Paolo Odogwu set for first England call-up

[Rossm]

Eddie Jones looks to steal a march on Italy

According to a Chris Foy exclusive in The Daily Mail:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-9166995/Paolo-Odogwu-set-England-call-Six-Nations-squad-selection.html

[Neils]

Eddie Jones looks to steal a march on Italy

According to a Chris Foy exclusive in The Daily Mail:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-9166995/Paolo-Odogwu-set-England-call-Six-Nations-squad-selection.html

To be ring fenced and dropped - I can see another "fiver". I think EJ likes destroying Wasps. Also with only 28 to pick I think it borders on the insane.

[baldpaul101]

seems a bit premature to me, but congrats to him if true.
Maybe seen as a bit of a Manu replacement?

[andermt]

Eddie Jones looks to steal a march on Italy

According to a Chris Foy exclusive in The Daily Mail:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-9166995/Paolo-Odogwu-set-England-call-Six-Nations-squad-selection.html

To be ring fenced and dropped - I can see another "fiver". I think EJ likes destroying Wasps. Also with only 28 to pick I think it borders on the insane.

This seems to be a EJ tactic which I really dislike, it's not as if the England player pool is small. To pull players away from potential international careers at one of the other 6 Nations team by dangling an England carrot just seems wrong.

I think this would be worse than the fiver situation. Cips was already tied into England, Paolo isn't.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

I see that Bath have had an outbreak at the club. If that is widespread, I wonder if we will get hit (having played them last)? It also means maybe 4 Bath players maybe won't be starting in the England training squad.

[WonkyWasp]

Paolo  -  avoid EJ.   Go  Azzurri.

[Raggs]

Eddie gets in trouble for trying to cap promising players early, to prevent them for playing for other nations (who else, out of interest? It's not even happened for Odogwu yet, anyone else been locked and dropped?).

He's also got stick for not capping players and losing them to other nations (Tomkins, Williams, Lang, Francis).

He also gets stick for not picking form players, and now gets stick for doing exactly that! The England player pool is not small, but at the same time, it's not awash with clearly international standard 13s, and had Odogwu not just played better than any other English qualified 13 in the past few weeks, we'd not be discussing him.

Avoid EJ? Avoid getting a chance at playing in rugby world cup finals, avoid winning grand slams and six nations? Avoid getting £23k a game? Go for wooden spoons instead?

[MarleyWasp]

Congrats Paolo. He's certainly be our form player this season. That said, I'm inclined to agree with you Paul. Paolo has only been one of the first names on the team sheet for the first time in his career for less than 2 months now and is still learning his trade as a 13. With a squad limited to 28 it seems odd picking a player who may not be ready for international Rugby just yet. I wonder if Eddie would be so hasty in calling him up if he wasn't also eligible for Italy?

[Raggs]

Congrats Paolo. He's certainly be our form player this season. That said, I'm inclined to agree with you Paul. Paolo has only been one of the first names on the team sheet for the first time in his career for less than 2 months now and is still learning his trade as a 13. With a squad limited to 28 it seems odd picking a player who may not be ready for international Rugby just yet. I wonder if Eddie would be so hasty in calling him up if he wasn't also eligible for Italy?

I do think there's some degree of getting in early. But at the same time this is a player that can play 13 and wing, which is useful, he's built like a prop and can get over the ball. Very much in line with Eddie's love of players who can do a number of roles. Unlike Slade/Joseph, Paolo is a much closer Manu replacement, and can act as another forward for clearing out (similar to what Nowell can do). The big advantage to this is our attack in the backs has recently suffered from poor clearouts, and we've lost the ball/slowed a lot in the wider channels due to this.

It's early for him, but given what he's shown, and the time sensitive nature of his callup, I'd say it's worth it.

Also, look at his rig, there's an easy 1% improvement there with the right drive to drop a couple of pounds, and England caps may do that, and it'll only help Wasps as well.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Thinking about England's game which is built around kicking his call-up makes sense, IMHO. Paulo is fast, strong and is proving to be a reasonable jackler. He's better than Billy in that department and getting as good as Billy in the crash situations.

If England's game was built around running rugby and getting the ball out wide I'd say he's still got a bit to learn and it wouldn't make as much sense.

Whatever the reasons, congratulations to him for the hard work he's put in to get there, well done to Dai for spotting his potential and well done to Lee and the team for believing in him and getting him there.

[Marlow Nick]

My guess is Eddie won't pick Paolo for the 28 man squad

[Neils]

England’s Six Nations preparation shambles. Matt Proudfoot has tested positive, another coach isn’t travelling while Simon Amor and Eddie Jones are now in 10 day isolation.

From Fissler twatter.

[hookender]

My take is if he is picked for the 28 , he would only be picked for 23 if EJ needed cover for the two positions. Would only get on pitch for the token 5 minutes, if that, for a tie in cap.

[Montague Withnail]

My guess is Eddie won't pick Paolo for the 28 man squad

I'm with you, I suspect this is a false trail. Jones pathologically hates his squad to be predicable before he announces it. A squad of 28 is basically the matchday 23 plus a spare front row plus 1 extra forward and 1 extra back. That basically picks itself, the spare forward is highly likely to be a lock (with Itoje and Lawes covering back row) - either Jonny Hill or Ewels. The spare back could be the Dog in theory but it would mean leaving out one of Joseph or Lawrence. Both of those seem unlikely given JJ's flexibility in covering wing and Lawrence's lack of competition as a power option in the centre.

It does seem likely that both Jacob and Jack will be staying home with Wasps. Good news for us but frustrating for them, especially Jack. Crucially though we will still lose both our engines at lock.

[Montague Withnail]

England’s Six Nations preparation shambles. Matt Proudfoot has tested positive, another coach isn’t travelling while Simon Amor and Eddie Jones are now in 10 day isolation.

From Fissler twatter.

It's confirmed on the RFU website. https://www.englandrugby.com/news/article/proudfoot-tests-positive-for-covid-19