typical johnson selection, he only chooses his mates­ first . he has no understanding of the amount of good­ players there are in the premiership and elsewhere. i­ cant understand why nick kennedy isnt starting he has­ selected 3 scrum halves for some strange reason when he­ could have selected a recognised fullback. this will be­ the same autumn results as last year as johnson doesnt­ have a clue. i really hope i am proved wrong and we at­ least win 2 games but i cant see it with his direction.­ what i can see is that england will play thru the­ forwards and wont use the back except to kick the ball­ away. Oi Johnson the game has moved forward from­ 2002/2003 the best teams use the backs aswell.

With the exception of Justin White, who is out with an­ injury, Johnson has picked the entire Leicester pack. ­ Goodness knows why - anyone who watched the London­ Irish v Leicester game last weekend saw the Leicester­ pack destroyed at the scrum.

Nick Kennedy misses out again.. For some reason Johnson­ doesn't pick locks on their ability.
When Johnson­ wrongly picked Borthwick as captain it gave England a­ disadvantage of only having one ball receiver in the­ line out. Borthwick is poor at the line out at­ International level lets face it he's not got the­ ability of an International player full stop. England­ missed the chance to find a good lock partnership­ because Borthwick is always playing and he's pants.­ Crane was brought in to side to be an extra jumper in­ the line out to cover for Borthwick. Why does Johnson­ stick with him? Anyone have any ideas? Anyone think­ he's World class?

this was a good oppurtunity for johnson to give some­ young players a shot to prove themselves. if the tri­ nations was worth anything over the summer it was to­ prove that new zealand and australia are far from being­ the talents they have been. it looks like australia are­ blooding in youngsters preparing for the world cup and­ thats what johnson should be thinking about aswell.­ geraghty should start at 10 for england no1 has been­ anywhere near him, especially that munster performance.­ Nick Kennedy is immense at line outs and his exclusion­ from the elite is a mystery, lawes is a good call and­ hopefully he will get some good pitch time.
and yeah­ wilkinson's kicking game has been good for toulon­ but i havent been convinced with him ball in hand yet­ theres just no cutting edge.
what i am quite shocked­ about is the lack of talk around lamb for the future­ since he came to london irish he's been top class­ (except for that shank against the tigers), his passing­ is immense, his decision making has improved truck­ loads and he also has the second highest kicking­ percentage in the prem this year. and just to prove he­ can do it under pressure you've got the two kicks­ from 48 and 49 metres he made to beat leinster in the­ RDS!

ive never really rated Tait to be honest Donald, if­ he'd played just one position for england all the­ time, i think he wouldve carved out a berth for himself­ by now, because hes a talented guy. utility players­ seem to spread themselves too thin. Kind of the James­ Hook of england i suppose
if there had been any words­ ending in 'g' i would have used it for you.. oh­ wait theres one =p

Much as it hurts Mogz, I have to agree with you about­ Tins. Though I think Matthew Tait will make himself a­ name for England in years to come. There. I've­ been nice.

startinG

what do england fans actually think of Mike Tindall? im­ a wales-boy and i think hes a brilliant center and­ should be startin every game he can. are you guys of­ the same opinion or do you rank anybody current above­ him?

moggie2727

You really need to get that 'g' key­ fixed on your keyboard ;-)

gee's i didnt realise that kennedy wasn't in­ the squad until i read the comments. thats a big­ overlook, kennedy has been in great form this season­ & should be included instead of kay whose been on­ the wane for a while. also all those who say wilko is­ past it & had to many chances....have you seen him­ play this season the guys been great for toulon, plus­ he is only 30 & will easliy make the world cup. fly­ halfs normally hit their peak around 32 so wilko is one­ for the present & the future & he's the­ best fly half in europe by far when fit, its a no­ brainer!!!!

great to see Moody back.

Why would Dowson want to leave the best team in the­ East Midlands, full of young exciting players playing­ open rugby to go 20 miles down the road to a team of­ has beens playing a boring outdated "stick it up­ your jumper" style.
As a Saints fan (obviously)­ England should include Gerathy, Lawes & Hartley but­ not Foden as although he is good in attack he is­ suspect under the high ball & his positional sense­ is not good. Why include Andy Goode? if anything­ happens to Wilkinson then Gerathy can play at 10. It is­ good that Blaze is included but why no place for­ Kennedy? This is the chance for Johno to be brave, the­ only way to find out if the young guns are good enough­ is to give them a go.

I have to agree why no Kennedy he is simply awesome at­ line out. I suppose the thinking is that he is not the­ best scrummager but seeing as there are more line outs­ than scrums in the course of a game surely Kennedy­ should be automatic choice.
I'm a Tigers fan so I­ therefore I agree with Tony, Kennedy should definately­ move to Leicester, he is the best jumper in the league.­ Would love to see him and Croft in the line, it would­ certainly strengthen us.
I think what people are­ forgetting though when moaning about Goode, Wilkinson­ etc is that Johnno has got to get some balance in the­ side with experience. You cannot replace 1/2 the scrum­ with new caps and then have a totally inexperienced­ back line as well. We would all be moaning and­ complaining about sending inexperienced people in­ against the Southern Hemisphere biggies if we got­ thrashed.
For me jury still out on Johnno, an immense­ player and fantastice leader on the pitch. I hope he­ can convert it to a long glittering management career­ but time will tell. I feel sorry for him at the moment­ though, trying to come up with a winning team with so­ many significant injuries to both Elite and Saxons­ squads cannot be easy and will certainly have every arm­ chair pundit like us criticise one way or another.
I­ hope it works out though, come on England.

ok you lot need to keep up to date,
wilkonson is back­ to his best so he would probably get into any­ international side so leaving him out not an option,­ plus he is only 30 so has a few years left in him,­
nick kennedy has been out f form which is why he is­ not selected, and lawes and blaze are in great form
and­ i expect haskell to be at 8 over crane, crane isnt in­ that good a shape at the min and haskell is and is­ easily capable of playing 8.
and whats with the slating­ of leicester? they churn out quality second rows, and­ have done for many years, if kennedy did go there im­ sure with the competion for places he would improve­ further, but they dont need him so its not going to­ happen,
and andy goode may not be the best­ international 10 but he has lots of experience, and is­ one of the best options we have, and if any body says­ cipriani i will personnally hunt them down and slap­ them,
im also guessing cueto will play full back, with­ foden on the bench, cueto has lots of experience and­ has played full back many times, and before all the­ young talent such as morgan abendanon foden and­ armitage came along he was seen as the next england­ full back.

Well I don't expect England to win any games, you­ can't lose your entire front row (all of them­ British Lions) and still expect to be competitive.­ Again, Simon Shaw, was a mamoth in the second and third­ tests for the lions and played great for England and­ even though he is 35 we will miss him. Delon Armitage­ too, he has played very well for second place Irish,­ and was great at 15 for England earlier this year. The­ only way we will win is by playing boring rugby, Just­ try to win the forward play and play a kicking game­ with Wilkinson to work our way up the field, then go­ for the penalty or drop goal.
Now to you guys saying­ Wilkinson is a has been player. Well he isn't the­ best fly half in the world anymore, but he is still­ damn good, and in the best form in a long long while.­ If England get any success, he will be near the centre­ of it.

As a Scot, I shouldn't really care, but Kennedy,­ Young, Golding & Dowson (amongst others) should­ leave their present clubs, join Leicester and then­ enjoy long and cap filled England careers. Jobs for the­ Boys??

Richard Blaze as hardly played any games for over a­ year,so how can he be picked over kennedy who's the­ best no 4 jumper in the premiership.
Also crane is no­ England no8....What about ward-smith or dowson.
and why­ is wigglesworth there,we've got some great young­ scrum halfs a the moment..youngs,simpson and young so­ why not get them in the squad.
im a tigers fan,and­ agree that johno's picking old mates and tigers­ players

They havent really picked any recognized full­ backs(with the exception of foden) Where is nick­ abendanon? I have watched him play for bath and he­ attacks so well, more muscle on him the armitage aswell­ and good under the high ball, cant see why he wouldnt­ be picked. Nick kenndey should be in there, but i think­ its right that courtney lawes get a shot cos he is­ definetly a talent for the future. Dont think wilko as­ a FB is option as someone suggested is a good option,­ lost a bit of pace which he never really was known for­ in his prime anyway. England definetly have enough­ talent, enough to scare a scotsman like myself! I think­ Jono is being a bit biast though...