Championship XV vs previous Championship 'Canada' select

The Greene King IPA Championship ‘Dream Team’ was named last week.

Voted for by the coaches of the Championship sides, the squad gives a rare insight into the players whom coaches believe are most impactful, rather than other XVs which tend to be picked by members of the media.

The team consists heavily of Bristol Rugby, Worcester Warriors, London Scottish and Rotherham Titans players, all of whom made the playoffs this year.

Players from Jersey RFC, Nottingham Rugby, Cornish Pirates and Doncaster Knights make up the rest of the team and the XV is listed in its entirety below.

1. Sam Lockwood (Jersey RFC)

2. Shaun Malton (Nottingham Rugby)

3. Harry Williams (Jersey RFC)

4. Mike Williams (Worcester Warriors)

5. Darren Barry (Cornish Pirates)

6. Alex Rieder (Rotherham Titans)

7. Jack Preece (Rotherham Titans)

8. Mark Bright (London Scottish)

9. Tom Kessell (Cornish Pirates)

10. Matthew Morgan (Bristol Rugby)

11. David Lemi (Bristol Rugby)

12. Andy Symons (Worcester Warriors)

13. Max Stelling (Worcester Warriors)

14. Sam Smith (Worcester Warriors)

15. Paul Jarvis (Doncaster Knights)

We thought it would be interesting to compare this XV to the one that was selected earlier in the season to play Canada during the autumn internationals.

Obviously injuries and international commitments affected the squad picked to take on Canada, unlike in the ‘Dream Team’, but there are still a number of players featuring in both teams. Below is the starting XV that took on and beat Canada back in November.

1. Ryan Bower (Worcester Warriors)

2. Tom Cruse (Rotherham Titans)

3. Michael Holford (Nottingham Rugby)

4. James Percival (Worcester Warriors)

5. Darren Barry (Cornish Pirates)

6. Marco Mama (Bristol Rugby)

7. Nick Fenton-Wells (Bedford Blues)

8. Mark Bright (London Scottish)

9. Tom Kessell (Cornish Pirates)

10. Lawrence Rayner (Plymouth Albion)

11. Miles Mantella (London Scottish)

12. Will Owen (Moseley)

13. Greg King (Moseley)

14. Michael Keating (Rotherham Titans)

15. Jack Tovey (Bristol Rugby)

The trio of Barry, Bright and Kessell featured in both squads and were amongst the standout performers in the 2014/15 Championship season.

Dream Team winger Lemi was unavailable to take on Canada due to obligations with the Samoan national team, as were his fellow international teammates Jack Lam and Anthony Perenise, both of whom would have been leading candidates.

The two XVs also go a long way to showing the class of the Championship, with four of the Dream Team leaving their clubs to join Aviva Premiership sides next season. Scrum-half Kessell is off to the Northampton Saints, the front row duo of Shaun Malton and Harry Williams have signed with Exeter Chiefs, whilst lock Mike Williams will be plying his trade at Welford Road for the Leicester Tigers.

Hooker Tom Cruse, who was selected in the match against Canada, is also off to the Premiership, joining London Irish at the end of the season.

With one of Bristol or Worcester to gain promotion this season, both of whom contributed significantly to the Dream Team, as well as number of Championship standouts likely still to be signed by top tier sides, well over 50% of the Dream Team could be featuring in the Premiership next season.

The only side to have no representation in either XV was Yorkshire Carnegie, highlighting how significant their fall has been since they were relegated from the Premiership in 2011. It also raises questions of how well the club would fare in an expanded, ring-fenced Premiership, alongside fellow Championship clubs Bristol and Worcester.

The latter two would certainly contribute significantly to an expanded top tier and though Yorkshire importantly have the infrastructure in place to compete at the top level, they need to make improvements to their playing squad to warrant consideration for a place in a restructured Premiership.