Farrell must go..!!!

[Big Dai]

Lancaster has lost the plot! No! Sorry dear friends (And Tigerburnie) In order to do that you have to have had the plot in the first place.

Fer...Fer......Fer....For crying out loud! (a la Arkwright)And it ker could have been worse. Censored even!

[jgriffin]

There is no schadenfreude. We are England supporters. We have the talent, but not in the majority of the coaching team.

[LessThanSte]

Worryingly though we will win and it will all be ok, Farrell will stay at 12.

Unless Farrell misses most of his kicks, he will be in the starting XV for Australia

[fortysix]

I think it is correct to say only Keiran Bracken directly out of all the ex player commentators has advocated binning Farrell. One or two newspaper journos are now getting in on the act.

SCW has indirectly in his non stop advocating of Cipriani -and who probably is the best no 10 for any chance of winning the big ones.

But Farrell will stay for sure v Australia-unless he f*c*s up yet again and we lose to Samoa.

Hate to see a player injured but its our only chance of winning the WC with him and his father well out of the way

Transfer them both back to Rugby League ...... pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.

[Tyzot]

I get the feeling that if Farrell at 12 doesn't work (again), Daddy will put him at 13, if that doesn't work 15 etc. etc. Prop must be under consideration by the time the world cup comes round.

[rocktop51]

Once upon a time Farell and Ford were in the successful U20 (?) team with Fird at 10 and Farell at 12 which worked then. However time marches on and where one has progressed one has gone backwards. Farell is not an England player, Ford is. With regards to nepotism I do think that Mike Ford at Bath is more rational and not as biased as Faz Snr. Picking up on a point earlier about favouritism at local level I can totally concur - I have seen many great youngsters not move in to County reckoning by the coach / selector syndrome. Thank God for those that see beyond it.

[L Smith]

Once upon a time Farell and Ford were in the successful U20 (?) team with Fird at 10 and Farell at 12 which worked then. However time marches on and where one has progressed one has gone backwards. Farell is not an England player, Ford is. With regards to nepotism I do think that Mike Ford at Bath is more rational and not as biased as Faz Snr. Picking up on a point earlier about favouritism at local level I can totally concur - I have seen many great youngsters not move in to County reckoning by the coach / selector syndrome. Thank God for those that see beyond it.

Ford is not great under pressure and would need a kicking 15, 9 or 12, which we don't have. If you take Ford and Farrell's best attributes, you get Danny Cipriani (with slightly improved tackling).

[G.K]

Farrell at centre you have got to be joking, seeing him getting smashed backwards for the NZ final try just summed him up, Lancaster never had the plot, he has a whole host of centres to pick from Burrell, Joseph, Eastmond, Allen. I hope Samoa target him and show him up, agree with the comment about having a relative as a coach, it has had a destructive effect on the progress of the team.

Fixed that for you, it's the Lancashire old pals team.

[4071]

Attwood? Why would we drop him?

I watched Attwood with interest and kept comparing him to Kitchener. Fortunately for Tigers, Kitchener is far better, IMHO.

Attwood was not that bad apart from silly penalty and ignoring the overlap for Watson to run in. However thought Kruis looked better and deserved a start as of course does Kitchener.

Ah, right. I see the reasoning behind wanting to rotate a player like Kruis (or Kitch) in for a start. I just thought you were implying that Attwood had to go. He's played well so far, and the scrum and maul both seem to have picked up a level with him in the side. I think it would make more sense to keep him and rotate out Lawes. Not dropping him, but simply to look at developing options and rotating players.

[tigerburnie]

http://www.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/248465.html

Interesting slant on things from the outside.

[Sajerj]

Farrell at centre you have got to be joking, seeing him getting smashed backwards for the NZ final try just summed him up, Lancaster trully has lost the plot, he has a whole host of centres to pick from Burrell, Joseph, Eastmond, Allen. I hope Samoa target him and show him up, agree with the comment about having a relative as a coach, it is having a destructive effect on the progress of the team.

Are you talking about the try when New Zealand went through twenty four phases ? And you want to pick Farell out of that ?

I think Farrell should be dropped, but in terms of reasons there is nothing in that try that is a reason.

[The Boy Dave]

Are you talking about the try when New Zealand went through twenty four phases ? And you want to pick Farell out of that ?

I think Farrell should be dropped, but in terms of reasons there is nothing in that try that is a reason.

Agree and it kind of sums up just how far the frustration has gone.
Farrell is a good player and he has had lots of time and more opportunities given to him than anyone I can ever remember.
The main target for criticism is bias in the coaching department infuencing selection which is quite common in sport anyway in my opinion.
Does anyone really think some of our players would be anywhere near where they are were it not for this sort of bias.
It's alright if successful but fair game if not in my opinion since the bias seems to be so deep rooted it has become something of a joke, especially when you consider performances the other options and combinations at 10, 12 and 13 and how long they have been ignored.
At this stage like many others they really are relying on the return of Manu to rescue the situation, it could be so much better though.

[JackFlashJonny]

The thing that has got me so upset is Lancaster et al's insistance that they picked on form...

THIS has completely shown that up and having a 10, 12 , 13 combo including Barritt at 13 is just laughable I have never been so disillusioned with a team in my life I mean Farrell has been horrific and Barritt bless him will tackle a bus but has only one move of crash bash in which he is rarely that successful as its obviously coming.

At least Tigers are on the up great draw at the weekend!

[Sajerj]

Are you talking about the try when New Zealand went through twenty four phases ? And you want to pick Farell out of that ?

I think Farrell should be dropped, but in terms of reasons there is nothing in that try that is a reason.

Agree and it kind of sums up just how far the frustration has gone.
Farrell is a good player and he has had lots of time and more opportunities given to him than anyone I can ever remember.
The main target for criticism is bias in the coaching department infuencing selection which is quite common in sport anyway in my opinion.
Does anyone really think some of our players would be anywhere near where they are were it not for this sort of bias.
It's alright if successful but fair game if not in my opinion since the bias seems to be so deep rooted it has become something of a joke, especially when you consider performances the other options and combinations at 10, 12 and 13 and how long they have been ignored.
At this stage like many others they really are relying on the return of Manu to rescue the situation, it could be so much better though.

The problem with that reliance TBD, is that Manu's availability is becoming a serious issue.
By the time this AI series ends he will have missed 12 of the last 15 England games (aside from 15 minutes against Italy as a sub), and prior to that the lions tour was a write off for him because of injury.

I have no idea if he is going to make the next series of games in the six nations. Hope so, but sounds like a nasty injury he has.

[h's dad]

Ford/Farrell as a 10/12 combination simply won’t work because of the players’ styles and attributes which will clash rather than complement, whatever you think of them as individuals. I think this will be clear on Saturday, whatever the result, and Ford will carry the can with Lancaster and Farrell senior using this as evidence that there is no option for England at 10 but Fazlet. I am not Boy George’s biggest fan but he is being set up to carry the can here.

It seems to be more important to the coaching set up to get caps for Fazlet than to prepare England for next years world cup. Despite his success with the forwards, Wig has to share in the responsibility for this.