[2014 Mid-Year Tests] England

[TRF_Olyy]

To complicate things further: Parling.
It's easy to forget about him but he rarely puts in a bad shift.
Came back into the England XV on the back of very little game time, this summer, and played an absolute blinder.

 

[ratsapprentice]

came back into the england xv well rested and fresh, this summer, and played an absolute blinder.

ftfy

 

[Maverick1987]

ftfy

Still played fantastically well . Seems he has a great attitude to being dropped too . All he wants is to fight for the shirt back . Seems a great guy to have around the squad tbh

 

[The Jones Boy]

I had not seen Eastmond prior to his big debut for England.
I've seen talented kiwi players have a stinker for the AB's and never play again.
I wouldn't be surprised if we never saw Eastmond again.
He was unbelievably poor.
He looked tiny.
Get him in the gym and get him some proper food for a start.
Make him eat till it hurts because i see some folk are defending his talent etc, at club level, but it's a whole other step up getting into the ring on the International stage. That kid was totally out of his depth and his comfort zone.
Okay he was up against an AB team that had finally woken up and a centre pairing of considerable distinction and immense experience playing at home and warmed up for the occasion with two lackadaisical performance over the previous two weekends. It was a big ask but he was woeful.
Tuilagi and twelvetrees.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

To be fair Eastmond is pretty stacked - he's just short, which no amount of gym/eating will change.

 

[ratsapprentice]

The fact that you think he needs to bulk up just shows how shallow your analysis of him has been.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Typical jones boy comment there, complete nonsense as usual on players he never watches. Tut tut

 

[goodNumber10]

I had not seen Eastmond prior to his big debut for England.
I've seen talented kiwi players have a stinker for the AB's and never play again.
I wouldn't be surprised if we never saw Eastmond again.
He was unbelievably poor.
He looked tiny.
Get him in the gym and get him some proper food for a start.
Make him eat till it hurts because i see some folk are defending his talent etc, at club level, but it's a whole other step up getting into the ring on the International stage. That kid was totally out of his depth and his comfort zone.

Not sure either of those would make him bigger, his ripped, he's just small in height.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

You've got to remember bigger is better, England's best backs for years have been the biggest:

Banahan & vainokolo

Mass and all that!

 

[Patchey]

Not sure if serious or...

 

[Big Ewis]

You've got to remember bigger is better, England's best backs for years have been the biggest:

Banahan & vainokolo

Mass and all that!

I'd be lying if I sai.......ah fk it, I'll just come out and say it, it's..beautiful.

 

[Maverick1987]

So I've just been watching some videos of Sam Burgess and I've decided I don't care if he can't pass . Give him the ball at full tilt and very few will stop him short of the gain line . He is seriously rapid for a big guy

 

[TRF_Olyy]

6. Vunipola
7. Fearns
8. Morgan

12. Burgess
13. Tuilagi

 

[goodNumber10]

So I've just been watching some videos of Sam Burgess and I've decided I don't care if he can't pass . Give him the ball at full tilt and very few will stop him short of the gain line . He is seriously rapid for a big guy

if he can get his tackle technique right he could be an increidble defender in union... ball carrying won't be as easy in union it's less likely he'll have those 1 vs 1 situations with such a run up, but he's going to be a real handful no matter what:

 

[welshglory]

To be fair most League players don't seem to struggle with Union tackle techniques at all. In fact after a few years most of them become defence leaders for their teams! Bit of a red herring that.

I think it's the hips that really make me confident that Sam should be centre. They're quite thin, if you look at most No.8's in world rugby they've got massive wide hips, think Picamoles and Parisse. Forward Hips . George Burgess would probably be a forward he's got the hips.

 

[goodNumber10]

yeah, i'm sure he'll be fine defence wise, might get pinged a couple of times like SBW did but it's just a small adjustment - needs to go lower and use both arms.

and Lol @ the Hips stuff.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Compared with other leading forwards in the NRL season so far...

Played - Tries - Tackles - Metres - Hitups

Sam Burgess: 18 - 7 - 626 - 3087 - 264
G. Burgess: 16 - 2 - 451 - 2314 - 190
Paul Gallen: 8 - 2 - 256 - 1237 - 118
Andrew Fifita: 10 - 0 - 319 - 1439 - 112
W-Hargreaves: 17 - 0 - 462 - 1834 - 153
SBW: 15 - 3 - 336 - 1925 - 111

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Burgess will have no issue with tackling in Union seeing as League tackling is the same since they banned the shoulder charge.

 

[Patchey]

Since the shoulder charge was outlawed in League tackling its become much less on an issue for cross coders. The challenge will be learning the different way defenses are structured in Union IMO.

 

[welshglory]

The only issue is going high for the hold up like we've seen with Eastmond, except that Sam B has the strength and size to still be effective with that technique. Could probably become a good exponent of the choke tackle.