Ben Morgan chooses England

On the point of choosing a team to play for, technically, as I have dual nationality, I could play for either England or NZ.

I would choose England every time, in a heartbeat. It's about playing for your country, and if I was good enough, there would have been no question in my mind, regardless of how successful they were at the time.

He's English and that's that.
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Ridiculous statement. There's a multitude of players who've opted to play for "other" countries as opposed to their birthplace. Why? coz they know they'll have the opportunity to win something (or they're not good enough to get in the team of their birth)........

GODBA

The idea that wales lost more games then england and therefore are not as good is down right bloody stupid.

You see dear fellow if you make it to the last 4 of the WORLD CUP you and lose, well dear boy thats a loss in the 3rd place playoff and thus shoots stupid statistics like who the currant 6 nations champs in the foot..

Also the fact that Ireland, Wales and France barely if at all competed in the last 6 nations, was and is a major factor in why an under whelming England side won the trophy in the first place. As Wales France and Ireland were using and very publicly stated by the 3 respective manager, were using the 6 nations to build for the world cup. Thus and has normally been since the inception of the Rugby World Cup the 6 nations (in that particular year) is simply a breeding ground to prepare and give opportunities to fringe players.

Hurtfully pointed out when in the last game Ireland, for the first time in the competition fielded their best 15 and destroyed the would-be grand slam english lads.

Thats a fact.

THis year will tell where you are in the world of rugby. and i predict 4th place for england. Wales and france to contest the trophy with ireland in 3rd.

This might seem a bit old fashioned, but I believe unless their are quite exceptional circumstances - and I admit that defining specifically what is very hard - I think that where you were born should dictate where you play, on an international basis. I don't like this kind of "well my auntie had a Dachshund so I'll play for Germany" mentality.

Whilst I think its fine for you to choose your club, I think your country chooses you - in the sporting context, and whilst there can be exceptional circumstances I think these need to be the exception rather than the rule and for them to be clear for all to see and understand.

Ding bat, the idea that you can judge placements of teams based on just the world cup is just as stupid. Wales have been below par for a while despite their miraculous world cup where they lost every time they met a decent side. To simply say that no one tried in the 6 nations is ridiculous; Wales even went as far as cheating Ireland out of their game!

Ur kidding me right? Wales did not cheat us, the ref cocked it up thats life and as an Irish man i have moved on. sometimes its just not ur day and that was not our day. Unlike the final game when we played decent rugby and blew a england away.

I get what ur saying mate... but it just smacks of clutching at straws in a lame attempt to bolster ur confidence ahead of the next 6 nations.

As for the teams not competing properly thats absolutely right. Wales were changing the team up for almost every game, They were bringing the young guns in to the system and getting ready for the WC. Fact! and it worked very nicely.

France tried over 30 uncapped players! OVER 30! well there former manager was a loon but C'MON. He stated quite publicly that the 6 nations was of no importance, all that mattered was the World Cup.

Ireland were implementing a whole new defensive pattern and attacking patterns which came good in the last game but were building and trying new things in order to be ready for the.... yes you guess it... the WORLD CUP.

Of course they took the 6 nations seriously, but not the result only the manner of which they built for the WC. and if they could say it was a success or not.

This year is the real six nations, the one that counts right after a world cup. England are in for a tough season. But who knows Lancaster could pull it all together. It should be interesting.


Every 4 years we have a bad six nations. Alway its this way, teams throw the importance of the 6 nations out the window and concentrate on the bigger goal. The World Cup.

If you had been around rugby as long as i have you would know that.

England will win the six nations..... again. You can say whatever you like about last year, they won because they consistently were the best NH team for the 18months before the WC.
People let their hatred of England blind them from the truth.

Aristodemus

cmon man 18 months of consistency?

I've said this before, i want England to do well. Its good for the northern hemisphere if our teams are playing well. One team running away with it every year is no good at all. So believe me when i say there is no blindness at all apart from maybe some blind optimism on your part.

Please enlighten me as to who has been the most consistent NH team from the summer of 2010 leading up to the WC. If you say anything other than England it just proves my point.
No one team has been "running away with it" since the great Woodward side, so I do not see what you mean with that.
Yes I am optimistic, but it is based around the quality of players we have. I am not blind.

Well mate 18 moths being the form team is a bit mmm optimistic. Form team for a briefe period yes, But hat can we say now, only Wales and France are the form 6 nations teams.

Im not so one eyed to say that we are going to beat them yet we beat OZ in the WC and lost just one game to wales 3. but we lost a crucial game, and thats what counts. so did you guys, and we also didnt look that good. We beat OZ in a game with NO TRIES scored. ok we beat them and thats what counts but realistically that was a dog fight and we just wanted it more on the day.

U lost at the same point we did and u crashed out of the comp having not played well. as we did. You cant claim ur the form team. u just cant. it has no logic.

Now to be fair i posted an article on the positives coming from the england camp and indeed its all looking very positive. I have been swayed in my opinion a little by SARS (a user from england) and a more realistic bloke who looks at the whole picture as i do.

Now i see that England could well do something special this year, its all up in the air tho. U have 3 of the 5 games Away, and ur team is a whole new outfit of youngsters. Its an uphill task. Best of luck tho.

As for Us im hoping but not so confident of a good result, we are certainly underdogs to France and Wales, but not to England. Thats the reality of the situation.