THE world cup squad.

No it's not the all blacks so settle down.

After whooping Wales 43-9, thought i'd post the England squad.

Forwards:
Neil Back (Leicester)
Ian Borthwick (Bath)
Martin Corry (Leicester)
Lawrence Dallaglio (Wasps)
Will Green (Wasps)
Danny Grewcock (Bath)
Andy Hazell (Gloucester)
Richard Hill (Saracens)
Martin Johnson (Leicester)
Ben Kay (Leicester)
Jason Leonard (Harlequins)
Lewis Moody (Leicester)
Mark Regan (Leeds)
Graham Rowntree (Leicester)
Alex Sanderson (Sale)
Simon Shaw (Wasps)
Andy Titterell (Sale)
Steve Thompson (Northampton)
Phil Vickery (Gloucester)
Dorian West (Leicester)
Julian White (Leicester)
Trevor Woodman (Gloucs)
Joe Worsley (Wasps).

Backs:
Stuart Abbott (Wasps)
Iain Balshaw (Bath)
Kyran Bracken (Saracens)
Ben Cohen (Northampton)
Matt Dawson (Northampton)
Will Greenwood (Harlequins)
Alex King (Wasps)
Andy Gomarsall (Gloucester)
Paul Grayson (Northampton)
Austin Healey (Leicester)
Josh Lewsey (Wasps)
Dan Luger (Perpignan)
Jamie Noon (Newcastle)
Jason Robinson (Sale)
Dan Scarbrough (Leeds)
James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester)
Ollie Smith (Leicester)
Mike Tindall (Bath)
Dave Walder (Newcastle)
Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle).

ooooo cant wait.

be watching the Rugby channel or homles tonight @ 7 to see a real Rugby squad........

BTW - just about any team with 15 players could beat Wales at the moment

who do you think will be the last four fringe players to get into the blacks?

i think it could be out of

byron kelleher
sam tuitupo
kupu vanisi
daniel braid
gus macdonald

your thoughts?

I thought Kupu Vanisi was out with a season ending injury?!?

I so hope they don't pick bloody Ralph

Someone told me over the weekend that Ben Blair also used to play halfback back in the day. If this is the case do we need a 3rd specialist halfback???

I have to agree with not picking Ralph. Although I may have defended him earlier this year I watched him in action in the Shield challenge and thought he was pretty average. He doesn't seem to back himself enough.

would you throw ben blair into the WC final as a half back? no thanks...

forgot about vanisi's injury

My five, assuming they drop Ralph (hopefully) would be:
Willis,
Braid,
Kelleher,
Tuitupo (sp?),
Blair.

out of

Simon Maling (a certainty I would think)
Caleb Ralph (no-one else stands out and he is reliable and covers a couple of positions)
Mehrtens (he has class and played well in the weekend)
Kelleher
oliver

I'd pick Cullen ahead of Ralph any day...

Pains me to say, but I'd probably go for Blair over Cullen though due to Blair's better goal kicking.

I'd also add Braid, Maling, and Oliver in the forwards.

I so wish Flavell wasn't such a lose unit as he'd be great to have at the WC but I'm not sure you can risk the amount of penalties he may bring...

I read somewhere on the w/end that if they take 3 half backs they will take a versatile player in the backs that can play 2-3 positions as they wont have room for another specialist........

SO Ralph may get the nod...... wing/centre....

BUT with Nonu most likely covering centre and carter covering 2nd 5 AND 1st Five I think they will take another fullback....

btw, is MacDonald still in the trinations squad ?

Yeah I'm pretty sure he is.

Actually I forgot about him. If McD's gonna be there, then I'd go Cullen over both Blair & Ralph

if he is thats 2 fullbacks and they both (can) play two positions so mabey mehrtens will get the nod ?

Possible Squad

MacDonald
Mulliiana
Blair
Rocokoko
Howlett
Umaga
Nonu
Mauger
Carter
Spencer
Mehrtens
Kelleher
Devine
Marshall

Fowards:

Collins
Soialo
McCaw
Holah.
R.Thorne
Jack
Williams
Mailing
Hoeft
Hewett
Sommerville
Meeuwes
Hammet
Mealamu
Hore

thats my pick, drop Ralph cos mills can play wing too.....

Sam Broomhall could possible get a call up as an extra loose foward..... simply because of the versatility in the backline..

Why would you consider daniel braid? McCaw and Holah are both better and so'olialo provides the 3rd person covering the position if you need him to.

I like the side you predicted Richy although I'm pretty sure you meant to have Brad Thorn in there as well yeah

I'd go for Oliver over Hore myself (although not sure how he gets on with Mitchell these days)?!?

bump*

i'll have to find this thread at the end of the World Cup, to rub it in a bit.

theres only one thing you'll be rubbing mate and thats your piece when you watch our team carve up your pom pom boys....

dude, Im trying to stop myself laughing at England, they beat us by TWO points in our FIRST game....with a NEW team, how long have that England team been together for ?

since then we have improved weekly, won the tri nations AND bledisoe cup
and formed a pretty solid team all round.....you guys beat Wales......by the way, we did to...........

All good calls Richy. England gloated about their relatively close win over Australia and then we go out and put 50 points on them.

you dont think England could have won the tri-nations this year if they replaced N.Z?, aussie & saf played like crap this year imo.

besides experience is an important thing for a campaign such as the world cup.

N.Z have a wicked team no doubt, but the hype of the All Blacks is simply patriotism.

England have proven they can take the Blacks down, i personally think man for man, the Blacks are a way better side, but they relying on Rokacoco(sp) and Howlett waay to much, and without a consistent kicker that England have in Wilkinson, that will be the deciding factor on who wins.

btw is it a knockout tournament?

england rugby world cup history

1987..(did they play?)

1991..(lost to australia in final)

1995..(destroyed by lomu in semis)

1999..(drop kicked by the boks in quarters)

2003..(.....do you see a pattern here????)

manny. Will they make it out of their pool?

"England have proven they can take the AB's down".


well I think we have proven we can take England down too !

and in the big games too, that count ( WC semis ) not 'friendlys'........

you say we rely on Rocokoko and Howlett.... NO SHIT ! they are about 3 seconds faster than the fastest pom and on dry tracks in OZ your gona need more than superboot Wilkinson kicking 3 points all day.....

and what if Wilkinson has an off day or gets injured ?

"come on guys,keep it in the fowards, we aint got no 1st five and the backline sucks arse" "lets bore the other team into submission"

Also, what if NZ don't give away penalties in kickable positions? That seems to be the sure fire way of negating his kicking ability.

I hope that England continue to rate themselves as favourites that will make beating them all the sweeter.

agreed, they are a hella boring team to watch esp when playing top class sides.

well, if the A.B's dont give away penalties, they've got it sussed.

but for each try that is scored on the wing, a missed conversion will result and Wilkinson will prob get two penalty kicks for every try the all blacks score.

i hope it isn't a boring game, but it probably will be.

"swing low, sweet chariot"

They lost to Wales in the Quarterfinals if my memory serves me right

starts rubbing it in. hehe

Out of interest. Why is it that all the Southern Hemisphere teams were drawn to one side of the draw and Northen hemsiphere teams to the other? Perhaps it would be better for tv?

maybe.

i personnaly wanted my england/nz final.

guess we'll never know now.