England in the 6N

[Leicestertinytiger]

Much better England team, but still worried with it being up North. Need to be on our game or could be two away losses this tournament.

[Chobbsy]

It looks like Young’s (and others) have been dropped.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51397730

Will Ludlum play 8 until Earl comes on?

[Smudge]

Ben the scapegoat. I can't believe some of the drivel being written about him in the social media and press.
Only a short while since we beat the All Blacks, when he was quite brilliant yet now people are saying he is :censored: and
should have been dropped years ago.
The whole team was caught knapping by France, who Edwards has changed greatly. The reason he kicks so much is because that is the team plan. It's no good blaming him if we have no decent jacklers to chase them.
There was plenty of height and time to get under them.
Plenty written about players out of position etc and the new 15. Eddie will certainly stick with him for more than one match.
Am I alone in thinking that the AIs and 6Ns take players away from the clubs for far too long during the season? 12 to 14 weeks without your best players doesn't help us one bit.
I would scrap the AIs all together. We used to love to see the ABs and Aussies every few years but it's every year now and the magic has gone. Familiarity and contempt spring to mind. As for the 6Ns? Much too disruptive to be played in the middle of the season. Who really cares if we beat Scotland or Italy? Not me. Maybe in the summer after the season ends.

[GETHIN EXILE]

I've long been an advocate of the 6 nations being played over 5 consecutive weekends. It would serve as good practice for the world cup. The squads should be fixed in the same way as a world cup squad is. Along side this there should be no premiership fixtures during this period. Premiership players should be released by their clubs on the Monday before the opening fixtures.
As for the AI's they should be on 3 fixed weekends under the same conditions. The premiership cup should be an under 23's competition from start to finish. The first 3 rounds played during the AI's , the final round played on the opening 6N weekend, semi-finals on weekend 3 and final on weekend 5.

[Not a jock]

Isn't moving the internationals into tighter packed blocks equivalent to shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic? Assuming 6-9 European games, 3 AIs, 5 SNs then top players will be committed to 14-17 high pressure games per season before the Premiership is taking into account. This could be half of their season's allowance, even assuming no summer tours. Consequently, they'd only be available for approximately 75% of the premiership fixtures.

A few years back the RFU were effectively giving each club approx £2mm/year for access to international players. If the clubs split off and go there own way, presumably the RFU handout will disappear. Players would need to chose which franchise they play for - either the RFU or one the premiership's.

I see little point in complaining about the time the international players spend not playing for their clubs - 'elf & safety aka players' welfare will see the limit of games per season maintained or even made stricter.

[chewbacca]

It looks like Young’s (and others) have been dropped.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51397730

Press looks to sensationalise everything. Hardly dropped as he is in the match day 23. Wasn't his best game last week but he wasn't alone in that.

[JP14]

Youngs was by no means the standout and was shocking in the final, criticism is justified in my view.