Jones names provisional elite player squad

[sapajo]

Tigers players included are

Dan Cole
Will Evans
Ellis Genge
Mike Williams
Tom Youngs
Manu
Ben Youngs

[iceman_19]

Big congrats to Mike and Will. That is a massive endorsement of their abilities after relatively little top flight action last season. Got to say, I only saw Williams from the terraces twice last year, but I was blown away by his physicality and defence. Top notch 6 IMO.

And great to see Tom back in there too. Hope he makes his point - he should be ahead of LCD at least in the pecking order.

[Bertos]

Link to the full squad:

http://www.englandrugby.com/news/jones- ... yer-squad/

[RagingBull]

for me this means we have to play Evans regularly or we will def be losing him.

Williams is prob the player i most excited about being in it though he is a tank, and made a huge difference in our physicality.

Very happy for Tom as well.

[Bertos]

Considering the squad has gone up to 45 it is surprising to see Burrell miss out all together. Ashton, Brookes and Ewers might have expected to be there considering they were in Jones' first England squad.

His selection looks good; there are some really mouthwatering options for theat back row and a spot available due to Haskell's injury

[kpj tiger]

for me this means we have to play Evans regularly or we will def be losing him.

Williams is prob the player i most excited about being in it though he is a tank, and made a huge difference in our physicality.

Very happy for Tom as well.

I hope your wrong about Evans because he has stiff competition in BOC and Lachlan for the 7 shirt, A backrow of 6. Williams, 7. Evans, 8. BOC with Mcaffery on the bench is the only way to involve them all and that leaves Croft and Hamilton out, I definitely wouldn't want to have to choose between them

[RagingBull]

for me this means we have to play Evans regularly or we will def be losing him.

Williams is prob the player i most excited about being in it though he is a tank, and made a huge difference in our physicality.

Very happy for Tom as well.

I hope your wrong about Evans because he has stiff competition in BOC and Lachlan for the 7 shirt, A backrow of 6. Williams, 7. Evans, 8. BOC with Mcaffery on the bench is the only way to involve them all and that leaves Croft and Hamilton out, I definitely wouldn't want to have to choose between them

he wouldn't have to be starting every game. rotating etc similar to end of last season.

[kpj tiger]

for me this means we have to play Evans regularly or we will def be losing him.

Williams is prob the player i most excited about being in it though he is a tank, and made a huge difference in our physicality.

Very happy for Tom as well.

I hope your wrong about Evans because he has stiff competition in BOC and Lachlan for the 7 shirt, A backrow of 6. Williams, 7. Evans, 8. BOC with Mcaffery on the bench is the only way to involve them all and that leaves Croft and Hamilton out, I definitely wouldn't want to have to choose between them

he wouldn't have to be starting every game. rotating etc similar to end of last season.

Very true, there are certainly plenty of different backrow permutations going into this season!

[strawclearer]

The prospect of two 7's (BOC and Evans) and a big 6 (Williams) with McCaffrey on the bench is mouthwatering!

As far as Will Evans getting 'game-time' is concerned, I'd think that a combination of rotation/injuries should ensure that all get to play as much as they want to - the days of a forward in particular playing every match in the season ought to be behind us now.

[The Boy Dave]

I think this is an impressive looking squad but won't fully commit until Roly has had his say.
Not seen him for a while, I hope his mates Exeter supporting wife has not beat him up!

[Soggypitch]

It's a v good squad and very pleased for all the Tigers players. I hope OTY makes his point in training, Eddie has not seen him training yet and I have hope that the two will "click".

Mike Williams is a beast of a player, can't wait to see him fully fit again this season. As has already been said our back row options are incredible, especially with most of the locks being able to do a shift at 6 if necessary (hopefully it won't be).

I'm still really concerned about our centres. Tomoua won't arrive until mid October so realistically the earliest he will start will be early November. Manu has a terrible injury record and our back ups (Roberts, Smith and Catchpole) are just not good enough in my opinion, at the highest level. Ok Betham can do a very good job at 13, but I would rather see him in his proper position on the wing.

Really looking forward to the new season, but fear this relative weakness in our squad could be a real issue.

Hope I'm wrong and Tomoua/Manu play most games and rip it up....we can dream!

[Will S]

I was talking to a friend about my concern at centre this year. He pointed out that our first string centre combo would make nearly every club team in the world. I then corrected him in that I was concerned about depth but when he started running through the names we have such as Tait, Betham etc you soon realise that we are in fairly good shape.

Maybe it is just that the other areas or our team are so strong this is the only area we can point to!

[Will S]

The prospect of two 7's (BOC and Evans) and a big 6 (Williams) with McCaffrey on the bench is mouthwatering!

With a back row of BOC, McCaffrey and Evans with Thacker playing at hooker some might argue that we have four 7's on the pitch!!!

[Jimmy Skitz]

It does make me wonder, given that Tom Youngs spent most of last season out with a serious back injury how much work did he do on the aspects of his game that saw him left out last year...

[DickyP]

It does make me wonder, given that Tom Youngs spent most of last season out with a serious back injury how much work did he do on the aspects of his game that saw him left out last year...

According to EJ it wasn't his skills but his aggression and application - not exactly things you can practise in rehab!