[2019 Six Nations] England v Scotland (16/03/2019)

[Leinster Fan]

Why no lock on the bench for England?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Why no lock on the bench for England?

#JustEddieJonesThings

With Lawes and Itoje out, but due back before the RWC, I imagine he doesn't see the point in blooding a new lock and would rather get Shields more minutes and test whether he's viable emergency lock cover.

Don't agree with him, but I think that's where he's going with it.

 

[Scotty]

Ok we have 4 very good locks in lawes itoje launch kruis. All of them four will go and shields will go i get using him as the 5th choice as cover in emergancy i suppose.

Our wings though? If may and nowell get injured who do we use?( not tgis game i mean in general) would joe be called in? If he is cover to this degree then he should be getting minutes, if not then fine he's not going the WC and just use him next year but if he will ho the wc then he should be playing this game.

 

[spartan32]

Ok we have 4 very good locks in lawes itoje launch kruis. All of them four will go and shields will go i get using him as the 5th choice as cover in emergancy i suppose.

Our wings though? If may and nowell get injured who do we use?( not tgis game i mean in general) would joe be called in? If he is cover to this degree then he should be getting minutes, if not then fine he's not going the WC and just use him next year but if he will ho the wc then he should be playing this game.

I think EJ, like everyone else, sees the epic potential of Big Joe and has decided not to risk him in a game that really doesn't need him and means very little in the grand scheme. There are 4 warm up matches before the World Cup. 2 against Wales and 1 against Ireland. That provides a much better testing ground for Joe against some really strong opposition, but with a less combabtiative enviroment which in theory should make injuries less likely. There is also the theory that Jones doesn't want to give the other RWC teams too good a look at Joe before hand, but I think that's a pretty week argument.

As for Nowell, he's solid but not game changing. He's the wings equivalent of Brown. Does everything really well, and sometimes that's just what is needed.

 

[martinspoonboy1]

Ok we have 4 very good locks in lawes itoje launch kruis. All of them four will go and shields will go i get using him as the 5th choice as cover in emergancy i suppose.

Our wings though? If may and nowell get injured who do we use?( not tgis game i mean in general) would joe be called in? If he is cover to this degree then he should be getting minutes, if not then fine he's not going the WC and just use him next year but if he will ho the wc then he should be playing this game.

If May or Nowell get injured, I think Eddie calls on Joe or brings brown in to FB and puts Daly on the wing. He also was a massive fan of Watson before his bad run of injuries so I can see him bringing him back in fairly sharpish if needed.

 

[General Melchett]

Scotland: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Sam Skinner, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Stuart McInally (c), 1 Allan Dell

Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Jonny Gray, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Chris Harris


Makeshift in the backs. I'll be impressed if Scotland keep it within 20 points.

Maitland provides a bit more defensive solidity than say Hastings (who did really well last weekend considering he was OOP) but I would rather have Hastings kicking ability. Considering the injury ravaged squad it's not a bad starting 15 - just hope for no more injuries. Back row is intriguing - Skinner is a unit and an intelligent player. Watson (if he plays anything like last weekend) v the likes of Curry and Wilson will be fascinating. England should have too much and I expect them to win by 15-20. Just hope it's not a horror show like two years ago.

 

[Jashay]

Yeah, Watson for sure, Daly is an option, and he's been happy to use Ashton in the biggest games. Big Joe is the shiny new star, but we're not short of wing options.

I really rate Nowell, but I often feel like he's destined for the 23 shirt just because he covers everything. That, and Eddie seems to be really keen on having a blisteringly fast back three.

But I'd certainly never be in the slightest bit put out to see Nowell in the squad.

 

[FLOBALOB]

Useless fact No. 467
May and Nowell ,for England , average the same yardage/game ~60m

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Early injuries to a back three player and lock is the only way I see this game being kind of close. The bench is silly.

 

[Jashay]

Useless fact No. 467
May and Nowell ,for England , average the same yardage/game ~60m

Nice fact! I bet that's ball-in-hand. May covers way more than 60m on his chases alone

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Useless fact No. 467
May and Nowell ,for England , average the same yardage/game ~60m

Obviously it won't really be a fair test due to the opposition he's played against but any idea what Joe's average yardage has been like?

 

[spartan32]

Useless fact No. 467
May and Nowell ,for England , average the same yardage/game ~60m

It's not the meters run, but what comes of them. I wonder what the meters per try stat would look like. And, A's has also been pointed out May covers a crazy amount of meters without the ball.

Don't get me wrong, Nowell makes some great hard yards in heavy traffic, gets stuck in on the ground, and is an all round good egg. But he's not going to make a defence worry.

 

[FLOBALOB]

Obviously it won't really be a fair test due to the opposition he's played against but any idea what Joe's average yardage has been like?

Like you say ,too small a sample size to have any relevance but its 69m over 3 1/2 games av. Mays and Nowells is over their 30 odd games each.

P.s Mays 130m/game crabbing/reversing runs aren't included

 

[Thingimubob]

Why no lock on the bench for England?

Only just noticed this

I like how Eddie has gone from picking ALL OF THE LOCKS... to none on the bench.

Either way. Needs more locks.

 

[FLOBALOB]

Nice fact! I bet that's ball-in-hand. May covers way more than 60m on his chases alone

I suspect even Dan Cole can muster 60m chasing, a game ,but sadly there are no stats available for how far players run/walk without the ball. Would be interesting stats tho.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I suspect even Dan Cole can muster 60m chasing, a game ,but sadly there are no stats available for how far players run/walk without the ball. Would be interesting stats tho.

Surely you mean 6m?

 

[Scotty]

Im confident we will beat Scotland at Twickenham but scotland will not go down easy, sam skinner and hamish watson back, Maitland is experienced, Graham on the wing is talented if not inexperienced, grey and Strauss on the bench And Russell can change a game on his day.

I hope we use manu primarily as a 13 in attack switching with slade to keep them guessing. Want to see alot of the game played ball in hand.

England by 20 after a fast start.

 

[MikeTheNative]

I fear for Scotland a bit to be honest. They are bad travellers as it is and this is a depleted side going to a very confident England side.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Maitland provides a bit more defensive solidity than say Hastings (who did really well last weekend considering he was OOP) but I would rather have Hastings kicking ability. Considering the injury ravaged squad it's not a bad starting 15 - just hope for no more injuries. Back row is intriguing - Skinner is a unit and an intelligent player. Watson (if he plays anything like last weekend) v the likes of Curry and Wilson will be fascinating. England should have too much and I expect them to win by 15-20. Just hope it's not a horror show like two years ago.

I'm not sure I'd put any of the Scottish 11-15 into my Italian XV if I'm honest Oggmonster (if Italy had no injuries).

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

I think EJ, like everyone else, sees the epic potential of Big Joe and has decided not to risk him in a game that really doesn't need him and means very little in the grand scheme. There are 4 warm up matches before the World Cup. 2 against Wales and 1 against Ireland. That provides a much better testing ground for Joe against some really strong opposition, but with a less combabtiative enviroment which in theory should make injuries less likely. There is also the theory that Jones doesn't want to give the other RWC teams too good a look at Joe before hand, but I think that's a pretty week argument.

As for Nowell, he's solid but not game changing. He's the wings equivalent of Brown. Does everything really well, and sometimes that's just what is needed.

Bit in the Times today with Jones saying they're just carefully managing Coka's introduction to international rugby so that he can be unleashed in Japan. More about managing hype than being a secret weapon. Basically called SCW a d*ckhead for comparing him to Lomu.