"Controversial" - Mike Brown picks his combined England/Wales XV

Sunday, 20 February 2022 at 07:28

byRugby Rucker

MIKE BROWN has picked his combined England/Wales XV ahead of next weekend's fixture between the two nations.

Brown wrote: "One of my memories of playing against Wales is the ‘combined XV’ articles that would always be churned out on the week of the game.

"They would cherry-pick the best players from both sides. During the Warren Gatland era, it would always be a pretty even split of English and Welsh.

"This Wales team isn’t anywhere near the quality of some of their recent line-ups and England should beat them comfortably at Twickenham."

MIKE BROWN'S COMBINED ENGLAND/WALES XV

BACK-THREE:

15. Freddie Steward (England)
14. Joe Marchant (England)
11. Jack Nowell (England)

Freddie Steward of England goes over for a try during the Autumn Nations Match between England and Australia at Twickenham on 13 November 2021. Photo: Micah Crook/PPAUK

CENTRES:

13. Henry Slade (England)
12. Manu Tuilagi (England)

Henry Slade of England kicks the conversion during the Autumn Nations Match between England and Tonga at Twickenham Stoop on 6 November 2021. Photo: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK

HALFBACKS:

10. Marcus Smith (England)
9. Ben Youngs (England)

Marcus Smith of England celebrates after winning during the Autumn Nations Match between England and South Africa at Twickenham Stadium on 20 November 2021. Photo: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK

FRONT-ROW:

1. Ellis Genge (England)
2. Jamie George (England)
3. Kyle Sinckler (England)

Ellis Genge of England (digitally altered) during the Autumn Nations Match between England and Tonga at Twickenham Stoop on 6 November 2021. Photo: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK

SECOND-ROW:

4. Maro Itoje (England)
5. Joe Launchbury (England)

Maro Itoje of England during the Autumn Nations Match between England and Tonga at Twickenham Stoop on 6 November 2021. Photo: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK

BACK-ROW:

6. Courtney Lawes (England)
7. Tom Curry (England)
8.Alex Dombrandt (England)

Alex Dombrandt of England warms up before the Autumn Nations Match between England and Australia at Twickenham on 13 November 2021. Photo: Micah Crook/PPAUK