2 October 2007

The doomed England selection...

The logical part of me thinks that England have two hopes against Australia - Bob and No. But there's always that little bit of you that thinks we can overturn all common sense and magically pull out a superb performance - it's only natural to hope!

The first thing is to get the side right. There seems to be a momentum about the side that it would be good to maintain, which suggests that Vickery shouldn't come back....just one selection that Andy Mizner recommended. I also agree with his view that Corry should move to 2nd row, although I think Shaw is unlucky to miss out. So the pack would be:

Sheridan, Chuter, Stevens, Kay, Corry, Moody, Rees, Easter.

Then in the backs, we need to make way for Robinson. And I'm worried about Tait, fronting up to the Aussie battering ram backs, but now is not the time to bring Hipkiss in. So it's a straight battle between Cueto and Lewsey for one place, given Sackey's try-scoring form. I'd go for Lewsey, but his form hasn't been near his best so far in this World Cup so I could understand it if Cueto gets the nod. So backs:

Gomarsall, Wilkinson, Robinson, Barkely, Tait, Sackey, Lewsey.

And the subs bench is going to be vital. I'd go for:

Richards, Farrell, Worsley, Shaw, Regan, Hipkiss, Vickery.

Unfortunately, I don't think it matters which combination is selected, there is only ever going to be one result.

1 comment:

Andrew said...

Largely agree with your team, though I suspect Ashton will not go for Corry in the second row, and will play Robinson at full back, with Cueto on the wing, and Lewsey on the bench. That said, it has been hard to predict England's selections thus far.