Breaking from tradition, we start with loose head prop. It's difficult not to include Alex Corbisiero. In a normal season, he would've taken the England shirt for himself and kept it all season. However as has been typical of the try scoring lion, he had troubles for most of the year with injury. Not only has he had surgery on both knees, he has had to have severe rehabilitation on his shoulder. Whilst most teams would struggle to lose a player of his quality Northampton have been able to fill his boots with Alex Waller, a player who has taken on the responsibility with his brother, Ethan, both of which re-signed with Northampton for further years. Neither of these players however have made it into Stuart Lancaster's England match day set up, despite Alex earning himself his first call-up to the elite playing squad.Whilst other props are worthy of mention, such as Matt Mullen and Logovi Munipola (who spent most of last season on the opposite side of the scrum), I feel that the Aviva Premiership #1 shirt should go to Harlequins captain Joe Marler. he has made the gap of Corbisiero not feel as large during the summer and autumn international fixtures as well as excellent showings during the six nations. I look forward to watching the competition between these two players when they are both fit and well for the 2015 six nations opener against Wales.
At hooker, it really boils down to 2 different styles player. Schalk Brits has been incredible during the opening months of 2014, making metres away with not expect the hooker to collect them. His tackle on Wayne Barne, though, showed that he needs some more work when tackling a referee. Unfortunately for him, injury struck just after the beginning of the 2014/2015 season, and so has ruled him out of the starting shirt. The other hookers worthy of note are Tom Youngs and Rob Webber both to have played exciting games throughout the season, however Youngs's shoulder injury prevented him from taking part in any of the Autumn International matches. And so the accolade goes to Hampton Captain Dylan Hartley. What some may disagree due to his injuries and disciplinary record, it is hard to deny that he has led Northampton exceptionally well this term, and he continues to show his skill at an international level. His stand in, Mike Haywood, is an exceptional young player who continues to develop and I'm sure we will see him in a Saxon shirt before the end of the year.
Tighthead prop goes to Dave Wilson of Bath, who has paved an interesting England career gonna taking a high number caps, mostly off the bench. However in the absence of Dan Cole, he started all of the Autumn Internationals, with reserve tighthead being Kieron Brooks of Newcastle. Both players showed the class at withstanding the dominance of the southern hemisphere. Salesi Ma'afu has brought some of the Australian scrum with him, and still holds the most ironic cheer for a red card decision in a Premiership fixture, but for me, Wilson has stepped up this year.
Numbers four and five in our yellow and blue shirted team go to Dave Attwood and Courtney Lawes. These two men have stood head and shoulders above the other competitors, apart from perhaps Joe Launchbury and Christian Day. Day is perhaps the best lock to have never been capped, and Launchbury's unfortunate injury, similar to Geoff Parling, have had the, out of contention for a long while. The leadership the selected two showed internationally have perhaps pushed them up the scale, and who doesn't like watching Lawes smashing into his targets?
Our flankers are a pretty difficult issue. Our main competitors are Tom Wood, James Haskell, Chris Robshaw, Callum Clark, Luke Wallace, Ashley Johnson, Julian Salvi, Jamie Gibson, Jacques Burger and Francois Louw. Over the whole year though, I would say James Haskell and Tom Wood have lead their teams respectively to their goals. The Wasps home grown Archbishop of Banterbury keeps the teams spirits up and pushed them forward to the excellent double header against Stade Francais. And who could forget the image of Tom Wood's roar at Franklin's Gardens against Leicester? He led Northampton in the Premiership semi- and final fixtures, in the absence of Hartley. Robshaw is a worthy candidate but I've never personally found him to be significantly better than either of his partners at club and country level. His work level is incredible and I hold him in very high regard, but for the sake of this selection, he just misses out.
Number 8. Now I could dither about who is on the shortlist, but frankly, that would be wasting the time of everyone involved. Samu Manoa. Any arguments? No? I thought not. Anyone who can score a hat trick off the bench, albeit against Treviso, and set up a score as he did last weekend deserves to have the name sewn onto his shirt instead of ironed on. He will be sorely missed when he departs to France at the end of this season. Though we should mention Thomas Waldrom. Hasn't he done well since leaving Leicester?
Scrum half is very contentious. Our three England scrum halves, Danny Care, Lee Dickson and Ben Youngs, have put forward a very strong case for their inclusion. However, consistency hasn't been with any of them, and although Care is higher up the list in my mind, he isn't the top 9 in the Premiership. I would say the key 9 is Kahn Fotuali'i. His sniping runs, ability to play at fly half and tactical thinking have stood him in strong stead. The Samoan and Barbarian takes some stopping and hopefully his shoulder injury is not so severe to keep him away for too long.
Fly half is an interesting decision to make. Cries for Owen Farrell, Charlie Hodgeson and Danny Cipriani to be included are justified but ultimately ignored. My choice goes to either George Ford or Stephen Myler. This is the only time I'll have a suspended decision. Ultimately it depends on what you chose to do with your squad. If you look for exciting running lines, chose Ford. If you want someone more steady and kicks his goals, Myler is your man. And if you were going by the two most recent head to heads between the two, the Amlin Cup final and the match at the Gardens in September, Myler walked away with Man of the Match for one of those, and a clear victory in both matches. Decide for yourself.
Our two wingers gives me pause for thought. Mostly because I have gone for three wingers in the team, but one in the centres. So my wingers in their rightful places. I've chosen to go with George North and Mark Cueto. There are a huge number of candidates, but these two rise up and hold their heads high. Literally in North's case. He's really stepped up this season, scoring four tries against the Ospreys, finishing off Manoa's effort against Harlequins, and generally raising the roof every time he has the ball, the Lion roars in the Midlands. Cueto, on the other hand, business as usual. The top try scorer of the Premiership is still going for at least four more months and I hope we see him finish in style at Sale.
Now calm down, all those angrily shouting "what about Goneva, you imbecile?!" He's in the squad, but he gains the outside centre shirt. The problem I had was selecting these three players, and I felt that Goneva was far more effective for Leicester as a centre than on the wing. North is similarly powerful as a centre, and slipped in there a few times against Leicester when Tom Stephenson was sacrificed. So North and Goneva could be swapped at will, perhaps putting Cueto on the left and Goneva on the right. But who is the inside centre? It could be Henry Slade, Billy Twelvetrees, Brad Barritt, even Farrell if I was feeling generous or not paying attention. Realistically, it has to be Luther Burrell. His inclusion to the Six nations must be surely confirmed by now, and what else does he need to do if he hasn't been chosen to start?
Finally, the full back. And again, England's trio of Mike Brown, Ben Foden and Alex Goode would be leading edge charge. But consistency across the whole year is my criteria, and Brown didn't quite fizzle for me in the autumn, despite being glorious in the Six nations. Foden has suffered with injury, despite being fabulous at the Gardens and Goode doesn't seem to shift his form to England. But by my criteria, I have chosen James Wilson. The utility Kiwi back flashes his brilliance before resigning with the Saints, and his thunderous boot has cleared Northampton when they've been cornered numerous times. His ability to slot in anywhere in the backs means he can take the ball from anywhere and just cause chaos.
That's my selection, and I invite you to disagree with it. That's the point. This is MY selection, you have your opinions, and I would love to hear and debate with you on your opinions once again, here is my squad, and let me wish you a very Happy New Year.
1. Joe Marler
2. Dylan Hartley
3. Dave Wilson
4. Courtney Lawes
5. Dave Attwood
6. James Haskell
7. Tom Wood
8. Samu Manoa
9. Khan Fotuali'i
10. Stephen Myler/ George Ford
11. George North
12. Luther Burrell
13. Niki Goneva
14. Mark Cueto
15. James Wilson
