The Official English Rugby Thread

[Punter15]

Lmao what a defence

And even then, better than Daly’s.

[TedMaul]

So would the forty three times you've registered new accounts on boards you've been banned from, but we all have our secrets I suppose

Temu Jason Bourne

[Hal Jordan]

Blimey, Tom Hooper has signed for Exeter. That's a coup.

Is he aware of what they're like at the moment??

If ever there was a team in need of an NFL style "burn it all down and start again", it's Exeter.

[Kawazaki]

WTF happened here last night?

TLDR:
JMK did all kinds of mental gymnastics to try and convince himself that Steward runs faster than Daly because I said Dombrandt is shite.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Daly was literally caught by a lock in the 6N. He is slower than molasses. I know you don't watch a lot of rugby but he's been shocking for England since his recall

Johnny May got ran down by Scott Barrett FFS. It can happen.

Was that the game May started with an injured hamstring? Because that's a slightly different thing, even if sometimes the forwards are genuinely quick rather than corner flagging or coming off a running start, or running to a skill point not executing one.

That said I am again reminded of Victor Costello chasing down Jerry Guscott, a happy memory indeed.

[SaintK]

Davidson should be in ahead of fatso Heyes (Tigers bias again!) and Opoku-Fordjour is a loose head at Sale but Borthwick selects him as tight head . Steward is the only full-back in the squad, not sure what Carpenter has done wrong.

Thought AOK, was mostly tighthead for sale and loosehead for England u20.

Correct. England have been trying to persuade him to be a loosehead.

Bollocks, got it arse about face!!!

[Raggs]

Thought AOK, was mostly tighthead for sale and loosehead for England u20.

Correct. England have been trying to persuade him to be a loosehead.

Bollocks, got it arse about face!!!

You got it right that Borthers had him at tighthead I believe in the game he came on for.

[SaintK]

Correct. England have been trying to persuade him to be a loosehead.

Bollocks, got it arse about face!!!

You got it right that Borthers had him at tighthead I believe in the game he came on for.

Bloody hell!! I just can't keep up

[sockwithaticket]

Steve Borthwick has revealed he is giving strong consideration to shifting Marcus Smith to full-back and deploying Freddie Steward on the wing as he plots a course to England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... ix-nations

Hopefully this is just Borthwick doing his best to occupy the media, but fuck me. It is beyond me why this is even a topic of conversation. M. Smith is a 10 who can cover 15 in a pinch. Start him at 10 or give him the 22 shirt. That's it.

Meanwhile, our defence gets run around frequently enough, perhaps the last thing it needs is the most glacial of our back three options parked on the wing to further exacerbate the problem.

Some nonsense in the article about 6 -2 split as well. Just be normal and pick a 5 -3. Other than France no one in the 6N has a scary enough pack that we need to be bringing extra forwards and risking being exposed by backs injuries.

Maybe I'm over-reacting, but I'm already thoroughly bored of the Borthwick era and more or less waiting for the next guy to come in.

[Paddington Bear]

Bomb squad is a fine thing in the data but it does rely on not bringing on the likes of Dan Cole to have an impact

[Paddington Bear]

No confirmation yet, but reasonably sure I saw George’s hammy pop in front of me yesterday, one down for the 6N squad I suspect

[SaintK]

No confirmation yet, but reasonably sure I saw George’s hammy pop in front of me yesterday, one down for the 6N squad I suspect

Yep! McCall says he needs a scan to see how bad it is.
No reports of Oghre or Langdon being called up as cover yet.

[Oxbow]

Alex Coles went off with his arm in a shirt sling on Saturday so likely another one out of the squad.

[JM2K6]

No confirmation yet, but reasonably sure I saw George’s hammy pop in front of me yesterday, one down for the 6N squad I suspect

What on earth were you doing to him?

[Paddington Bear]

No confirmation yet, but reasonably sure I saw George’s hammy pop in front of me yesterday, one down for the 6N squad I suspect

What on earth were you doing to him?

You don’t know the Nigel Wray Investment Club secret handshake so I can’t disclose, sorry

[Torquemada 1420]

Steve Borthwick has revealed he is giving strong consideration to shifting Marcus Smith to full-back and deploying Freddie Steward on the wing as he plots a course to England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... ix-nations

Hopefully this is just Borthwick doing his best to occupy the media, but fuck me. It is beyond me why this is even a topic of conversation. M. Smith is a 10 who can cover 15 in a pinch. Start him at 10 or give him the 22 shirt. That's it.

Meanwhile, our defence gets run around frequently enough, perhaps the last thing it needs is the most glacial of our back three options parked on the wing to further exacerbate the problem.

I saw that in the Torygraph and had to check that we weren't in April.

Daly and Steward as potentially the last 2 defenders up against the likes of Penaud and B-B..............

[inactionman]

Steve Borthwick has revealed he is giving strong consideration to shifting Marcus Smith to full-back and deploying Freddie Steward on the wing as he plots a course to England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... ix-nations

Hopefully this is just Borthwick doing his best to occupy the media, but fuck me. It is beyond me why this is even a topic of conversation. M. Smith is a 10 who can cover 15 in a pinch. Start him at 10 or give him the 22 shirt. That's it.

Meanwhile, our defence gets run around frequently enough, perhaps the last thing it needs is the most glacial of our back three options parked on the wing to further exacerbate the problem.

I saw that in the Torygraph and had to check that we weren't in April.

Daly and Steward as potentially the last 2 defenders up against the likes of Penaud and B-B..............

Marcus Smith at 15 - hmm, OK, we are missing Furbank after all, and we've not many with international experience to call on - itself a worrying thought - so I might not like it but I can see why.

Steward on the wing. WTAF.

[Raggs]

Could they be separate things? Like Steward in the 23 shirt, used on the wing if a winger goes down?

[inactionman]

Could they be separate things? Like Steward in the 23 shirt, used on the wing if a winger goes down?

We can but pray.

[TedMaul]

Had to check it wasn't April 1

[geordie_6]

Glaws have signed Ben Loader for next season.

[JM2K6]

I heard good things about his time at the Stormers, but it turns out that I was wildly overrating the SA sides so it'll be interesting to see how he gets on

[sockwithaticket]

Obviously he can only go where there's a contract for him, but I wouldn't have thought that Gloucester is a great destination for someone who presumably has England ambitions. Even when they're doing well they tend not to get many players selected and they haven't been doing well for a while (currently mid-table, but the last couple of seasons they've finished second from bottom).

[Margin__Walker]

Really good player. Albeit through a combination of general disinterest in rugby lately and him having spells on the sidelines, I've not watched too much of him at the Stormers.

I guess he's probably realistic internationally. There are a lot of good wings in the league (and Steward) up the pecking order in terms of England selection. Landing somewhere where he's a decent shot at a lot of gametime (at wing or FB) makes sense. He'll know Skivs and several of the players well and he's worked really closely with Lightfoot-Brown the Attack Coach there for years.

His biggest issue is always fitness. Has a decent run then picks up a three month issue. Rinse and repeat.

[Paddington Bear]

Hefty butchers bill from a largely terrible round of matches

[Raggs]

Mitchell apparently should be fit for the start, that's good. George, Coles, JVP & Dombrandt out for Ireland at least.

[sockwithaticket]

Langdon, Spencer, Quirke, Pollock and Clark (Arthur, plays lock for Glaws) have all flown out to Girona with the squad.

[Raggs]

Langdon, Spencer, Quirke, Pollock and Clark (Arthur, plays lock for Glaws) have all flown out to Girona with the squad.

Glad Quirke is there again, Pollock is obviously special.

[Oxbow]

Langdon, Spencer, Quirke, Pollock and Clark (Arthur, plays lock for Glaws) have all flown out to Girona with the squad.

Glad Quirke has been called up, I hope he can stay fit as him and Mitchell would make a great pair of scrum halves. A welcome but overdue call up for Langdon and good experience for Pollock. Fucks Saints over even more for the Quins game on Friday though, in what other sport would a side lose 9 or 10 players to a training camp and still play an important league game, madness.

[SaintK]

Langdon, Spencer, Quirke, Pollock and Clark (Arthur, plays lock for Glaws) have all flown out to Girona with the squad.

Glad Quirke has been called up, I hope he can stay fit as him and Mitchell would make a great pair of scrum halves. A welcome but overdue call up for Langdon and good experience for Pollock. Fucks Saints over even more for the Quins game on Friday though, in what other sport would a side lose 9 or 10 players to a training camp and still play an important league game, madness.

Quite!!!!
Langdon, Spencer and Quirke should have been in the initial squad anyway. Excellent experience for Pollock

[JM2K6]

Saints will still win, mind.

Great to see Pollock there. Arthur Clark is a bit of a monster too.

[SaintK]

Radwan to Tigers with immediate effect

[inactionman]

Radwan to Tigers with immediate effect

They needed to replace Watson at some point, but that is fast work.

I'm - again - gutted for Newcastle, who just can't keep hold of their crown jewels.

Likely to open up his England prospects a bit.

[sockwithaticket]

Newcastle have been quite happy to offload their bigger names mid-season over the last couple of years. I guess it's a sign that they know they're effectively in a life-support holding pattern as a club.

[inactionman]

Newcastle have been quite happy to offload their bigger names mid-season over the last couple of years. I guess it's a sign that they know they're effectively in a life-support holding pattern as a club.

I presume it gives them a few bob rather than losing them at end of contract, which is what they're in desperate need of.

[Margin__Walker]

Newcastle have been quite happy to offload their bigger names mid-season over the last couple of years. I guess it's a sign that they know they're effectively in a life-support holding pattern as a club.

I presume it gives them a few bob rather than losing them at end of contract, which is what they're in desperate need of.

I'd be surprised if they got anything more than his (relatively high for the club) wage off the books for the second half of the season.

[Paddington Bear]

Also an element that they can now see Ealing will probably win the Champ, meaning that there’s no relegation.

They really ought to be very investable - big city with an identity, own ground etc.

[geordie_6]

Gutted to lose him, but the big hope would be that it increases his chances of more England caps. Special player.

[Kawazaki]

Also an element that they can now see Ealing will probably win the Champ, meaning that there’s no relegation.

They really ought to be very investable - big city with an identity, own ground etc.

I'm surprised with their Newcastle United links that PIF haven't bought the club and stadium. They could buy the club, all the assets and pay up to the cap limit for years and still pay less than what they'd pay for a defender.

In fact, I'm not sure why PIF don't just purchase English professional rugby outright. It would buy them more bang for their buck that LIV golf does.

[Paddington Bear]

Also an element that they can now see Ealing will probably win the Champ, meaning that there’s no relegation.

They really ought to be very investable - big city with an identity, own ground etc.

It’s crossed my mind as well.

If you want to buy a sport and take full control buy the ECB - unlike the FA/RFU they have no remit/historical grounds to have to run the sport in this country

I'm surprised with their Newcastle United links that PIF haven't bought the club and stadium. They could buy the club, all the assets and pay up to the cap limit for years and still pay less than what they'd pay for a defender.

In fact, I'm not sure why PIF don't just purchase English professional rugby outright. It would buy them more bang for their buck that LIV golf does.