England Team up - No Paolo

[MarleyWasp]

15. Max Malins (Bristol Bears, 7 caps)
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 50 caps)
13. Elliot Daly (Saracens, 51 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (Saracens, 92 caps) (C)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 65 caps)
10. George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 76 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 108 caps)

1. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 66 caps)
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 30 caps)
3. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 43 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 47 caps)
5. Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 20 caps)
6. Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 22 caps)
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 32 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 60 caps)

FINISHERS
16. Jamie George (Saracens, 58 caps)
17. Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 27 caps)
18. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 11 caps)
19. Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, 8 caps)
20. Ben Earl (Bristol Bears, 12 caps)
21. Dan Robson (Wasps, 11 caps)
22. Ollie Lawrence (Worcester Warriors, 5 caps)
23. Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 4 caps)

[Neils]

This is bad. Bringing a young guy into a set up for months and not giving him a sniff of a game is not good. I wouldn't be surprised if Paolo is not "set aside" to progress at his own pace for some time.

[will311293]

Eddie Jones is a doughnut when it comes to player management, always has been always will be. He's a great coach no doubt but he must destroy players mentality.

[Tervueren]

This is bad. Bringing a young guy into a set up for months and not giving him a sniff of a game is not good. I wouldn't be surprised if Paolo is not "set aside" to progress at his own pace for some time.

Can he still change his mind and elect to play for Italy though as he did not get a 2-minute stint to lock him into England.

[Rossm]

He's a great coach no doubt but he must destroy players mentality.

Something of a non-sequitur surely

Well at least Paolo will get a nice wedge in his sky rocket And as he's not been capped he's still available for Italy.

[MarleyWasp]

Purely speculating here...

England were due to be touring the USA and Canada, however there are a number of issues with this:
- Canadian sides competing in American leagues are relocating to America, with the exception of the NHL where there are enough Canadian sides for their own conference.
- There's also a rumour that the USA may feature on a schedule should the Lions Tour be switched to the UK.
- Canada is the only country not to confirm their plans for a Grand Prix in the first half of the F1 season. A sprint qualifying race was due to be trialed at the Canadian GP but this has been pushed back to the British Grand Prix. Given the race has been paired as a back to back event with Azerbaijan and the calendar is the longest ever, I doubt the race will go ahead.

Italy meanwhile are due to tour New Zealand and the NZ Government do seem amenable to allowing sporting teams in provided they quarantine on arrival...

[will311293]

He's a great coach no doubt but he must destroy players mentality.

Something of a non-sequitur surely

Well at least Paolo will get a nice wedge in his sky rocket And as he's not been capped he's still available for Italy.

Haha i'm trying to look at it with an open mind (suppose he did get us to a world cup final) but the way Paolo has been treated and then to call up someone who wasn't even in the squad is madness. Reckon it will actually put players off England duty.

[DGP Wasp]

Ridiculous!  Marchant was drafted in 2 days ago and goes straight to the bench.  Odogwu has been with the squad for something like 10 weeks and still not a sniff.  Why keep a player away from his club for so long for no reason?

As said above, he picks up a nice pay packet, and remains available for Italy.  Wasps the losers in this.

[HDAWG]

 Odogwu is injured or not selected. Either way I'm annoyed. What a waste of time.

[Shugs]

This is typical Jones. The whole thing has been a dead rubber since the Scotland game but he can't even find a bench spot for Odogwu in any of the subsequent games. When an injury does come along someone else gets called up - it's ridiculous. Calling Marchant in shows he had no intention of playing Odogwu.

[baldpaul101]

whilst I would have loved Paolo to have played I think most people agreed he wasn't really ready for International rugby.

I would also expect that EJ has explained his thinking to him so any mental impact on the player must be minimal.
EJ has brought a guy in, seen him in training and we have to assume didn't think he was ready to play in actual games.
Why play him if he's not good enough?

However, if he had already made up his mind that he wasn't good enough, why not release him back to his club to keep him game fit in case he wants to pick him later on?
And then when injuries do occur, bring bring in another player who hasn't been training with the squad instead of playing the guy who's been there for months?

I don't go for personally abusing Eddie Jones. I have heard many players talk about him with awe & have praised his handling of players, his mind management in particular & how he has successfully got the best out of them. But I am mystified as to why he's done this.

[mike909]

1) So Daly starts game in best position in what looks nearer to a balanced England backline - though with a random performance 9 and a 12 who isn't really a 12....
2) I'm not sure why Daly and not Lawrence - given the physical presence of the Ireland team - and this is a dead rubber so why not start a younger player in their club position?
3) WTF was the point of Paulo not getting a game for two months when he's have been getting more experience and a chance to develop - in what was a difficult period for the club? Especially when he's either deemed not ready by the selection of Marchant (who is no one's fool at 13)

Jones is the coach I'd pick to win a game to save my bacon. I always wonder - given the quotes from players who've played under him and the outcomes of his coaching stints for Australia and the Reds and even Japan, just how he impacts a team over the longer term. But those opinions are quite old - perhaps not as it is now. I find it hard to like Jones' England.

[Rossm]

Paolo has probably been told that his kicking game isn't up to scratch.

[Rossm]

For the record. BB tweeted:

He will have missed eight Wasps games and not played for 11 weeks, assuming he slots back in against Sale Sharks next weekend.

If he'd been out injured for that length of time we would have considered it a disaster.

[WonkyWasp]

What is so sad is that we predicted this happening before the 6N even began. Presumably EJ would be  very happy as he is totally hooked on predictability.  He must be so pleased.