Written by Rod Crowley:
A 32 man squad described as the most inexperienced squad for 50 years
have been selected by England’s Head Coach, Stuart Lancaster for the
forthcoming Six Nations.
There are an incredible 15
changes from the squad chosen by former Head Coach, Martin Johnson that
went to the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Among those left out were
usual first teamers, Mike Tindall, Mark Cueto and Nick Easter and in
comes nine first time call ups including as expected Owen Farrell, Ben
Morgan and scrum half Lee Dickson.
Lancaster spoke with
great enthusiasm about his immediate plans using the buzz term of a
‘leadership group’ within the squad that he intends to nurture when
training begins in earnest. He did stop short of naming his captain but
hinted that the likes of Chris Robshaw, Dylan Hartley, Tom Wood and even
Toby Flood were names that he was considering.
Lancaster
was also at pains to point out that he wants the “England team to
become the very best and to beat those who are currently rated as the
very best”. Ambitious yes but strong words from a seemingly highly
committed Head Coach.
He expressed no real concerns
about the huge change his selection has already bought about, making it
clear that any player selected was in on merit and most were already in
the thoughts of the outgoing coaching team.
Forwards
M Botha – Saracens
C Clark – Northampton
A Corbisiero – London Irish
D Cole – Leicester
T Croft – Leicester
T Wood – Northampton
L Deacon – Leicester
P Dowson – Northampton
D Hartley – Northampton
C Lawes – Northampton
J Marler – Harlequins
L Mears – Bath
B Morgan – Scarlets
T Palmer – Stade Francais
C Robshaw – Harlequins
M Stevens – Saracens
R Webber – Wasps
D Wilson – Bath
Backs
C Ashton – Northampton
B Barritt – Saracens
M Brown – Harlequins
L Dickson – Northampton
O Farrell – Saracens
T Flood – Leicester
B Foden – Northampton
C Hodgson – Saracens
C Sharples – Gloucester
J Simpson – Wasps
D Strettle – Saracens
M Tuilagi – Leicester
J Turner-Hall – Harlequins
B Youngs – Leicester
Of
the newcomers, it is Farrell who has captured the most imagination.
Likened in his kicking ability to the great Johnny Wilkinson, Farrell is
the son of former England player, Andy Farrell who will be assistant
Head Coach to Lancaster in the training set up. Farrell the son has been
playing inside centre for Aviva Premiership champions Saracens, but is
equally adept at playing fly half. He is quick, has a great pass, a
silky side step and is not scared to get stuck into the opposition. The
20 year old is set to be an England player for a very long time.
England
kicks off their Six Nations campaign in a Calcutta Cup match against
Scotland at Murrayfield on February 4th. How the new look side performs
will be something fans and press will be anticipating with bated breath
but it is good to see that changes have been made after the World Cup
display and time must be given to both the management and players as the
team looks to move forward. Their full programme of games is as
follows:
4th February – Scotland v England
11th February – Italy v England
25th February – England v Wales
11th March – France v England
17th March – England v Ireland
