Martin Johnson today announced the following squads to tour New Zealand and for the Churchill Cup:
England squad
Backs: M Brown (Harlequins), P Sackey (Wasps), D Strettle (Harlequins), T Ojo (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle), M Tindall (Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), T Flood (Newcastle), O Barkley (Bath), D Cipriani (Wasps), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), P Richards (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins).
Forwards: A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), T Payne (Wasps), M Stevens (Bath), J Hobson (Bristol), L Mears (Bath), D Hartley (Northampton), D Paice (London Irish), S Borthwick (Bath, capt), B Kay (Leicester), N Kennedy (London Irish), T Palmer (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), J Haskell (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), M Lipman (Bath), T Rees (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins), L Narraway (Gloucester).
Players not selected because of injury:
J Lewsey (Wasps), S Geraghty (London Irish), H Ellis (Leicester), S Shaw (Wasps), J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), J Wilkinson (Newcastle), L Deacon (Leicester), P Vickery (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester).
England Saxons squad for Churchill Cup in USA and Canada:
Backs: N Abendanon (Bath), A Allen (Gloucester), M Banahan (Bath), L Dickson (Newcastle), B Foden (Sale Sharks), P Hodgson (London Irish), A Jarvis (Harlequins), R Lamb (Gloucester), U Monye (Harlequins), O Smith (Leicester), T Varndell (Leicester), D Waldouck (Wasps).
Forwards: S Armitage (London Irish), R Blaze (Leicester), A Brown (Gloucester), G Chuter (Leicester), A Clarke (Bristol), J Crane (Leicester), J Forster (Gloucester), T Guest (Harlequins), C Jones (Sale Sharks), N Lloyd (Saracens), C Robshaw (Harlequins), W Skinner (Harlequins, capt), G Skivington (Wasps), A Titterrell (Gloucester), R Webber (Wasps), D Wilson (Newcastle).
So I had 23 of the 32, two others (Simpson-Daniel and Geraghty) not available through impending surgery.
Have to say I am pleasently surprised all in all. The only major quibble I have is with the inclusion of Charlie Hodgson. Having said that he is playing well at Sale, Wilkinson is out, Lamb is very callow and cover is thin for Cipriani in terms of out and out 10s. Lock looks a bit on the light side (no mad Danny?) but it makes sense to see if guys like Palmer and Kennedy have what it takes.
The Saxons squad looks spot on. Haughton and Benjamin seem unlucky to miss out but all in the second string look pretty healthy.
After the crazy selections of the last five years, and in light of the injuries and ludicrous scheduling of this tour this selection gets a definite 9/10 from me. The tricky bit of course is what tactics will be employed. With the farce over rule experiments it could be quite comical to watch these matches. Anyway, from this lot the team for the first New Zealand test is likely to be:
Sheridan
Mears
Stevens
Borthwick
Kay
Haskell
Lipman
Easter
Wigglesworth
Cipriani
Strettle
Flood
Tindall
Sackey
Brown
Payne
Hartley
Kennedy
Worsley
Richards
Hodgson
Tait
I think some conservatism will be shown (hence Worsley and Hodgson on the bench).
Will it be good enough to see off the All Blacks? Let’s find out next month!
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