Striking a balance: Stuart Lancaster
England coach Stuart Lancaster has ruled out making wholesale changes for Sunday's clash against Italy at Twickenham but has suggested he will give a few replacements a chance to start.
Toby Flood, Danny Care, Billy Twelvetrees, Mako Vunipola and his brother Billy are all candidates for a starting berth as the England coach looks inject some freshness into his team ahead of the potential Grand Slam decider in Cardiff a week later.
"I wouldn't want to make wholesale changes going into Italy because I think combinations working and learning together on the field is the important part of it as well," Lancaster told the Telegraph.
"One or two people are suggesting let's make seven, eight, nine or ten changes and bring in a whole load of people who are playing well in the Premiership. I think that would be hugely disrespectful to Italy and definitely the route we will not go down.
"I think there is a difference between that and freshening the side up with players of equal quality who have sat on the bench and waited patiently."
Lancaster explained that it was important to strike a balance between the need for immediate results and building for the 2015 World Cup.
"I have always had to balance the needs of winning in the here and now and developing a team for the future and I don't think my mindset is any different now going into these last two games," he added.
"I think it is important to win in the here and now. It does build confidence and builds space for the team to grow. But equally I have never been dominated by it so I have always had one eye on the big picture and think about where we are going.
"But now we are going to the Italy game, it is not a case of experimentation in order to grow a team and bring young players in for 2015. It is actually about giving the right group of players that we think we have got now more experience over the next two games."
Comments
simojukes says...
heart_of_oak, i wish it was an ideal world, because i absolutely agree with you!
i also agree with wasey in saying that ashton claiming he can defend is just stupid. not only was he told to work on his tackling by the england management recently, but his missed tackles are ridiculous!
and finally, melkdave. like the look of your teams. obviously any england starters who dont make the tour would drop back into reckoning (i assume) and i agree that i would probably go with guest over waldrom as your 2nd 8. i do think that johnson or clark will probably get the 2nd 6 shirt over gaskell. also i guess it is unlikely that we will see both wood and haskell go to the lions, so it may be haskell and croft as the two 6's (thats pretty impressive). looking at your teams it becomes apparent just how good the depth in some positions is in english rugby at the moment.
also i think it is pretty important that brian smith has said Yarde is a better player than ashton. initially i disregarded the comment, but then remembered that smith spend a few years coaching an england team with ashton playing in it, so he may have a point...
Posted 22:16 04th March 2013
Coshie78 says...
Would love to see that side in Argentina, however at this rate Ashton is likely to be there as well. Doubt Gatland will pick him for Australia, may have before this 6N but probably needs to play himself back into the squad in the next two games... He has a lot to prove to remain in the England team for me and the winger spot for Lions is very competitive...
I actually think our issues in the back three stem from our centre conundrum. Tuilagi has proven in his last two "full" games that he needs to play. Barritt appears to be the organiser and best component of a very good defensive system... With those 2 in the side we need Goode as he has provided a necessary 2nd receiver... However 36 proved against Scotland a ball playing 12 makes all the difference to our attack, with Foden or Brown at FB that would be even more potent...
I doubt Tuilagi can take over the defensive captain responsibility, doesn't appear to have that kind of personality... Would suggest 36 probably could but have nothing to base that on really...
I can understand why Ashton has kept his place, without a balanced back three you need a poacher. It's just not happening for him at the moment...
Hopefully the Argentina tour will give 36 the opportunity to grow into the Barritt role. I have the utmost respect for Barritt's contribution. However to fulfill our potential I think we need a BT & MT combo in the centres, Foden or Brown at FB with 2 flyers on the wing... Would think we would need that complete package before we can even hope of a run at the RWC...
Posted 18:19 04th March 2013
heart_of_oak says...
Coshie78 - you've got a very good point about not playing poor defenders against Wales. Their wingers are big powerful runners. To put Wade against North or Cuthbert would be a bit like that Tony Underwood vs Jonah Lomu situation again.
The size of the Welsh back line is one reason why I said Barritt should play against the Welsh. But you'd hope there would be chances for the more talented English wingers in games against different opposition.
Maybe for the Wales game, we might see Brown on one wing, Foden on the other and Goode at FB ? Who knows. But for the Italian game, I really don't want to see Strettle and Ashton.
Actually, the Italian back line is not exactly 'slight' is it ?
Well, I guess we'll know soon enough which wingers SL wants to play.
Posted 16:32 04th March 2013
wasey says...
I'm all for dropping Goode and Ashton. Ashton weak comments about not being afraid to tackle are wrong yes he has produced so big hits against south Africa but his defence is as bad as varndels. My backs for the Italy game would be;
15 Brown (hands down best full back we have right now)
14 Wade (give him some international experience against lower tier team)
13 Tuilagi
12 36
11 May (Great pace and in good try scoring form)
10 Flood (bring on burns after 50 mins)
9 Care (bring on after50 mins as well)
Posted 16:12 04th March 2013
melkdave says...
Varndal and Wade will be given their chance in the summer i expect ,on the Argentina tour..Along with Biggs and Eastmond,.I can see a backline of
9) Dickinson-Simpson 10)Burns-Ford 11)May-Varndal 12)36-Tomkins 13)JJ-Daly 14)Wade-Eastmond 15)Goode-Foden of these players doing very very well on the hard fast pitches .As to the forwards i feel we will see 1)Marhlar-Corbs 2)Grey-Buccanhan 3)Wilson-Mullen 4)Botha-Robson 5)Kitchinier-Attwood 6)Croft-Gaskal 7)Kvesic-Frasier-8)B.Vunipolo-Waldroum .Though T.Guest could replace Waldroum the way his playing atm,
Posted 15:41 04th March 2013
three6three6 says...
Lancaster has certainly had a great impact. This is the crucial game to win.... since with a win England will win the 6 Nations... but a further win will bring that coveted Grand Slam.... something that England has not managed to do since 2003!
Posted 15:31 04th March 2013
Fonzarelli says...
I understand the thought of SL increasing the value of England and especially 6N caps by only allowing players into the team when they are better than the incumbents by a clear margin, but equally bad runs of form needs to be delt via dropping. Ashton is definitely living on borrowed credits, as is Waldrom and probably Strettle too.
Getting players into the squad is vital to allow the coaches to look at players against internationals, and perhaps the answer are 20 minute matches in October and January, possibles vs probables. It'd also be better for reorganising who should slot into the elite and who goes to the saxons, as the current situation of restricting the player choice doesn't wholey help the coaches.
I think it's positive that B Vunipola has been training with the boys, as long as he's told what he needs to do to make the test 23 (probably work a little bit harder in defence). Likewise this sort of information would be invaluable for the likes of Varndell and Wade. (Yes I'm a Wasps fan).
Having said this, lets not forget what SL has done to bring through a number of players who would have been or were largely overlooked beforehand: Barritt, 12T, Brown, T Youngs, Marler, M Vunipola, Launchbury, Parling, Robshaw, Morgan...
Posted 15:06 04th March 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
I think there are tweaks that will make england a scarier prospect to defend against. looking forward to seeing 12trees and Manu together and this is a great fixture to try that out. I'd also like to see some kind of tweaking to the back three who, lets face it, are toothless. a new winger is the minimum, the cherry on top would be Foden back in the mix at 15. I don't see any long term future for Alex Goode.
I watched the france game again last night and I think most pundits have been a bit lazy to say that the Trin-duc and parra subsitutions cost france the game. The english bench was stronger and our forwards were well on top of their opponents in the last 15 minutes. You could have left Trin-Duc and Parra on and they would still have lost because their forward platform had crumbled. England were just all over France by the end of the game. We throttled the life outa them.
Posted 15:04 04th March 2013
Coshie78 says...
heart_of_oak...
I understand what you are saying but defending and tackling are different things altogether... Defensively it is only Ashton's tackling that has been attrocious, however his attack has been almost as bad. So I am not advocating his selection... I agree England need to replace him, I just do not think Varndell is up to the job either... They play different sides anyway...
I am a Wasps fan and I love it when he is in space as his pace is such you know he will not be caught, but he rarely creates this space for himself... Take Savea's try against England in the AIs, he would never have scored that...
Wade may well have, but have you seen him kick? Not exactly a natural, he is also pretty average under the high ball. Not so much when chasing but in defense... Never going to count for you when facing North/Cuthbert?
I would be tempted to have a gamble on Wade, but not sure the England coaches will, especially not for Wales...
Posted 14:40 04th March 2013
pentwynfarm says...
True the likes of Wade, Varndell and Biggs aren't getting in the squad as quick as we'd like, but don't forget how things were under MJ, barely a single new cap during his entire tenure.
We've come such a long way under SL. Think of all the new guys who are shoe-ins in the team now who wouldn't have gotten a look in under the old regime.
Trust in Lancaster, they'll be in there soon.
Posted 14:37 04th March 2013
jamesliveinhope says...
Flood 10, Twelvetrees 12, Tuilagi 13 - haven't we seen that line-up somewhere before?
Lancaster has made it clear that this is not about resting anyone or giving the subs a run-out - he's only spoken about areas where the depth is good.
I suspect that, if Italy turn up thinking that they're up against a second string, then they'll be in for a shock.
Posted 14:19 04th March 2013
heart_of_oak says...
Coshie78 and simojoukes - you've both got very good points in your posts. I can't argue with the fact of the current make up of EPS or that Varndell isn't in it. I also agree that the ideal winger has a bit more to his game than out and out pace.
But we can express ideas for what we'd want to happen in an ideal world, right ?
In my ideal world, Varndell and Wade would be in the EPS and if we had to choose from Ashton, Strettle, Varndell or Wade, basing our decision on their all round game, not just their try scoring record, the selections we've been getting imply that the defence of Ashton and Strettle is better than that of Varndell or Wade, indeed that it's so much better it outweighs the far superior try scoring ability of the Wasps wingers.
The facts don't back this up. Ashton's defence is about the worst I have seen of any winger this season and possibly last season as well.
So I'm afraid that for me, the argument that Varndell isn't considered because he can't defend, implying that Ashton or Strettle have a much better all round game, just doesn't hold water.
I'm going to put my cards on the table and probably annoy alot of you, but in my view, we are seeing Saracens players in the team, when better players are available, probably because Andy Farrell is more familiar with Saracens players and SL is paying heed to what he hears from his coaches.
Having said that, if there is any truth in it, then I don't blame either man. If I were in SLs shoes, I'd listen to what Andy Farrell said and give it alot of credence. If I were Andy Farrell, I'd be more comfortable making the case for blokes I knew well.
The drawback is that other guys are, in my humble opinion, not getting a fair crack of the whip.
I know alot of you have a growing respect for SL. I do too. But selecting Ashton and Strettle is wrong.
Posted 13:34 04th March 2013
pierredelot1 says...
Are some of you having a laugh. Experiment against Wales! The one thing England need to do to Wales this season is beat them. Can't see Lancaster giving them an inch. We certainly won't get one back. The Wales game will be the real big one, unless Italy really have a total change of course, but I just can't see that. The only problem may be a Grand Slam and at this stage it will drag out every cocky little English supporter that only shows up for a winning team and pisses off every other true rugby follower. Lancasters head is in the right place thank goodness and he hopefully will keep this team on their toes but grounded.
Posted 11:17 04th March 2013
Coshie78 says...
It is easy to see why Varndell stands out as a potential pick for some, given his try scoring rate in the Premiership. However, try scoring has never been his issue, it is the rest of his game... Even now, with the work he must have done on it and the experience he has, he is incredibly naive in defence. Both when teams run with ball in hand and especially when the ball is kicked in his direction... I think you need to be more than just a sprinter to be an international winger these days, England's excellent "get out strategy" and defensive quality under the high ball is one of the major reasons they are so hard to beat at the moment... Even the great Jason Robinson had to work hard on his kicking before becoming a regular starter, he actually turned it into a stregth... I hope Wade/Eastmond are spending 90% of time doing the same as would love to see them in future teams... Eliott Daly may well leapfrog them all as he has a howlitzer of a boot and is also extremely rapid...
I believe Care will start, I agree with SL that Youngs is slightly ahead, but margin so close he deserves a chance to put his name in the hat for Wales game...
I would love to see Burns start, but Flood did little wrong and has been around the squad longer due to Burns' injury so might be too disruptive. Hope he gets game time though...
I'd give Lawes the start ahead of Launchbury, he needs a confidence boost and gives Launchbury the chance to get rid of any niggles he has ahead of Wales game...
Whatever SL decides I trust it will be the right thing, huge respect for the man...
Posted 11:09 04th March 2013
simojukes says...
heart_of_oak, my suggestion that we should opt for strettle is more of a suggestion that it should be an "anyone but ashton" approach. i would love to see vardnell, wade, daly, may, biggs, eastmond or others in there over both strettle or ashton.
the problem is that strettle is in the EPS, and therefore is held in a higher regard by the management than those others (who are not deemed ready based on what wade has admitted).
also for any of the saxons players to be called up there has to be an injruy in the elite squad, and no one was called up for farrell, so i cant see any of them getting the call. also TV is not in the EPS or the saxons, therefore based on the EPS agreements, he is ineligible to turn out for england in this 6Ns.
all that being said, other than starting foden at 14 (a back 3 of 3 fullbacks...) the only other wing option available to SL (without injury allowing a saxon in) is strettle. ashton has been performing so poorly that he needs to be dropped and shown that performances like that are unacceptable, so the default choice is strettle (as unfortunate as that may be)
Posted 11:08 04th March 2013
heart_of_oak says...
ArmchairGeneral - sorry but I don't agree we should experiment with Wales. The Welsh are showing very good form now and have recovered well from the defeat to Ireland. I'd prefer to see Barritt come back against the Welsh while I think we could start with 36 against Italy.
Simojoukes - you're not suggesting there's a good case for Strettle's inclusion, are you ? Take a look at these stats --> http://www.premiershiprugby.com/stats/tries.php?preset18143=2012
I'm willing to bet TV has scored as many tries as Strettle and Ashton combined. Then when you add Wade into the equation (Wade being number 2 currently) you get 2 wingers who've scored 20 tries this season.
I thought we were to pick people based on form. If so, by what measures are Strettle and Ashton selected before Wade and TV ?
Posted 08:29 04th March 2013
Physiodan says...
There is an article on sky spits news from Ashton saying his criticism is not justified! He states he has no defensive weakness and Fofana's footwork got the better of him. He also states that he really wants to hurt people and that's why he shoulder charges! After several years in the game I don't think Ashton understands the game yet! Big tackles are called big tackles because the stop a try or potentially disrupt the attack! Big tackles are done with technique and skill execution not arm flapping or hair pulling! For this article alone Ashton should be dropped and given a copy of rugby got dummies to read. Bring in Wade or Varndell and let's see what the best 2 poachers in the prem can do!
Posted 07:54 04th March 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Stating the obvious but if we get it right with a good win, this is the tournament decider. Experiment with Wales.
Posted 04:28 04th March 2013
simojukes says...
Heart_of_Oak.
like the team, but agree we will likely see the other one you put. although i do think that 36 will get a run with manu. also i think ashton will lose out to brown and strettle on the wings. strettle has now scored 5 tries in 5 prem games, therefore showing a better strike rate than ashton. also brown has been pretty decent, and to drop him over ashton would send the wrong message.
another point... havent heard anyone call launchbury lunchbox in ages!!!
Posted 23:03 03rd March 2013
heart_of_oak says...
pentwynfarm - I'd rather not see Ashton in an England shirt at all. The man is an embarrassment to us. And why oh why do we have to see him and Strettle ? The pair of 'em are both useless. Wade and Varndell are on fire. What the hell does TV have to do to be recognised ?
Posted 18:53 03rd March 2013