There was an interesting article in the Sunday Times called Taking on the World which amused me slightly. This was the day after the French game (that England lost 21-15) and two days before the squad for the world cup should be announced.
What intrigued me was that the 4 experts (Stephen Jones, Neil Back, Jeremy Guscott and Stuart Barnes) were so different in their selections. The obvious difference is Lewis Moody, considered good enough to be in the starting line up by Neil Back, but not considered good enough to be in the squad of 30 by Stuart Barnes and Jeremy Guscott.
Like with all big decisions we all have our opinion and I love to ‘play along at home’ and work out who I would pick. I was just shocked at how much of a difference there was.
Brian Ashton’s England Squad going to the Rugby World Cup
Taken from
Backs: M Cueto, J Lewsey, J Robinson, P Sackey, D Hipkiss, J Noon, M Tait, M Catt, A Farrell, O Barkley, J Wilkinson, A Gomarsall, S Perry, P Richards.
Forwards: G Chuter, L Mears, M Regan, P Freshwater, A Sheridan, M Stevens, P Vickery, S Borthwick, M Corry, B Kay, S Shaw, L Dallaglio, N Easter, L Moody, T Rees, J Worsley.
Omitted: N Abendanon, D Cipriani, T Flood, J Haskell, C Hodgson, T Palmer, M Tindall, K Yates
Who the pundits left behind…
Just for comparison, lets see who the pundits left behind, and see how close we get. Bold matches Brian Ashton’s squad
Neil Back left behind: Nick Abendanon, Toby Flood, Kevin Yates, James Haskell, Tom Palmer, Nick Easter
Stuart Barnes left behind: Danny Cipriani, Toby Flood, Kevin Yates, Steve Borthwick, Lewis Moody, Nick Easter
Jeremy Guscott left behind: Paul Sackey, Andy Farrell, Toby Flood, Perry Freshwater, Steve Borthwick, Lewis Moody
Stephen Jones left behind: Nick Abendanon, Mathew Tait, Toby Flood, Andy Farrell, Steve Borthwick, Nick Easter
Pundits – wrong, wrong, wrong
Neil Back wins guessing 5/6 correctly, followed by Stuart Barnes with 3/6, Stephen Jones with 2/6 and trailing behind Jeremy Guscott only getting 1/6 right.
You can watch how well the England team do by following them on television.
I’ll open it up for comments. – Who would you have left behind?