SARS, if I may pick, Trinh Duc has never played scrum half in his life...

Yeah, Phillips by default.

10 is a toss-up between Sexton and Farrell and I'll go for Sexton because he's a Leinsterman.

Yep agreed, on form they were the the two best.

Damn, whoops, sorry, put Parra & Trinh Duc the wrong way round - apologies for that!

Trinh Duc got savaged in the French media. Poor kid. I feel for him, hes a very good player, but was told by PSA to play a kicking game and thats just not in his arsenal. He's a creative running Fly Half.

Don't worry about it, they've been the wrong way round for ages.
Trinh-Duc's should be playing centre as he kicks about as well as D'Arcy and Parra sees himself as a fly-half/scrum-half combo/demi-god where he is, in fact, a noxious weed.

Well taras, the french have always blurred the lines between Scrum half and Fly half, Effectively in France the Fly half does not need to be able to kick from the turf. But he does need a good from hand kicking game.

This is a fairly recent fashion, probably dating from about 5/6 years ago when Michalak and Ellissalde couldn't make their minds up as to who was what. Ellissalde started out as a 9 but finished his carreer as a 10, Michalak started as a 10 but now sees himself purely as a 9.
The likes of Galthié, Mignoni and those who went before never had any delusions of being a fly-half or a penalty taker.
The French thing before this was the 10 and 12 were totally interchangeable to the extent the Trinh-Duc is (and forgive me if my numbers are slightly out but the gist remains the same) the 1st French player to wear the 10 shirt in 10 consecutive games for something like 40 years.
Of course the French like to be different. For years the scrum-half threw in at the line-out.

On the French liking to be different, you chaps might appreciate this. My (Irish) brother in law was travelling with friends in Europe when "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" came out, and they went to the cinema in France - possibly Paris but if not somewhere in the (very rough) Paris, Angers, Rennes sort of area.

The film was shown in English with French subtitles and come the bit where the knights turn up outside the castle occupied by Frenchman and ask "Are you French" with the response "Yesss, why do you sink I aave zis outraejuss accent" they burst into laughter only to be glared at for the rest of the film by the rest of the audience!

9. Philips
10. Farrell

I just feel young Farrell really stepped up to the mark in every aspect, lots of potential.

Its hard to pick a SH, nobody stood out to me.
Farrell

Phillips and Sexton for me.

Just watched Cipriani win a game for the rebels! Starting to show what all the hype was when he burst onto the scene. I think if his season continues as is then he is England's best flyhalf and could really get their backline going. Surprise pick for the June tour of SA maybe?

Max,
Him being picked for England would depend on a few factors.
First who becomes the England manager. Mallet of Lancaster. Neither of which i can see tolarating any stupidity from players off the field.
Lancaster has mover his team away from the media spotlight and is hell bent on keeping it that way. Cipriani would draw a mountain of negativity, would wees with the mind set of Farrell and would generally be a disruptive influence. So i don't think Lancaster would be even a little bit interested in a guy who is not even a has been because you have to become something before you can be a was something.
Likewise mallet is a great man manager, and a decent bloke. I would see Cipriani as having more chance to feature under Mallet but only at a pinch if Mallet was in a bind. Lancaster on the other hand would look within the English club game if he was in a bind.

The fact is, unless Cipriani gets back to the English game he has 0% chance.
If he does get back i would give him 10% under Lancaster and probably 15% under Mallet.

Also, if he is better than Farrell i swear i will eat my jocks without salt!

phillips
priestland