England have a decent draw despite being in the pool of death. Fiji will be a tough warm up, then they have Wales/Australia in a row before they can have a rest against Uruguay.
I don't mind opening threads for each game btw. Maybe put it to the vote but I would need a mod to change the thread title here...
A lot of people coming out and saying Sam Burgess is not ready to be playing in this WC. Most notably Will Carling and Brian O'Driscoll.
Neither was Jason Robinson when he played according to "experts". Sam has that something special and you need players like that in your team, he might be a bench player but what a ball runner to bring off the bench
Will probably miss this match live. Not sure as to whether I should try and go for a total WC blackout that weekend and watch in on the Monday when I'm back or just suck it up and miss it completely.
England unchanged for the opener: England: Mike Brown (Harlequins); Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby); George Ford (Bath Rugby); Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers); Joe Marler (Harlequins), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Geoff Parling (Exeter Chiefs), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Chris Robshaw (capt, Harlequins), Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby). Replacements: Rob Webber (Bath Rugby), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Sam Burgess (Bath Rugby).
Very strong pack. Not a fan of the pace free bench as I've said before. 5 centre options and only 2 wings in the 23. Hopefully Burgess will prove me wrong and command a starting spot soon.
Just noticed we've got Generous Geoff in to start ahead of Launchbury. He must have a huge lineout role because I can't think of any other reason you'd do that.
Maybe it's just a case of not wanting to have Launchers broken in the first game. Also I was speaking to a guy at work about our bench and he wants to see a big heavy replacements. Realistically we shouldn't be chasing the game so having match winners on the bench isnt needed. Big hitters on the other hand might be. Was an interesting point I thought
I was mildly stunned to find out the Fijian #10 Josh Matavesi is a Cornishman by birth. Welcome change to the usual direction of talent.