Stuart Lancaster: Wields his axe
Flanker Tom Johnson, number eight Tom Waldrom and wing Charlie Sharples have all been dropped from England's 23-man squad to face South Africa.
The trio started in England's 20-14 defeat to Australia at Twickenham last weekend.
Harlequins loosehead Joe Marler has been ruled out with a knee ligament injury, opening the way for London Irish star Alex Corbisiero to return after overcoming a knee injury of his own.
Wasps' James Haskell and Gloucester number eight Ben Morgan have both been included in the squad, replacing Waldrom and Johnson.
London Irish centre Jonathan Joseph has taken Sharples' place in the matchday squad after recovering from an ankle injury.
"We have made some changes this week to freshen up the squad before the challenge of South Africa," said England head coach Stuart Lancaster, who will confirm his starting XV on Thursday.
"Unfortunately that means one or two players miss out who were in the matchday squad against Australia.
"But they have all added value with their contributions in training and the games and I am sure they will be looking to play well for their clubs and force their way back in.
"The changes however give opportunities to those who have been pushing hard and we feel will add energy and balance to the team ahead of the significant South African challenge."
Mouritz Botha has been added to the squad as provisional injury cover for Geoff Parling, who is nursing a knee problem but the England medics expect him to be fit.
England's 23-man squad:
Backs (10): Chris Ashton (Saracens), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Toby Flood (Leicester), Alex Goode (Saracens), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester), Ben Youngs (Leicester)
Forwards (14): Mouritz Botha (Saracens), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Dan Cole (Leicester), James Haskell (Wasps), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Ben Morgan (Gloucester), David Paice (London Irish), Tom Palmer (Wasps), Geoff Parling (Leicester), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), David Wilson (Bath), Tom Wood (Northampton), Tom Youngs (Leicester)
Comments
APV1 says...
@ davodiablo - he's a Tigers fan and, as such, is fundementally wrong in every way.
Posted 11:05 23rd November 2012
lawynd says...
Top tackler and carrier against Australia?
Thomas Waldrom.
Posted 09:00 23rd November 2012
davodiablo says...
@AVP1 hes biased but right !
Posted 19:53 22nd November 2012
lawynd says...
Thank you for not disappointing me, APV1. ;)
Posted 12:59 22nd November 2012
APV1 says...
@ lawynd - you're just biased.
Posted 12:13 22nd November 2012
markpat says...
@Colvin - while I'd have loved to play for England, I can honestly say that the thought of playing in white has never crossed my mind. When I play for my club, I do care a little about the kit as to whether or not it is suitable for the conditions, but not about the colour or how appealing it might be to anyone who might be offering a fashion critique from the sidelines.
Same way that it wouldn't bother me who the sponsor was.
Posted 11:52 22nd November 2012
lawynd says...
@davodiablo - I've kept quiet on Waldrom because, as a Leicester fan, I'll mostly likely just be accused of bias. I don't think he's done much wrong personally, the woes at the scrum against Fiji were the result of an over-dominant scrum and inexperience at hooker and he's made some good breaks and offloads in both games; nothing spectacular but definitely solid. He's also in a far better vein of form than Morgan and a specialist 8, where Haskell, Robshaw and others are not. I seem to recall some posters on here outraged that Richard Cockerill had the temerity to suggest England played Ben Youngs and Toby Flood into form, so why should Lancaster do the same with Morgan?
Realistically, the only English player better than Waldrom in the position at the moment is Easter, and we know he isn't going to be picked.
Posted 10:37 22nd November 2012
Headhunter99 says...
@APV1 & @Armchair General..
Have tried to have a look at Rob Andrews CV but it goes with his Teflon image, it was just to slippery to hold.
Posted 06:49 22nd November 2012
davodiablo says...
Why is everyone so hard on Waldrom ? He has performed solidly .
He won player of the season first season in England and the search was on for the grandmothers English birth certificate despite the fact he never made the international grade in NZ.
Seems to me like you bought a Skoda and are now complaining because its not like a BMW.
Posted 18:24 21st November 2012
davodiablo says...
What is it with the English fans and team lists ?
BTW is it chopped or rotation ?
Posted 17:59 21st November 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Agree APV1: We should take over... but i need to be head coach so you'll have to take attack coach. Let's wait for Rob Andrew to post here that we're selected to replace Lancaster and Catt. He's probably way too busy right now doing all those very important things that he does.
Posted 15:15 21st November 2012
jestnation says...
Tough on TJ and Sharples as they've done nothing wrong but the physicallity of Haskell and the creativity of Joseph are a boost.
And good riddance to Waldrom. If he was as good as he thinks he is he'd have 100 caps for the ABs but he isn't.
Would love to see Billy V fast tracked in. Now there is a ball carrier!
Great to see Corbs back in the squad. Real unsung hero for me.
Great set piece technician and a fearsome workrate.
Posted 12:21 21st November 2012
colvin says...
Markpat
Pretty near every child grows up in New Zealand dreaming of wearing the all black strip of the New Zealand national rugby team. I imagine many children in England grow up dreaming of wearing the white strip of the England rugby team. I can't imagine what would have gone through the players minds when someone wheeled out the pretty pink strip last week. I guess a rugby person is either a traditionalist or not. It's tradition and nationalism that makes rugby the game they play in heaven. It's worth fighting to keep both intact.
Posted 12:11 21st November 2012
heathy says...
Changes were needed but I wouldn't expect this to be wholesale and quite rightly so. We still need to keep the Boks out and they, like us, don't have anything creative in midfield so there is nothing major that we need to change. I also think that Barritt is actually playing well. He is very solid defensively. The trouble is that he is too much like Tuilagi and so you have a pair of centres that are similar. Oh, if we could only have a Carling and Guscott combo. The likely XV IMO will be..
1 - Corbs
2 - Young
3 - Cole
4 - Palmer
5 - Parling
6 - Wood/Haskell
7 - Robshaw
8 - Morgan
9 - Care
10 - Flood
11 - Brown (Tuilagi)
12 - Barritt
13 - Tuilagi (Joseph)
14 - Ashton
15 - Goode
16 - Paice
17 - Wilson
18 - Vunipola
19 - Launchbury
20 - Haskell/Wood
21 - Youngs
22 - Farrell
23 - Joseph (Brown)
The ones in brackets would be who I would possibly select at this stage although I would be happy if it was as stated. As much as we all may change things about even more, it would be unwise to do this at this stage. We also have players coming back so I expect the Six Nations team to look different to this.
I think South Africa will play the same way as they always do which will be an up the jumper and kicking game. This is why Brown may well get the wingers slot. Tuilagi is not good when he is turned so I expect him to remain in the middle. I think that Joseph would normally play at 13 but this may be a tad too early on a comeback to shove him straight in. Keep things tight and solid initially then bring him on with 20 mins to go once the game loosens up.
Prediction - If England can make better decisions than last week then we will win by 7. If we don't get a good start and switch off in patches then we will be beaten up front. That will cause us problems and we will lose by 5. You read it all here first ha ha.
Posted 12:10 21st November 2012
nhb99 says...
@MelkDave - I'm sure with enough Morgon, even Waldrom would seem palatable. Although I prefer Chiroubles.
Posted 12:07 21st November 2012
1st58 says...
Only 1 genuine winger, and no specialist 7 - useless selection.
Posted 11:52 21st November 2012
TVaddict says...
Great changes, I didn't feel Johnson coped with the SA physicality in the summer, Waldrom hasn't been good all season, but a shame for Sharples who just hasn't had the ball to do anything with it. I'd take a risk with my match day squad and try:
1) Corbisiero
2) Youngs
3) Cole
4) Palmer (Parling is carrying an minor injury+Palmer is bigger+Club combination)
5) Launchbury
6) Wood
7) Robshaw
8) Morgan
9) Care
10) Flood
11) Tuilagi
12) Barritt
13) Jospeh
14) Ashton
15) Brown
This would be the aggressive selection.This way we have a center with some flair and distribution skills, but don't lose Tuilagi's power and finishing. With JJ for added distribution we don't need Goode at 15 and we can have Browns power and cutting edge. Wood and Robshaw are both 6s who play 7 for their clubs, so that should help us on the ground plus Wood is a physical defender. Morgan is a much better ball carrier so I hope he shines, plus Haskell is a good impact of the bench. Also, I didn't think Care played very well last week, costing us the first try, so I'd be equally happy to have Youngs start at 9 to have the club combination which both players seem to thrive off.
With this team we'd need to play fast attacking rugby, and NOT kick it all the time! Just try and keep hold of the ball and starve South Africa of as much possession as possible. Let's replicate the Argentinian defence by tackling low and fast, not our usual giving a 120kg guy 10m run up so he can hurt you as much as possible. Please play positive rugby England.
Posted 11:47 21st November 2012
APV1 says...
@ BokAvenger - I'm not sure our wingers will be pretty enough to carry them off this week. perhaps Digby Ioane could try one for size, eh?!
Posted 11:42 21st November 2012
markpat says...
@colvin If NZ can only get pride playing for their country because they play in black then that is a very concerning reflection on their intelligence. I would imagine (and hope) that the players are far less worried about the colour of their shirts than what they are actually supposed to be doing on the pitch!
On topic, though, I imagine Lancaster will start Brown on the wing, to defend the high ball, but if he's going to play both Brown and Goode in the back 3, I'd probably prefer Brown at full back and Goode on the wing.
Posted 11:33 21st November 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
Talking about Martin Johnson and Andy Robinson getting abuse for selecting "boring ham fisted" players; I find in endlessly bemusing that people don't mind having the Mike Tindal Clone Brad Barritt at 12. Where's the consistancy? Or were you all talking rubbish in the first place??? What does Barritt bring to the party that Tindall didn't? Oh and Tindall could act like another loose forward and turn over ball in the midfield too, so he was actually a better player than Barritt is.
Posted 11:33 21st November 2012