Autumn Internationals

CheltenhamHacker

CheltenhamHacker

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So i'm hoping that somewhere among the many soccer fans on here, we have a few rugby nuts as well!

Thoughts on the upcoming AIs? Being Welsh, I don't see it ending well for us unfortunately, it looks like same old same old, but I'm willing to trust Gatland once again, haven't got much choice to be fair!

Interesting to see Barfs winger picked for England. Could be massively dangerous, and they have to hope he is less of a revolving door than Ashton!
 
Shame England have lost of few players recently - especially in the pack - loss of Launchbury could be significant

Interesting to see how that Army guy does - he is a hell of a finisher

England have the potential to surprise the All Blacks.

Wonder if Carter will be back in the 15 after his surgery

Have Wales sorted the contract issues yet ? What's the current situation in regards the guys playing in France ?
 
Should be good viewing but think the home nations gonna struggle in the main.

NZ and SA both look very strong, Aussies certainly are beatable of the main 3 SH sides.

Be interesting to see Englands gameplan against the All Blacks saturday, be nice to see them try and play an open game but could get destroyed if they do
 
Liverpoolphil said:
Shame England have lost of few players recently - especially in the pack - loss of Launchbury could be significant

Interesting to see how that Army guy does - he is a hell of a finisher

England have the potential to surprise the All Blacks.

Wonder if Carter will be back in the 15 after his surgery

Have Wales sorted the contract issues yet ? What's the current situation in regards the guys playing in France ?
Click to expand...

Carter hasn't made it back, they have still got Cruden at 10 for the first match (Not a bad replacement to have!)

Wales, as far as I'm aware still have a few issues. We have a couple of players on Central contracts, which is briliant, but we still have a few players in France. We also have the issue with the Premiership hoarding their players, and not releasing for the 4th international. If they don't do the same for the English internationals (effectively banning them from releasing players outside of the 3 test window) then I will be very annoyed!
 
Carter doesn't make the squad, cruden starts and with Barrett on the bench.

Sonny Bill is back in.

Shame about the number of injuries to England, even more of an uphill battle without some key players, launchbury, corbisiero and tuilagi will be missed.
 
I'm a NZer and am a little concerned about Cruden's goalkicking. If the England match is close that could well be the deciding factor. The Walladuds are rubbish but Wales never seem to step up in that game, when in a lot of recent matches they have been the better side on paper. At this stage I'd say that England are my equal favourites with NZ for the RWC next year (with SA there or thereabouts as well).
 
fundy said:
NZ and SA both look very strong, Aussies certainly are beatable of the main 3 SH sides.
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Certainly if they play an open game, like NZ and the Baabaas did. Can you see it happening though? I can't. It annoys me how NH rugby normally reverts to "type",, rather than try to play more running rugby. To be able to compete regularly with the SH, there would need to be a big change in the style of rugby played up here in internationals, and the Prem. As fun as they are to watch, a muddy scrum fest at the Rec just won't help anyone compete with SH.
 
I still think that England are building a good squad but it is not there yet. The centers remain an issue. Barrett has played well this season but as far a playing an expansive game it could be seen as a step backwards. Glad to see that they have finally given up on 36 as an option. Tuillagi will be missed as an attacking option and as someone who draws defenders. Pity Burrell is injured a well. The choice of wingers looks promising though not sure what Strettle has to do to get another shot. Despite being a bit biased as a Tigers fan, I would have liked to see Kitchener retained as a second row option. He has played very well in a currently pretty poor Tigers team.

Would also have liked to have seen Cipriani on the bench. He is a potential game changer and I am also not convinced with Ford's goal kicking.

Dan Cole is back for the Tigers this week so at least one option is on the mend in the front row.

I can see it being a tight game up to the 60 minute mark then New Zealand to pull away. I do, however, think that England will win their other matches.
 
GB72 said:
I still think that England are building a good squad but it is not there yet. The centers remain an issue. Barrett has played well this season but as far a playing an expansive game it could be seen as a step backwards. Glad to see that they have finally given up on 36 as an option. Tuillagi will be missed as an attacking option and as someone who draws defenders. Pity Burrell is injured a well. The choice of wingers looks promising though not sure what Strettle has to do to get another shot. Despite being a bit biased as a Tigers fan, I would have liked to see Kitchener retained as a second row option. He has played very well in a currently pretty poor Tigers team.

Would also have liked to have seen Cipriani on the bench. He is a potential game changer and I am also not convinced with Ford's goal kicking.

Dan Cole is back for the Tigers this week so at least one option is on the mend in the front row.

I can see it being a tight game up to the 60 minute mark then New Zealand to pull away. I do, however, think that England will win their other matches.
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Strettles continued non selection quite hard to justify albeit even as a Sarries fan Im not convinced he'll ever make it at international level. Centres still the big issue but agree that no 36 a step forward. Think we'll do well to keep it tight that long personally, also think the Saffers will beat us, theyre by far the closest side to the ABs currently for me
 
fundy said:
Strettles continued non selection quite hard to justify albeit even as a Sarries fan Im not convinced he'll ever make it at international level. Centres still the big issue but agree that no 36 a step forward. Think we'll do well to keep it tight that long personally, also think the Saffers will beat us, theyre by far the closest side to the ABs currently for me
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Not sure whether strettle is still in the black books for his behaviour on the infamous tour to Australia (though Mike Brown was, by all accounts, the main issue and he has been forgiven)

On the subject of Brown, think he is a bit lucky and has been picked on last year's form. Foden has been better in what I have seen of him this year.
 
Not a bad way of whiling the weekend away is it. Can't wait and I really think England have tha capability to run NZ close but I think ultimately the key injuries will be a blow. The guy from Bath looks one to watch
 
HomerJSimpson said:
Not a bad way of whiling the weekend away is it. Can't wait and I really think England have tha capability to run NZ close but I think ultimately the key injuries will be a blow. The guy from Bath looks one to watch
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I'm annoyed that there are 4 games this weekend, but only 2 time slots, so 2 matches on at the same time!! Would have been nice to see 2 slots on a saturday, and one or two on the sunday, to let people watch more than 2 games without recording!
 
Definitely looking forward to the AIs. Will be very interesting to see how England approach the game tomorrow as, for me, this 'starts' the World Cup preparation. Will we see a mix of styles? Running, kicking, forward play? Certainly we should be used to the ABs now, having played them 4/5 times in the last year.

I think the toughest game will be versus SA.
 
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