France forced into yet more squad changes as two drop out

I would agree with your comments, Nic. The England game is looking very tight for Ireland, even though in Dublin. I have worried about Ireland's front row......well, the props, not hookers.......for two/three years now. The absence of Furlong is not good, esp. from a morale viewpoint.

Before a ball has been kicked, I would judge Ireland to have the best backrow three in Doris, van der Flier and one of O'Mahony, Byrne or Conan, and some very good reserves in depth. They also have three very good centres in Ringrose, Henshaw and Aki, with a fourth, McCloskey, injured currently.

What is scaring me atm is the frenzied support for Prendergast to start at 10. The boy is really talented, and a s a young lad he was superb at a range of sports...soccer, Gaelic football, athletics, as well as rugby. I'm basing this on an article I read last week in the 42 ie. "Jesus, who's the little blond lad " For example in athletics "He won a good few All-Ireland medals in shot putt and turbojav as a young fella."

But I feel he is as yet untested enough at this level. Leinster have not yet been fully tested this year. Sure they beat LAR down on the Charente - Maritime coast. But they are not the team they were 2/3 years ago. I would think Borthwick and Co would be happier with him starting at 10 over Jack Crowley.

It is a shame that Craig Casey is out. Coming on as backup to JGP, he would have added a spark, esp. playing with his Munster partner Crowley.

If one was forced to bet the cattle Stn(Qld), or the family farm(Tipperary), I think one would be going for France this year. But then they do have to come to Dublin. But then they do have Meafou ! But the........!! Looks like a great old 6N this year !

2) Coetzee isn't eligible to play for England, and neither is Tyrone Greene.

3) You've picked a number of players out of position. CCS has barely played lock, Genge is a loosehead, and Stuart and Fasogbon are both tightheads.

4) A lot of these selections are just quite strange. I don't think anyone thinks Fitz-Harding is the best blindside (a position he hasn't played in over a year) in the country, or the best captain in the country. Similarly Kenningham and Coetzee are decent players, but certainly not clear standouts in their positions. That's not to say that you have to select on the basis of common perceptions, but its just not clear if there's any logic to what you've done here. Are you selecting based on form? Or on the basis of a specific tactical approach? Or just picking players almost at random from among the uncapped players in the premiership?

5) Ben Earl has been England's best player for the past few seasons. Leaving him out is very strange.

6) Reading some of your other comments, it seems like you think this English side is too old. I'm surprised you think that because:

i) they are actually quite a young team. The current England squad has 14 players aged 24 and under, which is the same number as the French squad, 2 more than Wales, and 8 more than Scotland. At the other end the England squad includes only 6 players aged 30 and up, which is 2 fewer than France, 4 fewer than Scotland, and 5 fewer than Wales. So of the squads named so far England's is comfortably the youngest.

ii) Naming old squads was exactly what Woodward did. England had a really old team in 2003, so if you want Borthwick "to do what Woodward did" then you should want him to rely more on the old guard.