Given the detectable mouth-frothing here, I reckon you do care a little bit.

The combo of Green and Dobson (with Hodgson linking in) could pull England apart.

I'd rather see this fixture than the pointless French exercise. But with England putting forward the same old tried England failures (Carvell, Wilkin etc) alongside Mr Averages (Danny Tickle) it's all a bit moot anyway.

I agree we should blood in some of the younger talent and see if anyone pops up for the world cup. Time to be daring methinks!!

Those players won't be anywhere near the team when Graham, Burgess (two of them) and maybe Ellis are available. With O'Loughlin guaranteed at 13, Westwood a certainty despite his form and Hock a definite for the bench if he stays out of trouble there aren't many forward spots available in a fully-fit World Cup squad. Would like to see form players like Farrell and Ferres tried in the exiles game to see how they cope with it.

Are you joking? Farrell is an absolute shoe in for the back row for England. Nobody is stupid enough to ignore him for the role. He is by far and away the best back rower in the country at the moment, and as years ahead of him. I will be surprised already if he doesn't end up with man of steel this year.

Sorry to disappoint but your detector may need fixing. Mouth-frothing is usually reserved for my respondents. I say "usually" because according to my detector, you're probably not one inclined to froth at the mouth in response to anyone's posts.


I care a lot about the game and the direction in which it is heading. I care not a jot about some tacky and inconsequential Exiles concept dreamed up by clueless morons. Those same clueless morons can stick it alongside their other tacky and inconsequential "spreading the gospel" SL-era products like Millennium/Murrayfield/oh, hang on... Manchester Tragic... and selectively licensed 14 club, top 8 mediocrity bull.

Last season's failures ought to have signalled the end of this ludicrously inept Exiles experiment. Instead, we may have to wait until the Exiles squad is composed of the likes of Mitch Achurch, Joe Vickery and several other reserve graders from down under. Shouldn't be too long a wait now.

Here's a thought.

Doesn't a certain Brett Delaney now have the three year residence qualification to play for England? Could explain his exclusion from the Exiles squad.

Just saying.

It can only be a few years before that happens.

Stevie Ward seems to agree (on Twittter, obviously)

I'd be surprised though, and a bit disappointed. I don't like this whole 3 year residence qualification malarkey personally. Born or developed (as a youth) in this country should be the only eligibility for the national team IMO.

Leaguefreak nailed it [url=http://www.leaguefreak.com/the-2013-exiles-team-has-been-named-and-boy-is-it-a-sad-looking-side-4254/HERE[/url...

Oh old Leaguefreak pops his head up again

He's been outstanding so far this domestic season. But he's far from a "shoe in" for the England World Cup back row because he has to get past conventional thinking (aka Mcnamara thinking) that our best international back row is Westwood, Ellis, O'Loughlin (sub Hock).

However if you're right and he's a "shoe in" then you don't need to worry about Wilkin or Tickle being involved as that's one more place sewn up.