FORM ENGLAND XV | Every Position Player Rankings! Post Round 4 of the Gallagher Premiership ----------------------- Rugby artwork in background courtesy of Blair Skivington www.etsy.com/u...
That seems like such a fun team to watch. All of your rankings were very pleasing (especially front row). It’s nice looking at ideas of exciting unconsidered players that I think would work in an England squad
Yes!! Thanks for taking the time to do this I’ve been doing something similar (purely for myself as a nerd) great to see how our notes compare - the Oghre / Jibulu era is going to be so good
Interesting Rich, The perennial Form v Class equation which is utterly unresolvable - especially with the Good Player/Great Team v Great player/Average Team judgment. I wouldn’t argue with many of your form assessments - except for Itoje and Underhill who have GOT to be there until someone actually PROVES better in the White on the big occasion.
As a Sale fan, another up and coming English second row to keep an eye on is Ben Bamber. He seems to be improving with every game. Sam Dugdale is having a great season in the back row too.
I really enjoy and get excited hearing these inform great players, then it saddens me knowing, most won’t get a chance as it will be the same old favs, who aren’t in form! Great video as always👍
You cannot argue against at least a “Bomb Squad” berth for Beno Obano on current form. An absolute game-changer in the mould of Ox Nche - someone who can LIFT the whole forward boat !!
Really like your forwards Richard All in form all playing out of their skin and such a lot of pace and power in your selections for the England starting pack Also really like these videos
Taking everything into account, right now I'd go; Baxter Dan Opoku-Fordjour Chessum Martin CCS Willis Earl Maybe a bit inexperianced, but I'd like to see it. Not that sure about Hooker, so take your pick. CCS very close with Hill but I went with the more explosive option.
Of your “Young Guns” I would definitely give a squad berth to Oghre, Obano, Evans and Kenningham for the average opposition of NZ and AUS - but for SA you need the PROVEN “big beasts” at every position - so definitely George, definitely Itoje, and probably Underhill (bench at least).
So, it’s the 16th November, and we’re facing South Africa with a fully fit Kolisi, PSDT, and Wiese. Your mortgage is on the result, so who do you want facing that back row? For me - forget Premiership form - we need Lawes - Earl - Jack Willis. But because we don’t value our national team the same way that the South Africans do, I guess our best realistic option is Underhill - Earl - Tom Willis, with Kenningham and C-South covering. If there is ONE MAN I want covering a 79th minute breakaway try, it’s Sam Underhill.
Need Collier as a Tight-head option as well imo. Don't understand not letting them get selected - people say that'll weaken the prem but it's already hardly the strongest league/attracting/retaining the superstars in rugby and you could also just introduce central contracts for the main guys to stick in England e.g Itoje, Mitchell etc. Doesn't make any sense to me, South Africa relaxed selection policy just as their domestic league was facing a bit of a crisis and it didn't do them any harm.
I would drop Chessum and put in Munga , as for the back row I think I would like to see Kenningham - Earl - Willis . Liking the look of the front row , definitely looking to the future .
There is a massive pack lurking in England options, at some point Borthwick is going to pick the biggest players in every position and worry about speed and agility later. Longer term I really like the look of Pepper and Pollock
You should probably manually set the focus on your camera - you keep going slightly out of focus as the camera tries to pick out the background. Otherwise, interesting video. Although I do think there's something to be said for Eddie Jones' concept of a "test match animal". There are guys you'd pick every time even if they're not performing that well for club.
Interesting video... For me, our major weakness when playing SA and NZ is in the scrum, not around the park... so I would rank the props on what they do in the scrum as primary. I'd put VRR in the loosehead mix. Ben Curry has been the bolter for me this season... he's been outstanding and measurably better than Tom. My lineup from this would be: 1. Obano, 2. LCD, 3. Opoku-Fordjure, 4. Itoje (c), 5. Martin, 6. CCS, 7. B. Curry, 8. Earl with 16. Dan, 17. Baxter, 18. Davison, 19. Hill, and 20. Pearson...
I would endorse your excellent selection with two exceptions - Jamie George HAS to start, as a decent scrummager, reliable tackler, but THE best “clutch” lineout thrower in World Rugby. - Sam Underhill MUST be in the 23 somewhere -perhaps not the most creative, but DEFINITELY the most destructive flanker in English rugby, since the departure of Courtney Lawes.
Huge Will Evans fan, and great to see him top of the open sides. But the issue is that Quins give him a free rein in defence to roam for the jackal (so a 14 man defensive construct with a roaming jackler). England don’t employ that system under the blitz, and so whilst Evans has the best breakdown stats in Europe Borthwick will run with dominant tacklers. I would go Ben Curry.
Can’t disagree with much of that! For me, Willis has stood out over Earl for Saracens this season so far. And surprised that Bearbary doesn’t even make the list at 8! A real shame that Borthwick hasn’t had look at a few more of these form players in the training squad.
The form pack for me is 1. Fin Baxter, 2. Nathan Jibulu, 3. Asher Opoku Fordjour, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Chessum, 6. Kenningham, 7. Evans and 8. Cunningham South
Would like to see Earl at 7 for England so that we can get a 'proper' no. 8 in the side, not that he hasn't done a great job there for the past 18 months I just feel we could do with the extra bulk.
An exciting pack, but Borthwick won’t pick it, he will have George (his captain), Marler and Cole somewhere in his 23. As you have noted in other videos, since the world cup semi-final he has played either Cole or Marler as a starter and the other as a replacement for the fear of the scrum being demolished. I think in time perhaps next year in Argentina the youngsters can be given game time. I don’t think he will drop Itoje has he is proven at this level. I think he will pick Chessum but will it be 5 or 6. If Martin is fit I think he will be in the second row with Chessum at six. I think he will go with Underhill and Earl at 7 & 8. I think he will go with what he knows with form only a minor influence, because the first test is New Zealand. Perhaps Some of these form players may get a chance in the Japan test, if not perhaps the Argentinian tour next year. I expect the pack to be similar to this 1 Baxter 2 George 3 Cole 4 Martin 5 Itoje 6 Chessum 7 Underhill 8 Earl 16 Dan 17 Marler 18 Stuart 19 Coles 20 Curry T
Good selections but front row against huge AB's need ballast as well as skills/experience so i would go with Baxter,Dan &Stuart with Genge,George & Hayes on bench
Certainly a bit of recency bias based on the last game. Would have probably been best to wait until the last round before the AIs to do these rankings.
Quins fan here. Baxter deserves his top spot. Evans and Kenningham have been fantastic but perhaps need to prove themselves at international level before taking the top spot. Definitely should be in the conversation though
