Tyler Durden

England have announced their squad for the forthcoming Six Nations tournament, which is as follows -

Backs: Balshaw (Gloucester), Cipriani (Wasps), Cueto (Sale Sharks), Flood (Newcastle), Gomarsall (Harlequins), Hodgson (Sale Sharks), Noon (Newcastle), Richards (London Irish), Sackey (Wasps), Strettle (Harlequins), Tait (Newcastle), Tindall (Gloucester), Wigglesworth (Sale), Wilkinson (Newcastle), Vainikolo (Gloucester)

Forwards: Borthwick (Bath), Croft (Leicester), Chuter (Leicester), L Deacon (Leicester), Easter (Harlequins), Haskell (Wasps), Kay (Leicester), Mears (Bath), Moody (Leicester), Payne (Wasps), Rees (Wasps), Regan (Bristol), Shaw (Wasps), Sheridan (Sale), Stevens (Bath), Vickery (Wasps, capt), Worsley (Wasps)

I'm personally not happy at the inconclusion of Vainokolo. I'm sure that, if fit, he will be a wonderful addition (especially at Six Nations level) however I have an issue with players representing the country that they merely "reside" in. In the example of somebody like Mike Catt, who had a parent that was English and a family of anglophiles, I can pretty much accept it. This inclusion pushes the legitimacy too far (imo).

There are some good inclusions. I'm pleased to see Strettle back. Pleased also to see Gomarsall, Shaw and Regan retained (for now) and not dropped just because of their age. I've not seen enough of Lewsey this season to know if his de-selection is justified. Farrell is an experiment (an expensive one) that was always doomed to failure and has finally, seemingly, been written off.

But I'm particularly unhappy with Noon keeping his place in the squad. The guy is a junior Mike Tindall and not even a good one at that. England's performances usually (and the World Cup was yet another example) improve when he get's dropped or injured! It would seem that Hipkiss must be injured (to not be selected....if he's not then this error in selection is even graver). Even without Hipkiss and trying to think of Tait as a full back, Ollie Smith or even Lewsey or James Simpson-Daniel would have been much better outside centre picks than Noon.

Personally I'm also unhappy to see Balshaw and Hodgson back in. Both guys are blessed with talent, but Balshaw has broken down on every single occasion he's been pushed forward internationally and at 28 is never going to be the player he should have become. I would have preferred Tait at full back with Abendanon as cover. Hodgson is a truly excellent premiership player, but his nerve at Test level has repeatedly been found wanting. We have such a plethora of young fly halves not in the squad (Geraghty, Barkley, Lamb) that to include Hodgson on the basis of him being cover for Wilkinson is meaningless. At least Cipriani got in.

Anyway they are my thoughts!!