2014 QBE Internationals [EOYT] England

[j'nuh]

yes, he played well in NZ but struggled for form in an under performing injury ravaged Tigers, he seems to have become the kiss of death for whatever club he plays for.

One of the few things you can depend on in rugby, is that Tigers will go through an injury crisis every year.

 

[goodNumber10]

heh! i guess so, but it's clearly had an impact on his confidence. i feel sorry for him as i really think he could be a brilliant fly half - maybe not international standard, but he could certainly be one of the best performing club 10's in europe in a good side.

 

[Patchey]

I was a tad surprised by Burns' omission. Simply because, while he was picked reluctantly for NZ after a long period of poor form, he showed he was capable to up his game in an a England shirt. I was almost expecting Lancaster to pick his for the squad this time round and see if he did the same.

 

[goodNumber10]

Not sure there was much point, he's out of form and in a struggling team - he was never going to play in these matches with Faz and ford there, and despite his good showing he only really played in NZ as everyone else was occupied.

has he been named in the saxons? (did they name a saxons squad?)

 

[Crapspray]

has he been named int he saxons? (did they name a saxons squad?)

They didn't name a Saxons squad this autumn, but when one was last announced (the Six Nations) he was in it (and had a nightmare end against the Wolfhounds). That first test was minus the top three fly-halves, which is into Saxons territory anyway.

Whether he's still going to be there with Cipriani and Slade (re)appearing for England, who's to say.

 

[Every Time Ref]

I think Burns has the weapons but as someone said, a tendency for the teams he plays in to end up playing crap! Coincidence, or entirely his fault? Obviously the latter - as we've established over the last few days re: Farrell, an underperforming team is invariably down to the flyhalf and the flyhalf alone, but either way it doesn't help him. In a sparser era for potential England flyhalves Lancaster would be keeping a close eye and praying for a return to form, as it stands he needs to climb above several players even to be in contention

 

[Peat]

I've said before and I'll say it again, I'm happy to ignore indifferent club form for proven international performers, and Burns is imo one of only 2 or 3 available to England (depends if we include Cips). I'd have been happy to see him picked, particularly as Myler is the world's most pointless use of a squad space. That said, Burns has possibly been going beyond indifferent club form, and as previously discussed, England's third fly-half is an irrelevance at the moment.

 

[j'nuh]

Burns went through a period where he could single-handedly dismantle teams, he attacked the line that well. He should have gotten a few caps then. Then his form went to pieces and became a burden to his team last year and he hasn't deserved a call-up since. I would avoid him like the plague unless he picks up a bit of form again.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Burns starting at 10 for Tigers against welsh hopefully a game to give his confidence a boost and one where he should be able to attack the game line.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Burns starting at 10 for Tigers against welsh hopefully a game to give his confidence a boost and one where he should be able to attack the game line.

Not entirely sure, Welsh have been absolutely crap. Wasps put more points past Welsh last game than Welsh have scored the entire season. Glos should get a 35+ win but their opposition is hardly worth it.

 

[steve9145]

why is andy farrell a senior international union referee ?
rugby leauge 100%
union career....sketchy at best.
not disrespect to rowntree........gladiator but in an area of ...ass in the air and push.....of course technique was important but it wasnt rocket.
stuart lancaster has done a good job and was perhaps what we needed...........that will only get you so far.
catt....great player but not a good skills coach as shown by the lack of skills our team has.

we are not far behind the best teams in the world but if we want to change that we need to expand our horizons.

just a thought
richie mc call.............forwards coach
dan carter.................backs coach
rob baxter.......head coach...........he has proved he can turn good players into a great team that play for each other.
stuart lancaster...........director of traffic
catt farrell.farell.........offski......the parties over.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

My god that text layout...

 

[Patchey]

My god that text layout...

Seriously made me consider that it might be Gaston in disguise!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Andy Farell is a senior international....referee?

 

[Peat]

Lot of interesting articles out there today, but I think this is mostly my favourite, even if I'm not sure I totally agree with it

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...levels-in-run-up-to-2015-Rugby-World-Cup.html

Also a rather interesting 'open letter' from Ackford in The Times - apparently Lancaster spend forty per cent of his time talking to the media.

 

[j'nuh]

Lot of interesting articles out there today, but I think this is mostly my favourite, even if I'm not sure I totally agree with it

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...levels-in-run-up-to-2015-Rugby-World-Cup.html

Also a rather interesting 'open letter' from Ackford in The Times - apparently Lancaster spend forty per cent of his time talking to the media.

Wasn't the point of RFU replacing a team manager with a head coach, to be getting the top man to have a more hands-on approach?

I do still wish that the RFU had gone with a team manager and a head coach. Mainly to separate media responsibilities from the coaching structure (so they aren't bogged down in PR), and for the team manager to operate at arms-length from the players (allowing more objectivity in selection and vision). I suspect that most teams will have this structure in the long run, but RFU have the resources to be ahead of the curve on this one.

 

[Peat]

Aren't you basically describing the DoR/Head Coach split seen at most clubs? In fairness, no one really does that at international level...

Lancaster doesn't need to be more objective per se, he just needs to be right. Splitting hairs when there's a good chance being right means changing his mind on a fair few things.

 

[ratsapprentice]

To be fair most int. teams do have a pretty public manager in their setup.
Most teams also have at least 1 or 2 more coaching personnel than we do.

Until Catt was brought in there were only two people whose only role was to coach rugby.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

So after three miserable performances here is my Australia team
Marler Hartley willson

No change there at all

Attwood and lawes

If launchbery wants to start he has to compete with lawes not Attwood, we need a big lock in the team.

Haskell/ wood Morgan robshaw

Didn't think much to Haskell or wood to be honest. Morgan should have started all games but we all knew that.
1st Lancaster mistake

Scrum half no idea!

Ford eastmond and JJ have to play together. Lancasters choice of Farrell and barritt has ruined this autumn series.

Watson brown and may seem pretty nailed on.

I'd fire Lancaster for his constant failure to pick the right people for the job because it's cost us more games than I can recall now.

He took two losses to figure out what we all knew before hand!

 

[Wendigo7]

Ok so apart from the obvious, I'm very concerned with our defensive structure and that's causing some of the pressure at the moment.

We do not compete at the breakdown at all. We just don't and it's now getting more evident, we just fan out across the defensive line and provide numbers.

It's a very good tactic in that it makes it very hard to beat us, but we aren't turning the ball over to release pressure, we aren't releasing any pressure off the side, we are always playing in our half.

Add to the woeful handling off the forwards and the clogging up of the backline and we are a very disjointed outfit.