Leicester v Northampton
Game of the weekend. Similar to the Tiger’s match up last week against Irish. This week however the Tigers are at home, and they rarely lose at home. Big ask for Northampton. The loss of Hartley, Lawes, Geraghty and Foden will surely prove too much.
Maxamatic says: Leicester by 4
Guscott says: Leicester by 5-7

Dom says Leicester are used to having strength in depth at international time.
Leicester by 10.

Newcastle v Worcester
Newcastle shocked Bath last weekend and will be boosted by that result. Worcester slumped at home. Will be a typical mid-to-low table slugfest.
Maxamatic says: Newcastle by 6
Guscott says: Newcastle by 7-10

Dom says that Newcastle did well last week but I still fancy Worcester to claim a few scalps this season.
Draw.

Who would be a coach eh? It is bad enough for us pub selectors to try and pick a team from the rubble of the EPS, so imagine how it must feel for Jonno as he sits through each weekend with chewed nails and winces with each injury report. No sooner does he write out a provisional team sheet than he has to screw it up and throw it away. The daily paper mountain from his waste bin alone is equivalent to the deforestation of an area the size of Wales.

Shaw, Vickery, Cipriani, Armitage D, Mears, Rees, Sheridan, Flutey, the list goes on and on. Grim stuff when trying to plan for battles with Australia, Argentina and the All Blacks on successive weekends.

But before we all start buying into the media gloom and campaigning for players to wear American Football-style helmets, let’s think positively.

England does have the largest player base of any union, or so we are told, so we should be in the best position to deal with a situation like the one currently faced. Certainly better equipped than say Georgia or Romania, who have to start thumbing through the schoolboy lists for replacements when their first player pulls up lame.

Also, we are not talking about the decimation of a settled squad on the eve of a World Cup, we are talking about a post-Lions Autumn series where, if we are honest, we are not expecting England to tear up trees anyway. It might even be a good thing to expose a wider number of fringe players to International rugby, players who otherwise would not have had the chance. Blood them now and it gives more choice for the 6 Nations and beyond.

Looked at another way, this situation provides Jonno with opportunity.

Injuries are good! Injuries are selection’s evolutionary force, the mutations that drive forward progress. They impose change, and change can be good. Coaches are forced to rethink. Game plans built around certain players become redundant when those players are not there, so existing tactics have to be adapted or new ones adopted. Team squads, especially predefined ones like the EPS, can become static gene pools. Injuries bring an influx of new players, and genetic diversity.

Fringe players who might never have been considered, suddenly get the chance to shine. And many do. In recent years, think of the likes of Armitage, Banahan, Strettle. All have taken their chance due to injuries to others.

Successful coaches are often lucky coaches who, due to injuries, find by chance a magic team chemistry and then are hailed as great selectors. Now is the time for Jonno and his fellow selectors to be brave, trust their intuition and take a punt on a new face. It just might pay off.

Lucky Injuries? – some examples where enforced change has galvanised a team:

 After losing to Portugal and drawing with Morocco in the 1986 football World Cup, England was in crises. Injuries and suspension forced the exclusion of team mainstays Robson and Wilkins.  In came Reid, Hodge and Stevens. The new formation flourished and England won their next two games 3-0 before going out to that handball.

 It still brings a lump to my throat watching James Robson tend to the stricken Rob Howley on the Living with Lions DVD. Hard to imagine the devastation Rob must have felt, the management as well. Still, no harm done to the team as in came Matt Dawson to dummy half of South Africa in the first test.

 In the 2003 6 Nations, England had been stodgy in their opening games. Worse, attacking force of nature Jason Robinson was injured for the visit of Italy to Twickenham. In stepped Josh Lewsey to full back. Lewsey was outstanding, and kept his place in the team, shunting Billy Whizz to the wing, from where he scored that famous try in Sidney the following November.

Unlucky injuries – where injury just sucks:

 To have stood any chance on the 2005 tour, it was a necessity for the Lions to have three key players: Dallaglio, Wilkinson and O’Driscoll, at full form and fitness. All three were crocked before the first test was finished.

 Any injury to Jonny Wilkinson since 2003.

So, no more rumours –  the four players at the centre of the allegations in New Zealand have been named (allegedly) as David Strettle, Danny Care, Topsy Ojo and Mike Brown.

Three Harlequins, three new boys and one relative newcomer.

The revelation earlier in the week that David Strettle was the energizer bunny had seemed to place him elsewhere at the time of the alleged incident with the unknown gruesome foursome but now it seems he was here, there and in and about everywhere.

We’re all hugely disappointed.

If it were you, having been given a chance that most can only dream about, would you not be desperate to prove yourself on and off the pitch as someone who was made of the right stuff?

What’s wrong with people these days?

What’s wrong with their expectations and their standards?

Thinking of professionalism as a whole, the continued disappointment of the national football team on the pitch, and their appalling standards off, is this is what the money of professionalism does (to English players)?

For f*ck’s sake…

So, Strettle’s the energizer bunny.

It’s a good thing that this has not happened on Johnno’s watch (or not his full-time watch, at least).
It says all we need to know about the old regime including Rob Andrew.

Johnno can come in and instill discipline.
He can say that if you want to be an England rugby player then these are the standards.
The alleged lapses in standards from Barkley over the years and Strettle and these four others are unacceptable.
That way lies the continued lack of success of the England football team.

You live like Neil Back / Jason Robinson or you’re out simple as that.
With the odd exception, you live like a monk.
You don’t fit in, you’re out.

For Christ’s sake, they get 8k a match with a 3k win bonus.
All that’s asked is that they behave themselves for the few years that they get to wear the shirt.