Dylan set to be named England captain according to the bbc – suspect that’s why Tom Youngs is dropped from squad, can’t have a player better than the captain on the bench!

Must admit, I’m quite surprised, but I have no idea who I would have given it to, so that’ll have to do.

He has less Yellows – 3 – in an England shirt than Johnson DD. He seems remarkably restrained when dress in white.

But yes does have a passionate anger about the pitch and I’d agree we need this.

Woah, he is good around the park but Angryabusingbiteygougey Kiwi is a rubbish at actually hooking 😆

I think this is a bad appointment. I see the reasoning, Hartley is a top player, and Eddie Jones wants to make his mark and appoint a captain whose the polar opposite of Robshawe. I would have gone for Dan Cole, but maybe he didn’t want it, who knows.

I will bite, I think Ashton is being treated harshly,what damns him is the fact he turns the “offending” hand into a fist as soon as it comes off the face area. That made the ex ref in me suspect there might a bit more to it. I have less worry about England’s backs than their pack. For all the brave new world of Eddie,it will be with one notable exception, the same England backs;none of who have kicked on.
It is quite an enjoyable situation for a Scot to be looking at Hogg and Jackson deciding they aren’t quite good enough for Scotland’s backs just now. Two years ago we were arguing over Shindler and playing Tom Heathcoate.A back row of Cowan,Hardie and Strauss will also do nicely. If Cotter can adopt the same defence against the catch and drive game that Glasgow used against Saints, then you lot are in for a game.

[hijack]duckie, did you get my email?[/hijack]

Me too. Warrens lost his best forwards and England will tear them a new one their, and now our back line is up to the defence with attack options at last. Aus much closer vs Wales, but England to beat both. I do fear our lack of a 7 will cause issues against Aus, so we need to carry and stay standing up / be fast onto the ball or lose by pens.

England V Aus is the decider of that group, Wales will lose to both
I do love it when you make predictions!

Sorry THM,we have previous and it was the suggestion I would be happy that he may have been treated harshly. I think the ban was a 50/50 call.
DD,just checked both replies were in junk mail,many thanks;sound advice.

nae probs pal!

I kind of agree but there have been far more dubious ones getting longer bans. He had hands in the face and this is treated very seriously at the moment. As you say going to a fist didn’t help the replays look any better.

Some of Harley’s bans have been pretty harsh and the Ritchie Rees eye gouge ban is one that sticks in the mind. He was in the middle of a ton of players, he couldn’t remember anything happening, Hartley (the victim this time) couldn’t remember happening, the TV replays couldn’t find anything but Rees still got 12 weeks.

Given the choice between Hartley or Youngs I would far rather “my team” to come up against Youngs and I’m sure the players themselves would too. Why is Brown’s temperament lauded by the English press and fans but Hartley is a liability? Maybe Hartley is just better at getting punished poor chap? 😀 Anyway, England had to implement something quickly and this isn’t the worst option out there.

Having lots of exciting youngsters is all well and good but stepping up a level and functioning as a team overnight isn’t going to happen. Scrape through the 6N and then push on in November with more time to assess the situation and build further (although we all know the pressures above will likely keep a stodgy team until the dawn of the next RWC when overnight change will suddenly then be demanded). 😆

Didn’t know Brown had been sent off / banned a number of times, including a premiership final for calling the ref a “cheating ****” just after being warned!

Youngs isn’t in the squad because he can’t hook, apparently Jones wants a hooker who can deliver quick channel 1 ball.

“hindsight does show there were extenuating circumstances”

Like what exactly?

The Ref didn’t blow for the end of the match after 55 minutes?

Or that England were not allowed to be given the shot at goal after the failed line out as correct decision making isn’t really part of the game and doesn’t count?

The penalty Brown gave away was just not fair?

Or that Wales should not have been allowed to play a scrum half on the wing and AN Other supporter plucked out of the crowd to make up the numbers? 😉

Thing is, Youngs and Hartley will both be 32/33 at the next RWC. EJ has decided that there isn’t much point in having two players at that age there and is actually planning, something England haven’t done in a long time, if ever. Even the saxons team is normally full of older players. Youngs is certainly better than LCD at the moment, but will he be in 4 years?

Youngs was hooking (he often doesn’t), but his lineouts were looking a little dodgy, although I think they all went to hand.

Wrecker – that is the clearest I’ve seen the argument for not having both in the squad put, and makes a lot of sense.

Anyway, 2 weeks to 6 nations – can’t wait!

I am not saying he wasn’t, I was questioning the use of “well”. Anyway here are Brian Moore’s thoughts, he probably knows a bit more about hooking than me – here

He prefers the English salary cap to the French one (is this new?) apparently, not sure that this is a good thing.

It obviously put Owen Farrell off to, when he dropped that ball. Oops!!

Did he fix his hair after he fell over?

No he didn’t. He tried to and failed miserably and he deserves to be slapped by every Clermont fan in the stadium for that idiotic bit of play.

Nice to see the Ospreys achieving exactly the same as they do every year lately. Donkeys.