru and Hall who both had some good bigs and of course some errors. Neither wilted of shied away.

[Slater582]

Rumour has it the weekend after this NZ fixture, England A will play against Spain.

Really does seem to be the wrong way around that. I'm not sure whether we'll learn anything about any players turning out against Spain as a standalone fixture, but it would be a tremendous warm-up and integration match to have the week before the NZ fixture.

Puja

If it's a first choice Spain team and not like the farcical game Vs Portugal A then fine. Won't be as hard as the AB XV game but opportunity to capture and develop players.

Spain have selected several Top14 players.

Toulouse: Joel Merkler, Lucien Richardis
Stade Francais: Samuel Ezeala, Alvaro Garcia
Bayonne: Manex Ariceta
Biarritz: Ekain Imaz
Pau: Guido Reyes

[Slater582]

No Hendy is boggling. Hopefully not got a big injury…

Hendy is starting on wing against Spain.

Re omissions I posted it on the EPS thread already but I'd take Joe Woodward over all those centre options bar Ojomoh every day of the week.

Would have preferred Blake to Blamire as well, more potential upside and stronger set piece.

2. With Mapletoft as coach, there will probably be an emphasis on the ‘pathway’ from the U20s when it comes to any 50:50 calls. For example, Redshaw is only just back from injury but I wouldn’t be totally surprised to see him get the nod ahead of a more experienced player like de Glanville.

Redshaw and Joe Woodward on the bench.

[fivepointer]

England A team to face Spain
15. Josh Hodge (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
14. Noah Caluori (Saracens, uncapped)
13. Angus Hall (Saracens, uncapped)
12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
11. George Hendy (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
10. Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, 1 cap)
9. Caolan Englefield (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)
1. Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
2. Nathan Jibulu (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
3. Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)
4. Olamide Sodeke (Saracens, uncapped)
5. Ben Bamber (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
6. Nathan Michelow (Saracens, uncapped)
7. Fitz Harding (c) (Bristol Bears, uncapped)
8. Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)

Replacements
16. Kepu Tuipulotu (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
17. Tarek Haffar (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
18. Vilikesa Sela (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
19. Joe Owen (Bristol Bears, uncapped)
20. Ewan Richards (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
21. Archie McParland (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
22. Joseph Woodward (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
23. Ben Redshaw (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)

[FKAS]

Like that selection, some good young talents getting game time. It is quite a young side though so will need the likes of Harding and the halfbacks to stand up and lead the side.

[fivepointer]

1 cap between the whole matchday 23. Definitely a bit green but i do like it.

Very good to see Woodward involved and Owen's got something about him.

[Scrumhead]

Like that selection, some good young talents getting game time. It is quite a young side though so will need the likes of Harding and the halfbacks to stand up and lead the side.

Yeah. Half backs aren’t great but otherwise, a handy side.

These A games aren’t universally liked but I think they’ll prove very useful.

Arguably, it’s as useful for seeing who isn’t up to standard vs players who could be. For example, if Jibulu does well, I think he has a good chance of leapfrogging Blamire and possibly Oghre (still confused by him being left out entirely).

[FKAS]

Like that selection, some good young talents getting game time. It is quite a young side though so will need the likes of Harding and the halfbacks to stand up and lead the side.

Yeah. Half backs aren’t great but otherwise, a handy side.

These A games aren’t universally liked but I think they’ll prove very useful.

Arguably, it’s as useful for seeing who isn’t up to standard vs players who could be. For example, if Jibulu does well, I think he has a good chance of leapfrogging Blamire and possibly Oghre (still confused by him being left out entirely).

Jibulu has looked a real prospect for some time. I assume the Blamire selection was a lot about trying to bring experience and leadership to a fairly young team against a good AB XV. Not sure Blamire has the lineout ability to make it as a hooker in a Borthwick side.

The Gloucester connection at half back is useful for a scratch side. Caolan Englefield has a massive boot on him which is always a handy thing when it comes to releaving pressure. So I get the selection even if it doesn't look like it'll ever be one that plays for England (bar an injury crisis).

[Epaminondas Pules]

Really like that 23. Proper good young exciting side!

[Mikey Brown]

Really like that 23. Proper good young exciting side!

I don’t know about Sodeke but it also has the makings of a pretty abrasive, powerful tight 5.

[Captainhaircut]

Happy with this weeks side. Only issues I have are Bracken’s not being involved and Joseph being injured.

On last week, Blamire the real disappointment. Post World Cup we’re likely in a bit of pickle at hooker and was hoping he could step up as a more experienced option to Jibulu and Kepu. Options with experience will likely be Langdon and Oghre. Dan will still have about 10 career starts to his name.