England tour squad

Kinoulton · Post by **Kinoulton** » Tue May 13, 2008 11:39 am

According to the club's own stats, here is Tom Varndell's record in 2007/08:

Minutes on the pitch: 1,364

(That's the equivalent of 17 full games plus 4 minutes.)

Tries scored: 17

Does any other English player have a better record?

masopa · Post by **masopa** » Tue May 13, 2008 11:57 am

Kinoulton wrote:According to the club's own stats, here is Tom Varndell's record in 2007/08:

Minutes on the pitch: 1,364

(That's the equivalent of 17 full games plus 4 minutes.)

Tries scored: 17

Does any other English player have a better record?

Unlikely, as Banahan has 16 tries but has had 21 starts and 5 stints as replacement. Difficult to convert that into full match equivalents but probably won't be 16 FMEs.

There might be someone who's had a couple of starts and managed to sneak a couple of tries but aside from "flukes" it looks like TV is earning a pretty good return on time played...

boondock · Post by **boondock** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:28 pm

i'm pleased to see hartley get a free trip to see the family. he's worked hard this year and deserves it.

frankly, its also nice to see a saintsman back in the senior squad.

two of our incoming scrumhalves - dixon and foden (

) - are with the saxons too.

i wouldnt have been surprised if ashton had gone with the saxons, but can also understand if the selectors want to get the measure of him in the prem first.

as someone on the saints side has said, with playing league through last summer he has just finished a 15 month season. so hopefully with a chance to get a bit of a rest and read the rule book he'll be sharp and fresh ready for the 08/09 season.

Coby · Post by **Coby** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:29 pm

masopa wrote:I personally think that looks like a good squad. TV seems to me to be very much a confidence player and being a senior player in the Saxons may well do him more good than a trip to NZ.

I like the balance of experience vs youth, especially in the forwards. Great to see a few young tyros being tried out... why not?!

No Ellis in either Saxons or senior, which is a bit of a surprise TBH. Good that Blaze made the Saxons and Chutes to lead from the front.

All in all, pretty happy. I guess Geraghty is injured??

Injuries have dictated a few choices i think,
Players not selected because of injury:
J Lewsey (Wasps), S Geraghty (London Irish), H Ellis (Leicester), S Shaw (Wasps), J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), J Wilkinson (Newcastle), L Deacon (Leicester), P Vickery (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester).

I believe Delon Armitage is injured too but im not sure.

Tiger Eye · Post by **Tiger Eye** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:58 pm

Has Danny Grewcock retired from International duties or something? or has he been banned again?

Dave Angel · Post by **Dave Angel** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:10 pm

Kinoulton wrote:According to the club's own stats, here is Tom Varndell's record in 2007/08:

Minutes on the pitch: 1,364

(That's the equivalent of 17 full games plus 4 minutes.)

Tries scored: 17

Does any other English player have a better record?

Out of interest, where did you or the club get the 1364 minutes from?

According to the stats page, Tom started in 27 games (4 EDF, 18 GP, 5 HC) and was a sub in 3 more (1 EDF & 2 GP).

Obviously he was subbed in some of the games he started but your figures suggest that he must have been subbed bevfore the 50th minute in each of those 27 games! I find that unlikely to be honest but would be happy to be proved wrong.

Suz · Post by **Suz** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:14 pm

I think Hipkiss is unlucky not to make the saxons squad.

westy154 · Post by **westy154** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:17 pm

Really? I think Hipkiss is lucky to make the Tigers squad at the minute.

Dave Angel · Post by **Dave Angel** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:27 pm

Kinoulton, I have just done my own analysis (again using Tigers figures, but this time from the individual match reports) and it turns out that Varndell has played a total of 2,162 minutes this season! (1473 GP, 324 EDF, 365 HC)

Therefore that works out at an equivalent of just over 27 games, meaning that his 17 tries actually average out at 0.63 tries per game, NOT one try per game.

Sometimes it is worth challenging figures that make no logical sense before taking them as fact...

DTM · Post by **DTM** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:32 pm

I must say that I am particularly disappointed not to see Mark Regans name on the team sheet.......;o)

voice of the crumbie · Tue May 13, 2008 1:39 pm

Daily Mail this morning said he was being left behind to get further recuperation on knee injury. IMHO not a bad decision for 2 reasons.

1. Rest the knee
2. Being left at home will mean he will be chomping at the bit next season. Good for us and potentially good England in the long run.

westy154 · Post by **westy154** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:20 pm

We haven't rushed him back, and it is good to see that England have no desire to do so either.

g · Post by g » Tue May 13, 2008 3:20 pm

I am totally confused here

is Ellis in either squad or not. He is not in any squads that the BBC or Sky sports have given out.

Yet he is now down with Vickery in a revised squad.

So Is he or isn't he in the squad?

POSTIGER · Post by **POSTIGER** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:32 pm

Forget Les V - go with Tom V!

Leicester Tigers

England tour squad

No Harry Ellis