EPS Watch / Player Form Thread

[Mellsblue]

I'll take that given the squad. Harrison will fresh even if he may be hampered by all the splinters in his arse.

[Oakboy]

If Harrison is at 7, why did Wood get a recall? Surely, he can't be the bench option. I'm dreading an injury to Billy V if so!

[Beasties]

Fair play to EJ if that's right, at least he's showing that the Aus match is put down to stage fright. But who's excited about his selection at 7 given the form he's in apart from Harrison himself? There's still plenty of time til the first match of course so I'd take it with a large pinch of salt.

[fivepointer]

Harrison, 24, lasted just half an hour in England's last Test match against Australia in Sydney.

"He's gone back and worked on his game very hard," Jones told BBC Sport.

"His last game against Castres was exceptional and he's probably our number one choice open-side flanker at the moment."

Meanwhile Jones says the recalled flanker Tom Wood has a "great chance" of being selected this autumn.

Wood was dropped following the Rugby World Cup, with Jones telling him his performances were "distinctly average".

"He's improved his work-rate, his impact as a ball carrier, and he's certainly above average now," Jones added.

"He's got very good lineout skills and his breakdown work has improved. So we are excited about him being in the squad.

"His [lineout work] gives him a great chance of being selected."

Jones has selected six uncapped players in his 33-man squad, but has played down their chances of being selected against the Springboks on 12 November.

"Making your debut against South Africa is probably not the right game to make your debut," Jones explained.

England travel to Portugal for a training camp on Sunday, hoping to avoid a repeat of the last gathering in Brighton which resulted in three players suffering serious injuries.

"We will be doing everything in our power to make sure we have an injury-free camp," Jones said.

"But having said that we need to prepare for international rugby and we will train with intensity."

Seems to me Eddie is keeping his options open. Dont despair - Woody has every chance of getting the nod!

[Puja]

Back row being reported as Robshaw, Harrison and Vunipola

You know, that could be a lot, lot worse. Harrison's been poor this season, but he is at least a proper 7 and he did look the part last season. We can hope that maybe he's just in the doldrums from being given the shepherd's crook by Eddie in the third test and he'll thrive from being given a vote of confidence.

Puja

[Adam_P]

Fair play to EJ if that's right, at least he's showing that the Aus match is put down to stage fright. But who's excited about his selection at 7 given the form he's in apart from Harrison himself? There's still plenty of time til the first match of course so I'd take it with a large pinch of salt.

He had a cracking game last weekend, despite the team effort

[Mellsblue]

"He's certainly above average now". SA will be sh**ing themselves.

[Mikey Brown]

Back row being reported as Robshaw, Harrison and Vunipola

You know, that could be a lot, lot worse. Harrison's been poor this season, but he is at least a proper 7 and he did look the part last season. We can hope that maybe he's just in the doldrums from being given the shepherd's crook by Eddie in the third test and he'll thrive from being given a vote of confidence.

Puja

Aye. I'm choosing to take that stance too. He was great to watch when he was trampling people every week, he'll surely be mega-fired up if he gets another chance here.

I pretty much agree on the Slade talk. I just can't see him as a 10 long-term, it would have been nice if Exeter had shown more than that brief shadow of confidence in him to play there, but I can see why they want Steenson.

The Exeter midfield situation is very frustrating,

[Mellsblue]

Weren't Harrison's performances last season that thrust him into contention mostly at 8?

[Oakboy]

Weren't Harrison's performances last season that thrust him into contention mostly at 8?

But always 'considered a 7', I seem to remember being quoted.

Overall, my biggest niggle with the injuries is Itoje because, had he been picked at 7, and played as I would have expected, it would have nailed the 'traditional openside' bollix for good.

[Puja]

Fair play to EJ if that's right, at least he's showing that the Aus match is put down to stage fright. But who's excited about his selection at 7 given the form he's in apart from Harrison himself? There's still plenty of time til the first match of course so I'd take it with a large pinch of salt.

He had a cracking game last weekend, despite the team effort

That's good to hear. I'll be honest; I switched off the Northampton game once it became clear how it was going to go, so I didn't see much of it at all. Hopefully the start of the upswing.

Weren't Harrison's performances last season that thrust him into contention mostly at 8?

Ish. He was packing down there at the scrum, but he was definitely playing an openside's role in the loose.

Puja

[Adam_P]

Fair play to EJ if that's right, at least he's showing that the Aus match is put down to stage fright. But who's excited about his selection at 7 given the form he's in apart from Harrison himself? There's still plenty of time til the first match of course so I'd take it with a large pinch of salt.

He had a cracking game last weekend, despite the team effort

That's good to hear. I'll be honest; I switched off the Northampton game once it became clear how it was going to go, so I didn't see much of it at all. Hopefully the start of the upswing.

Weren't Harrison's performances last season that thrust him into contention mostly at 8?

Ish. He was packing down there at the scrum, but he was definitely playing an openside's role in the loose.

Puja

I think he could do with a run of starts. He's not had much consistency this season with Picamoles coming in and Clark getting fit again.

[jngf]

Weren't Harrison's performances last season that thrust him into contention mostly at 8?

But always 'considered a 7', I seem to remember being quoted.

Overall, my biggest niggle with the injuries is Itoje because, had he been picked at 7, and played as I would have expected, it would have nailed the 'traditional openside' bollix for good.

Given England's two or three greatest opensides were very traditional, it would seem inaccurate to describe that style in that way. Itoje could well have done a great job at 7 or he could have played like Courtney Lawes did when picked at 6.

[Puja]

Weren't Harrison's performances last season that thrust him into contention mostly at 8?

But always 'considered a 7', I seem to remember being quoted.

Overall, my biggest niggle with the injuries is Itoje because, had he been picked at 7, and played as I would have expected, it would have nailed the 'traditional openside' bollix for good.

Given England's two or three greatest opensides were very traditional, it would seem inaccurate to describe that style in that way. Itoje could well have done a great job at 7 or he could have played like Courtney Lawes did when picked at 6.

All very well saying that, but you cut your cloth to the materials you have in front of you. No point insisting on traditional opensides if you don't have any of the right quality available.

Puja

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Fortunately the All Blacks are still 24 months away, and our BR have already proven to be enough for anythingAus or the NH can throw at us

Really? I mean our back row was stripped of POM and SOB, so it's not really anything we can throw at you. I've not checked the others but I'd be surprised if we were unique.

[Digby]

All very well saying that, but you cut your cloth to the materials you have in front of you. No point insisting on traditional opensides if you don't have any of the right quality available.

Thing with that is I'd be one of a number not buying that Armitage before and Kvesic now have nothing to offer at this level. And yet we plough on with the bigger lumps

[Puja]

Fortunately the All Blacks are still 24 months away, and our BR have already proven to be enough for anythingAus or the NH can throw at us

Really? I mean our back row was stripped of POM and SOB, so it's not really anything we can throw at you. I've not checked the others but I'd be surprised if we were unique.

It did successfully take on Hooper and Pocock, so I'm relatively comfortable in its ability to be competitive against SOB and POM.

All very well saying that, but you cut your cloth to the materials you have in front of you. No point insisting on traditional opensides if you don't have any of the right quality available.

Thing with that is I'd be one of a number not buying that Armitage before and Kvesic now have nothing to offer at this level. And yet we plough on with the bigger lumps

I do find it intriguing that Armitage no longer appears to be storming in the Top 14 now that he's no longer surrounded by Galacticos. Irrelevant anyway, as he's repeatedly chosen not to put himself in a position to be selected for England, which is his prerogative.

Kvesic... I just don't know about. He goes through periods where you're incredulous that England would even look at anyone else and then other periods where he just looks like a Premiership level tryer. He's not helped by playing for Gloucester, who have not provided any kind of platform for any of their players to consistently impress for years.

Puja

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Back rows are about the unit and the balance. Pocock and Hooper are outstanding individuals, but I don't think Australia have managed to get a good unit out of their back row in a while. POM, SOB and Heaslip provide a different balance and so different challenge. The point in any event isn't that England couldn't do well against the best that Ireland has. It's that they haven't yet done well against the best that all the NH teams has to offer.

That Steff in his 30s is not at his peak doesn't mean that his peak wasn't real. After all no one could suggest that he was surrounded by galacticos at Irish.

[Mellsblue]

Aus have done pretty well to get to a World Cup final and come second in the champ without a good backrow unit. Kudos to Cheika.

I'd agree with you about not facing Ire's best backrow but getting to play against SOB in an international must be pretty long odds with his injury record. It's a bit like eng fans insisting that nobody can claim to have a better centre partnership than us until Tuilagi is back fit.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Aus have done pretty well to get to a World Cup final and come second in the champ without a good backrow unit. Kudos to Cheika.

I'd agree with you about not facing Ire's best backrow but getting to play against SOB in an international must be pretty long odds with his injury record. It's a bit like eng fans insisting that nobody can claim to have a better centre partnership than us until Tuilagi is back fit.

SOB has 42 caps.

Eta, I'm pretty sure that Josh van der Flier is not our next cab off the rank in any case.

[Peej]

I'm slightly worried about the week-long training camp. Look what happened after a few days in Brighton!

[Mellsblue]

Aus have done pretty well to get to a World Cup final and come second in the champ without a good backrow unit. Kudos to Cheika.

I'd agree with you about not facing Ire's best backrow but getting to play against SOB in an international must be pretty long odds with his injury record. It's a bit like eng fans insisting that nobody can claim to have a better centre partnership than us until Tuilagi is back fit.

SOB has 42 caps.

He has. Over the six seasons since Wiki has him as a regular he's won 39 caps. I make that 6.5 caps in a 12/13 game international season. So, roughly, a 50/50 chance of facing an undisputed first choice player. Ignoring the hyperbole in my initial post, that's not exactly a stellar (more hyperbole) injury record. As an England fan I'm glad he has a poor injury record. As a rugby fan, not so much.

[jngf]

On a further point can someone explain why has Will Evans not come into Eddie's openside reckoning whereas Nathan Hughes has?

[Beasties]

Why do you think Hughes is in the openside reckoning?

[jngf]

Todays broadsheet press have stated the Eddy views his three openside options as Harrison, Wood and Hughes.

His blindside options as Robshaw, Hughes, Morgan and that man Wood again.

Finally Billy V is deemed an out and out No.8, which I would agree with 100%.