[Closed] 2015-16 rugby, world cup year

I'd ensure I had Cips over Slade (for experience)

Experience of what, running into buses and a oiding drink driving charges? Goode is a decent player. Reliable, good boot, often beats the first man and acts as a second 10 on attack, I'd rather have him at 15 than Cips and Farrel seems to be favoured over Cips at 10 so Cips is not needed.

Beeb reporting Anscombe injured which means Matt Morgan may be going to the world cup. God help us, if you thought Cips was a hot and cold player wait till you see him!

Farrel comes across as to hot headed sometimes on the pitch.

e can go home and watch the games on the exercise bike.

Well fortunately, despite being English, I have a Scottish mother, Irish grandmother and Welsh grandfather.

Should come in handy when I find myself cheering against England.....

I know how it is. I'm half Irish, and I have a feeling that I'll be using it in the later stages!

Cipps is an ideal world cup player a couple of flashes of brilliant play inspire a side into believing they can win. If he has gotten into strife off the pitch(again) then fair do's he stays at home.

Ireland are the strongest of the home nations but the draw and home adv gives england the best chance.

Read an interesting piece looking at the ABs likely squad which suggested even someone like SBW could be left out depending on who else was picked.

Mind you, if they can play like they've played the last couple of years, most rugby fans wouldn't begrudge them winning it.

Some great tries, why can NH players not straighten, draw a man and pass?

This may draw comment but cipriani can, and does.
It'll be a real shame if he's not selected. I honestly think hes earnt it.
Looks like the media machine has mobilised for burgess which normally means he's in. I'll not be at all happy if slade goes home.

Wales team for ireland announced tomorrow. Might be something like:

M Morgan (I was expecting Anscombe)
North
T Morgan
C Allen
Amos
Priestland
Davies
Moriarty
Tips
Lydiate
Bradley Davies
Charteris
Francis
Owens
Paul James/Rob Evans

Or will we go with all the big guns and have acteam like above v italy?

Not selected. Travesty. He could have scored 20 points last week and a blind man on a galloping horse could see Lancaster was never going to take him.

Or will we go with all the big guns and have acteam like above v italy?

I think North needs a run out for sure. Otherwise wouldn't it be more morale boosting to get a win over the Irish and therefore play a stronger side?

Then again a morale busting loss would be more likely even with the big boys out. I'm not sure we can aford to risk Sam, Not Toby, AWJ and Roberts.

I feel sorry for Cipriani, he's done well when brought in but the fact is no one in the Engkand setup (or me) trust him. I suppose it's possible he could yet be called up if there's an injury, much like the AB 10 who ended up kicking the winning points in the final but that's a long shot. It's time for him to move on, make some good money in France. Such a talented player wasted his chance at the start of his career. We don't know yet what will come of the drunk driving (?) event but there's too much evidence to say nothing has changed inside his head.

Edit: got a mailing for top 14 tickets, Slade Francis v Toulon in Sep for £8. I wonder what the games will be like with so many players away.mgoing to be tough on the clubs

Nightmare penalty potential with cole, Haskell, Hartley and Farrell on the pitch. Only cole has a big game temperament the others will overreact and be sent walking for silliness. Cole penalised for slipping round a ruck or going beyond the ball too obviously too often.

I predict Farrell will implode under the expectation of a home nation, he is flaky enough in 6 nations games. I would love to see him give some Islander one of his petulant digs and get absolutely hammered.

Is Cips the english Quade Cooper? can do brilliant things but a head full of toys.

Beeb reporting Slade and Burgess going, so other two Joeseph and Barrit?

jambalaya - Member

there's too much evidence to say nothing has changed inside his head.

Whilst you make some good points I don't agree with this. He's knuckled down for Sale the past few seasons and been consistently excellent.

SL told him he was part of the RWC plans to prevent him going to Toulon and then proceeded to give him virtually no opportunities at all.

18 minutes at FH vs Italy where he scored a try immediately and then set up another and was generally excellent.
A few last minute run ons at FB.
30 minutes at FB against France when England didn't have the ball.
27 minutes against France where he played all over the backline and was by far England's best back, also scored again.

Fair enough if we had some world class players keeping him out but to see useless lumps like Farrell, Barritt, Haskell, Goode and Tom Youngs going to the party must be infuriating for him.

can do brilliant things but a head full of toys

See also The Orange One.

What Namasterbuzz said. As a ST holder at Sale he has been pretty flawless both in his play and his temperament. I think its not so much the fact that he has been omitted more the fact that Lancaster has strung him along, he is no doubt been a bit embarrassed when despite limited game time he has still shone.

but there's too much evidence to say nothing has changed inside his head.

Can you show some of this "evidence"?

Slightly off the current discussion - but an amusing Jonah Lomu vid in the run up to the world cup...

Can you show some of this "evidence"?

The drink driving thing was a massive own goal tbf.
He has also never really done anything at the top level. That leg break at the wrong time really did for him.

The Times this morning suggests Stade may be his next port of call. Correct me if I am wrong,but is drink driving not compulsory in France?

Well innocent until proven guilty on the drink driving I'd say - like anybody else.

He totally ripped Ireland apart in the 6N I recall and then got that nasty ankle injury wasn't it?

The point being he clearly has the talent and with the right management he could possibly have been a world class fly-half. Thing is, we'll never know as SL doesn't care for his type.

Anyway, Toulon generally don't bother trying to hire too many second rate players do they?

Has Farrell done anything at the top level, he was a dirt tracker for the Lions.

Pigface - Member

Has Farrell done anything at the top level, he was a dirt tracker for the Lions.

He came out of Andy's balls,that would appear to be enough.

Ouch!

😆

Wales team for ireland announced tomorrow. Might be something like:

M Morgan (I was expecting Anscombe)
North
T Morgan
C Allen
Amos
Priestland
Davies
Moriarty
Tips
Lydiate
Bradley Davies
Charteris
Francis
Owens
Paul James/Rob Evans

Or will we go with all the big guns and have acteam like above v italy?

It's last chance before the squad announcements for Ireland so IMO, it would be fairest and best to give the chance to those players who still need to do something to claim a spot.

For Ireland, maybe FJones, Earls, DKearney, Fitz and McFadden need some time at the back, marbe mixing it up a bit from the other games with Earls wing and Fitz and Mcfadden centre. But sadly it looks like Gilroy's not really in the frame any more. Cave deserves another go too, and if they're still under consideration then Boss and Marmion at SH.
There are rumours that Madigan night be covering 3rd SH spot like Giteau and OZ - Boss only played 60 unneccesary minutes at the last WC so not a complete crazy gamble - which could be a fun 20 minutes this weekend.

Up front, it looks like the first match ever that Schmidt won't start MIke Ross.
Marty Moore came on for him in 10/10 times in the last two 6N , but still injured so must be in danger for WC. Healy's still out too and two crocked props would be too much to take. Nathan White , Kilcoyne, and Bent all need game time to prove their worth.Would be nice to see what Cronin does from the start with them too as he's likely to be coming on with them on 60 in WC.
Think Henderson and Murphy are in the squad now due to versatillity, so the two most at risk of missing out if 6 props are needed are D Ryan and Chris Henry. Both deserve to start on Sat to show what they can do.

Irish press reporting a strong selection likely;

15 Rob Kearney (Leinster)
14 Keith Earls (Munsterr)
13 Luke Fitzgerald (Leinster)
12 Robbie Henshaw (Connacht)
11 Dave Kearney (Leinster)
10 Jonathan Sexton (Leinster)
9 Conor Murray (Munster)
1 Jack McGrath (Leinster)
2 Richardt Strauss (Leinster)
3 Nathan White (Connacht)
4 Iain Henderson (Ulster)
5 Paul O’Connell (Toulon)
6 Peter O’Mahony (Munster)
7 Jordi Murphy (Leinster)
8 Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)

Replacements: D Kilcoyne (Munster) or M Bent (Leinster), S Cronin (Leinster), T Furlong (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), S O’Brien (Leinster), E Reddan (Leinster) or I Boss (Leinster), P Jackson (Ulster), F Jones (Munster) or S Zebo (Munster).

This is where we are lucky up in Scotland. We have to find a couple of
Kilted Kiwis just to have enough qualified professional players to fill up thE required squad size. You can wedge your "which centre pairing?" malarky right up your soft southern bums.

The drink driving thing was a massive own goal tbf.
He has also never really done anything at the top level. That leg break at the wrong time really did for him.

Please God I hope Farrell remains the back up to Ford.

This is where we are lucky up in Scotland. We have to find a couple of
Kilted Kiwis just to have enough qualified professional players to fill up thE required squad size. You can wedge your "which centre pairing?" malarky right up your soft southern bums.

Wales are much the same!

That Ireland line up looks strong. See what Wales do.

I think tbf fair to Cips and Gav, they both had hard times with injuries. But still Gav has his Grand Slams and Lions caps to tell the grand kids about and Cips banged Kelly Brook so its not all bad!

I still think we might find Barritt is injured.

..which would make more sense thatbsky sports are reporting a Burgess is in, rather than a decision to leave Burrell out.

This is where we are lucky up in Scotland. We have to find a couple of Kilted Kiwis just to have enough qualified professional players to fill up thE required squad size. You can wedge your "which centre pairing?" malarky right up your soft southern bums.

Ireland got there first with Jared Payne. There's Boss and Bent too. And Vern's mate Joe in charge.
But long gave up hope of finding a - how do you say it? - "centre pairings". Even with kilted kiwis.
New "Total Rugby" - based on the Dutch football side from the '70s - has no centres and at least 3 full backs.
Working towards a full complement of 5 or 6 Full backs soon, no wings or fly half next.

15 Kearney
14 Felix Jones
13 Payne
12 Henshaw
11 Zebo
10 Madigan

Prepare to see that unleashed against the English next week.
they might even try a bit of kicking the ball in the air and see what happens.

BM - that's a strong side and suggests to me that Chris Henry has got nothing left to prove, he's in or Joe would give him another run.

Cips banged Kelly Brook so its not all bad!

And Jordan and a pre-op transexual,so the Lord giveth,the Lord taketh away.

On that England theme,

Loads of media reporting yesterday that Cipriani's out of the squad as fact, not rumour. none of them that I saw mentioned their source, just his media page.
With an official announcement not coming till today, it now looks like Lancaster's made a right call based on who he can trust in the squad.

Cipriani is good to watch, but he is basically 3rd/4th choice in a few positions. The cover for 10/12/13/15 is going to be slade/Goode/Watson instead of him.

I think the inclusion and performance of Slade took him out of the thinking.

WALES TEAM TO PLAY IRELAND

Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon); Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), George North (Northampton Saints), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Paul James (Ospreys), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Racing Metro), James King (Ospreys), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Going for it then! Suprised Bradley is over Charteris and where is Sam?

Fly-half Gareth Anscombe is the latest fitness worry, having picked up an ankle injury in training and is not included.

Prop Samson Lee (Achilles tendon) and wing or full-back Liam Williams (foot) are unlikely to be fit before the World Cup starts.

Pray for Samson!!

Should never have got that hair cut

Burgess, Slade and Barritt all in the squad

http://www.englandrugby.com/news/lancaster-names-man-rugby-world-cup-squad/