Corry hangs onto captaincy
31 Jan 2006
Martin Corry captains England again and Lawrence Dallaglio returns to the match 22 after a 17 month absence, following an earlier international retirement.
Corry leads a team showing just three changes to the one beaten by the All Blacks in November, but it is Dallaglio’s international return that is one of the more significant.
Dallaglio, 33, played on the Lions tour of New Zealand in 2005, but lasted just 20 minutes in the first match before injury struck.
England coach Andy Robinson has been conservative in his choices, ignoring the form club backline players Tom Varndel (Leicester) and Stuart Abbott (Wasps) and again relying on the veteran Mike Tindall in the midfield.
South African-born prop Matt Stevens starts because of injury to Phil Vickery. Another South African, former Bishops scholar Hal Luscombe, also starts for the first time in a year for Wales. Luscombe, who played twice against the Springboks as a winger, plays outside centre in a Welsh team missing eight regulars through injury and suspension.
England (to play Wales): J Lewsey (Wasps); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), J Noon (Newcastle), M Tindall (Gloucester), B Cohen (Northampton); C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), H Ellis (Leicester); M Corry (Leicester, captain), J Worsley (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), S Borthwick (Bath), D Grewcock (Bath), A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), S Thompson (Northampton) and M Stevens (Bath). Subs: L Mears (Bath), J White (Leicester), S Shaw (Wasps), L Dallaglio (Wasps), M Dawson (Wasps), A Goode (Leicester), T Voyce (Wasps).
Wales: G Thomas (capt, Toulouse); M Jones (Llanelli); H Luscombe (Newport Gwent), M Watkins (Llanelli), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Clermont-Auvergne), D Peel (Llanelli); D Jones (Ospreys), R Thomas (Cardiff), A Jones (Ospreys), I Gough (Newport Gwent), R Sidoli (Cardiff), C Charvis (Newcastle), M Williams (Cardiff), M Owen (Newport Gwent).
Subs: M Davies (Gloucester), G Jenkins (Cardiff), G Delve (Bath), A Popham (Llanelli), G Cooper (Newport Gwent), C Sweeney (Newport Gwent), L Byrne (Llanelli).
6 Comments
31 Jan 2006, 23:16 pm
Not sure ‘hangs onto captaincy’ is an erudite reading of the situation?
And also not sure how being in your 20s qualifies for the title of ‘veteran’ in the case of Tindall?
A pretty uninspired selection all round. They are going to hammer the Taffs.
If Borthwick got injured early on…well Shaw and Grewcock whilst might in the tight and the loose are not renouned line out jumpers. Pick up Moody and you’d have the English lineout. Maybe Forrester or Jones on the bench for Lawrence would have made sense in this situation.
My suspicion remains that Robinson should only pick one of Corry or Lawrence. I’d leave the door open to Lawrence but leave him out of the 6N.
No 12 is tricky. Intuitively I am an Abbott fan but its hard ot argue against Tindall’s class. He has after a gleaming world cup winners medal at home.
1 Feb 2006, 00:25 am
Go Wales, knock the s**t out of the Poms!
1 Feb 2006, 08:05 am
Wales to knoch the KAK into the Limeys.
1 Feb 2006, 08:40 am
Bring back Underwood, Carling, or are they too old to return from retirement? Stay Retired Lawrence. You have the world cup, now bow out on top.
1 Feb 2006, 12:33 pm
that really is a pisspoor english lineup, but the wesh do have alot of injuries, i dont think its even worth watching the 6N this year such is the quality of the squads on display.
The top 7 S14 teams would probably beat anything on display in the north.
1 Feb 2006, 18:12 pm
Cab,
Are being serious? France is currently one of the top teams in the world! They beat south africa the other day, so then your saying that the top 7 super 14 teams could beat SA…
I dont think so…
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.