November Internationals: England

Steve Borthwick has named his 36-man squad for home games against Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina.

England's 36-player squad

Forwards

Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Theo Dan (Saracens), Ben Earl (Saracens), Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears), Jamie George (Saracens), Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Jack Kenningham (Harlequins), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby), Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints), Will Stuart (Bath Rugby), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)

Backs

Henry Arundell (Bath Rugby), Noah Caluori (Saracens), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs), George Ford (Sale Sharks), Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints), Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby), Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks), Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Fin Smith (Northampton Saints), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby), Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)

Upvote for use of "November"

Serious depth in that squad

Six seriously exciting wings in that squad, it's going to be a difficult job sorting that selection out, although I feel Borthwick will go with the tried and tested and it will boil down to two out of Freeman, Roebuck and Feyi-Waboso and I'd be fine with that. Midfield is our trouble spot though. I'd like to see Ojomoh given a go at 12, with his Bath club mate Lawrence at 13, his natural position. However I feel that Lawrence will be shoehorned in at 12 with Slade (who is playing very well for Exeter) preferred at 13.

Who will start at 10? I think it is out of Ford and F Smith, with M Smith either at 15 or on the bench. What I don't want to see is all three of them in the 23.

Our front row stocks are looking much better now with both Heyes and Rodd (not in the squad) confounding my view that they will never quite make it - both have really stepped up.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the squad and I reckon we have a good chance of going 3 wins out of 4.

Touch wood and don't dare the devil.

@Catogrande The quality of the Premiership so far this season has been excellent and the best , in my opinion, for about 20 years.

England are going to be able to add to their traditional set piece strength some serious gas in some key positions. You have excellent squad depth at the moment. It wouldn't surprise me if you went 4 out of 4 this November, but dropping one is not unlikely.

@sparky

That is possible but it has been a long time since I felt able to say something like that out loud. About 22 years in fact!

@Catogrande In terms of midfield, I'd go with Lawrence and Slade for now. Their experience is valuable given they'll have some youngsters outside them.

I'm a bit concerned about what those English flankers could do to the All Blacks at the breakdown and how much faster the English wings are going to be than the ABs.

shush with the optimism, still think our lock options are not great without Martin available. Back row missing T Willis in a big way IMO, 6 and 7 well covered. Centres still a problem, full back still a problem.

@Dodge said in November Internationals: England:

shush with the optimism, still think our lock options are not great without Martin available.

But with Tupou Vaa'i and Patrick Tuipolutu out and Fabian Holland and Scott Barrett operating on fumes, neither are ours.

The Times think England's backline for Saturday will be Mitchell, Ford, Feyi-Waboso, Dingwall, Freeman, Roebuck, Steward.

Steve Borthwick expected to pick Tommy Freeman at No13 against Australia

https://www.thetimes.com/article/f6af0d9a-8799-4907-bcae-8f57a389d1f4?shareToken=e798851503f12d8b9266dbac2547d534 (Paywalled)

I actually just finished saying to Mrs how much I was looking forward to the Autumn series and said I would be watching England etc as, I thought they looked to have some bloody good players. I genuinely interested in most of tests as I liking the fact I buggered if I can confidently say anyone will just win everything, ABs, Boks, Wallabies, Scots, Ireland etc. It going to be good.

@sparky

Freeman at 13? Well, it wouldn't surprise me that much. he is, quite rightly rated highly by the coaching staff and you would want him certainly in the 23 if not in that actual run on 15. The thing about sticking him in at 13 though is that 13 is not a problem position for us. Slade is playing very well at Exeter AND was looking very good In Argentina before injury. Lawrence has been tearing it up for Bath this season too. Our problems lie at 12 and 15 and if they gave Freeman a go at 15, I for one would be happy with that. Not saying he can't do a job at 13, just that we don't need him there.

Interesting piece on England's young x-factor players:

@sparky

Just looking at the first few comments on teh article puts things into perspective. Yes they all have their points of difference but even the two most experienced guys - Feyi-Waboso and Cunningham-South are still wet behind the ears Internationally speaking.

A very "British" BBC article - build them up, leaving the door open for another story when they knock them down again.

I hate our media.

@Catogrande I saw a Daily Mail article yesterday which called Guy Pepper "England's McCaw".

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

@Catogrande I saw a Daily Mail article yesterday which called Guy Pepper "England's McCaw".

He could eclipse Pollock

I rate him very highly

@MiketheSnow said in November Internationals: England:

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

@Catogrande I saw a Daily Mail article yesterday which called Guy Pepper "England's McCaw".

He could eclipse Pollock

I rate him very highly

Would be quite the feat to play 2 tests.

personally annoyed that we're going back to George Ford, even if he is playing better than Finn Smith at the moment (which i'm not convinced about). Dingwall & Lawrence should be our centres, Freeman should play wing or fullback (don't want to go back to Steward).

@MiketheSnow

Will he win play Test Rugby 148 times? Will he will win 89% of those? Will he captain his nation to two World Cup victories? Will he win World Rugby Player of the Year three times? Will he win his hemisphere's Rugby Championship ten times?

If he does, then I'll accept comparisons to the GOAT.

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

@MiketheSnow

Will he win play Test Rugby 148 times? Will he will win 89% of those? Will he captain his nation to two World Cup victories? Will he win World Rugby Player of the Year three times? Will he win his hemisphere's Rugby Championship ten times?

If he does, then I'll accept comparisons to the GOAT.

at a minimum i reckon

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

@MiketheSnow

Will he win play Test Rugby 148 times? Will he will win 89% of those? Will he captain his nation to two World Cup victories? Will he win World Rugby Player of the Year three times? Will he win his hemisphere's Rugby Championship ten times?

If he does, then I'll accept comparisons to the GOAT.

I think they were comparing the start, not the finish

What I will say positively about English Rugby is that the depth and range of the playing talent coming through at the moment is remarkable. This last month of Premiership Rugby has been as good as any domestic competition in the world.

I think the possibility of England being the next dominant Rugby power is underpriced.

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

@Catogrande I saw a Daily Mail article yesterday which called Guy Pepper "England's McCaw".

I thought that was meant to be curry.

He was going to be better than mccaw apparently

@DaGrubster I really wish UK Rugby writers could find a way to say "this guy is a good young player", without reaching for frankly ridiculous comparisons.

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

I'm a bit concerned about what those English flankers could do to the All Blacks at the breakdown and how much faster the English wings are going to be than the ABs.

Not if Caleb and Leon are selected.

@pakman I think the English wingers are all quicker, as are the Scottish and Rees-Zammit for Wales.

@Dodge

I have a feeling that the Aussie backs might just embarrass Steward by exposing his lack of manouverabilty.

Agree on Ford, he's been playing well and did very well on the summer tour but 1. he is not the future and 2. His lack of defence will be a liability against a "thinking" team like, oh for instance, Aus.

Plus it looks as though Earl is the replacement if anyone from 11-15 goes down. We are bare bones on the bench.

I've gone from being happy with the wider squad to thinking "oh fuck" with the match day squad. I think it is a very risky selection for all the wrong reasons.

agreed completely. don't know how many teams i would have had to write down before i got to that one. Bench cover for the backline seems insane. Front row is weird.

England have named their team to play Australia on Saturday.

England team to face Australia:

15Steward; 14 Roebuck, 13 Freeman, 12 Dingwall, 11 Feyi-Waboso; 10 Ford, 9 Mitchell;
1 Baxter, 2 George, 3 Heyes, 4 Itoje (capt), 5 Chessum, 6 Pepper, 7 Underhill, 8 Earl.

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Stuart, Coles, T Curry, Pollock, Spencer, F Smith.

It's a 6:2 bench. I gues Henry Pollock covers the 3/4s if there is an injury.

@sparky

I think the theory is that Earl will cover a 3/4 injury by going in at centre with Freeman going to wing or FB.

That is the theory.

The reality is that we're probably fucked if a 3/4 goes down injured.

I’d have Pollock playing in the backs before Earl

And a 6-2 bench is unnecessary against Australia

Just asking for trouble

Obano in, Lockett in, Caliouri out, Ojomoh out.

Two forwards in, two backs out. Borthwick leaning harder into the 6-2 bench and forwards covering Back injuries.

@MiketheSnow said in November Internationals: England:

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

@MiketheSnow

Will he win play Test Rugby 148 times? Will he will win 89% of those? Will he captain his nation to two World Cup victories? Will he win World Rugby Player of the Year three times? Will he win his hemisphere's Rugby Championship ten times?

If he does, then I'll accept comparisons to the GOAT.

I think they were comparing the start, not the finish

Will have to be a good start..

@nostrildamus said in November Internationals: England:

@MiketheSnow said in November Internationals: England:

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

@MiketheSnow

Will he win play Test Rugby 148 times? Will he will win 89% of those? Will he captain his nation to two World Cup victories? Will he win World Rugby Player of the Year three times? Will he win his hemisphere's Rugby Championship ten times?

If he does, then I'll accept comparisons to the GOAT.

I think they were comparing the start, not the finish

Will have to be a good start..

View embedded content

Was a wee bit funny that the first two highlights were errors - but pretty much all good after that.

Also, WTF was going on with his eyebrows in the interview at the end. It was like he was auditioning to play Andrew Saville reading the sports news.

@nostrildamus said in November Internationals: England:

@MiketheSnow said in November Internationals: England:

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

@MiketheSnow

Will he win play Test Rugby 148 times? Will he will win 89% of those? Will he captain his nation to two World Cup victories? Will he win World Rugby Player of the Year three times? Will he win his hemisphere's Rugby Championship ten times?

If he does, then I'll accept comparisons to the GOAT.

I think they were comparing the start, not the finish

Will have to be a good start..

View embedded content

May well have been awarded MOTM but nothing stellar in those highlights

@nostrildamus said in November Internationals: England:

@MiketheSnow said in November Internationals: England:

@sparky said in November Internationals: England:

@MiketheSnow

Will he win play Test Rugby 148 times? Will he will win 89% of those? Will he captain his nation to two World Cup victories? Will he win World Rugby Player of the Year three times? Will he win his hemisphere's Rugby Championship ten times?

If he does, then I'll accept comparisons to the GOAT.

I think they were comparing the start, not the finish

Will have to be a good start..

View embedded content

Jonah The Great and Richie The GOAT in the same Rugby 15. I think it was the only time those two titans of New Zealand Rugby played together.