England squad has been announced:



Forwards: Steffon Armitage (London Irish), Steve Borthwick (Saracens), Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Nick Easter (Harlequins), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Lee Mears (Bath Rugby), Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers), Tim Payne (London Wasps), Simon Shaw (London Wasps), Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks), Steve Thompson (CA Brive), Julian White (Leicester Tigers), David Wilson (Bath Rugby).

Backs: Delon Armitage (London Irish), Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby), Danny Care (Harlequins), Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Riki Flutey (CA Brive), Shontayne Hape (Bath Rugby), Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers), Paul Hodgson (London Irish), Ugo Monye (Harlequins), Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon).



Shontayne Hape is an ex New Zealand Rugby League international!

Revised England squad: D Armitage (London Irish); Cueto (Sale), Tait (Sale), Flood (Leicester), Monye (Harlequins); Wilkinson (Toulon), Care (Harlequins); Payne (Wasps), Hartley (Northampton), Wilson (Bath), Shaw (Wasps), Borthwick (Saracens, capt), Haskell (Stade Francais), Moody (Leicester), Easter (Harlequins).

Replacements: Thompson (Brive), Cole (Leicester), Deacon (Leicester), S Armitage (London Irish), Hodgson (London Irish), Hape (Bath), Foden (Northampton).

I cannot believe that Moyne has been selected again. I just hope that we don't play him at Full-Back

Looks a decent team this year, we could go and win it, nice to see tait back in the starting 15 aswell.

It looks good on paper but our performances in the Autumn were shite

Would like to see us retain it, but it will probably be a step too far.

I've already put a fiver on a France grand slam at 7/2, im that confident of it this year

And seeing that Ireland have to go to Twickenham this year, i'd also back England to get the triple crown

I'm off to Twickenham - to watch the match on the big screen at the Stoop.

Mrs Exiled is from the Welsh Valleys, so it will be an interesting afternoon as always.

I'm hoping that home advantage will give us the edge but Flutey is a great loss and we could be looking at four defeats on the bounce against the Welsh

Not so long ago we would expect to win every game in the six nations (or the five nations before that). Winning was the norm and the defeats that lost us two or three grand slams were big news. We were blessed with some big names then though and today's crop of players just are not of the same quality - which is not being disrespectful to them, just honest. Lets home this year is the start of something solid.

Front row looks weak, the rest looks solid. Shame to lose Flutey, not sure Flood will offer the same attacking threat. Great to see Tait back, never understood why he misses out often. Confident of a win for some reason.

Anyone know how to get tickets for the Ireland game at Twickenham? Never bought internation rugby tickets before and I've been told there is some weird system?

nothing better than beating the welsh

If it wasn't for that idiot I really think they would have won. They played some wonderful rugby in the second half and Hook's try was fantastic. They are a long way from the 2005 side just like England are a long way from the old team

They go to the clubs first. Not even the professional ones, they go to all junior teams and shite first then the rest goes on to general sale

Agreed. The sin-binning turned the game

I could'nt understand what was going through Wyn Jones's mind when he did what he did.

Overall, it was a scrappy performance form which we were slightly the better team on the day, we wont win the whole kaboodle on performances like that though.

Slightly better? Only when they were down to 14, when they were at full numbers they were by far the better team and only a mistake by Stephen Jones fucked them up otherwise they would have won. The winning margin does not represent the game at all

Both teams were poor in the first half but the Welsh played greater purpose in the second half.

England, yet again were static. We were slow to recycle the ball and when we did try to run it the backs were too flat. How many times did you see an England player receive the ball while in full flight?

Just the once - from a Welsh pass. We got lucky with Armitage' interception and, although the try that followed was by far the best bit of English play, it was down to a superb bit of improvisation from Tait rather than anything from the training ground.

If Jones had not screwed up or if Hook had found Tom James' hands rather than bouncing off his chest, it would have been a very different scoreline. This result only papers over the cracks.

The Scotland v France game was much better. France look ominous!

One of my ambitions is to watch France v England in Paris. Fucking awesome spectacle

And yet France gave the ball away several times in dangerous areas, failed to capitalise on the chances they did have and only won by 9 points despite absolutely pulverising Scotland's forwards (particularly in the scrum) throughout the match. How are they going to notch up points when they come up against, say, the England pack, who despite England's problems are usually stronger than the French?

France did look good but I think it's a big mistake to infer from those two performances that France are really that much stronger than England. Remember that Ireland, the champions and probably the strongest of the six teams on recent form, were fairly disappointing against Italy!

England won, that's all that really matters at this stage. We won't have any idea of who's really in the running until after next weekend's games.

The French are stirring things up ahead of the Ireland game

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8512911.stm

"We dissected the video very well. There's not a moment when they're not cheating."

Last year's Ireland team were the worst side I have ever seen win the grand slam. I think (and hope) that France will thrash them today.

It should be a cracker

They were still better than all the other teams. I don't agree with you about France - I thought the two very public comments from French players were pretty pathetic. In a strange way, I think this has something to do with the football world cup play-off. Accusing Ireland of cheating... they are presumably trying to get the ref to give more decisions the way of France. Considering that they already have home advantage, I'd say they must be fairly scared of what Ireland can do to them.

It was only poor kicking by Wales that allowed them the Grand Slam, they beat England by one point and they didn't exactly battered a poor Scotland side. As the French are suggesting, they were also helped by some extremely generous refereeing.

The Irish raised the issue of French cheating (alluding to the football) ealier in the week, the French merely responded in kind.

I expect France to win by at least 10 points. We shall see

I think that's the most dramatic game of rugby I've ever seen, apart from 2003. Unbelievable finish!

Fantastic game.

Mrs Exiled was going nuts at the end (she's from the Valleys)

Scotland

They must have been fucking gutted

I kept flicking between channel - the soprt of thing that irritates women - and Scotland were ten points clear with seven minutes to go. Even when the Welsh levelled it Scotland only had to kick the re-start out of play at least they would have earned a draw but they must have thought they could win it......the fools

wales = jammy dodgers
they didn't deserve that one bit, and the ref was a one sided aswell.

They deserved it as much as we did last week. The Scots were indisciplined and were lucky not to conceed a penalty try for the trip at the end

I wish I'd put money on that

France were superb. They made Ireland look very ordinary

Have to agree, my bet for them taking the Grand Slam looks pretty good so far, the Falcons also got another beating today too albeit against a good Northampton team.

Also on the plus side, Westoe beat Broadstreet in National 2 North today

I can't see past France for the Slam now. England were fucking awful.

Scotland have been unlucky tbh, Ireland have been found out, Wales might yet surprise use and Italy are improving but their time is not yet come.

Yes we were poor but thats the best i've seen Italy in the 6 nations.

Its taken 10 years but finally i think they've stepped up to a level in which they deserve their place in the tournament.

england weren't great, but I think it was a case of not playing well because we didn't need too, if JW hadn't missed those 3 penalties it would have been a convincing scoreline, and poeple would have seen it as a comfortable win.

I think they've been at that level for a while now - they've beaten Scotland and Wales a few times and this isn't the first time they've given England a scare

Johnson thinks that England lost the game because we tried to run the ball too much. Perhaps he should watch the video again! Wilkinson was isolated too often - England's midfield were out of position far too often, so that Jonny was effectively playing as a centre.

Brian Moore commented that Ireland were more streetwise around the breakdown. In other words, they got away with a lot of things which were outside the laws of the game. The referee didn't seem to understand the new rules (or some of the old rules) and Ireland exploited this.

Perhaps England need to toughen up but would they have got away with some of the 'tricks' that Ireland played?

Foden needs to start the next two games - he was the only player in a white shirt making decisive direct runs into Irish territory.

Someone in an England shirt needs to be able to change the tactics and display some serious leadership or we will be annihilated in Paris.

The new rules have effectively killed the rolling maul that England have used so well in recent years. In an attempt to make the game faster, they have killed much of forward play. Johnson, and English Rugby, have faile dto adapt to this.

As things stand, the Northern hemisphere teams will be destroyed in the next World Cup next year. Our Rugby is too static with little improvisation and is littered with unforced errors. The problems start with club rugby. English clubs ae increasingly adopting a safety first policy so most players have forgotten how to run with ball in hand.

The answer? We need more southern hemisphere coaches

we needed to beat france before this game anyway, so the defeat isn't that bad, although we're gonna need to beat Scotland by alot of points if we are gonna win it.

In all honesty, can you see England beating France in Paris?

Ireland absolutely hammering Wales. 16-3 although Ireland have missed at least 7 points in penalties and conversions.

Scotland 15-15 England

I know that its supposed to be a "work in progress" but this was bad, infact I think even worse than the Ireland defeat last time out

poor result, apart from the wales game, we haven't really created any decent try scoring opportunity's, I think we have really missed paul sackey.

England play shite and ugly rugby.

...and Ireland are the worst cheats in the six nations

We've been poor throughout. Even against Wales, we were second best with 30 men on the field. There are fundamental flaws that aren't being corrected - notably no one anywhere near the fly half when he receives the ball from the forwards. How many times have we seen Wilkinson having to take the ball into contact because his midfield was missing?

Flutey has no positional sense at all - and he isn't the only one

Well as expected, the French thumped Italy by 26 points, only a mathematical miracle now will prevent the Frogs from winning the title. And also only a win over an indifferent England team will clinch the grand slam for them too.

1. France ................. 4 : +64 : 8
2. Ireland ................ 4 : +14 : 6
3. England ................ 4 : +14 : 5
4. Wales ................ 4 : -27 : 2
5. Italy ................ 4 : -45 : 2
6. Scotland ................ 4 : -20 : 1

SATURDAY MARCH 20th

Wales ........ v .......... Italy (2:30pm)
Ireland ........ v ........ Scotland (5:00pm)
France ........ v ........ England (7:45pm)

Ok.

Much better performance today, but dodgy ref didn't help. French deservered to win the Champs.

A great improvement - not helped by the weather or the ref

Yes I agree, it was a huge improvement on previous displays

But though the French win the grand slam, and deservedly so. That also wins me a nice few quid

That was the worst display I've seen from a ref in many years, sadly not the first time he's done it to us. How in the hell he can't see 3 players in succession joining a maul from offside positions right in fornt of him is beyond me. And the french props repeatedly failed to bind correctly then he penalised us for bringing the scrum down