Not surprised by his choice at all. What I'm amazed by is the fact that England haven't capped him already!! I am totally shocked that England have put pensioners like Nick Easter in front of a class youngster like Morgan.

The problem with England is that they won't back youngsters who are in form. Instead they either pick from the 30+ group or someone who failed to make the All Blacks squad. I'm sure that his decision means that he's already been given the nod for England for the six nations squad, let's see if they play him at all.

Agree that it would have been nice for Wales to have a bit of strength in depth at 8. It's a tough position to find good players but lucky for Wales, Faletau is one of the best around. Mind you with some of the back row players the regions have been producing it shouldn't be long before Wales find another good number 8.

Good young prospect indeed. a bit of a coup for England considering their recent form vs Wales. Personally i would have gone for the team i think i could win something with, and again personally i would consider the currant welsh team more capable of success.

Not to say anything bad about England, just that they are not in a good place at the moment and its going to be a few years before someone can pull them together and get the system organised. If thats possible.

I don't think he made his choice on who has more chance of success. Well obviously he didn't because he would have made the wrong choice.

He's English and that's that. DingBatMan, if you played international rugby and had a choice would you just choose on success? Would you have chosen England over Ireland in 2003?

I understand his reasoning for picking England, but I do honestly think if he's still left out in the cold for the next year or two he could start rethinking his position. He grew up wanting to play internation rugby for England, but now he's made a career and a name for himself in Wales, and has been given a career outside of rugby based in Wales, it might just be a question as to who offers him an international career if England don't get their act together.

But to be honest, I hope they don't! Would quite rather see him rampaging off the back of the scrum in a red jersey rather than white!

Like I was saying, it's all about the teams and players you're exposed to, and I don't see that much of the AP so I can't think of many better candidates for the England 8 shirt. Who are the other English 8s he is in competition with? The only few who are popping into my head are either injury plagued or coming to the end of their careers...

Ah well there you go Jeri, its a difficult choice. For me i would indeed go for a team where i believe we can win things. I have no doubt England will, in the future win lots but right now and for the next 4 years at-least i don't see them doing much. Of course i could be wrong about that. If they get the right man at the helm it could all turn around very rapidly.

If i had the choice between England and Wales right now, i would go with wales every time. They have a good energy about them. They are playing beautiful rugby, and i would want to be part of that. Winning is what its all about to a pro. Well most pros that is with the exception of a few of the English lads who went down to NZ for a pay packet.

For me it would absolutely be about success. That why you become a PRO. Because you want to win. That would be my personal view.

But Gecko makes the most important point of all i think. If the lad grew up wanting to play for England, and calling it his country who could blame him for wanting to play for his country. If its that desire which has driven him to become a pro and a very talented player then you would not begrudge him his chance to fulfil that dream.

I think the issue with youngsters for England is a combination of two factors, first the number of players available for each position and second recent bad experiences with Matthew Tait and Danny Cipriani, though I would say this was more the fault of the coaching set up and RFU than the players - at least at first.

As a result, there is something of a reluctance to experiment with youngsters, rather than waiting until they are deemed fully ready. Having said that though, a number of younger players have started to come off the production line recently at an encouraging rate - Ashton, Foden, Lawes, Tuilagi, Youngs.

If anything England's problem might be the lack of an old head - the role had been filled (to various degrees of adequacy / inadequacy) by Moody and Tindall, and whilst the latter may do another 6 Nations I would tend to doubt it. Given that, there's no obvious successor as yet, of the backs only Toby Flood has the experience but I wouldn't see him as a leader, and up front there are no strong candidates - maybe Dylan Hartley? I wouldn't see Tom Croft as having the "fire" for the role personally and of the others Sheridan never seems to be consistently fit

And now as an interesting parallel to Ben Morgan we have the Steve Shingler story. I'm not sure how far he was going to go with Wales, but I'm sure some of us have seen THAT advert (or you can youtube it now). It's going to be very interesting now regarding him and his brother.

Also, I read now that the WRU are contesting this because they say the under-20s are the Wales A team...

It's good to see Morgan go with England and I certainly think that he'll get his chance in the 6 nations. I think it'll be a completely new look side with lot's of the younger players given a chance. Interesting some of the veiws here about Wales standing a better chance of winning things considering who the current 6 nations champs are and who lost more games in the recent world cup despite their brilliant team!

On the point of choosing a team to play for, technically, as I have dual nationality, I could play for either England or NZ.

I would choose England every time, in a heartbeat. It's about playing for your country, and if I was good enough, there would have been no question in my mind, regardless of how successful they were at the time.

He's English and that's that.
-----------------------------------------------

Ridiculous statement. There's a multitude of players who've opted to play for "other" countries as opposed to their birthplace. Why? coz they know they'll have the opportunity to win something (or they're not good enough to get in the team of their birth)........

GODBA

The idea that wales lost more games then england and therefore are not as good is down right bloody stupid.

You see dear fellow if you make it to the last 4 of the WORLD CUP you and lose, well dear boy thats a loss in the 3rd place playoff and thus shoots stupid statistics like who the currant 6 nations champs in the foot..

Also the fact that Ireland, Wales and France barely if at all competed in the last 6 nations, was and is a major factor in why an under whelming England side won the trophy in the first place. As Wales France and Ireland were using and very publicly stated by the 3 respective manager, were using the 6 nations to build for the world cup. Thus and has normally been since the inception of the Rugby World Cup the 6 nations (in that particular year) is simply a breeding ground to prepare and give opportunities to fringe players.

Hurtfully pointed out when in the last game Ireland, for the first time in the competition fielded their best 15 and destroyed the would-be grand slam english lads.

Thats a fact.

THis year will tell where you are in the world of rugby. and i predict 4th place for england. Wales and france to contest the trophy with ireland in 3rd.

This might seem a bit old fashioned, but I believe unless their are quite exceptional circumstances - and I admit that defining specifically what is very hard - I think that where you were born should dictate where you play, on an international basis. I don't like this kind of "well my auntie had a Dachshund so I'll play for Germany" mentality.

Whilst I think its fine for you to choose your club, I think your country chooses you - in the sporting context, and whilst there can be exceptional circumstances I think these need to be the exception rather than the rule and for them to be clear for all to see and understand.

Ding bat, the idea that you can judge placements of teams based on just the world cup is just as stupid. Wales have been below par for a while despite their miraculous world cup where they lost every time they met a decent side. To simply say that no one tried in the 6 nations is ridiculous; Wales even went as far as cheating Ireland out of their game!

Ur kidding me right? Wales did not cheat us, the ref cocked it up thats life and as an Irish man i have moved on. sometimes its just not ur day and that was not our day. Unlike the final game when we played decent rugby and blew a england away.

I get what ur saying mate... but it just smacks of clutching at straws in a lame attempt to bolster ur confidence ahead of the next 6 nations.

As for the teams not competing properly thats absolutely right. Wales were changing the team up for almost every game, They were bringing the young guns in to the system and getting ready for the WC. Fact! and it worked very nicely.

France tried over 30 uncapped players! OVER 30! well there former manager was a loon but C'MON. He stated quite publicly that the 6 nations was of no importance, all that mattered was the World Cup.

Ireland were implementing a whole new defensive pattern and attacking patterns which came good in the last game but were building and trying new things in order to be ready for the.... yes you guess it... the WORLD CUP.

Of course they took the 6 nations seriously, but not the result only the manner of which they built for the WC. and if they could say it was a success or not.

This year is the real six nations, the one that counts right after a world cup. England are in for a tough season. But who knows Lancaster could pull it all together. It should be interesting.


Every 4 years we have a bad six nations. Alway its this way, teams throw the importance of the 6 nations out the window and concentrate on the bigger goal. The World Cup.

If you had been around rugby as long as i have you would know that.

England will win the six nations..... again. You can say whatever you like about last year, they won because they consistently were the best NH team for the 18months before the WC.
People let their hatred of England blind them from the truth.

Aristodemus

cmon man 18 months of consistency?

I've said this before, i want England to do well. Its good for the northern hemisphere if our teams are playing well. One team running away with it every year is no good at all. So believe me when i say there is no blindness at all apart from maybe some blind optimism on your part.

Please enlighten me as to who has been the most consistent NH team from the summer of 2010 leading up to the WC. If you say anything other than England it just proves my point.
No one team has been "running away with it" since the great Woodward side, so I do not see what you mean with that.
Yes I am optimistic, but it is based around the quality of players we have. I am not blind.

Well mate 18 moths being the form team is a bit mmm optimistic. Form team for a briefe period yes, But hat can we say now, only Wales and France are the form 6 nations teams.

Im not so one eyed to say that we are going to beat them yet we beat OZ in the WC and lost just one game to wales 3. but we lost a crucial game, and thats what counts. so did you guys, and we also didnt look that good. We beat OZ in a game with NO TRIES scored. ok we beat them and thats what counts but realistically that was a dog fight and we just wanted it more on the day.

U lost at the same point we did and u crashed out of the comp having not played well. as we did. You cant claim ur the form team. u just cant. it has no logic.

Now to be fair i posted an article on the positives coming from the england camp and indeed its all looking very positive. I have been swayed in my opinion a little by SARS (a user from england) and a more realistic bloke who looks at the whole picture as i do.

Now i see that England could well do something special this year, its all up in the air tho. U have 3 of the 5 games Away, and ur team is a whole new outfit of youngsters. Its an uphill task. Best of luck tho.

As for Us im hoping but not so confident of a good result, we are certainly underdogs to France and Wales, but not to England. Thats the reality of the situation.