Chris Robshaw named England captain

[ellis9]

Well for the Scotland and Italy game and then they will "sit down and review and chat about how it's going".

[kpb]

Must be highly thought of??

A captain needs to be assured of his position in a team and have the respect of all other squad members.A captain needs to stamp his authority on his squad.

Can a player with one Cap to his name do this???

[jgriffin]

Him or Crofty for me. Robshaw is OK, better than Dimmon.

[fleabane]

Probably the correct decision, although he is unproven at international level. I don't think there is anyone with the real credentials to challenge him as captain, but he will need other leaders on the pitch to support him. He will also need to show he is first choice for his position.

[SpanishTiger]

Travesti decision for me. In my long sport's career, no matter if it was football or rugby, no matter the team, captaincy was always the most respected and hard to get position. It wasn't necessarily given to the oldest player in the club, yet I never ever imagined a new guy coming to the team and getting it straight away.

To be a captain you first have to prove yourself in that league (or in this case at an international level) and then prove yourself to your teammates, earning their respect. In some teams we even vote for our captain.

So according to what I have just said, this decision is a joke.

[CitizenSmiff]

At this experimental stage I don't think it really matters who gets the job, although I'd like to know what qualities Lancaster thinks Tom Croft lacks and thus denied him the role. Robshaw is a great player and well respected throughout English rugby, I'm sure he'll do fine.

[Bunchy]

Travesti decision for me. In my long sport's career, no matter if it was football or rugby, no matter the team, captaincy was always the most respected and hard to get position. It wasn't necessarily given to the oldest player in the club, yet I never ever imagined a new guy coming to the team and getting it straight away.

To be a captain you first have to prove yourself in that league (or in this case at an international level) and then prove yourself to your teammates, earning their respect. In some teams we even vote for our captain.

So according to what I have just said, this decision is a joke.

Understand your views - to balance it though, I would think SL views captaincy as much more than the 80 mins on the pitch - there is all of the other important bits that go into making a great skipper and these are the things that England have lacked in a captain for sometime now. He is widely respected throughout the club game as a great captain which SL would know and presumably has stepped up during the camps..

[tjs10]

He is the captain of the team at the top of the Premiership though so it isn't as if it is his first crack at captaining a side.

Who would you say is a more suitable captain?

And, assuming you answered "Tom Croft!" who would you say without those Leicester blinkers on?

Robshaw has already captained the Saxons & captained the England midweek side in their tour to Aus/NZ.

Nigel Melville captained England on his senior debut so by comparison Robshaw is practically a veteran!

[mike]

I think he is the best bet out of that lot .

[Chimpmagnet]

and wasn't martin johnson named captain of the lions before he was england captain? and we all know what happened there!

[kingol22]

Think this is a big risk. As has been said a captain must be assured of his position.
How can an untested player with 1 cap be assured of his position at international level?

[tig1]

Think this is a big risk. As has been said a captain must be assured of his position.
How can an untested player with 1 cap be assured of his position at international level?

Judging by MJ, he chose the captain and ignored form and fitness all together.
First Steve Borthwick and then Lewis.

Lewis in no way proved his form and fitness for that WC.

I think at least in the case of Robshaw he has been playing regularly and captaining his club

[tjs10]

Think this is a big risk. As has been said a captain must be assured of his position.
How can an untested player with 1 cap be assured of his position at international level?

He isn't assured of his position! That's why he has only been given the captaincy for the first two matches of the tournament.

I don't think that anyone in the "new" England setup can claim to be assured of their position at this early stage, yet SOMEONE needs to be given the responsibility of captain so why not the captain of the club currently leading the top division who was also the captain of the England Saxons last year?

Nigel Melville became England Captain on his debut & Will Carling was made England captain on only his 8th cap when he was still only 22 years old!

[Tiglon]

The head coach is untested, most of the team is untested, so we may as well have an untested captain too!

If it doesn't work, it can be changed - nothing is set in stone. It's good to see team England taking a few risks for once.

[tigerburnie]

I like a forward as captain and this one is also captain of his club who are top of the premiership.I would say this is picking the form man for the job,good luck to him.