Once more I agree with AA’s post above, Ireland or wild card France have the best shot of the home nations. England / Wales / Austraila will be beaten up qualifying from the group, the winner should get the easy QF but then have a tough semi. I think like last world cups everyone will be hoping someone else can beat NZ before they have to face them ! England need a few things to go their way (ie a big slice of good routine) and home advantage to really count to make it past the semi. England’s record against RSA is pretty good at Twickenham.

Looking forward to France v Ireland in Cardiff as I think that game could determine a semi final place at least.

As a carrier,I am rather surprised they didn’t take Attwood.

Cheika didn’t.

We’ll all have a giggle when Gatland cuts Dacey. 😉

Look at England in the last World Cup, and where we have gone since then under Lancaster. This WC was always a year or 2 early for a young England team.

Whilst Armitage is one of the best England flankers, leaving out players not playing in England protects our game in the long run, and is the correct decision in the long run. Lancaster has taken his time, rebuilt team ethic from the ground up, gradually expanding England’s game plan as we go.

I like the way we play, I think we are a decent team with an outside chance. The squad is pretty much as we expected – the hardest done-by is Burrell IMHO. Cipriani wouldn’t have played anyway.

Apart from NZ, I think this WC is genuinely wide open. With the rub of the green, Ire, Aus, Fra, SA, Wal, Eng could make the final and then anything can happen.

On the other side, if Eng don’t make the QF, I still think we keep going down the same path.

The WC hasn’t come around too soon at all for England. Lancaster has woken up too late IMO.

Giving a handful of new form players half a chance right at the end of the lead up to a major tournament having stuck with a steady team of old hands up until then isn’t the way to go I don’t think, not from the WC point of view at least.

They’ve tried to shore up decent results through the years rather than bring in form players while they are in form and get them the valuable experience required. Now we are all surprised about the best players in England potentially not having enough caps 🙄 😀

Apparently it’s all to do with he Aura and personality, says Greenwood. Let’s hope his aura is impenetrable and about 50m wide.

Is Barritt the WC centre of England’s dreams? Solid but… ? Tuilagi has also spent a fair time out with various injuries and yet there still isn’t a settled replacement in his absence.

24.5 per squad member average.

I reckon that Lancasters first choice 15 will be:

Marler
Youngs
Cole
Lawes
Launchbury
Hask
Robshaw
Billy V
B Youngs
Ford
Watson
Joseph
Barritt
May
Brown

That’s 441 in total 29.4 per man. To be honest you’d hope that the forwards would have around 440 caps between them, let alone the entire team!!!

Yep. For his sake, I hope he does well. If not, it might ruin his potential career as a rugby player. If he doesn’t do well, the same hype-mongers who have raised him on this pedestal will whip it out from underneath his feet.

Yes, but from his club only, AFAIK. (Might be wrong, but I thought it was a Bath deal to buy him in, not involving the Blazers at the Cabbage Patch)

I don’t know what the actual deal is (who does?) but it was always reported that the RFU subsidized the cost of bringing him to Union which of course upset the other clubs. Bath alone don’t really have the motivation to drop a ton of cash plus time and energy on a risky prospect who either ends up a) struggling to adapt and is an expensive, rubbish player or b) does well and ends up up missing most of the contracted time with them on international duty. Kind of makes sense the move was helped along by the RFU, much like other league players before

As I understand it, the RFU don’t pay his wages (at Bath) but contributed towards buying him out from the previous club which is supposed to be a significant amount. So they are not directly helping Bath as such, more paying the big fee to release him to Union and then anyone *cough Bath* can sign him up for club rugby

As I understand it, the RFU don’t pay his wages (at Bath) but contributed towards buying him out from the previous club which is supposed to be a significant amount.

I think the follow on from that was that the RFU don’t have any say where Bath play him whereas if they were paying his wages (or a portion) then they could tell Bath to play him at centre.

What beggars belief is that when Bath agreed a loan deal with Toulon to bring Armitage for the season they would have paid his (considerable) wages and asked the RFU to include him in the EPS squad which would net them a £100k payment – the RFU refused.

Will Carling sums it up well:

‘I don’t understand what the rush is and it’s unfair on him. I feel sorry for him. If he wants to make it in union, there’s plenty of time.

‘If you watched Burgess carefully he was out of position a huge amount in defence and England can’t afford that against sides who will focus on him.

‘He hasn’t had time in the game. He doesn’t understand where the ball is coming from and you can see that in the way his feet are when he lines up.

‘The southern hemisphere boys will focus on him if he’s playing. If Matt Giteau plays against him, he’ll sucker him on for the big hit and opponents will be coming from angles he doesn’t understand.’

No you’re right and I’m glad that the dwarf-tossing era has passed too.

However, England have the players and the resources to win things so why haven’t they?

Going into a home RWC they are only an outside bet. If the RWC was somewhere else they’d have no chance at all.

After 4 years of planning how can you give first caps to two centres in a half-baked warm up game and then parachute them into the RWC squad?

But, I’m glad someone is happier than me – because I’m not happy 😡

Indeed but as a Welsh fan you surely have to be more satisfied that your team gets reasonably close to its potential. Especially having a few Grand Slams/6N Titles in the locker.

I’ve often thought Wales are a few players away from being a bad team and England are a few players away from being a good team.

I can’t work out what they will do with Burgess. If he is an impact sub,they will be bringing him on after 50-60 mins when players are tiring and the concentration is slipping. That is surely a mistake as the players inside and outside him will have extra work to do to look after him. Any bets on at least one try in the group stages alone where he gets dog-legged?

Well, sir Ian Mcgeechan believes Burgess justifies his selection, and should start against Fiji. Writing in today’s telegraph.

I love a good set of rose tinted glasses. England have never had a glittering back division to rival the SH teams. The 2003 team was good, fit and well drilled, but not the All Blacks by a margin. Johnny Wilkinson – points machine, great tackler, but no Dan Carter. His stuttering feet made it really hard for those outside him to time a run, and his distance from hand was poor compared to his peers. Mike Tindall? A poor mans Sam Burgess!!!

If you go into the WC ranked 5th, and don’t win it, why should you lose your job??? Let’s not start a football merry go round.

This. I sincerely believe England will have a better RWC than the rest of the home nations (France included).