Where Do England Go From Here

It’s safe to say England need improvement, yes, we defeated Australia and Samoa and come within a score to beat New Zealand and South Africa, but frankly those performances minus the final game against the Aussies aren’t good enough for a team which is aiming to win the World Cup next year.

Like all of you I just want to see England beating the best and I believe we are getting there just look at our pack it was so powerful and we were missing three players who went on the Lions tour. Props Alex Corbisiero, Dan Coles and Mako Vunipola as well as lock Geoff Parling and Stuart Lancaster’s regular lock Joe Launchbury.

Then just look who we were missing at the back the main noticeable absentee was Manu Tuilagi but we also missed Luther Burrell, who has been brilliant for Northampton this season and I think rugby fans would be excited to see this partnership and it was confirmed last Sunday when BT Sport rugby fans chose these two players to play centre.

If the likes of Corbisiero and Coles are fit and on form, then they both should be starters and I know this is unfair to Joe Marler and David Wilson, who were outstanding in scrum this Autumn but personally having Marler and Wilson on the replacements bench will make the team stronger.

Which means there’s no space for Vunipola for either Six Nations or World Cup. While Dylan Hartley has the hooker's jersey for himself as Rob Webber is more of an understudy.

Like Marler and Wilson, Dave Attwood has been one of the stand out players for England this Autumn and should have been given Man of the Match against the All Blacks. Unfortunately Launchbury and Courtney Lawes have such a great partnership it’s hard not to pick them together, but Attwood has shown he can step up to the task.

Within the back row, it’s hard not to see Tom Wood and Chris Robshaw as flankers the only challengers being Steffan Armatige (only if Lancaster and the RFU relaxes its rule on player overseas or he moves back to the Premiership both seem unlikely) then you've got Tom Croft and James Haskell with the latter having one of his best seasons at Wasps and can be used across the whole back row.

While Ben Morgan has overtaken Billy Vunipola as first choice number eight, but you have Exeter’s Thomas Waldrom impressing everyone who could be a dark horse.

So all things considered England has one of the best packs in world rugby and this was proven by winning 92% of their line outs as well as winning a high percentage at the scrum all throughout the Autumn.

The area of concern is in the backs due to the fact, Lancaster doesn’t know who his best midfield is after trying out at least 18 different partnerships, seven for Tuilagi while both Brad Barrett and Billy Twelevetrees shared four and even Kyle Eastmond in the five games he has played for England he has had three different partnerships.

This trend looks to carry on during the Six Nations with calls to bring Bath combo Eastmond and Jonathan Joseph to the national stage. As I've already mentioned people also want to see Tuilagi and Burrell bringing fear to other sides and then smash through them. Also Henry Slade has been brilliant and one of the stand out players in the Premiership for Exeter this season.

I believe these will be the five players fighting it out to wear the 12 and 13 shirt during the Six Nations and all the way to the World Cup. This means the end for Barrett and Twelvetrees and even though Barrett has literally put his body on the line for his country, he doesn’t offer anything in attack meanwhile Twelvetrees has been riding on luck personally and this season has shown Slade is a far better player than the Gloucester captain.

The half back situation is getting more interesting as before the Autumn Internationals you would have had Danny Care and Owen Farrell. Now with both players playing poorly for their country and personally I didn’t think Farrell should have been in the squad in the first place and stayed at Saracens to get some game time after returning from injury. 

Care on the other hand has surprised with such a disappointing display against New Zealand and South Africa and was dropped for the final two games maybe the poor season Harlequins are having has contributed.

Their downfall is Ben Youngs and George Ford’s rise has both players took their opportunity with both hands and impressed, especially in the final test against Australia and both will most likely start against Wales in the Six Nations.

With Jonny May securing one of the wings (for the time being) and since Lancaster is refusing to pick Saracen duo Chris Ashton and David Strettle there’s a battle between Bath wingers Anthony Watson and Semesa Rokoduguni, Exeter’s Jack Norwell and Wasps’ Christian Wade.

Personally, if he can continue his defence the jersey is Wade’s 100%, but if he doesn’t, then Rokoduguni has to be given another chance.

Finally, Mike Brown has the fullback shirt, however I am worried about his fitness and the possibility of burning out, this could be again due to Quins having a mixed season and him unable to make an impact. 

So if he is unable to be the Brown we know from last years Six Nations maybe think about giving Ben Foden some time on the pitch just to give Brown a rest before England’s World Cup warm up matches.

If everyone is fit this would be my team to face Wales on Friday 6th February:

1. Alex Corbisiero

2. Dylan Hartley

3. Dan Coles

4. Joe Launchbury

5. Courtney Lawes

6. Tom Wood

7. Chris Robshaw (Captain)

8. Ben Morgan

9. Ben Youngs

10. George Ford

11. Jonny May

12. Kyle Eastmond

13. Jonathan Joseph

14. Christian Wade

15. Mike Brown

If you think I’ve got it wrong let me know your team, but we all want to see England playing their best, which is why bring up concerns now is a good thing and lets hope everyone is fit and ready to show everyone how far they’ve come since 2011. #CarryThemHome