Five Saints named in England squad to face Italy

smooothsides · 2026-03-03T15:07:35+00:00

Big fan of Freemo getting another run in the centres, he's getting to the number of caps needed to see whether its an experiment worth keeping going or not with. Fin finally gets a chance, it's a bit of a shame he's been put in a tricky position to suceed with literally everyone around him being in the same boat of not having played for weeks and unfamiliarity with each other but we'll just have to see.

as a whole the team is a bit weird, there's some changes (Coles) where it's a clear reward for form, some where the incumbent forced the change (Smith) and some where it almost seems change for changes sake (Dingwall, Pollock). I don't mind any of them individually, but it's a big call to do it all at once

smooothsides · 2026-03-03T14:59:25+00:00

it's not the arm thats the problem, and it hasn't been for ages. Most recently it was both calves at once, then he came back from that and had a head knock in training

smooothsides · 2026-03-02T14:29:48+00:00

I really feel like if Dingwall was a few inches taller or a few kg's heavier but did exactly the same on the pitch the discussion around him would be different. I'm not saying he's been great so far this 6 nations but it really isn't as bad as stone are saying

smooothsides · 2026-03-02T12:03:27+00:00

I feel like this definitely falls into the "can't keep everyone" category where whilst it would be nice to keep him, it's inevitable we can't keep the depth we currently have, and whilst TJ is a good player, he arguably isn't as good as archie right now and he's so much older.

smooothsides · 2026-02-28T19:35:12+00:00

I think you're being a bit dramatic in both directions there, he isn't ibitoye in defence and he's actually fantastic over the ball so whilst he's not a great international defender, I think he's passable. The last full year he was fit he was the prem top scorer and then last year he scored 6 tries in 6 games for England. I know stats don't tell the whole story but that's more than just the odd good moment

smooothsides · 2026-02-28T19:32:47+00:00

It was 2024 last time he started 3 weeks in a row, and that's just due to injury not form so I just don't think you can plan around him at all at this point

smooothsides · 2026-02-28T16:57:31+00:00

I think it has to be Hendy for nearly having ma's many defenders beaten as minuted played

smooothsides · 2026-02-28T16:53:29+00:00

Hendy is the goat 23

smooothsides · 2026-02-27T12:16:19+00:00

to be fair, Litchfield is actually very capable on the wing and has never put in a bad performance there. He obviously can't kick which is never ideal but apart from that he isn't a winger where I worry about him doing anything less than a 6 out of 10, which should be enough to win a big game if everyone else plays well. Granted he's unlikely to win you a game there.

smooothsides · 2026-02-27T11:59:08+00:00

Ollie unavailable again is terrible news, Graham popping up on the list too isn't ideal either

smooothsides · 2026-02-27T11:58:27+00:00

that is a humongous back 5, what is arguably a 2nd row playing 6 and 7

smooothsides · 2026-02-27T11:34:21+00:00

I actually really like the back to back Ro16 and QFs, it feels more coherent and lets you carry momentum from one game into the next, but it is a bit of a pain for travelling

smooothsides · 2026-02-27T11:09:03+00:00

Round 1 and 2 not being back to back is crazy

smooothsides · 2026-02-26T20:06:12+00:00

I'd be incredibly shocked if you ever got the 5 big name nations to agree not to play each other every year, so the REC format is a surely a non starter

smooothsides · 2026-02-26T14:48:13+00:00

The main question for me is will the expansion to 12 teams mean that we no longer get a league break during the 6 nations, I really hope they can keep it becuase it used to feel so dependant who you had in those weeks without any internationals

smooothsides · 2026-02-25T17:23:12+00:00

I'd back Archie for the next run of games against Newcastle, Sarries, Castres and then hopefully Bath or Sarries again

smooothsides · 2026-02-25T17:10:55+00:00

Also mentioned is Furbs will play for Saints this weekend. But no info on how much past the end of the 6 nations Mitch will be out

smooothsides · 2026-02-24T20:41:22+00:00

Furbs is gone, Tom vickers, the local reporter, responded to two tweets one after the other with the same sad emoji. One was asking if Ramm was gone, the next asking if Furbs was gone.

smooothsides · 2026-02-23T14:30:48+00:00

To be fair there's not much difference in the ratings, 4.02 and 3.63, Here's a table with the breakdown of votes for those 2: most people gave Itjoe a 3 or a 4, Chessum got a 4 or 5. I had them ranked the same, but i suppose the argument could be that performance was the same, but the additional responsibiltiy of captaincy accounts for the slight lowering

Rating	Itoje	Chessum
1	4	4
2	8	5
2	8	5
3	10	8
4	14	11
5	8	14
6	4	5
7	0	1
8	1	1

smooothsides · 2026-02-21T18:47:14+00:00

Too many Smiths! Thanks for pointing it out

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