England Team

[RobGale]

Some positive changes there.

Would like to have seen Lawes start and feel it was unfair on Jordan to be dropped from the 22 (thought he did ok on Saturday. No worse than about 10 others anyway) but other than that I agree with the picks

[G.K]

What always baffles me about Johnson is his inconsistency: He immediately drops some players that play badly, e.g. Crane, Care but keeps others, e.g. Geraghty, Banahan and yet others stay in the squad for ever it seems no matter what e.g. Borthwick.

Why keep Moyne at Full Back when you could switch him with Cueto or bring Foden in and drop Bannaman? Makes no sense against Argentina who kick a lot.

We might scrape a narrow win on Saturday followed by a defeat the one after but I don't see the fundamental problems being solved.

[maskedsquid]

Playing Monye at full-back is a massive waste of a threatening player.

Bananaman is very fortunate to keep his place, although maybe they are hoping to see Lucas lining up opposite him...Mind you, that wouldn't bode well for the periods when Argentina were on the attack, given Bananaman's elephant-like turning circle.

Haskell in for Crane is a good move, assuming he can make a decent fist of the number eight position, which has been a problem for him in the past.

Hodgson for Care is totally correct, if a week late.

Geraghty must have been delighted to see the lack of real alternatives at the minute. Needs a big performance to justify his selection, preferably one where he doesn't give away all our attacking ball.

Deacon/Borthwick must be the dullest partnership in world rugby.

[Nic]

Is Worsley the future, I could see the sense in rotating players between starting and bench, but this seems to suggest no confidence in the original selection.

Crane should be on the bench, then we could compare his impact with that of Haskell.

MJ and co had all summer to sort this out.

Dull Borthwick and Deacon maybe but give them a chance.

Same with Banahan - big but any good? Not sure yet

[alex_111]

with all our problems in the front row has boris stankovich ever been mentioned as an option? he'd provide a more than stable base in the scrum

[GEH]

The selection is one thing another critical one is leadership on the field - we don't have it.

[Hot_Charlie]

Would like to have seen Lawes start and feel it was unfair on Jordan to be dropped from the 22

Sadly I think Crane either would start, or be out of the 22, as he offers very little flexibility off the bench, unlike Worsely (6,7,8), who although maybe not as talented as an 8, is undoubtedly better over the rest of the back row.

[mike]

can't believe Deacon is starting ahead of lawes . A borthwick/deacon partnership must be the least dynamic duo for years .Geraghty is another lucky man to keep his place .

[kingol22]

Is this a joke? 1 change to a back line who except from wilko did absolutely nothing except run into a brick wall argentina are not a week side anymore and i can see a defeat again this saturday and if that happens and we lose to new zealand then i think jhonno may be shown the door.

[bluntiger]

I still believe that selection inconsistency will be Johnno's downfall. At times he has shown consistency (eg Geherty, Monye, Deacon and Banahan all retain their places this week as have Cipriani in the last AI's) but at other times, player have come in for one game only to be dropped immediately eg Crane, Foden, Armitage S. etc.

The problem he has IMO is that when he pulls out the teamsheet and starts to scribble in names, he writes in Wilkinson (on the few opportunities that he has been fit) and then has to think. He needs to have a team where he can scribble in 8-10 first choice player. Sure, he will scribble in Borthwick, but few believe he has the real quality. Haskell, Croft maybe have the quality but are not shoe-ins yet, far from it!

England were fortunate to have Vickery, Johnson, Hill, Dallaglio, Back, Dawson, Wilkinson, Greenwood, Robinson and Catt in 2003 before Woodward even had to start to think about selections and then had the likes of Shaw, Bracken, Tindall, Woodman, Thompson, Cohen, Moody, Kay, White etc to fill out a test side.

A loss this weekend and against the AB's the following week and Johnno will be gone. Everyone talks about 'progress' but have we really seen progress over the last 18 months?

[westy154]

The introductions of Hartley and Haskell should add a bit more dynamism to the pack, and counter the steady eddie approaches of Deacon and Borthwick.

The only change I would have made to the back line would be a specialist full back being brought in. Monye was found out at FB (he can cover there but isn't a genuine multi-position player IMO), so I would shove him to his preferred wing and play probably Foden. I'd give the midfield and half backs another game to gel.

[caterpiller cow]

Ithink that we should all get behind L Deacon he as had it rough just lately,with is back operation, he as been a good servant to the club, being captain aswell, he will come good for club and country