Final Counties game

Counties XV reshuffle again for Canadian finale 

Friday June 11, 2010
Issued by Tony Simpson 

Danny Hodgson 
ENGLAND Counties will go into the final match of the Canadian tour against British Columbia Bears in Vancouver on Saturday with eight changes to the starting line-up that accounted for Ontario Blues on Tuesday in Toronto.

The tourists will also have six changes from the team that took the field against The Rock in the opening game a week ago, which underlines the success of the selection process. In the opening two games the priority was to get an optimum blend over two games from the 26 players available.

The squad for the final game has been chosen strictly on merit, although as Manager Danny Hodgson points out, competition for places could not have been keener. He said: "When we started out, our aim was not to select teams for the first two games on individual playing ability, but to choose combinations that would bring us two wins. It's always important to win your first game on any tour, but we also wanted to avoid the second being a banana skin.

"We had to work hard to win our first two games, but we managed it and now we come to the final test, which I'm sure is going to be another tough assignment. 

"It was massively difficult to identify the best team. I said at the opening assembly that this could be the best squad we've ever had and that it was up to the players to realise that potential. They've done exactly that. Bearing in mind that the conditions and the opposition for the first two games were entirely different, it's been extremely difficult.

"I'm very happy with the performance of all our players and it's going to be really tough for the players who miss out tomorrow."

"Without a doubt we can improve significantly on our earlier displays for what is certain to be a more difficult task. We've identified and worked very hard since coming to British Columbia on the areas of our game that caused us problems in the earlier games.

"The difference between this and the other games is that we are now a team rather than a squad of good players. We proved last year in Japan that we can build a team and perform as a team in our final game and I'm confident we can do that again."

While the side is generally selected on merit, the choice of No 9 Will Cliff does not quite fall into that category. The other scrum-half in the party of Tom Kessell from Plymouth, who produced an outstanding opening display against The Rock and then, when Cliff was injured, played again in the second game against Ontario Blues and was again in strikingly good form.

His work and overall development has arguably been the outstanding individual success of the tour, but it was agreed at the outset that everyone would get a place in a starting line-up and Cliff, an accomplished half-back with Guinness Premiership experience at Sale Sharks, gets his chance in the final game. 

England Counties XV: Gareth Collins (Leicester Lions & Warwickshire); Tom Jarvis (unattached & Gloucestershire), Henry Staff (Blackheath & Hertfordshire), Steve Hamilton (Blackheath & Kent), James Tincknell (Wharfedale & Yorkshire); Paul Humphries (Blackheath & Kent), Will Cliff (Sale Sharks & Cheshire); Matt Long (Birmingham Solihull & Gloucstershire) capt, Jonny Roddam (Fylde & Lancashire), Craig Voisey (Rotherham & North Midlands), Louis McGowan (Coventry & Lancashire), Harry Spencer (Saracens/Bedford & Devon), Mark Wilson (Blaydon & Northumberland), Daniel Baines (Macclesfield & Lancashire), Mark Evans (Moseley & North Midlands),
Replacements: Matt Hall (Blaydon & Northumberland), Gavin Woods (Caldy & Cheshire), Nick Flynn (Sedgley Park & Lancashire), Luke Collins (Redruth & Cornwall), Phil Eggleshaw (Nottingham & Durham), Ross Winney (Macclesfield & Cheshire), Kyle Dench (Harrogate & Yorkshire), Fergus Mulchrone (Macclesfield & Cheshire).

Edited by Richard Lowther - 11 Jun 2010 at 17:47