[2013 EOYT] England

[Patchey]

Twelvetrees does have a lot of momentum in his favour. He had a decent 6N when used, finished last season strong, was called up to the Lions as an injury replacement before Barritt was (whilst Farrell was backs coach!), and continues to look good this season. The sheer number of tackles he's getting through is impressive. He's made 26 tackles in the first three games. Kvesic made the second highest number of tackles with 18.

I think TT may have even kept the shirt has Barritt been available.

He is a big unit, the other week when Glos lost Wood early on he stood in as a flanker on defensive scrum and honestly didn't look out of place size wise. I know people say Eastmond can tackle (which is true) but I think his small size compared to 36's bulk is going to result in him struggling to get a start when fit. Twelvetrees is likely to get a lot less people running at him in defense. Its his attacking play that excited me much more though. I guess you'd say he's like a streamlined version of Barritt. Crucially he adds creativity to the back line whoever he has inside him at fly-half. You could put Andy Goode at ten and 36 would probably mamage to make him look good*. Come to think of it you could put Alex Goode at ten and Twelvetrees would make something happen.

*A little harsh maybe, Goode is treated a bit harshly because of his hairline I think.

 

[Peat]

There's even a twitter run by some Tigers players (Tom Croft is one of them) that puts up daft things he's said:
https://twitter.com/stuffbensaid

Dan:"What's the name of the old guy in 'The Karate Kid'?" Lendrid:"I think it's Mr. Mugabe."

Amazing. Olyy, I'm split between positive rep for making my day and negative rep for not telling me about this before.

edit: If Twelvetrees does cement himself in at 12, he probably becomes a captaincy hopeful. He's got a leadership role at his club and seems intelligent about the game. Far too early to be really calling for that though.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I was under the impression this was well known about?
... As well as https://twitter.com/UnrealGavHenson

 

[j'nuh]

edit: If Twelvetrees does cement himself in at 12, he probably becomes a captaincy hopeful. He's got a leadership role at his club and seems intelligent about the game. Far too early to be really calling for that though.

Indeed, he's the vice-captain at Glos.

Savage doesn't look as comfortable a first-team name as he was before too, so I wouldn't put it past Twelvetrees borrowing the role for a few games at some point. Unless the role went straight to Cowan.

 

[ratsapprentice]

http://www.sportsdirectnews.com/rug...cking-basic-technical-skills.php#.UkQOvbzo-Hk

not a surprise, really.

 

[Crapspray]

Yup. Next there'll be an article on the Pope's religion.

Still, it's nice to see it acknowledged by the coaches. Hopefully they'll work hard to remedy is at both international and club level.

 

[Peat]

I'm reminded of the stories about Joe Schmidt going to Leinster and basically dedicating a pre-season to passing drills. Which kinda worked out ok for him. Quins clearly do a lot of work on their hands, seem to recall it being said that Quins players in the set-up were basically staggered by some of the things they saw (in the bad way), working out ok for them. I think it was a Guscott article that talked about the balance swinging back to attack - people are looking for ways to score tries - so hopefully, just hopefully, this can be addressed. Because this is not for the national team to solve, because they can't. They don't have the time.

The only thing they can really do is talk to kids at U16, U18 and say "If you have not got the skills you are limiting your international career. Here's the drills. Train with your mates down the park if you have to. This is in your hands." That, and pressure the clubs to see sanity.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Although I agree it's not something that you can "spot-fix", you can certainly sharpen the players up in a relatively short period of time.
Which is one of the main things that Catt is tasked with doing from what I can tell.
I do hope that the confidence with ball in hand ( the opposition is largely irrelevant) shown on the summer tour can be put down to his influence.

 

[Peat]

You can, but as the article notes, you're missing out on a lot of other stuff - and, given they're still talking about it two years down the line, you keep having to do it over and over.

Maybe it was Catt's influence, or maybe they're changing their priorities to put even more on ball skills and attack. I think a lot of it is to do with the fact that people like Burns, Twelvetrees, Eastmond and so on are natural ball players who don't need as much sharpening.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Maybe it was Catt's influence, or maybe they're changing their priorities to put even more on ball skills and attack. I think a lot of it is to do with the fact that people like Burns, Twelvetrees, Eastmond and so on are natural ball players who don't need as much sharpening.

I would say Catt is a symptom of that change in mindset/realisation that we were/are lacking in those areas.

Obviously those guys have it already, but there was a continuity to passing that I haven't noticed in a long, long time for England between all of the players (except Strettle).

 

[Crapspray]

Was there not talk of England introducing a new attacking pattern in the summer as well? With Farrell snr gone, I could see it being Catt's work. Also explains the greater movement of the ball.

Having just said that, while searching for evidence, I stumbled across this:

http://www.rfu.com/takingpart/coach...journal/2006/1stquarter/practical20ideas.ashx

Which echoes what Lancaster was saying in the article, particularly the coaching philosophy section. Hopefully his mindset hasn't changed in seven years. It's a shame reading the bullet-points and realising how few the national side manage to achieve.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Good find ^

http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/feat...-attwood-about-his-second-coming-for-england/

... He's certainly a good interviewee.

 

[St George]

IMO Croft's long term injury has thrown it up in the air.

I think it will alternate depending on whether Kvesic starts or not.

If the 1st match Backrow is Robshaw Morgan Wood, then it's a straight choice that only SL knows he will make.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Attwood for England captain!

 

[ratsapprentice]

Attwood for Full-back

 

[Patchey]

Attwood for the Lions?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Dave Attwood to fight a lion

 

[j'nuh]

Attwood can smoke more weed than Snoop Lion.

81*7 yo.

EDIT: Mixed news for England/Glos fans regarding JSD. He's said that with another child on the way, he's settled and wants to stay at Gloucester for another 2-3 years, which is big news because a few of us thought he may be considering France. However, he's also said that he's pretty much closed the door on England so he can concentrate on his last years with Gloucester. Such a shame.

http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/feat...nd-if-they-called-says-james-simpson-daniels/

 

[Patchey]

Has there ever been a player who's potential on the international stage has been wasted more than JSD? Real shame.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Has there ever been a player who's potential on the international stage has been wasted more than JSD? Real shame.

Caucau?