Loose-head props
Alex Corbisiero (Northampton)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Matt Mullan (Wasps)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
Hookers
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter)
Dylan Hartley (Northampton)
Rob Webber (Bath)
Tom Youngs (Leicester)
Tight-head Props
Kieran Brookes (Newcastle)
Henry Thomas (Bath)
David Wilson (Bath)
Locks
Dave Attwood (Bath)
Joe Launchbury (Wasps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton)
Geoff Parling (Leicester)
Ed Slater (Leicester)
Back rows
Calum Clark (Northampton)
Tom Croft (Leicester)
Will Fraser (Saracens)
James Haskell (Wasps)
Tom Johnson (Exeter)
Matt Kvesic (Gloucester)
Ben Morgan (Gloucester)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
Billy in Vunipol (Saracens)
Tom Wood (Northampton)
Jackson Wray (Saracens)
Scrum-halves
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Lee Dickson (Northampton)
Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Ben Youngs (Leicester)
Fly-halves
Freddie Burns (Leicester)
Danny Cipriani (Sale)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
George Ford (Bath)
Stephen Myler (Northampton)
Henry Slade (Exeter)
Centres
Anthony Allen (Leicester)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Luther Burrell (Northampton)
Kyle Eastmond (Bath)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath)
Henry Trinder (Gloucester)
Manu Tuilagi (Leicester)
Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester)
Back-threes
Chris Ashton (Saracens)
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Ben Foden (Northampton)
Alex Goode (Saracens)
Jonny May (Gloucester)
Jack Nowell (Exeter)
Chris Pennell (Worcester)
Marland Yarde (Harlequins)
Christian Wade (Wasps)
Anthony Watson (Bath)
Injured
Dan Cole (Leicester)
Sam Dickinson (Northampton)
Ollie Devoto (Bath)
Looking at this squad, there will be some names that we would immediately ink into our team sheets. Chris Robshaw and Tom Wood have been there in every test for the last couple of years, aside from when the former was rested last summer, and the later was caught up with the Premiership Final. Both of them are fantastic leaders of the squad and are constantly making nuisances of themselves in the loose. You wouldn't want either of them out of the starting XV, with the level of commitment they put in every game, but with Tom Croft now back in contention, there will be competition for the starting flanker shirts. One option they do have is to play Wood at 8 with Croft in his usual 6, but that would mean exchanging with Vunipola or Morgan. In New Zealand, Morgan played better than Vunipola, but he also had an extra test to get back into the rhythm and Vunipola was recovering from a seemingly minor injury in the final. Croft needs to prove himself fit and ready, since he is seriously lacking in game time from the last two seasons with his neck injury then his knee blow out just minutes into the new season following a second Lions tour. Haskell is another man willing to go above and beyond for his team, and I do hope that we see him in an England shirt again this season. Matt Kvesic is the last man to consider. His season at Gloucester was unfortunately not what we expected when he switched from Worcester, and especially after the performances he put in in Argentina. We shall have to see if he, along with Morgan, can rise again at Gloucester with the new forward dominated signings.
The other inked in name that many would have considered would be Mike Brown, who had a phenomenal season for both club and country, but he was outclassed in the third test by Ben Smith and looked a little tired towards the end of the year. Who can blame him for his dedication throughout the year? I expect with some rest, he will be back with a vengeance in the Premiership, clearing Ben Foden, Alex Goode and Chris Pennell from his shirt. Stuart Barnes said in the midweek clash against the Crusaders that if Foden was to continue with an international career, he may have to consider a swap to the wing, and with the fantastic try he scored in the seventh minute, you might have thought the same.
Speaking of wings, this is a wide open field. Two slots, six wingers, and three full backs who can play on the wing. If we were to go purely offensively, the obvious choices would be Yarde or May, and Wade on the opposite side. These three are among the fastest of the Premiership, and Wade will be desperate to prove himself after a long lay off from injury. Yarde will be hoping to keep his shirt from the contest of May, and some of the lines he ran in the test series were sublime. I suspect though that Yarde and May will have interesting starts to their season, with Yarde changing clubs to Harlequins, and May with all the changes at Gloucester hopefully getting him onto the front foot to let his pace out. Defensively, I would consider Foden and Yarde. Yarde's bulk means he is more stable to tackle the big runners from the Southern Hemisphere, and Foden is used to making a nuisance of himself as a full back, meaning he can read the plays as well as the best of them. It also means if Brown goes on one of his barn storming runs, you have the covering support without drawing the fly half out of position.
Moving inside, we come to the centres. Let me start this off by saying, Tuilagi is a centre. Not a winger. The experiment wasn't a total failure, but it wasn't such an success that it warrants a repeat. The centre partnership of Burrell and Tuilagi in the third test improved the English defense against the All Blacks, but I think that Eastmond was unfairly targeted as a scapegoat for the faults in the defense. The whole third test was set off from an awkward start from Burns, and with Burrell coming on after halftime, the team settled to how they were in the first two tests, unfortunately after the damage had been done. The autumn combination was Twelvetrees and the now returned to League Joel Tomkins. The Six Nations showed Twelvetrees and Burrell being massively superior. Then the tour showed three different centre partnerships: Eastmond and Tuilagi; Eastmond and Burrell; and Burrell and Tuilagi. We've seen Twelvetrees and Tuilagi play together before, and with Lancaster's preference for selecting a second playmaker as his inside man, I doubt we'll see many more new combinations before the end of the season. This is, of course, not allowing for injuries.
Now we step into the complicated world of the half backs. Danny Care and Owen Farrell were cemented in from the Six Nations, with only the Premiership Final (Farrell) and an apparently hilarious shoulder injury (Care) stopping them from playing in the whole test series. Lee Dickson had early season form last year, which led him to start all three of the Autumn tests. Care came into strong form later in the season, and Youngs grew stronger after recovering from an injury on the Lions tour. Richard Wigglesworth has been Mr Consistent for Saracens this year, but he hasn't been able to transfer that form to the England squad and is fourth on the scrum half list. Care spoke out this week about there not being any consistency with the half backs and the combinations not yet having been figured out fully. Farrell is the starting fly half, and has been for a couple of years now, except when injury hasn't allowed. Now his shirt is under threat from two youngsters and two older gentlemen. Cipriani showed that he was ready to come back into the England set up, following a fantastic season with Sale, and contested well for his shot in the test series. Ford and Burns have so much potential, but last year, Ford might have overtaken Burns in the pecking order. The Golden Boot award probably would have helped, and with Burns unsure of his place for the new season (despite everyone knowing where he was going) he struggled for form at Gloucester. And then there's Myler. The Northampton favourite and the man of the match for both finals last year. He was arguably the best fly half in the Premiership last year, and for an injury in the midseason, probably would have gotten the Golden Boot from Ford. Henry Slade is also involved but I suspect he will be looking to work his way up from the Saxons, with so many obstacles in his way. He is young, so we shall have to wait and see. In terms of getting the 9 and 10 shirts against the All Blacks in November though. Well, I suspect that, baring any injury, ban or dramatic loss of form, we will see Care and Farrell back in their shirts at HQ. As for the 21 and 22 shirts, well your guess is as good as mine. I know who I'd like to see there, but so much depends on the start of the season. As I've written before in my Pre-season preview, Burns needs to take his chance to cement his shirt at Leicester whilst Owen Williams takes his ban. His combination with Youngs will be crucial for both of them to get the shirts for the bench. Similarly, Dickson and Myler will restart their long standing partnership at Northampton, and I reckon, if they, along with Burrell, play as a unit, there will be overwhelming evidence to get the three of them set as a unit in the England squad.
Second row is a hotly contested area. In a match day 23, there is usually three second row players, and in Lancaster's overall squad, there is room for four or five, depending on how he arranges his back row. So lets start with the main three. The ones everyone predicts will be in the squad. Courtney Lawes, Geoff Parling, Joe Launchbury. In the absence of Parling, Lawes took over lineout callers, presumably taking lessons from one of the best, Christian Day, at Northampton, and helped by having to call at a domestic level as well. More convenient was the selection of Dylan Hartley at hooker, so the club axis kept its strength. Launchbury is a warrior, who will fight fiercely at breakdowns, and at scrums to secure the ball for his team. Parling has been recognised by the Lions, and is a strong leader of men. It's very easy to interchange these three players, despite having such a difference in playing style. Lawes has stood out this past year as having matured and developed from his usual "Hulk Smash" approach. Don't misunderstand, he still has the in club competition with Samu Manoa to get the big hits in. (Incidentally, if you want to watch some of these hits, you can watch them here.) But the timing of his hits, and his linespeed are enough to panic any flyhalf who doesn't get the ball away quickly enough, or who's scrum half has passed it too slowly. Launchbury is a steady workhorse who very rarely lets his teammates down and Parling is a clever man, reads plays well and contests strongly at lineouts. These three work strongly together, and the advantage of having all three in the squad is Lawes and Launchbury can both play in the back row, so they can cover for injuries to Wood, Robshaw or Morgan. I feel sorry for Attwood and Slater. Both men work incredibly hard in their respective teams, and over the last season, they have proven to be dependable. But as credit in the bank is always helpful, the other three men have so much that it would be expected to see them playing again for England this year.
To the front rows, a position I know little about playing in, but one which causes so much discussion between referees, players and general punters. There is little discussion over who is the best loose-head prop in England, and it narrows down to Alex Corbisiero and Joe Marler. Of those two, the Lions prop has the advantage, but he has had such injury issues over the last two years, he needs to have a clean season to get himself back into the starting shirt. And he has to do it whilst looking over his shoulder at a challenger domestically and, potentially, internationally: Alex Waller. The young match winning try scorer has proven over the last year that he is able to scrum with the best of them. He, with Mike Haywood and Salisi Ma'afu, demolished an Ospreys scrum full of Lions tourists. So the pressure is on for him at home, and Joe Marler now has the added weight of captaincy at Harlequins. Mako Vunipola is a good player, but he's not as strong a scrummager as his two comrades. Matt Mullan is an up-and-comer, getting ready to pounce should his senior colleagues fall to into slumps of form or suffers injury. He's got experience now of touring with the test side, and he has the full confidence of Dai Young. Back to Waller briefly. His Saxons and stint in the England shirt against the Crusaders will see him boosted in confidence, and the fact he's had so much first team experience for Northampton last year means he will be ready to take the challenge to Corbisiero. He himself though has another challenger, his younger brother Ethan. There is one thing that may soothe his mind and that is the rumoured attempt to switch Ethan to the tight-head shirt. It's only a rumour, but I'd like to see it come about.
So over we go, to the tight-heads. Only three selected, and this is the one position where Lancaster has a very narrow selection. His best option, in Dan Cole, is injured, and out for the foreseeable. Leaving three. David Wilson, Henry Thomas and Kieran Brookes. Two of the three are now plying their trade at Bath, so the challenge will be for them to get the starting shirt at the Rec. Newcastle will play Brookes whenever he is fit and able, so that means Mike Ford will need to rotate Wilson and Thomas to allow Lancaster to see both of them as frequently as he might like. Lancaster's other tight-head options, for those who are interested, are:
Scott Wilson (Newcastle)
Paul Doran-Jones (Harlequins)
Will Collier (Harlequins)
Tom Mercy (Northampton)
Gareth Denman (Northampton)
Of these five, the most likely to be called up is Wilson. He already has Saxons experience, and at the age of 19, is a very strong long term prospect. Mercy would be next on the list, what with his recent stint at Saxons level this February, but he plays currently second fiddle to Ma'afu, with Denman behind him. I'd still reckon Cole would rapidly return to the England set up once he recovers from his neck injury, but Wilson was jumped back in in the Six Nations, so I would expect him to start above Brookes or Thomas.
At last we come to the hookers. Dylan Hartley is the first name on the list, and has redeemed himself marvellously after his ban at the beginning of the season. He thrived under the pressure of potential exclusion from England's set up, and has settled as the number one quite nicely. Tom Youngs is often thought of as as good as Hartley, certainly by Richard Cockerill, but his biggest flaw is his lineout throwing. He is far less successful than his two main rivals, and it's a flaw that needs to be sorted. Rob Webber is the bigger challenger for the England shirt, having shown his skills admirably in New Zealand. He was also the first choice hooker in Argentina and selected as Captain against the Barbarians at Twickenham before the test series against the Pumas. Cowan-Dickie is still improving, but improving fast at Exeter. His youth will be his advantage as he goes into the internationals. Plenty of time to get himself test ready and keep within the England camp to learn the ways.
So there we are. A long pondering look at the 55 Englishmen who took part in Lancaster's training camp. Below, I have compiled the players likely to be selected into the Elite Players Squad in October. Those in red are the suspected match day 23 based on history, and assuming that there's no injuries between now and November.
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Loose-head
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Hooker
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Tight-head
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Lock
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Corbisiero
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Hartley
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Wilson
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Lawes
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Marler
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T. Youngs
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Thomas
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Launchbury
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M. Vunipola
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Webber
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Brookes
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Parling
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Attwood
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Flankers
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No 8
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Scrum
half
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Fly
half
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Robshaw ©
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Morgan
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Care
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Farrell
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Wood
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B. Vunipola
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Dickson
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Ford
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Croft
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B. Youngs
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Burns
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Haskell
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Centres
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Wing
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Full Back
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Tuilagi
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Wade
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Brown
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Burrell
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Yard
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Foden
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Twelvetrees
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May
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Goode
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Eastmond
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Whilst I have you though, the Saxons. The problem with the Saxons is that they never get any game time. It also means that players on the cusp of making the England squad, like Kvesic and Myler, are chosen instead of players who are fighting for a starting place like Haskell or Eastmond. So there does need to be a change to how the Saxon players are selected, rather than releasing the EPS players back to their clubs. The other thing that needs to change is the game time the Saxons get. There is only two games on the Saxon calendar. Both in February against Scotland A and the Irish Wolfhounds. Wales did have a second string, but they've since demolished that squad. So here is my suggestion for games for the Saxons. Invite the Maori All Blacks and the Barbarians to play the Saxons during the Autumn internationals, as double headers with the first two tests. That way, Lancaster can look at more of his squad in depth, and keep them match fit for the possibility of an injury. Then suggest to the IRFU and the SRFU that the Wolfhounds, Saxons and Scotland A play home and away during the Six Nations. Failing that, take the Saxons on tour. Play the Premiership clubs, or the Irish provinces or the Welsh regions during the LV cup weekends. Give them a purpose again, and let them play more frequently, lest they not reach their potential. Still, we look forward to seeing the men in white again, but in their club colours. Good luck to all!
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