Worsley named at openside
10 Feb 2009
Keo.co.za brings you the latest team announcements from the Six Nations.
Worsley named at openside
Martin Johnson has handed Joe Worsley a surprise re-call for England’s clash against Wales.
Steffon Armitage, who made his debut last week, has been dropped as Johnson opts for the physicality of Worsley. Whether he will be able to cope with the pace of playing as an openside flank is another matter altogether, as Worsley has hardly started for his club Wasps all season as Serge Betsen has been handed the No 7 jersey when Tom Rees has been injured.
It will be Worsley’s first Test since the group stages of the 2007 World Cup.
The only other change in the XV is the return of outside centre Mike Tindall, who has recovered from a back injury to replace Jamie Noon.
There are two alterations to the bench as halfbacks Paul Hodgson and Toby Flood replace Ben Foden and Shane Geraghty respectively.
England – 15 Delon Armitage (London Irish); 14 Paul Sackey (Wasps), 13 Mike Tindall (Gloucester), 12 Riki Flutey (Wasps), 11 Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks); 10 Andy Goode (Brive), 9 Harry Ellis (Leicester); 8 Nick Easter (Harlequins), 7 Joe Worsley (Wasps), 6 James Haskell (Wasps), 5 Nick Kennedy (London Irish), 4 Steve Borthwick (Saracens, c), 3 Phil Vickery (Wasps), 2 Lee Mears (Bath), 1 Andy Sheridan (Sale Sharks).
Subs: 16 Dylan Hartley (Northampton), 17 Julian White (Leicester), 18 Tom Croft (Leicester), 19 Luke Narraway (Gloucester), 20 Paul Hodgson (London Irish), 21 Toby Flood (Leicester), 22 Matthew Tait (Sale Sharks).
Chabal gets the chop
Sebastien Chabal has been dropped from the France team that includes four changes from their 30-21 loss to Ireland.
Chabal’s work-rate has been criticised in the wake of the defeat and Romain Millo-Chluski will start in the second row against Scotland. Other changes to the pack see props Fabien Barcella and Nicolas Mas in the staring team in place of Lionel Faure and Benoit Lecouls.
Toulouse winger Cedric Heymans wins a re-call in place of Julien Malzieu.
Like Chabal, captain Lionel Nallet was also criticised but coach Marc Lievremont said his place was never in doubt. “At no time have we envisaged changing our captain,” said Lievremont.“He is our captain. In no way is it a handicap to start him. We are very happy with his performance [against Ireland].”
Lievremont was also confident that cited centre Florian Fritz would escape sanction on Wednesday for allegedly eye-gouging.
“He is innocent, there is nothing significant there [on the video],” he added.
“For the moment, he is playing. He goes to London tomorrow and we will see.”
France – 15 Clement Poitrenaud; 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans (all Toulouse); 10 Lionel Beauxis (Stade Francais), 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres); 8 Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), 6 Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), 4 Lionel Nallet (Castres), 3 Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), 1 Fabien Barcella (Biarritz).
Subs: 16 Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), 17 Renaud Boyoud (Dax), 18 Sebastien Chabal (Sale), 19 Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), 20 Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), 21 Benoit Baby, 22 Julien Malzieu (both Clermont-Auvergne).
9 Comments
10 Feb 2009, 13:23 pm
***** Dragons
10 Feb 2009, 14:04 pm
Why was Chabal dropped? did Lievremont watch the same game i did? Chabal set up the first try and made a few good runs.
Jannick Jauzion should be dropped every time the french play they talk about the flair of the french backline and in particular the midfield, Jauzion is a once every 5 games performer.
Nallet was poor as well, the six nations team standard is very low at the moment.
10 Feb 2009, 14:16 pm
Chabal is the best ball carrier in the whole team.They should employ him as their primary go forwward weapon.
Plus he is NO LOCK..he is a 8..always has been
10 Feb 2009, 14:19 pm
dquinn25 – I think this Lievremont is chopping and changing his team too much. I agree on Chabal i thought he was awesome, but could be a potent replacement in the last 20 minutes.
Jauzion is a tuff one, as he can pull off miracles(ala rwc2 2007 ABs) and then play rubbish.
Where is the mecurial Damien Traille? That man is awesome. I also can’t belive that Rougerie is not in the team. Is Vincent Clerc injured?
10 Feb 2009, 14:24 pm
oof that is perplexing. If anything Chabal was one of their standout players on saturday. I agree he may have faded toward the end of the game, but he took a few knocks, which would slow down a guy of 31. If anything Thierry Dusautoir should be dropped. He had an atrocious game with ball in hand.
This guy gets treated so badly by french rugby, and I just can’t understand it. The sight of this guy in full flight is something rugby lovers all over the world rejoice in. The French management need to back him to get the best out of him. They simply cannot not have him in their squad.
I can guarantee you the opposition are breathing a sigh of relief.
10 Feb 2009, 14:43 pm
# mshiniwami: i agree why do they play him at lock he is a better back row forward and is too light to play at second row and about 6’2″ surely they have enough lock forwards in the country without converting backrow forwards. i agree he is a no.8
10 Feb 2009, 14:48 pm
yes agree
Chabal at 8
10 Feb 2009, 15:32 pm
hahahahahahahahaha
Worsley??
England is desperate
thats like the boks playing Anton leornard right now
LOL
10 Feb 2009, 22:48 pm
chabal got around the pitch but his work rate was low and he was mediocre in the line-outs, as someone added he would have been better at no.8, however one must take into consideration that ireland have two forminable lock forwards.nallet also got outplayed.jauzion and fritz were dominated too, bloody good game though.
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