England Team

[backdoc]

Launchbury and Willis start, Robson bench.

As my glass is half full today, there are 5 Wasps Academy graduates in the starting 15.

England v Georgia is live on Amazon Prime and BBC Radio 5 Live.

ENGLAND
15. Elliot Daly (Saracens, 43 caps)
14. Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 51 caps)
13. Ollie Lawrence (Worcester Warriors, 1 cap)
12. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 30 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 57 caps)
10. Owen Farrell (c) (Saracens, 83 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 100 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 19 caps)
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 50 caps)
3. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 4 caps)
4. Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 16 caps)
5. Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 65 caps)
6. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 39 caps)
7. Jack Willis (Wasps, uncapped)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 52 caps)

FINISHERS
16. Tom Dunn, (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)
17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 60 caps)
18. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 36 caps)
19. Ben Earl (Bristol Bears, 4 caps)
20. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 24 caps)
21. Dan Robson (Wasps, 3 caps)
22. Max Malins (Bristol Bears, uncapped)
23. Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 3 caps)

[mike909]

Have England become utterly unambitious?

Backs - again, Slade at 12, who looked lost there (except when kicking)  with Lawrence which is fine but why JJ at wing when you have wings in the squad? And why not start Dan? Its not the 2015 ABs ffs

Forwards. Jack is going to be busy - that's hardly a mobile pack.....three SR's again, thought we might have binned that - and only one jackal.

Are we going to kick at them like Italy? And what on earth will we learn?

[backdoc]

This is probably the most physically powerful pack England could put out without dispensing with the usual duties of the back row.

I would prefer Marchant to Joseph - he looked very effective at wing in NZ.

[Rossm]

Get Youngs and Farrell off at HT. Everyone knows what they can and cannot do. Bring on Dobby and Malins. I'm particularly keen to see how the latter goes at this level. As Mike says "Its not the 2015 ABs ffs".

[DGP Wasp]

Congratulations to Jack on his debut.  Well deserved and long overdue.

Outside centres:

15:  Daly
14:  Joseph
13:  Lawrence
12:  Slade
23:  Marchant

How many do we need??

This may sound like a bit of a tired cliche, but I think Georgia will be physically very strong up front, but maybe lacking a bit of spark and cohesion in the backs.  Not unlike their opponents!

[Heathen]

Instead of playing two 10s, he now goes with 5 13s! Will that clutter up space out wide

[Raggs]

Farrell started at 13 when he first started with Sarries I think .

[InBetweenWasp]

On paper this team looks like a bizarre selection - Dull and seeking to use blunt force against a team that we should blow away.

I suspect it's likely that there is a more nuanced reasoning looking at different patterns of play and this whole hybrid concept. 

Eddie's spoken before (and I think Ben Ryan has as well) about having left/right centres rather than you're traditional Playmaker/Bosh Merchant at 12 and flair player at 13 as his point is that these days, the ball rarely gets passed 10-12-13 and instead goes 10-11-13, or 10-12-14 in movement. 

Joseph on the wing and Slade might give him a chance to test this theory a little more.

Ben Ryan (or perhaps it's Healey) wrote an article in the past 3 months about having Left/Right scrum-halves to speed up moving the ball from the breakdown.

[hookender]

Problem is for all the tinkering and playing out of position it still ends up being the same sort of game played overall.
 
If the two decision makers on the field ,especially if one is captain, are so used to playing a particular way,which at the end of day, wins the majority of matches you will end up doing so.

 If BY ( and presumably faz) are good for another 50 caps we are not going to see much change. Just hope it’s another Jones soundbite

[matelot22]

Every Eddie team selection just erodes my interest in watching England play a little bit more. I'm just plain bored of him playing players out of position.

[jamestaylor002]

I don't see Dobby getting much of a look in until Youngs retires. Even then it's not a given.

[Peej]

Farrell started at 13 when he first started with Sarries I think .

I'm sure he played 10, when Hougard and Jackson were injured. He then played 12 outside Hodgeson with Barritt at 13. But the memory might be playing tricks!

[westwaleswasp]

I feel that this  permanent selections of players out of position is Eddie paying homage to Captain Redbeard Rum in Blackadder...

"I was under the impression that it was common rugby practice
to play players in their positions

Rum: Opinion is divided on the subject.

Edmund: Oh, really?

Rum: Yahs. All the other coaches say it is; I say it isn’t.

Edmund Oh, God; Mad as a brush."

[Shugs]

Jones has an embarrassment of riches at his disposal and continues to foul up. Daly - never a full back. Joseph - have we really not got a winger (I can think of at least . Slade at 12!! Unbelievable waste. Farrell and Young/Farrell axis = dull.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

I feel that this  permanent selections of players out of position is Eddie paying homage to Captain Redbeard Rum in Blackadder...

"I was under the impression that it was common rugby practice
to play players in their positions

Rum: Opinion is divided on the subject.

Edmund: Oh, really?

Rum: Yahs. All the other coaches say it is; I say it isn’t.

Edmund Oh, God; Mad as a brush."

LOL