Promising stuff coming from England

Or, they are freed of the burden of expectation and the scars of previous mediocrity that the back line has suffered in recent times.

I'm looking forward to a fresh start.

HMMurdoch

Indeed

Can't believe Tindall is even being mentioned, he isn;t even good enough to grace Gloucester's back line so quite why he would be in an England shirt again I've no idea.

Just be a weakness to exploit - now slower than ever and has always had fairly rubbush hands. Can't remember the last time I saw him break the line.

And before you start back at me, I was always a fan of his having played rugby and cricket against him every year for seven years at school - top lad - the only person who I have ever seen bowl 6 bye's - we were under 15's playing on an U12 pitch and he came steaming in and the ball flew out of the top of his hand and over the railings for 6!!

Anyway, schoolboy memories aside - my point is there are far more dynamic centres picked in the squad and for saxons than 'tins' these days.

I don't think we'll do particularly well in the win column but I think the rugby we'll play will be good to watch.

Speaking of the calendar mate.

How many years "IN A ROW" have ireland player England on St. Patrick's weekend and indeed on St. Patrick's DAY! as it turns out it is this year!

There's an interesting bit a trivia for you. Look it up i promise it looks like we are paying someone somewhere for that fixture to be held at that time

Ok so its not exactly "IN A ROW" little exaggeration there But does look fishy all the same and interestingly. 3 of those games were in twickers... and we won...

Sat 17th Mar 12
17:00 6N England v Ireland Twickenham

Sat 19th Mar 11
17:00 6N Ireland 24 - 8 England AVIVA Stadium

Sat 15th Mar 08
15:00 6N England 33 - 10 Ireland Twickenham

Sat 18th Mar 06
17:30 6N England 24 - 28 Ireland Twickenham

actually 2

KTK

Yeah, I know where your coming from Tindall is not, never has been, and never will be Serge Blanco, however, the role I'd see for him until Flood and even Tuilagi return is that of leader and for his defensive capabilities. We have a very young squad - especially in the backs and, as an Englishman, the thought of Hines and Gray, driven on by a wild (borderline feral) Murrayfield crowd on a god-awful winters day charging into a very inexperienced back line is not comfortable, and brings thoughts of the baptisms of fire that led to the (international) downfall of Tait and Cipriani.

DBM

Thats very interesting, I didn't know that at all, was the 2006 one the year of the dodgy Shane Horgan try where he put his foot on the line, the official raised his flag and then put it down again? To ba fair I think it was also the year where England massacred Scotland following a try where Wilkinson was blatantly in touch, it was referred to the video ref (where it was even more blatant) and was still awarded - a decision so bad that even Brian Moore thought it was wrong - yes THAT bad!!!

I remember that wilco try. it was a diving to the corner type try no? i thought he deserved it lol... for his endeavour if u know what i mean. Its a strange thing but before the TMO both tries would never have been questioned and hailed as possible tries of the tournament.
i also have the 06 game on DVD and i dont know... but i only see green under Horgans feet :-P

But that was a super close call to be fair... the real shocker was the flag going up and down... but through out a game there are normally some flaky calls on both sides.

KTK makes a nice point
"I don't think we'll do particularly well in the win column but I think the rugby we'll play will be good to watch."

I thnk both of u are quite correct to be fair. U could say that England would not have won the Championship last year without the fearlessness of youth, but you could also say they could have won a grand slam if they had some just a little experience to steady the ship when under fire from us.

DBM - you surprise me, I expected you to allege that Horgan wasn't in touch as he could walk on air - he certainly had the (highly questionable) haircut for walking on water

On the Wilkinson try, yeah, it was real commitment, though I think Scotland fans would suggest he had just managed to touchdown within the bounds of the stadium, rather than the pitch - how the video ref got that wrong I have no idea, but I guess they all count, even if they shouldn't!

LOL ok seriously he was about .5 of a centimetre in touch (horgan i mean) it was a tiny margin even very difficult to see in slow-mo, it was a bad call by the touch judge but it was nearly impossible to call it and in that instance he got it wrong.

As for wilco it was far more obvious and should not have been given but the thing is... the margin in that game didn count so the try could be void and still england won. if i remember correctly?

Sort of like the Ireland Wales game last year. People were going around shouting bloody murder but i say sometime get the the rub of the green and sometimes u dont. that day it went against us.