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[2021 Six Nations] England Squad

Went through again and looked at Youngs + Faz passing to the backs as opposed to Robson + Ford:

Youngs never passed to a back, always going for Faz, a forward, or a kick.
Faz passed to the backs 7 times in 80 mins; once to May, once to Daly, four times to Slade and once to Watson (at 58 minutes for his first touch of the match)
Robson passed to backs 4 times (Slade x2, May, Daly) in 25 mins
Ford passed 4 times (Slade x2, May, Daly) in 11 mins

Also, whilst Robson made three poor kicks (or two and one that got charged down), every other infield kick by Ford or Robson was either contested by an England player or the receiver was tackled by an England player (not sure what the number was for Faz and Youngs, not looking forward to watching the match a fourth time!). Daly also started putting his kicks to a contestable length. Also noticeable that Daly started attacking the line a lot more when Robson came on, so I think there was an Eddie-mandated change in tactics.

So despite what Eddie said, it was in no way difficult to get the ball to the backs.
 
TRF_Olyy said:
This number keeps creeping up, haha
He made 20, according to the official stat pack

Great effort tbf - he was also top three for attacking and defensive ruck hits which surprised me a lot.
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Only 1 of those tackles was dominant though. Albeit we only made 4 dominants as a team which is pretty shocking.

Fair play for his ruck work too and a turnover. In the debut column a couple of missed tackles (not unique there), 2 pens conceded (not unique there), worst carrying stats of any of the starting XV bar Lawrence. In the neutral column no line out steals which we might have hoped for with their 3rd choice hooker (we didn't get any of theirs while they pinched 2 of ours).

Interesting that none of us picked up on him during the game - working hard but not very impactfully or greatest unseen performance since Richard Hill?
 
Jashay said:
Went through again and looked at Youngs + Faz passing to the backs as opposed to Robson + Ford:

Youngs never passed to a back, always going for Faz, a forward, or a kick.
Faz passed to the backs 7 times in 80 mins; once to May, once to Daly, four times to Slade and once to Watson (at 58 minutes for his first touch of the match)
Robson passed to backs 4 times (Slade x2, May, Daly) in 25 mins
Ford passed 4 times (Slade x2, May, Daly) in 11 mins

Also, whilst Robson made three poor kicks (or two and one that got charged down), every other infield kick by Ford or Robson was either contested by an England player or the receiver was tackled by an England player (not sure what the number was for Faz and Youngs, not looking forward to watching the match a fourth time!). Daly also started putting his kicks to a contestable length. Also noticeable that Daly started attacking the line a lot more when Robson came on, so I think there was an Eddie-mandated change in tactics.

So despite what Eddie said, it was in no way difficult to get the ball to the backs.
Click to expand...
Great work that.

You've got to question Lawrence never receiving the ball off of either 9 or 10. Obviously that's largely a failing by the 9s and 10s but you'd think a new player like him would be forcing himself onto the ball more.
 
For the next game I'd normally have only wanted to change maximum 2 of the 8, 9, 10 axis and I'd have had Ford on for Farrell and Willis on for Vunipola with Wilson moving to 8.

However, it is Italy so I'd maybe do one or two additional ones. Here is the starting 15 I'd like to see (given the squad):
Genge, LCD, Stuart
Itoje (c), Hill
Curry, Willis, Wilson
Robson, Ford
Lawrence, Slade
May, Watson/Daly, Malins

Ideally I'd have Watson but he doesn't look quite right at the moment so I'd move Daly to the wing, where I think he should be anyway, and give Watson a break. Malins and Robson deserve a decent chance, Ford deserves a chance without Farrell there. For all the chat about how effective or not Hill was, he deserves a sustained run.

As it is, we'll probably see the same team except Ford replacing Lawrence and Farrell moving to 12. Very uninspiring.
 
Jashay said:
Youngs never passed to a back, always going for Faz, a forward, or a kick.
Faz passed to the backs 7 times in 80 mins; once to May, once to Daly, four times to Slade and once to Watson
Click to expand...
This seems utterly insane.

Imagine being on the opposite team defending that, how much would you be doubting or hesitating? Not at all.
 
Jashay said:
Went through again and looked at Youngs + Faz passing to the backs as opposed to Robson + Ford:

Youngs never passed to a back, always going for Faz, a forward, or a kick.
Faz passed to the backs 7 times in 80 mins; once to May, once to Daly, four times to Slade and once to Watson (at 58 minutes for his first touch of the match)
Robson passed to backs 4 times (Slade x2, May, Daly) in 25 mins
Ford passed 4 times (Slade x2, May, Daly) in 11 mins

Also, whilst Robson made three poor kicks (or two and one that got charged down), every other infield kick by Ford or Robson was either contested by an England player or the receiver was tackled by an England player (not sure what the number was for Faz and Youngs, not looking forward to watching the match a fourth time!). Daly also started putting his kicks to a contestable length. Also noticeable that Daly started attacking the line a lot more when Robson came on, so I think there was an Eddie-mandated change in tactics.

So despite what Eddie said, it was in no way difficult to get the ball to the backs.
Click to expand...
Honestly says it all. Thing is I imagine these stats are very similar to most other games, so EJ should know it. Therefore if he still continues to select these 2 it is his fault.

On selecting Mako, I wouldn't. We've already seen the Sarries players lack fitness and match sharpness. As well he's just coming back from injury and wasn't in his best form before anyway. He should focus on recovering fully.
 
www.dailymail.co.uk

Owen Farrell has been untouchable... but that cannot carry on

Eddie Jones played down Owen Farrell's direct responsibility for a breathtakingly inadequate effort in England's Six Nations loss to Scotland on Saturday - but his role invites harsh scrutiny.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk

Glad to see Chris Foy isn't letting him off the hook.

England need to take a hard look at where they are going because they have youngsters coming through and they are ignoring nearly all of them for established players only.
 
TBeastT said:
Great work that.

You've got to question Lawrence never receiving the ball off of either 9 or 10. Obviously that's largely a failing by the 9s and 10s but you'd think a new player like him would be forcing himself onto the ball more.
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You'd think the experienced heads around him would see the importance of getting a newcomer involved, just to settle them down / make them feel part of it (Lawrence wasn't a debutant but might as well have been for all the action he's seen). It's just more poor captaincy, quite apart from the fact that a strong ball carrying centre might actually have been quite useful.....

If the Eng tactics are as prescriptive as we think they are then you can totally understand Lawrence not sticking his head too far above the parapet. International rugby for him has not been as he dreamt it.
 
klitarris said:
For the next game I'd normally have only wanted to change maximum 2 of the 8, 9, 10 axis and I'd have had Ford on for Farrell and Willis on for Vunipola with Wilson moving to 8.

However, it is Italy so I'd maybe do one or two additional ones. Here is the starting 15 I'd like to see (given the squad):
Genge, LCD, Stuart
Itoje (c), Hill
Curry, Willis, Wilson
Robson, Ford
Lawrence, Slade
May, Watson/Daly, Malins

Ideally I'd have Watson but he doesn't look quite right at the moment so I'd move Daly to the wing, where I think he should be anyway, and give Watson a break. Malins and Robson deserve a decent chance, Ford deserves a chance without Farrell there. For all the chat about how effective or not Hill was, he deserves a sustained run.

As it is, we'll probably see the same team except Ford replacing Lawrence and Farrell moving to 12. Very uninspiring.
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Please not Daly on the wing...no no no. 13 15 or 23 or nithing. Not a chance at 13 so 15 or 23. Other than that id be happy with that team
 
Old Hooker said:
Fair point.

Tackle count was high, but on how many of those did the Scots recycle fairly easily?

The same sort of rationale used to apply to Geoff Parling and Chris Robshaw. They were working hard, fine, but how much of a difference were they really making? That's the point with Underhill, others will make as many tackles but he sends people backwards and causes problems for opponents. Dominant tackles was the buzz phrase and it's absolutely right.

For me Hill lacks the presence / edge that all top locks have. Certainly not near the same class as Itoje, Kruis, Lawes or Launch, and probably wasn't even the best Chiefs lock on the field yesterday. But credit for putting in a shift.
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If others had the same miss ratio we would have won the game farrel watson slade daley and may seemed to think it was optional
 
TRF_Olyy said:
Lawrence has 4 caps and has received the ball 12 times

Our attack is just shocking
Click to expand...
The worst part is it's not even like England never pass to the 12, when Farrell is there he gets it all the time. It's just once any 12 that isn't Farrell is there, they are completely cut out of the game unless they are Tuilagi. That's ridiculous and again points to how Farrell is a black hole for England possession with it largely dying with him. The fact he had the ball pass through his hands more than Russell that game but our backs saw it less, with the guy immediately 1 out from him seeing it once is just so stupid...

It really shows just how central Farrell is to a lot of what is going wrong, everything pivots through him whether at 10 or 12 and everything beyond him gets no look in.

I just can't see Jones ditching Farrell, he's got too much invested in him the same as Billy V and Youngs. They are untouchable and it seems Jones is prepared to sacrifice any other part of the squad to maintain those 3. I think it's some stupid stat he has seen that says an experienced 8, 9 and 10 is key to winning the world cup and now is blindly following that stat, ignoring the fact that those 8, 9 and 10 only get that experienced by continuing to be good. The other thing is Jones seems to take criticism by the press and public as a personal challenge and being the stubborn person that he is, the more people call for change the more he wants to oppose it and prove he is right and everyone else is wrong. He seems completely incapable of accepting any sort of criticism.
 
Last edited:
Import problemsat the border which are officially nothing to do with Brexit, meant that we had no kit delivered.
Eddie had to run down to Marks and Spencer to buy 23 plain white t-shirts
 

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