Six Nations...

Forum to discuss everything that is Tigers related

Moderators: Tigerbeat, Rizzo, Tigers Press Office, Tigers Webmaster

Roly
Super User
Super User
Posts: 2351
Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:02 pm

Re: Six Nations...

Post by Roly »

Hinckley Bob wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 2:49 pm Ireland look the favourites to me; not sure how much longer Eddie can keep England playing better than the sum of their parts.
I'm not sure that's true, if anything, England are underachieving I reckon. In the sense that although they've been getting the results, the performances haven't really been that stellar (three nil win v Wallabies perhaps the exception).
“It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.” Sir Winston Churchill.
tigerburnie
Super User
Super User
Posts: 8317
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:46 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Six Nations...

Post by tigerburnie »

From what I've seen, I see Wales as the ones in trouble, not playing that well and a few key injuries too, I can see Scotland winning in Cardiff on current form, however the "but" is, we don't know how Scotland play away from Murrayfield.
"If you want entertainment, go to the theatre," says Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill. "Rugby players play the game to win.15/1/21.
strawclearer
Super User
Super User
Posts: 4109
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:13 am

Re: Six Nations...

Post by strawclearer »

From the Mercury:

Leicester Tigers have four players in an England training squad named by head coach Eddie Jones.

Scrum-half Ben Youngs, fly-half George Ford, wing Jonny May and prop forward Dan Cole are all in the group which will meet up in Brighton on Tuesday for the two-day camp as England begin their preparations for the Six Nations championship, which begins in February.

Front-rower Ellis Genge misses out as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury sustained in the Aviva Premiership game at Wasps earlier this month. There is no place for Manu Tuilagi in the training squad, though it would have been something of a surprise if the centre had been included given that he is currently just two games into his comeback from a knee injury sustained against Bath on the opening week of the season.

England training squad

Backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Nathan Earle (Saracens)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
George Ford (Leicester Tigers)
Piers Francis (Northampton Saints)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)
Jonny May (Leicester Tigers)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins) *
Denny Solomona (Sale Sharks)
Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

Forwards
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons)
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
James Haskell (Wasps)
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Joe Launchbury (Wasps)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby) *
Beno Obano (Bath Rugby)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs)
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs)
Happy days clearing straw from the pitch before the Baa-Baas games! KBO
Wear a Mask>Protect The NHS>Save Lives
JP14
Super User
Super User
Posts: 7484
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2017 7:37 am

Re: Six Nations...

Post by JP14 »

For me Haskell hasn’t been playing brilliantly from what I’m seeing, nice to see Obano given his chance. Graham a surprise inclusion playing well but would have had Armand or Williams instead.

Courtney Lawes is not included because Mrs Lawes has just had twins so that’s lovely news for the Lawes family
Formerly of Burbaaage (not Inkleh), now up north at uni
Big Dai
Super User
Super User
Posts: 6044
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2004 6:04 pm
Location: Abergavenny

Re: Six Nations...

Post by Big Dai »

Hinckley Bob wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 2:49 pm Ireland look the favourites to me; not sure how much longer Eddie can keep England playing better than the sum of their parts.
Well........ when he's done doing the aforesaid trick with England perhaps he could help his antipodean countryman pull the same trick with Tigers?
Exile Wigstonite living in Wales.
Poet laureate of the "One Eyed Turk".
Bar stool philosopher in the "Wilted Daffodil"
Stephen18
Bronze Member
Bronze Member
Posts: 373
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 8:51 am

Re: Six Nations...

Post by Stephen18 »

Seems a bit backward to pick Haskell over Armand or Ben curry due to his age and being past it, he played the best he ever will in Australia 2 years ago. Francis over lowoski just cause Francis isn’t that good and isn’t going to oust Farrell or ford and isn’t going to push them, Brown the same as Haskell past it and has had his time Watson is the form 15 and there is enough quality on the wings now that he can play there so give mallinder, and I still feel Marcus smith is taking a place from someone who can add something to the World Cup squad like Dan Robson he certainly showed youngs how to run agame when we played them and youngs has looked slow and poor since he came back from the autumn internationals.
Leicestertinytiger
Super User
Super User
Posts: 2955
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 2:22 pm

Re: Six Nations...

Post by Leicestertinytiger »

Does know one else think Jackson Wray is hard done by by not being picked? In my opinion is better than Armand, loads better than Haskell and can cover the entire backrow?

Played very well against Tigers at 8, his weakest position. The 6 backrowers I would have picked would have been Robshaw, Wray, Underhill, Simmonds, Vunipola and Hughes once back from injury.
Experimental
New Member
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 9:58 pm

Re: Six Nations...

Post by Experimental »

Looks like a very slow squad to me. Joe Schmidt will be ready for the 'surprise' recall of Tuilagi towards the end of the six nations. Not having a go, but seems to be falling apart a little for Eddie, even will greenwood saying its more important to beat new zealand in a friendly than win the six nations. Rubbish! Injuries or no injuries, this England will get found out in twickers, theres at least 3 yellow cards in there, and a lot of them havent played together before.
Tiglon
Super User
Super User
Posts: 3887
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2011 8:54 pm

Re: Six Nations...

Post by Tiglon »

Experimental wrote: Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:18 pm Looks like a very slow squad to me. Joe Schmidt will be ready for the 'surprise' recall of Tuilagi towards the end of the six nations. Not having a go, but seems to be falling apart a little for Eddie, even will greenwood saying its more important to beat new zealand in a friendly than win the six nations. Rubbish! Injuries or no injuries, this England will get found out in twickers, theres at least 3 yellow cards in there, and a lot of them havent played together before.
I'd love to see Tigers "falling apart" like England are apparently doing! :smt017
biffer
Gold Member
Gold Member
Posts: 1597
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2011 4:35 pm

Re: Six Nations...

Post by biffer »

Roly wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 8:07 am
Scott11 wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:47 pm Same here Ourla,although France historically do well after a Lions tour. Although after watching them in the AIs theyd be better off sending their B team who at least looked half decent in the midweek NZ game whereas France were abysmal!
I might be wrong, but I can't remember France not winning the 5/6N in a year post Lions, regardless of their form going into it.

On the face of it, its between England and Ireland, with Ireland looking the better bet if England's injured don't make a timely return (Maro and Mako to name but two).

Scotland could easily spoil the party, and at this stage you can't rule them out. However, I feel their undoing will be the visit to Cardiff.
Scotland’s front row woes might derail the six nations campaign.

Currently unfit or unavailable

LH Dickinson, Dell, Marfo, Sutherland
Hooker Ford, Brown
TH Nel, Fagerson, Berghan

We don’t have the depth to deal with that.
westwinds31
Super User
Super User
Posts: 5976
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:26 am

Re: Six Nations...

Post by westwinds31 »

It looks as though Billy Vunipola is straight back to top form, which is massive news for England.
strawclearer
Super User
Super User
Posts: 4109
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:13 am

Re: Six Nations...

Post by strawclearer »

For Tigers, I see Joe Ford as a 10 - and only as a 10. If he isn't good enough to start a game at 10 in brother George's absence - and I don't believe he is - then he's not a good enough utility back to get in the 23.

For England, I believe Farrell is the best option at 10. If I had to then pick 2 utility backs for the bench, George Ford would not be one of them. He's either a starter at 10 or he's not in the 23.

So - how long before we have George Ford available during the Six Nations and Joe on the 'release list'?
Happy days clearing straw from the pitch before the Baa-Baas games! KBO
Wear a Mask>Protect The NHS>Save Lives
Not a jock
Bronze Member
Bronze Member
Posts: 350
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2004 5:45 pm
Location: Somerset

Re: Six Nations...

Post by Not a jock »

I noticed that France host Italy in Marseilles so presumably that'll help attract more away fans. Can't see France wanting to play England in Calais though (nor Scotland vs England in the Borders).
Rugbyflanker
Gold Member
Gold Member
Posts: 1429
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:58 pm

Re: Six Nations...

Post by Rugbyflanker »

Im still not sure Eddie would trust Slade or Loz at 10 in a big game so Ford always gets in the 23 imo. Besides,he and Ben actually play well for England!
Chobbsy
Super User
Super User
Posts: 3083
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:51 am
Location: Milton Keynes

Re: Six Nations...

Post by Chobbsy »

ourla wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:33 pm Looks like it will be between England and Ireland again.

Still not buying Scotland as contenders.
One thing you can be absolutely sure of is Scotland hosting England will be the focus of the 6 Nations for Scotland if they beat us at Murrayfield it will be seen as a successful 6 nations regardless of the rest of the results. So true contenders or not this is the one they will throw the kitchen sink at.
God created rugby so footballers have heros too
Post Reply