The Great Big England A Thread

[p/d]

or a John Wayne lookalikey

Perhaps a mid 70’s Bowie doppelgänger

V thin v white

Or The Duke of Ben Earl

Marma!! ………. The Earlster never crossed my mind.

[Epaminondas Pules]

For me you want a rounded skill set at 12 and that pins towards The Duke and Atkinson, and Hartley albeit slightly different. But ultimately they have to be in the environment and time to shine. At the moment it feels square pegs in round holes, but then I don’t know what our actual attacking plan is. Quick ball is ace, but only with the right structure / ethos behind it.

The Duke? who be that? Bobby Windsor is the only one I know.
Why not Dingwall- his all round skill set is probably as good as anyone at 12.

It is Dingwall, sorry. I was chatting with a couple of the old age grade coaches at the time and that was their nickname for him.

[Banquo]

For me you want a rounded skill set at 12 and that pins towards The Duke and Atkinson, and Hartley albeit slightly different. But ultimately they have to be in the environment and time to shine. At the moment it feels square pegs in round holes, but then I don’t know what our actual attacking plan is. Quick ball is ace, but only with the right structure / ethos behind it.

The Duke? who be that? Bobby Windsor is the only one I know.
Why not Dingwall- his all round skill set is probably as good as anyone at 12.

It is Dingwall, sorry. I was chatting with a couple of the old age grade coaches at the time and that was their nickname for him.

Blimey never knew that!

[Danno]

How did they come up with that one

[p/d]

How did they come up with that one

From the film The Duke

[Banquo]

How did they come up with that one

From the film The Duke

well known for nicking pictures...

[p/d]

How did they come up with that one

From the film The Duke

well known for nicking pictures...

If only.

Alas it is the movie of the same name with the Oscar winning storyline of:

When his nephew tries to wrest control of his estate from him, the Duke of Dingwall removes the boy from his will and leaves everything to his dog.

[Mellsblue]

From the film The Duke

well known for nicking pictures...

If only.

Alas it is the movie of the same name with the Oscar winning storyline of:

When his nephew tries to wrest control of his estate from him, the Duke of Dingwall removes the boy from his will and leaves everything to his dog.

Sounds bloody boring but still more exciting than a backline coached by the Wigster.

[Which Tyler]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c4g2z7w0dn4o

Billy Sela out for 2 months with an arm/shouler injury

[fivepointer]

Arthur Clark, Tizard and Muir added to squad.

[Puja]

Arthur Clark, Tizard and Muir added to squad.

The addition of Asimov and Tizard suggests that we're less likely to see a lock drop down from the senior squad after last week. I'm hoping it's because we're planning on putting Coles on the bench or at worst that we're planning a 6:2 again, rather than because there's an injury worry for Itoje or Martin.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

I mean... I'm pleased for Will, but... isn't this supposed to be primarily a development squad?
A place for youngsters to get a chance to impress, get used to different coaching etc?

[Oakboy]

I mean... I'm pleased for Will, but... isn't this supposed to be primarily a development squad?
A place for youngsters to get a chance to impress, get used to different coaching etc?

Perhaps they want the odd grizzly to provide a contrast. Our coaches aren't the brightest, remember.

[FKAS]

Clark and Tizard are good additions. Those two plus Batley gives us three decent locks in the squad.

[Puja]

I mean... I'm pleased for Will, but... isn't this supposed to be primarily a development squad?
A place for youngsters to get a chance to impress, get used to different coaching etc?

Agreed. You'd've thought a good chance for someone like Elliot to get a chance to look around the step up (or pick OHC and bring him off the bench for 2 minutes just to upset Gatland).

Puja

[Banquo]

I mean... I'm pleased for Will, but... isn't this supposed to be primarily a development squad?
A place for youngsters to get a chance to impress, get used to different coaching etc?

From the OP.....but tend to agree better to bring a younger player in
“The bigger thing for me is the unbelievably positive opportunity for young players, the fringe senior players, or even for some senior internationals that maybe coming back from injury to just test themselves, and with the senior guys giving experience to younger fellas, and those youngsters seeing what it’s like to work in different environments or with different coaches.

[fivepointer]

Bit surprised there's no place for Hendy. Radwan wouldnt have been the worst pick.

[FKAS]

Bit surprised there's no place for Hendy. Radwan wouldnt have been the worst pick.

Yeah good call on Hendy. He's a dangerous runner and could well fill out slightly to be even more of a force.

[Mikey Brown]

I mean... I'm pleased for Will, but... isn't this supposed to be primarily a development squad?
A place for youngsters to get a chance to impress, get used to different coaching etc?

Agreed. You'd've thought a good chance for someone like Elliot to get a chance to look around the step up (or pick OHC and bring him off the bench for 2 minutes just to upset Gatland).

Puja

Is Gatland waiting to nab OHC? I thought he was only capped a year or so ago in the 6 nations?

It's interesting he's fallen that far off the radar. A very talented runner but simply deemed not to have the tactical awareness for the top level? I remember he made the horrible mistake of trying to run it while we were engaged in a kicking duel and that's about it. Were his hands a bit dodgy too?

Surprised to see Muir is 29.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Tom Burrow, Charlie Griffin, Tarek Haffar, Angus Hall and Sean Kerr have been invited to train with the squad in preparation for matchday. That's good to see.

[FKAS]

I mean... I'm pleased for Will, but... isn't this supposed to be primarily a development squad?
A place for youngsters to get a chance to impress, get used to different coaching etc?

Agreed. You'd've thought a good chance for someone like Elliot to get a chance to look around the step up (or pick OHC and bring him off the bench for 2 minutes just to upset Gatland).

Puja

Is Gatland waiting to nab OHC? I thought he was only capped a year or so ago in the 6 nations?

It's interesting he's fallen that far off the radar. A very talented runner but simply deemed not to have the tactical awareness for the top level? I remember he made the horrible mistake of trying to run it while we were engaged in a kicking duel and that's about it. Were his hands a bit dodgy too?

Surprised to see Muir is 29.

To be fair OHC's form wasn't great last year, his tackling and carrying was decidedly iffy. Considering some of the other options coming through then it wasn't a surprise he wasn't included. IFW, Freeman, Roebuck and Sleightholme were all pulling up trees last season.

This season OHC is starting to show some much better form. Needs to build up a level of consistency with that though.

[Puja]

I mean... I'm pleased for Will, but... isn't this supposed to be primarily a development squad?
A place for youngsters to get a chance to impress, get used to different coaching etc?

Agreed. You'd've thought a good chance for someone like Elliot to get a chance to look around the step up (or pick OHC and bring him off the bench for 2 minutes just to upset Gatland).

Puja

Is Gatland waiting to nab OHC? I thought he was only capped a year or so ago in the 6 nations?

He angled for him before he was capped for England and then wrote a shitstirring article in the Telegraph when IFW came over, warning that players should be careful about making the "wrong" decision on nationality and only getting a few caps rather than playing for a team that'd really want them, where he name-checked OHC as "a player that I would have been keen on selecting for Wales but he decided to go down the England route and was capped against Scotland at the start of last year’s Six Nations and hasn’t been seen in an England shirt since."

His last cap was 12th Feb 2023, so he'd be available in a year and three months for Wales. Hopefully his form can keep going on the up and he'll start to press for more games for England before then.

Puja

[FKAS]

Agreed. You'd've thought a good chance for someone like Elliot to get a chance to look around the step up (or pick OHC and bring him off the bench for 2 minutes just to upset Gatland).

Puja

Is Gatland waiting to nab OHC? I thought he was only capped a year or so ago in the 6 nations?

He angled for him before he was capped for England and then wrote a shitstirring article in the Telegraph when IFW came over, warning that players should be careful about making the "wrong" decision on nationality and only getting a few caps rather than playing for a team that'd really want them, where he name-checked OHC as "a player that I would have been keen on selecting for Wales but he decided to go down the England route and was capped against Scotland at the start of last year’s Six Nations and hasn’t been seen in an England shirt since."

His last cap was 12th Feb 2023, so he'd be available in a year and three months for Wales. Hopefully his form can keep going on the up and he'll start to press for more games for England before then.

Puja

Playing for the dumpster fire that is Wales under Gatland is surely not much of a draw, particularly because there will then be a pressure to move to one of the Wales Regions which is hardly an attractive option either.

[Slater582]

Tom Burrow, Charlie Griffin, Tarek Haffar, Angus Hall and Sean Kerr have been invited to train with the squad in preparation for matchday. That's good to see.

Sodeke was also going to attend but has injured his hamstring.

[Puja]

Are we actually getting a team named for this at any point...?

Puja