6 Nations 2022

[Scott1]

This is the probable French line up for their match at Murrayfield:

L'équipe probable : 15. Jaminet ; 14. Penaud, 13. Fickou, 12. Danty, 11. Moefana ; 10. Ntamack, 9. Dupont (cap.) ; 7. Jelonch, 8. Alldritt, 6. Cros ; 5. Willemse, 4. Woki ; 3. Atonio, 2. Marchand, 1. Baille

Remplaçants : 16. Mauvaka, 17. Gros, 18. Bamba, 19. Taofifenua, 20. Flament, 21. Lucu, 22. Ramos, 23. Lebel

Bordeaux centre Moefana will be on the left wing with Jonathan Dante at centre after missing the Ireland game.
There'll likely be a 5:3 split on the bench with former Wasp, Thibault Flament preferred to Dylan Cretin.

One notable fact is that there'll be ten Toulouse players in the squad, and on Saturday Toulouse have a Top14 match home to leaders Bordeaux. The odds will be short on a seventh consecutive Top14 defeat, which puts in to question the sense of "les doublons", Top14/6 nations matches on the same weekend. Ok, so it's the same with the Premiership and the whatsitsname irish/Welsh/Scottish/Italian league too!

The French team against Scotland is more or less as above except for the 6:2 bench where Cretin is in instead of Lebel:

Starting XV: 15. Jaminet ; 14. Penaud, 13. Fickou, 12. Danty, 11. Moefana ; 10. Ntamack, 9. Dupont (cap.) ; 7. Jelonch, 8. Alldritt, 6. Cros ; 5. Willemse, 4. Woki, 3. Atonio, 2. Marchand, 1. Baille.

Bench : 16. Mauvaka, 17. Gros, 18. Bamba, 19. Taofifenua, 20. Flament, 21. Cretin, 22. Lucu, 23. Ramos.

Surely the French will be favourites! - by at least 20!

Just as likely to lose though tbf!

[mightymouse]

Shame Henderson has not been fit, he would surely have got ahead of Hodgson on the bench given the quantity of injuries Scotland have in 2nd Row and back row.
The Scottish Backs look good and very exciting to see Bennett back on the bench but with all the injuries up front I think it’s an easy canter for the French 8.
Scotland missing Sunderland, Cummins, Gray(both I think), Ritchie, Fagerson (the younger) in the forwards and Cam Redpath in the backs .. they just cannot afford to lose that level of players with the lack of depth they have (albeit better than previous years)

[TigerFeetSteve]

Shame Henderson has not been fit, he would surely have got ahead of Hodgson on the bench given the quantity of injuries Scotland have in 2nd Row and back row.
The Scottish Backs look good and very exciting to see Bennett back on the bench but with all the injuries up front I think it’s an easy canter for the French 8.
Scotland missing Sunderland, Cummins, Gray(both I think), Ritchie, Fagerson (the younger) in the forwards and Cam Redpath in the backs .. they just cannot afford to lose that level of players with the lack of depth they have (albeit better than previous years)

Really felt for Henderson last summer when he missed out on a cap due to a Covid outbreak. Hope he gets his chance in the future to get the cap!

[Rugbygramps]

Randall starts,wasn't surprised against Italy but am v Wales. Could be Ben slowly getting phased out for the RWC,certainly as a starter anyway but his experience will always be invaluable

Randall is obviously the heir apparent. Given how close we are to the World Cup, from England’s point of view, we need him to gain a lot of experience quickly. Imagine Ben gets injured in a WC warmup game and we have to go with two inexperienced SH’s. Better to blood Randall with the option to bring on Ben if needed

IMO Quirke is the better all round 9. I’m wondering if Randall is the nearest in style to Danny Care and they are hoping that will bring the best out in Smith

[fentiger]

Manu is out with a low grade hamstring strain!

[Rugbygramps]

Manu is out with a low grade hamstring strain!

And it starts again. When is Jones going to learn

[Big Dai]

Pay up Posh Richard......that's a pint of Butty Bach and we've not kicked off the weekend yet!

It would be amusing if it were not so predictable!

[jgriffin]

Manu is out with a low grade hamstring strain!

And it starts again. When is Jones going to learn

I thought it was an early April Fool. Time to rethink, EJ.

[Postiger2]

Manu in injury shocker

I feel for the guy because he's a brilliant player but is he ever going to be fit enough to play regular test rugby?

[LongsladeTiger]

Jones' gamble has backfired again. He is lucky it didn't happen in the game at least this way he can find a proper replacement before kick off.

[Tigers86asw]

Jones has spoken about having more size in the England back line since 2016. Where are they? He hasn’t developed a ball carrying centre outside of manu for 6 years- given England’s resources that is quite damning.

[Cagey Tiger]

Jones has spoken about having more size in the England back line since 2016. Where are they? He hasn’t developed a ball carrying centre outside of manu for 6 years- given England’s resources that is quite damning.

Is that down to EJ, the clubs or just no suitable players coming through though. A bit of all 3 most likely.

[Tiglon]

Eddie's gamble? When will Jones learn?

Any coach would pick Manu, if fit, which he clearly was. What has Jones lost? Nothing.

How is it Jones' fault that England don't have any other big backs? Did he run over Cokanasiga's knee? Does he run all the club academies?

It's perfectly reasonable to think Jones isn't the right man for the job, but some of the desperation to have a dig at him is getting a bit silly.

[mightymouse]

Manu injury whilst with England would be a sickening feeling of DeJa Vu if it wasn’t for the fact we aren’t paying his wages or medical bills anymore thankfully. I wonder when Sale will start to realise the pence per minute played, doesn’t really stack up ?

Kelly, Porter, Scott, Moroni all probably for about the same money.. I know which deal If rather have.

[mol2]

A disproportionate number of Manu's injuries have come training with or playing for England. And this theory may well be applied to other players too.

I think there is a fundamental issue with the EJ training camps - far to much emphasis on physical conditioning and contact. Conditioning is a long term matter for clubs not something that can be addressed in brief training camps with the possible exception of the world cup preparation where the players are with the squad for longer.