Just no to Dombrandt. He has had enough chances at international level and has never put in a performance that demanded the shirt. For me Pollock has to be in the team, I see him more as a 6 at international level than an 8, so at 6 I would start him with CCS on the bench. In the centres I have impressed with Northmore and Beard is an option although I do think Eng should try the Lawrence & Freeman combination.
Only two of your form side play consistently in Borthwick's XV. He is unable to let go of some older players who have lost form and are no longer of the highest standard.
The only thing I’d say on Baxter - Quins appear to have a really underpowered front five. If we had a better Tighthead and bigger locks behind him he might be looking more dominant. But totally agree form has dropped. Love all the effort you’ve put into this season to shine a spotlight on English talent. What a spicy team this would be.
Looks like a great squad. I think that IFW would supplant Ibitoye in my squad if available. What's great is the number of really good players you are leaving out. We look light on centres but the prop situation has improved. For me if we could relax the overseas player rule a little or altogether, that would give the England coach a very strong hand. 6N on its way, can't wait!!
I think you're missing Blamire at hooker. Big, great over the ball, just needs to work on his arrows. I think he'll be a starter after he moves to Tigers next season.
You make a very good point about Barbeary and his carrying game. He’s the nearest thing we have to Billy Vunipola, who between 2016-19 was absolutely world class, but as soon as he lost his carrying game became very poor quickly. At Test match level, ball carriers are utterly invaluable. Leave him out at our peril.
My concern though, is a lack of pace. You must have some pace. And he is short. We have seen a rumbling #8 before and that was Billy, but he became very one dimensional
Sadly billy was not good since about 2017-18 too many games like Daly and many other players slowed them down. England seem to be able to burn out every players they ever select on a long enough period.
England need to do a bit more rotation to get to at least one good player in every role - for instance opinion is divided on Earl being selected as starting 8 ( for my part I can see more of an argument for playing him at 7 or impact back row utility) - Earl, Willis and Dombrandt could all have been given a start at 8 across the 4 AIs to see which of them was really preeminent in the role.
You have to start with an idea of how you want to play and cater the players to it. You can’t just pick whoever looks good in a range of different systems.
I think Borthwick did last season. Freeman, IFW, Furbank, Sleightholme etc. You do have to give players time together in test rugby, but I agree that players like B Curry, Hill, and Willis should be given a chance over T Curry, Isikwe, or Dombrandt
Form is usually temporary and not always translates to the top level. I mean look at Hassell-Collins for England, did literally nothing yet he was having a great season for London Irish
No one ever does, a team cannot just be the best players of the moment or you may have no cohesion and no complementarity. Sometimes you have to leave a better player behind if he doesn't fit into the team. It's à matter of balance trying to pick the most possible amount of best players who can actually play together
Because international is a very different level to premiership. Having good form in prem doesn't necessarily translate to international. Thats why theres always going to be people who are brilliant club players, but are missing something to make it to international level, and will probably never be capped, whilst there are other players who you almost immediately know will become internationals.
Every great team has experience through the core of the team. We need that (as shown by the team going off piste against Aus). At scrum half Spencer slows the game down which stifles Engs attack, Mitchell speeds the game up which helps Engs attack.
Love the show and thanks for the inciteful analysis. On the basis that form is temporary but class is permanent, are you planning to do another selection of current players based upon class? I wonder how different that might be!
Appreciate the inclusion of Cadan Murley on one wing but at the risk of banging the same drum again I cannot see Ibitoye on the other wing at international level until and unless he shows some serious improvement in his defensive abilities
Love some of the selections, but that team would lose every game with Burke's kicking. Great in atrack, but he's a 12 playing 10. His kicking accuracy is at 60% this year which is just woeful, and that's coming from a Sarries fan
Love these picks. The bench looks strong and full of impact. Your comments on Steward are sadly accurate. Didn't lay a hand on Murley, which is just not good enough. I would like to see him at 12, to see if he could play there
Stewards claim to fame is his ability to catch the high ball, unfortunately he is too slow to challenge when chasing an attacking kick. which leaves him waiting around to defend opponents attacking kick. And a comment I've seen before likened his ability to turn in defense to that of an Oil Tanker. As shown by Murley!
Rightly or wrongly Borthwick values continuity too highly to ever contemplate picking a team as radical as this. Put yourself in his position, put this team out against the Irish away and you beat them you're a hero. If you lose, even by a small margin, you're a reckless fool who doesn't know what they are doing.
Murley needs to get capped, he's got an excellent all-round game. Would love Carpenter to get the run at fullback ahead of Steward in the 6 Nations but I can't see Borthwick not picking him with Furbank out. Carpenter certainly more in-form though.
Happy to go on record to say the front three of Asher, LCD and Rodd are capable of matching any other front three in the league, I think Rodd has the most diverse skill set of any prop in the league.
Think you are overrating Fergus Burke, coming from a Saracens fan he’s only really had the one good game and been quite average the rest of the season. Completely agree with the centre selection, not a lot of options but Northmore deserves a shot
Good looking team. AOF is almost exclusively a TH for Sale, he was LH for the u20's. Itoje is a class act, never understand the criticism he gets. Can’t agree about Burke but agree on Northmore.
Itoje is a good player but he’s on the small side by lock standards and he’s not the most powerful of ball carriers. Would have liked to see what he might have done as a left field selection for openside earlier in his career, given his fetching skills
Opoku-fourdjour only plays at TH, I’m a sale fan and I can’t remember the last time I saw him at LH, I also don’t really get why England don’t play him at TH considering that it is one of our weaker positions ? Surely him playing there would make so much more sense as it would cover for an aging Cole
Thanks, but we all know the team won’t look anything like this. To be fair, I think certain positions are just to reflect form, which is your stated remit, but I wouldn’t agree with at all. Specifically 2, 7, 9, 10 and the back three.
Good form squad. But I don’t think Ibitoye will make the cut. Spectacular in the prem but Borthwick will be too wary of his unstructured style, one handed carries etc. England just don’t run the kind of “all hands” support lines that Ibitoye thrives with at Bris. Haven’t been that impressed with Burke, notably his relatively low percentage goal kicking, don’t see him getting a look what with the Smith vs Smith battle. Feels hard on Pearson but can’t argue against B Curry and Willis. Would love to see Freeman have a go at centre to open up some more wing options.
I would have Beard over Northmore. And if you are picking off Prem form then I think Ford is producing better outcomes for Sale than Smith is at Quins. Not saying he’s a better player but his game management in the Prem is definitely better.
I think your being harsh on Baxter give him another chance then move O-Fordjour to TH. Then start Cowan Dickie. I like your front row bench and your second row picks. Back row on form that’s fair but I’d start Pearson at 6 and have hill on the bench to cover back row and second row. My thinking is we have amazing depth and class in back row so if somebody as good as hill could also play 2nd row put him there so we can pick more class options at back row. 9 id swap your bench for your starter because Northampton were really struggling but seem a lot better with Mitchell back. 10 Marcus smith with fin smith on bench or other way around I’m not bothered both have been great. Wings I like Murley on form but sleightholme instead of ibitoye and freeman is a useful sub.(also I’m pretty sure feyi-waboso could be back in time). Centres yes but if spade played at center more I’m sure he’d take north mores spot but I do like northmore. Full back fair but I’d like to see Hendy in the training squad because he looks like in the future he’ll be class
Not sure if I misheard you during your Centres chat but England can't call up Hutchinson as he played for us against Fiji and/or Portugal so wouldn't that make him ineligible 🤷🤷? I also kinda agree with you regarding Burke, I just don't see why we should poach him when we have Finn Russell and Tom Jordan who will be our 10s for 6Ns with one of Thompson/Healy as the 3rd choice. He may, however think he's behind both Smiths and Ford on the pecking order and wait until summer or he may accept a call up if Gregor offers him one but I still wouldn't agree with it 👍👍.
I was just referring to the fact Hutchinson is the best of the Northampton centres. The fact he can't even start for Scotland but Dingwall is considered an option to start for England at 12 says everything about England's centre options ATM. That was my point.
@rugbyanalyst I had a feeling I may have misheard 😛. I think poor Hutch would get a lot more games for us if we didn't have the best centre pairing we ever have had in Sione/Huw, he's maybe a bench option at the minute and probably needs to bide his time.
Baxter definitely had better form last year for Quins in the latter stages of the Champions cup. I think like many Quins players he suffering with the performances of the whole team
For the Six Nations I’d like to see(I know it won’t happen due to eligibility): Baxter, Dan, Stuart, Itoje, Martin, Hill, T Willis, Pollock Mitchell, F Smith, Hartley,Freeman, Roebuck, Feyi-Waboso Arundell Bench: Rapava-Ruskin, Frost, Heyes, Coles,Earl, Porter, M Smith, Slightholme
Sam Underhill shouldn't be written off, even if he comes off the bench. Ted Hill should play, but he's injured. Max Ojomoh should be considered as centre with Ollie Lawrence. Will "The Horse" Muir on the left wing.
@dazeng4633 I feel this is a yes and no situation. It would be interesting to know how Steward's 100m or 60m time would compare with others. Because when he gets moving, he appears to be pretty quick. It's the acceleration and agility issue for me. And that is a huge problem at full back, where he is so exposed. He often doesn't get a hand on the opponent, and that's nowhere acceptable. So, can he play 12? He is a big lump, who I'm sure could blast holes. Does he have the skills?
I watch the rugby premiership every week and it is absolutely breath taking with skill. The in thing is scoring from your own try line and any team can do you. Then I watch the Harliquins v Leicester at Twickenham and wow but put all these guys in a white shirt at Twickenham and it's a different story.
I get this is a selection based on "form" but this side would finish bottom of the 6 nations. Amazed Jonny Hill isn't even on your long list. British Lion, in fantastic shape and form. I would start him and Itoje with Chessum at 6. CCS coming off the bench for impact. That would give us a proper mean, big pack, with a sensational line out. Alex Coles is still powder puff. Also Stuart was fantastic in the Autumn. Will definitely start in the 6 nations. Davidson on the bench for me, Fasogbon in the squad and hopefully taking the starting spot by the next world cup. Fergus Burke at 10 is also silly in real life.
@@rugbyanalyst Yeah I get it, and I enjoyed the video as always. What do you think about Jonny Hill though? Thought he was fantastic against Bristol. Made their locks look lightweight
Hill has definitely come back with a bang. He probably playing well enough to be in the picture but sub consciously I think he's not looked good enough in the past for England so I'm not really considering him. But maybe he should have a second chance
@@rugbyanalyst Fair enough we will have to agree to disagree. I thought he always looked the part bar the silly penalties. British Lion too. I think Coles is a softy and Martin has potential but lacks line out jumping ability and has suspect hands.
Also I have never seen an international team throw the ball to the front jumper as much as England. Massively limits the kind of attacks we can launch.
Difficult to disagree with your reasoning of any pick here tbh. Don't think anyone should treat this selection as a direct mapping to what the next England squad should be though. You don't want any position to become a revolving door based on recent Prem form. Considering Baxter as an example - he's clearly not playing as well as he did when he was at his local peak last season. Don't think that means he's not my first choice for the 6Ns though because what he's currently going through (having to balance playing for two different teams) could be exactly what a replacement for him goes through. If AOF were to replace him, he plays quite well through 6Ns and the summer, but then this time next year he has a drop off in form (similar to Baxter right now) do we then move on from him? It'll become silly quickly. New players should be backed. Spencer's in the Dombrandt category for me - he's had enough chances but hasn't done enough in an England shirt. It's unfortunate for him that there's a significant amount of other options in his position but Spencer shouldn't be considered again, even if he get PoM for every Bath game for the rest of his career. At some point you've got to acknowledge the ceiling of a player. I don't know about Ibitoye. He strikes me as a Mercer type selection in that he would force how England have to play and possibly some of the selections around him. His defence is possibly the worst among the 10-12 wingers we could reasonably select right now and I'm not sure all his other qualities offset that to make picking him worthwhile.
Really interesting as always. The chances of Borthwick picking the best form players in their best position is zero of course. Cue M Smith at FB and Lawrence at IC etc. He will probably pick Steward at wing too. I will politely challenge you on 2 picks. First, at SH, Mitchell is now a long way ahead of the pack so picks himself I think. Next, I've noticed you have really started to back Pollock. I remember you did the same with Van Port... I continue to believe Pollock is nowhere near international standard and I can't see a lengthy Premiership career either. Time will tell of course. I just don't think a few lively ostentatious carries justifies the hype. Every year we see a particular player gain reputational momentum... a few press interviews... endless media attention... does something ok and gets breathless commentary. But this wears off and suddenly he's no longer flavour of the month. I may be wrong, but when I see him play I just don't get the hype at all.
1.Genge,2.George,3.Stuart,4.Itoje,5.Iziekwe,6.Chessum,7.Underhill,8.Earl,9.Mitchell,10.M.Smith,11.Sleightholme,12.Lawrence,13.Freeman,14.Feyi-Waboso,15.Furbank,16Dan,17Baxter,18.Heyes,19.Cunningham-South,20.Dombrandt,21.Quirke,22.F.Smith,23.Roebuck Not really a form 23 like yours but the side I would ideally like to see play Ireland at the start of the 6 nations.
Borthwick needs to keep faith with a half back combo and give them time to gel. On form Spencer and will probably be Smith. Quirke has also started to put his hand up, really like him. If this is a form team, then Muir should be starting!
Let’s throw together 15 in form players who haven’t played much together, and see how England get on. I swear, England fans are some of the dumbest fans in sport.
I feel Underhill if fit has to start at 7. He’s arguably the best defender in world rugby and up there with Winterbottom and Back as the best ever defensive openside that England have fielded. Feel the game has moved on a bit from the Curry brothers now. Tom Curry when he started his test career back in 2017 looked to have the makings of a splendid linkman type openside flanker - Eddie then began playing him at 6 ( and God forbid imo :) ) at 8, he bulked up a bit more for those roles but his strength was never as a hard yards ball carrier. When I’ve seen Ben at test level he’s not struck me as especially fast ( say compared to Earl ) nor as physical as the aforementioned Underhill. I’m also a bit unclear as to whether Borthwick sees him as primarily a 6 or 7 at test level.
England coaches picking on form and doing obvious things like picking Freeman at centre…….pigs 🐷 might fly 😂! Ford needs to totally discarded, he is old hat and overated
As usual you have started in the wrong place, it’s not about who’s available it’s about who’s not, if you look at the premiership and who plays where you will note if you follow rugby well, that many of the positions where England is weak are played by overseas, Irish Welsh and Scottish players all of whom can never play for England, positions like LH, TH IC No8 and even SH, the reality is the conveyor belt to England is severely disrupted and until that changes there will never be a England that competes at the top level consistently!
You really don’t understand what makes an international , murley is a good winger who does his job , not an international , northmore shows how weak we are inside centre , but then again he’s quins . Scrum half , spencer has a fundamental flaw to his game , he slows down the third phase all the time , especially if his left hand , he takes a strep when he shouldn’t . Muir is spectacular but long striding head down wingers don’t make internationals .
foxtel got rid of SUPER RUGBY FIRST before they got rid of GALLAGHER/TOP14/HEINKEN CUP rugby in 2020 or 2021 before i started looking at ur rugby comps mainly due to south africa leaving super rugby is y i looked at europe but once i understand players watching every game it'll be alot better for me in my opioion the gallagher is a ok comp to watch also french clubs have to be the best if i compare comps & how dominant they a in heinkien cup but definitly know few international players is what i look at & teams who have been consistent in such comps like SCARCENS a like ur TOULOUSES & CRUSADERS & LICENSTERS for there consistency over long periods of time & have most players from internationals anyways is the ENGLAND team picked after this week for 6 nations? id assume so cause UNITED RUGBY has already taken a break & gallagher will after this week for HEINKIEN CUP not sure if internationals will take part i wouldnt want them to if 6 nations starts january 30th
Just no to Dombrandt. He has had enough chances at international level and has never put in a performance that demanded the shirt. For me Pollock has to be in the team, I see him more as a 6 at international level than an 8, so at 6 I would start him with CCS on the bench.
In the centres I have impressed with Northmore and Beard is an option although I do think Eng should try the Lawrence & Freeman combination.
Heyes is the one whose chances should be up. Anonymous for Leicester and previous England caps
Only two of your form side play consistently in Borthwick's XV. He is unable to let go of some older players who have lost form and are no longer of the highest standard.
You can’t select solely on form
The only thing I’d say on Baxter - Quins appear to have a really underpowered front five. If we had a better Tighthead and bigger locks behind him he might be looking more dominant. But totally agree form has dropped. Love all the effort you’ve put into this season to shine a spotlight on English talent. What a spicy team this would be.
Opoku-Fourdjour almost always plays TH for Sale, with Rodd at LH.
And rodd has been playing incredibly. Demolished that Bristol pack last game
@@stevenholt4936 was lh at England 20s with afo at the
Asher has been playing tighthead- i know he can do both but you said for continuity you put him at loose head since he has been playing there for sale
Looks like a great squad. I think that IFW would supplant Ibitoye in my squad if available. What's great is the number of really good players you are leaving out. We look light on centres but the prop situation has improved. For me if we could relax the overseas player rule a little or altogether, that would give the England coach a very strong hand. 6N on its way, can't wait!!
I think you're missing Blamire at hooker. Big, great over the ball, just needs to work on his arrows. I think he'll be a starter after he moves to Tigers next season.
You make a very good point about Barbeary and his carrying game. He’s the nearest thing we have to Billy Vunipola, who between 2016-19 was absolutely world class, but as soon as he lost his carrying game became very poor quickly. At Test match level, ball carriers are utterly invaluable. Leave him out at our peril.
My concern though, is a lack of pace. You must have some pace. And he is short. We have seen a rumbling #8 before and that was Billy, but he became very one dimensional
Sadly billy was not good since about 2017-18 too many games like Daly and many other players slowed them down.
England seem to be able to burn out every players they ever select on a long enough period.
He’s not fit enough though unfortunately.
England need to do a bit more rotation to get to at least one good player in every role - for instance opinion is divided on Earl being selected as starting 8 ( for my part I can see more of an argument for playing him at 7 or impact back row utility) - Earl, Willis and Dombrandt could all have been given a start at 8 across the 4 AIs to see which of them was really preeminent in the role.
England could do with looking at a lock like Rusi Tuima. Could really help with firming up the set piece in the last 20 to bring him off the bench
Needs to offer more than just weight
Imagine having a coach who picks players on form… could never be England
You have to start with an idea of how you want to play and cater the players to it. You can’t just pick whoever looks good in a range of different systems.
I think Borthwick did last season. Freeman, IFW, Furbank, Sleightholme etc. You do have to give players time together in test rugby, but I agree that players like B Curry, Hill, and Willis should be given a chance over T Curry, Isikwe, or Dombrandt
Form is usually temporary and not always translates to the top level. I mean look at Hassell-Collins for England, did literally nothing yet he was having a great season for London Irish
No one ever does, a team cannot just be the best players of the moment or you may have no cohesion and no complementarity. Sometimes you have to leave a better player behind if he doesn't fit into the team. It's à matter of balance trying to pick the most possible amount of best players who can actually play together
Because international is a very different level to premiership. Having good form in prem doesn't necessarily translate to international. Thats why theres always going to be people who are brilliant club players, but are missing something to make it to international level, and will probably never be capped, whilst there are other players who you almost immediately know will become internationals.
Every great team has experience through the core of the team. We need that (as shown by the team going off piste against Aus). At scrum half Spencer slows the game down which stifles Engs attack, Mitchell speeds the game up which helps Engs attack.
Hendy i would want to see in the squad
Love the show and thanks for the inciteful analysis. On the basis that form is temporary but class is permanent, are you planning to do another selection of current players based upon class? I wonder how different that might be!
Oh for sure, I'll probably first try to predict what borthwick will pick then make my final selection before squad announcement on 14th
Appreciate the inclusion of Cadan Murley on one wing but at the risk of banging the same drum again I cannot see Ibitoye on the other wing at international level until and unless he shows some serious improvement in his defensive abilities
Love some of the selections, but that team would lose every game with Burke's kicking. Great in atrack, but he's a 12 playing 10. His kicking accuracy is at 60% this year which is just woeful, and that's coming from a Sarries fan
Love these picks. The bench looks strong and full of impact. Your comments on Steward are sadly accurate. Didn't lay a hand on Murley, which is just not good enough. I would like to see him at 12, to see if he could play there
Stewards claim to fame is his ability to catch the high ball, unfortunately he is too slow to challenge when chasing an attacking kick. which leaves him waiting around to defend opponents attacking kick. And a comment I've seen before likened his ability to turn in defense to that of an Oil Tanker. As shown by Murley!
@paulware9411 he is left exposed, as you say. His top end speed is OK, it's acceleration and agility that is lacking. Or jinkiness
I think Tom De Glanville needs more credit he has been incredible for bath this season at times almost acting as a third winger
He's quality
Rightly or wrongly Borthwick values continuity too highly to ever contemplate picking a team as radical as this. Put yourself in his position, put this team out against the Irish away and you beat them you're a hero. If you lose, even by a small margin, you're a reckless fool who doesn't know what they are doing.
Murley needs to get capped, he's got an excellent all-round game. Would love Carpenter to get the run at fullback ahead of Steward in the 6 Nations but I can't see Borthwick not picking him with Furbank out. Carpenter certainly more in-form though.
Tom Dunn is starting for the league leaders. Gotta be worth at least mentioning when talking about who is “on form”.
Asher is playing tight head. The Criminally underrated Rodd is starting at 1 and is the better of the 2 if we are picking on form.
...oh yeah 😂 either way he should start at either
@ probably so. If we want to look to the future. Still think Rodd should be ahead of him. Enjoy your content btw.
Happy to go on record to say the front three of Asher, LCD and Rodd are capable of matching any other front three in the league, I think Rodd has the most diverse skill set of any prop in the league.
I think your missing Ojomoh from your centre list. Is playing really well and has that club familiarity with Lawrence 👍
Think you are overrating Fergus Burke, coming from a Saracens fan he’s only really had the one good game and been quite average the rest of the season.
Completely agree with the centre selection, not a lot of options but Northmore deserves a shot
Maybe
Some great selections. Unfortunately zero chance Borethwick will follow your advice. Slade, Ford, Cole , Earl etc etc again
Great pick.
Good looking team. AOF is almost exclusively a TH for Sale, he was LH for the u20's. Itoje is a class act, never understand the criticism he gets. Can’t agree about Burke but agree on Northmore.
Itoje is a good player but he’s on the small side by lock standards and he’s not the most powerful of ball carriers. Would have liked to see what he might have done as a left field selection for openside earlier in his career, given his fetching skills
Considering Chessum, Feyi-Waboso and Furbank injuries my form 23 would be…
1. Obano
2. Cowan-Dickie (VC)
3. Stuart
4. Itoje (VC)
5. Martin
6. Coles
7. B.Curry (C)
8. T.Willis
9. Mitchell
10. M.Smith
11. Murley
12. Northmore
13. Lawrence
14. Roebuck
15. Carpenter
16. Dan
17. Genge (VC)
18. A.O.F
19. T.Hill
20. Earl
21. Quirke
22. Ford
23. Freeman
Fun to do this but would you even for a minute consider playing this team against ireland away?
Opoku-fourdjour only plays at TH, I’m a sale fan and I can’t remember the last time I saw him at LH, I also don’t really get why England don’t play him at TH considering that it is one of our weaker positions ? Surely him playing there would make so much more sense as it would cover for an aging Cole
I agree with every choice except for Fergus Burke. I don't think he's been as good as Fin Smith.
That back row and back three is 🔥
My loose heads would be : Obano, Goodrick-Clark and Fordjour
Thanks, but we all know the team won’t look anything like this.
To be fair, I think certain positions are just to reflect form, which is your stated remit, but I wouldn’t agree with at all.
Specifically 2, 7, 9, 10 and the back three.
I think that's a great looking starting team, why not give them a try? Hold on who are we managed by again!
Good form squad. But I don’t think Ibitoye will make the cut. Spectacular in the prem but Borthwick will be too wary of his unstructured style, one handed carries etc. England just don’t run the kind of “all hands” support lines that Ibitoye thrives with at Bris. Haven’t been that impressed with Burke, notably his relatively low percentage goal kicking, don’t see him getting a look what with the Smith vs Smith battle. Feels hard on Pearson but can’t argue against B Curry and Willis. Would love to see Freeman have a go at centre to open up some more wing options.
I would have Beard over Northmore. And if you are picking off Prem form then I think Ford is producing better outcomes for Sale than Smith is at Quins. Not saying he’s a better player but his game management in the Prem is definitely better.
Greg Fisillau has been the best 8 even in a poor team
I think your being harsh on Baxter give him another chance then move O-Fordjour to TH. Then start Cowan Dickie. I like your front row bench and your second row picks. Back row on form that’s fair but I’d start Pearson at 6 and have hill on the bench to cover back row and second row. My thinking is we have amazing depth and class in back row so if somebody as good as hill could also play 2nd row put him there so we can pick more class options at back row. 9 id swap your bench for your starter because Northampton were really struggling but seem a lot better with Mitchell back. 10 Marcus smith with fin smith on bench or other way around I’m not bothered both have been great. Wings I like Murley on form but sleightholme instead of ibitoye and freeman is a useful sub.(also I’m pretty sure feyi-waboso could be back in time). Centres yes but if spade played at center more I’m sure he’d take north mores spot but I do like northmore. Full back fair but I’d like to see Hendy in the training squad because he looks like in the future he’ll be class
Form or not I do wonder if SB will start Finn Smith at 10 and Marcus Smith at fullback
Hard to argue with this, wish England had the bravery to pick this team
When do you reckon the rfu will release pollock he’s looking the real deal ?
Not sure if I misheard you during your Centres chat but England can't call up Hutchinson as he played for us against Fiji and/or Portugal so wouldn't that make him ineligible 🤷🤷? I also kinda agree with you regarding Burke, I just don't see why we should poach him when we have Finn Russell and Tom Jordan who will be our 10s for 6Ns with one of Thompson/Healy as the 3rd choice. He may, however think he's behind both Smiths and Ford on the pecking order and wait until summer or he may accept a call up if Gregor offers him one but I still wouldn't agree with it 👍👍.
I was just referring to the fact Hutchinson is the best of the Northampton centres. The fact he can't even start for Scotland but Dingwall is considered an option to start for England at 12 says everything about England's centre options ATM. That was my point.
@rugbyanalyst I had a feeling I may have misheard 😛. I think poor Hutch would get a lot more games for us if we didn't have the best centre pairing we ever have had in Sione/Huw, he's maybe a bench option at the minute and probably needs to bide his time.
Baxter definitely had better form last year for Quins in the latter stages of the Champions cup. I think like many Quins players he suffering with the performances of the whole team
Possibly also this year was the first time he played top-level through the summer and autumn, so could well be feeling it.
Let’s hope Borthwick is watching this. He doesn’t appear to pick on current form he picks on past form.
Give over. Borewick will be reading a spread sheet, not watching this.
You can’t pick an international team based solely on club form. Need some consistency and investment in teams.
For the Six Nations I’d like to see(I know it won’t happen due to eligibility):
Baxter, Dan, Stuart,
Itoje, Martin,
Hill, T Willis, Pollock
Mitchell, F Smith,
Hartley,Freeman,
Roebuck, Feyi-Waboso
Arundell
Bench: Rapava-Ruskin, Frost, Heyes, Coles,Earl, Porter, M Smith, Slightholme
Isn’t Rapava-Ruskin Georgian?
Sam Underhill shouldn't be written off, even if he comes off the bench. Ted Hill should play, but he's injured. Max Ojomoh should be considered as centre with Ollie Lawrence. Will "The Horse" Muir on the left wing.
Asher plays tighthead for Sale. Bevan Rodd has started every game when fit on the loosehead side and has been outstanding.
Olly Cracknell… isn’t he Welsh?
Played Wales u20s but born and raised in england
Completely agree ref Steward.
He's playing brilliant but just doesn't have any gas at all.
@dazeng4633 I feel this is a yes and no situation. It would be interesting to know how Steward's 100m or 60m time would compare with others. Because when he gets moving, he appears to be pretty quick. It's the acceleration and agility issue for me. And that is a huge problem at full back, where he is so exposed. He often doesn't get a hand on the opponent, and that's nowhere acceptable. So, can he play 12? He is a big lump, who I'm sure could blast holes. Does he have the skills?
I watch the rugby premiership every week and it is absolutely breath taking with skill. The in thing is scoring from your own try line and any team can do you. Then I watch the Harliquins v Leicester at Twickenham and wow but put all these guys in a white shirt at Twickenham and it's a different story.
Rich, Joe Heyes. Come on.
Elliot daly ?
Seb Atkinson...inside centre. Playing far better than Northmore.
Joe here’s at 3 ? What planet are you on
I get this is a selection based on "form" but this side would finish bottom of the 6 nations.
Amazed Jonny Hill isn't even on your long list. British Lion, in fantastic shape and form. I would start him and Itoje with Chessum at 6. CCS coming off the bench for impact. That would give us a proper mean, big pack, with a sensational line out. Alex Coles is still powder puff.
Also Stuart was fantastic in the Autumn. Will definitely start in the 6 nations. Davidson on the bench for me, Fasogbon in the squad and hopefully taking the starting spot by the next world cup.
Fergus Burke at 10 is also silly in real life.
As explained at the beginning This is a fun video based on a snapshot of form. Not the team I would pick.
@@rugbyanalyst Yeah I get it, and I enjoyed the video as always. What do you think about Jonny Hill though? Thought he was fantastic against Bristol. Made their locks look lightweight
Hill has definitely come back with a bang. He probably playing well enough to be in the picture but sub consciously I think he's not looked good enough in the past for England so I'm not really considering him. But maybe he should have a second chance
@@rugbyanalyst Fair enough we will have to agree to disagree. I thought he always looked the part bar the silly penalties. British Lion too.
I think Coles is a softy and Martin has potential but lacks line out jumping ability and has suspect hands.
Also I have never seen an international team throw the ball to the front jumper as much as England. Massively limits the kind of attacks we can launch.
Difficult to disagree with your reasoning of any pick here tbh. Don't think anyone should treat this selection as a direct mapping to what the next England squad should be though.
You don't want any position to become a revolving door based on recent Prem form. Considering Baxter as an example - he's clearly not playing as well as he did when he was at his local peak last season. Don't think that means he's not my first choice for the 6Ns though because what he's currently going through (having to balance playing for two different teams) could be exactly what a replacement for him goes through. If AOF were to replace him, he plays quite well through 6Ns and the summer, but then this time next year he has a drop off in form (similar to Baxter right now) do we then move on from him? It'll become silly quickly. New players should be backed.
Spencer's in the Dombrandt category for me - he's had enough chances but hasn't done enough in an England shirt. It's unfortunate for him that there's a significant amount of other options in his position but Spencer shouldn't be considered again, even if he get PoM for every Bath game for the rest of his career. At some point you've got to acknowledge the ceiling of a player.
I don't know about Ibitoye. He strikes me as a Mercer type selection in that he would force how England have to play and possibly some of the selections around him. His defence is possibly the worst among the 10-12 wingers we could reasonably select right now and I'm not sure all his other qualities offset that to make picking him worthwhile.
I dont think this guy ever actually watches half the prem
Nice to see something different but Borthwick would not pick that team just the same boring team
Really interesting as always. The chances of Borthwick picking the best form players in their best position is zero of course. Cue M Smith at FB and Lawrence at IC etc. He will probably pick Steward at wing too. I will politely challenge you on 2 picks. First, at SH, Mitchell is now a long way ahead of the pack so picks himself I think. Next, I've noticed you have really started to back Pollock. I remember you did the same with Van Port... I continue to believe Pollock is nowhere near international standard and I can't see a lengthy Premiership career either. Time will tell of course. I just don't think a few lively ostentatious carries justifies the hype. Every year we see a particular player gain reputational momentum... a few press interviews... endless media attention... does something ok and gets breathless commentary. But this wears off and suddenly he's no longer flavour of the month. I may be wrong, but when I see him play I just don't get the hype at all.
1.Genge,2.George,3.Stuart,4.Itoje,5.Iziekwe,6.Chessum,7.Underhill,8.Earl,9.Mitchell,10.M.Smith,11.Sleightholme,12.Lawrence,13.Freeman,14.Feyi-Waboso,15.Furbank,16Dan,17Baxter,18.Heyes,19.Cunningham-South,20.Dombrandt,21.Quirke,22.F.Smith,23.Roebuck Not really a form 23 like yours but the side I would ideally like to see play Ireland at the start of the 6 nations.
Borthwick needs to keep faith with a half back combo and give them time to gel. On form Spencer and will probably be Smith. Quirke has also started to put his hand up, really like him.
If this is a form team, then Muir should be starting!
Steward for me has been more impressive on form than carpenter
@freddieclarke7270 did you see Murley skin him at the weekend? Does some things brilliantly, but open field tackling is a horror show.
Can’t believe you’ve not picked Marcus Smith at fly half…..did you not watch the autumn internationals when he was Englands best player!?
This is just on prem consistency form. Not who I'd actually pick
I think its a good team, but the starting 6 nations team will be the team that started against japan 😢
Let’s throw together 15 in form players who haven’t played much together, and see how England get on.
I swear, England fans are some of the dumbest fans in sport.
As explained at the beginning This is a fun video based on a snapshot of form. Not the team I would pick.
Not even Warren Gatland makes that many changes between matches 😂
@@rugbyanalystyou shouldn’t have to explain that to someone who is so obviously ummmmm intelligent and intellectually superior
Murley does not impress me.
I feel Underhill if fit has to start at 7. He’s arguably the best defender in world rugby and up there with Winterbottom and Back as the best ever defensive openside that England have fielded. Feel the game has moved on a bit from the Curry brothers now. Tom Curry when he started his test career back in 2017 looked to have the makings of a splendid linkman type openside flanker - Eddie then began playing him at 6 ( and God forbid imo :) ) at 8, he bulked up a bit more for those roles but his strength was never as a hard yards ball carrier. When I’ve seen Ben at test level he’s not struck me as especially fast ( say compared to Earl ) nor as physical as the aforementioned Underhill. I’m also a bit unclear as to whether Borthwick sees him as primarily a 6 or 7 at test level.
England coaches picking on form and doing obvious things like picking Freeman at centre…….pigs 🐷 might fly 😂! Ford needs to totally discarded, he is old hat and overated
As usual you have started in the wrong place, it’s not about who’s available it’s about who’s not, if you look at the premiership and who plays where you will note if you follow rugby well, that many of the positions where England is weak are played by overseas, Irish Welsh and Scottish players all of whom can never play for England, positions like LH, TH IC No8 and even SH, the reality is the conveyor belt to England is severely disrupted and until that changes there will never be a England that competes at the top level consistently!
You really don’t understand what makes an international , murley is a good winger who does his job , not an international , northmore shows how weak we are inside centre , but then again he’s quins . Scrum half , spencer has a fundamental flaw to his game , he slows down the third phase all the time , especially if his left hand , he takes a strep when he shouldn’t . Muir is spectacular but long striding head down wingers don’t make internationals .
As said at the beginning of videoThis is not my 6n selection, just a fun one about who's on good form
@ you did and I got on a rant , happy new year 🥳
There are more teams than England
There are more YT channels than this one ;)
Here me out ... Slade at flyhalf for england
foxtel got rid of SUPER RUGBY FIRST before they got rid of GALLAGHER/TOP14/HEINKEN CUP rugby in 2020 or 2021 before i started looking at ur rugby comps mainly due to south africa leaving super rugby is y i looked at europe
but once i understand players watching every game it'll be alot better for me in my opioion the gallagher is a ok comp to watch also french clubs have to be the best if i compare comps & how dominant they a in heinkien cup
but definitly know few international players is what i look at & teams who have been consistent in such comps like SCARCENS a like ur TOULOUSES & CRUSADERS & LICENSTERS for there consistency over long periods of time & have most players from internationals
anyways is the ENGLAND team picked after this week for 6 nations?
id assume so cause UNITED RUGBY has already taken a break & gallagher will after this week for HEINKIEN CUP not sure if internationals will take part i wouldnt want them to if 6 nations starts january 30th