Martin Johnson will name his 32-man squad for the Six Nations this week, and it will be interesting to get a glimpse of the great man’s latest thinking.
Olly Morgan was in fine form and a favourite for one of the full-back berths, but has cruelly been injured in Gloucester’s game against Newcastle. Tom Rees is out until March with a knee injury, Tom Palmer has a shoulder problem and Dan Hipkiss is hamstrung and Josh Lewsey has announced his retirement – although he didn’t seem to be in favour anyway.
Mark Cueto has been scoring tries again for Sale and could bring some much-needed experience to the back three, especially given Paul Sackey’s lackadaisical efforts in the Autumn.
I’d like to see Steffon Armitage called up alongside his brother Delon, James Simpson-Daniel could feature if he recovers from injury, we could see Jonny Wilkinson back in March, and there could be one or two surprises in the second row where resources are scarce: Danny Grewcock anyone?
Let me know who you’d like to see selected, and whether there’s anyone you think shouldn’t be included.
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As for the 2nd row, despite I’d love to see Danny Grewcock back in England jersey I’m afraid he’ll be out for a foot injury for few months.
The key changes I would like to see from the Autumn games would be (1) Cueto in for Sackey (can’t remember the last time he impressed in an England shirt) (2) Kennedy given a proper run (3) Tait at least on the bench (if not starting at 13) (4) Walder or Geraghty at 10 (highly unlikely to happen though) (5) Hartley given at least a couple of starts.
Injury to Rees is tough, but Croft and Haskell are must-haves and there are plenty of contenders for the third spot (my first choice would be Lipman). 10, 12 and 13 are problem areas in my view, and have been since 2003. Not sure Flutey has done enough to retain his place. Haven’t been able to catch a Gloucs game lately so don’t know how Barkley is doing, but JSD (on the odd occasion he’s fit) and Tindall must be in the running too, and I would put all of them ahead of Noon.