[2021 Six Nations] England Squad

[Lé Ddanno]

Pffffffft everyone's signing tons of Saffers now, and we've signed none for next season - think Tigers announced three more today?

Van Poortvliet is from Norfolk anyway (with a Dutch great, great grandfather)

I'll concede when Sale put out a 23 with less than 7 players that qualify for the Boks

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Poortvliet looks seriously good.

There's some good youngsters knocking around this season - frustrating that theres no u20s internationals on atm, but then again they're getting proper game time at their clubs which is probably better for them

I'll concede when Sale put out a 23 with less than 7 players that qualify for the Boks

A week ago then, class
Don't get why people are crying so much about it anyway,
Still 13 EQP/9 academy graduates in the side, and those numbers will go up when people are back from injury/international - people just lose their minds because our imports are from one place compared to other side's who have Aussies kiwis Fijians etc.
More academy grads than Chiefs when we played them yet people still like to say we're killing the sport ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

There's some good youngsters knocking around this season - frustrating that theres no u20s internationals on atm, but then again they're getting proper game time at their clubs which is probably better for them


A week ago then, class
Don't get why people are crying so much about it anyway,
Still 13 EQP/9 academy graduates in the side, and those numbers will go up when people are back from injury/international - people just lose their minds because our imports are from one place compared to other side's who have Aussies kiwis Fijians etc.
More academy grads than Chiefs when we played them yet people still like to say theyre a little community side and we're killing the sport ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

South
Africa's
Largest
Employer

 

[TRF_Olyy]

B ollocks,
A nother
T errible
H ome defeat

 

[Lé Ddanno]

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Listen nothing wrong with teams having lots of south africans.......................

 

[Which Tyler]

TBH, it's understandable at the moment; a couple of SA clubs have gone to the wall; others simply aren't playing; and there's a salary cap squeeze, so value-for-money is even more important.
Doesn't mean I like it, of course, but it's an understable unintended consequence.

 

[Jakedood]

I'm probably late to address this point but, why would you hear aboutit ? Unless you're actually in camp, in which case leaking this sort of thing (ignoring Burt's Daily Mail happy leaker) is a sure way to suddenly find yourself outside of camp.

Given that a good portion of the camp leadership comprises out of form Sarries desperate to play themselves into something approaching form, I'd think the players aren't necessarily going to squeal.

Well in this case, you're kinda proving my point. If no one has spoken about it, why are people insinuating that the camp is unhappy?
It's purely come about because they lost a couple of games

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Hartley on rugbypass is pretty revealing.

He basically said this "Unless, it's Jones' idea and Jones believes he's in control and correct and will look good he won't do it."

So they went on to ask about Sam Simmonds after Jerome Kaino said he should be playing for England easily. Hartley basically said "the more you ask, the less it will happen. Basically forget it. It has to be him and he has to think it's his idea!"

Roberts then went on to suggest he has to let his ego go and Hartley shrugged. I mean this is where we are at basically.

That pretty much confirms what a lot of us keyboard warriors have thought. Difference being that Hartley is speaking from an informed position.

Comes back to Olyy's point about man management. That is no way to get the best out of people.

 

[Reiser99]

So England win...

Positives -
Attack looked better and we kept the ball well, especially in the first half.
Gave away less penalties, though still 12 in the end. However, they didn't feel like stupid penalties, so an improvement.
Kicking game was more productive.
Possession, kept possession well and that did a lot to nullify France in the second half. Went up from 54% in first half to 64% in second.
Set piece was 100% on our own ball.
Kept France to 3 points in the second half.
We actually seemed to adapt as the game went one and didn't just stick to one plan.

Negatives -
80% tackling success is not good enough, though I imagine it improved in the second half. Apart from Billy and Malins everyone who started missed at least 1 tackle.
Mako for me was the weak link in the pack, didn't feel he did much of anything. He gave away 3 penalties, which I believe were all in the scrum on French ball.
Farrell for me still doesn't actually add anything special. I just don't get what he adds that other players can't do and more.
Clearing out the rucks could have been better, we got turned over too easily, had at least 4-5 penalties for holding on I think.
Fitness, maybe it was the intensity as France looked tired too, but England seemed lazy at times.
Focus. We still have times where England seem to switch off and France definitely looked for it as Wales did.

I still think we have the same issues that need to be fixed, though Youngs had a good game at 9 I thought overall. We still need more depth at 9. Billy still isn't doing anything special and neither is Farrell. Malins didn't have a bad game and Daly looked good against a tired defence, but 15 still needs sorting as Daly just isn't reliable. Discipline needs to improve further and not give teams easy territory.

 

[ncurd]

My report card on players is just I've added Mako to my why does he play book.

Young's frustratingly has done enough in the past two games to keep his spot so I'm now expecting another dire run of games.

 

[Reiser99]

I still think the Sarries contingent overall look out of form. Even if I forgive Eddie for making a mistake with he initial selection and then getting stuck with them, Mako was injured and after seeing the form of the Sarries players, he could easily have been sent back. Instead Eddie chose to bring him in and again, he just hasn't looked right. At this level mm count and players playing at 80% isn't good enough.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Young's frustratingly has done enough in the past two games to keep his spot so I'm now expecting another dire run of games.

If he can keep this form up then I'm not necessarily against that - it's just we've seen time and time again that he can't
I don't think Malins did enough to keep Daly out of the side, especially as Daly was decent off the bench

Ewels did better than I expected - wasn't exactly stand out but our lineout was the best it's been this tournament (offensively and defensively) and he mauled well

I'd put the same 23 out again against Ireland and then hope for some experimentation over the summer

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Even if the sarries players were in form, I'd still want a new 12 instead of Farrell, a new 8 for billy and a new 15. Farrell just doesn't offer anything at 12, we really need to bench him.

 

[Reiser99]

I'd put the same 23 out again against Ireland and then hope for some experimentation over the summer

I would as well, though I'd like Malins to start again. I'd say Genge for Mako, but neither have had a great tournament. Definitely a worrying position going forward if neither get back to form.

One thing I will say is that allowing players to play their way into form should never be allowed to happen again. This **** completely takes the **** and those players in the premiership playing well are completely entitled to feel ****** off with EJ.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I would as well, though I'd like Malins to start again. I'd say Genge for Mako, but neither have had a great tournament. Definitely a worrying position going forward if neither get back to form.

They're just keeping the shirt warm for Bevan Rodd anyway

 

[Jashay]

If he can keep this form up then I'm not necessarily against that - it's just we've seen time and time again that he can't
I don't think Malins did enough to keep Daly out of the side, especially as Daly was decent off the bench

Ewels did better than I expected - wasn't exactly stand out but our lineout was the best it's been this tournament (offensively and defensively) and he mauled well

I'd put the same 23 out again against Ireland and then hope for some experimentation over the summer

Malins had a spotty performance, but I'm not writing him off as starting FB based on today's game. It seemed to me that he was much better in terms of defence and positioning than Daly, but was a lacklustre when he joined the attack. Few times it looked like he was dawdling, some rubbish passes.

But for me it's more important for the FB to be good defensively. If your attack falters it's often a case of reset and start over (unless it goes badly wrong), but if your defence falters it's often a case of going down points.

Plus I think Daly is tailor-made for the 23 shirt.

Agree on Ewels, and the squad for the next match.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yeah don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely give Malins another start (at least) - I'm just thinking how EJ will view it

 

[Lé Ddanno]

Malins had a spotty performance, but I'm not writing him off as starting FB based on today's game. It seemed to me that he was much better in terms of defence and positioning than Daly, but was a lacklustre when he joined the attack. Few times it looked like he was dawdling, some rubbish passes.

But for me it's more important for the FB to be good defensively. If your attack falters it's often a case of reset and start over (unless it goes badly wrong), but if your defence falters it's often a case of going down points.

Plus I think Daly is tailor-made for the 23 shirt.

Agree on Ewels, and the squad for the next match.

All of this, plus I thought Lawrence looked sparky, would be happy for him to come on at 55mins against Ireland

 

[Lé Ddanno]

So England win...

Positives -
Attack looked better and we kept the ball well, especially in the first half.
Gave away less penalties, though still 12 in the end. However, they didn't feel like stupid penalties, so an improvement.
Kicking game was more productive.
Possession, kept possession well and that did a lot to nullify France in the second half. Went up from 54% in first half to 64% in second.
Set piece was 100% on our own ball.
Kept France to 3 points in the second half.
We actually seemed to adapt as the game went one and didn't just stick to one plan.

Negatives -
80% tackling success is not good enough, though I imagine it improved in the second half. Apart from Billy and Malins everyone who started missed at least 1 tackle.
Mako for me was the weak link in the pack, didn't feel he did much of anything. He gave away 3 penalties, which I believe were all in the scrum on French ball.
Farrell for me still doesn't actually add anything special. I just don't get what he adds that other players can't do and more.
Clearing out the rucks could have been better, we got turned over too easily, had at least 4-5 penalties for holding on I think.
Fitness, maybe it was the intensity as France looked tired too, but England seemed lazy at times.
Focus. We still have times where England seem to switch off and France definitely looked for it as Wales did.

I still think we have the same issues that need to be fixed, though Youngs had a good game at 9 I thought overall. We still need more depth at 9. Billy still isn't doing anything special and neither is Farrell. Malins didn't have a bad game and Daly looked good against a tired defence, but 15 still needs sorting as Daly just isn't reliable. Discipline needs to improve further and not give teams easy territory.

The annoying thing is that flipping Watson and Daly, calling Underhill up and benching Obano with Genge starting could and perhaps should have happened after week 1, but they won't. I'm resigned to Farrell for now and will continue to pray Ford stays fit. **** knows what we do at 8.