[2020 Autumn Nations Cup] England vs Georgia (14/11/20)

[TRF_Olyy]

No amount of "But EJ gets results" will paper over the imbalances in the squad.
If anything it should be setting off alarm bells
"How good would we be if at any point in the last 5 years we'd played a 15 who can catch a high ball?"
"How good would we be if we'd actually played more than one 8 - especially when our 8 has been out of form for years?"
"How good would we be if we had played any of the form scrumhalves in the country at any point?"

I just honestly don't see how anyone can justify JJ on the wing, as well. Especially against Georgia.
That's a "**** we've lost our winger and #23, someone's got to shift out" move, not a legit starting lineup. What are we learning from it?
He's played there before, we know he's an option. Give an actual winger a run out.
Or is EJ too scared that an actual winger will play well, meaning Watson has to move to 15 to stay in the side, and all the time he's invested into shoehorning Daly at 15 will be for naught?

We do have the lions summer tour coming up next summer.

Very optimistic - I reckon they'll suspend it

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I guess might depend on what Argentina do, with the vaccine etc.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I meant Lions in general - too much money on the line to do it half arsed

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I meant Lions in general - too much money on the line to do it half arsed

Good point.
The tourism aspect is obviously the biggest thing about it.

 

[RedruthRFC]

@Croket66 thanks very much for your post, I've been looking for that kind of insight, but up until now, not found it anywhere. How does this side compare to the once that faced Scotland? I was surprised to see Nodar Cheishvili playing (I only know the name because he played for my local professional team), but see that he's missing from the team for tomorrow, so I'm wondering if this is indicative of a stronger side overall.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I think we've established recently that Living Sacrifice will only ever see negatives.

Itoje at 6 and JJ on the wing are strange calls. However, the 23 picked is only a handful of players away from what I would have picked (I would have retained Hill, rested Itoje, started Curry with Willis and had Thorley over JJ). I quite like the bench.

Given some of Eddie's previous selections, I think there are way more positives than negatives on this one.

I guess I expect positives in selections as I assume Jones like us wants England to win. To some degree as well I don't mind seeing Itoje in the back row although it's only Georgia so not sure why we need to beef up the pack compared to a final against South Africa.

I just end up confused by his moving players around and then we end up with injuries and have no replacements with decent caps for key games and to be honest in most games in general we don't have proper bench cover and are just lucky we haven't been hit worse by it.

So I'm excited by seeing Willis, but we can't judge him because it's not a balanced pack. We can't judge Itoje on how he does at 6 because he's with a first cap Willis.

Same with the backs, JJ means we can't judge how players really do. We should be drip feeding the talent in like New Zealand had done during their peak.

 

[BPM]

Why isn't a 'balanced pack'? Genge and Stuart are a very capable pair both in the scrum and in the loose. Ewels and Launchbury are good locks who have played well as a pairing before and even if I'd prefer a specialist flanker at 6, Itoje has plenty of experience playing there for Saracens and with England.

To me, a 'balanced' back row needs a heavy carrier, a jackal, speed to the ruck and a lineout option. With Billy, Willis and Itoje, we have all of that. It isn't the combination I'd choose, but I don't see how it's lacking balance?

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

Just something to note - in one of the Eddie interviews this week he explained the JJ selection.

From what I understand - this isn't JJ on the wing. It's Eddie trying out what happens if you operate with 3 interchangeable centres - an experiment with the structure of the traditional rugby setup rather than personnel.

I feel like framing it as that makes it much more acceptable

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I feel like framing it as that makes it much more acceptable

Makes even less sense to me, ha

I mean if you're going to do dumb **** like that then Georgia is the game to do it, but it's dumb as hell

Especially with the way we play/attack - not exactly blasting fancy running moves utilising the talents of our centres

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

Makes even less sense to me, ha

I mean if you're going to do dumb **** like that then Georgia is the game to do it, but it's dumb as hell

Especially with the way we play/attack - not exactly blasting fancy running moves utilising the talents of our centres

Haha fair enough. I mean we'll see how it goes I guess.

I'd just like to see less box kicking tbh but that won't happen :/

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Again, I'm curious to see how it goes. Ultimately, as much as we may criticise EJ he's forgotten more about back line structure and game plan than everyone on this forum knows put together. If he sees something in having a winger with the distributing and positioning qualities of a centre then there must be something in it. Its sounds fairly similar to what Exeter have been doing with Nowell for years now. Maybe it won't work, but maybe it will, and if there's a time to try it then its Georgia in a tournament that means nothing.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Last time England played Georgia
Ben Youngs had just turned 22 and had13 caps.
Ben Youngs is now 31 with 100 caps.

Kinda sad how a regular European Rugby World cup team like Georgia hasn't played England in 9 years.
I think they have only ever played each other twice? Both in the Rugby World cup.
I know for some it's pointless but imagine how exciting this is for the Georgians.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Post cams being used in this game, whatever that is

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Georgia winning the toss is shameful,

If anyone knows about men standing in a huddle and tossing then it's English private school boys - we should win every time

 

[Jimbo]

Makes even less sense to me, ha

I mean if you're going to do dumb **** like that then Georgia is the game to do it, but it's dumb as hell

Especially with the way we play/attack - not exactly blasting fancy running moves utilising the talents of our centres

Would make more sense to have another kicking centre on the wing rather than JJ if there is one thing we don't do enough of its kick.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Some beards on that Georgian team

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Nice to see the shirts of the clubs the RFU have given 0 support too during this covid period being represented

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Georgia winning the toss is shameful,

If anyone knows about men standing in a huddle and tossing then it's English private school boys - we should win every time

Don't knock it til you try it pleb

 

[Jashay]

Only 5 kicks in the first 60 seconds...

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

why not have England play in white and Georgia in Red.......