England Squad Prediction

This is the 30 I expect for the AI, I waited untill all the injuries were known.

Prop
Sheridan, Vickery, Freshwater, White

Hooker
Chuter, Mears, Thompson

Second Row
Kay, Jones, Grewcock, Kennedy

Back Row
Corry, Sanderson, Moody, Forrrester, Rees

Scrum Half
Perry, Richards, Bemand

Fly Half
Hodgson, Flood, Lamb

Centre
Allen, Tait, Noon

Back Three
Lewsey, Cueto, Balshaw, Varndell, Cohen

If he goes for two full fifteens to cover the three player rule, rather than the squad of three hookers, scrum halfs and three fly halfs, then I will drop Thompson, Bemand and Lamb and add Lund, Smith and Van Gisbergen

I prefer Flood to Allen, but think his style of play requires more nurturing at international level. Flood "tries things", this is harder to get right as defences get tighter, the percentages get harder. Allen is more straight-forward, he runs good lines, passes and off loads, all less likely to go wrong than Flood. So Flood needs time from the bench, hopefully he will adjust quickly, but it needs more careful handling.

If it is experience we want we could have a world cup rerun?

Sheridan
Thompson
Vickery
Jones
Kay
Hill
Moody
Dallaglio

Perry
Wilkinson
Cohen
Catt
Tindall
Lewsey
Balshaw

9 Starters, 3 were used from the bench, and only 3 new players

Probable line up for New Zealand
Sheridan
Chuter
Vickery
Jones
Kay
Sanderson
Moody
Corry

Perry
Hodgson
Cueto
Allen
Tait
Lewsey
Balshaw

Gives us 3 World Cup starters, 2 who came on from the bench, and 1 who was left on the bench.
What's my point you ask?
Well there is a lot of talk of inexperience, but if a World Cup cap is by definition our most experienced player, then are we that bad? If we swap Hodgson and Sanderson for the injured Wilkinson and Hill? Cueto for Cohen? Even Corry was on the bench but unused. No, we are not much different; Sheridan, Sanderson, Hodgson, Cueto have been regulars for a few seasons, Chuter and Jones have been around for a while and have lots of top class club experience. So the only "inexperienced" selections would be Perry/Allen/Tait, and even here Perry is no novice and Tait has played the big stage by winning a Commonwealth silver medal and successfully faced Mortlock, the number two 13 in the world, and Allen just came through with credit against D'Arcy and O'Driscoll.


I am expecting AR to pick Cueto/Lewsey/Morgan. Based on previous England selections I would say the candidates are:
Voyce
Varndell
Tait
Cohen
Balshaw

If the rumours are true then Voyce will not be picked, and it also sems Varndell is slightly out of favour after Australia. I think AR may do what he did in Aus and pick Noon at 13 and move Tait to the wing, this I think would be a shame. I would prefer Cohen or Varndell, I will wait until the Munster game but I would prefer Varndell. I was going to save Varndell for later Autumn, but I am a crazy optimist. I laso expect AR to promote Balshaw to the bench.