I'm not so sure that he's added aggression.
That's weird, usually you hear the exact opposite when players move to France, saying how amateurish it is there - I remember Brian Mujati used to say how weird the work environment was there, with things like strength and conditioning/nutrition just being left up to the players themselves (hence players like Russell and Zebo packing on the pounds when they arrived)
More complicated than that. WRU is negotiating with the regions and need an agreement between all of them I believe. They are also looking at long term sustainability, so I don't think it's as simple as players striking means they'll cave. While the players will sign contracts they aren't actually involved directly in the negotiations I believe. I'm sure their clubs are speaking to them, but this could easily drag on if a minority don't agree.
I think there's also been a big coming together across the piece to help Les Bleus prepare for the RWC.
Yeah, it's undeniably complex (and a whole lot of unrelated things coming together to whip up a huge storm) but "players considering the option of going on strike in the build up to Wales' Six Nations game with England" [BBC article] is nowhere near the same as the game being called off if players' (justified) demands are not met.
This seems to be the real issue. It's not the players striking because they think they aren't getting a fair deal, it's players striking because they aren't getting any deal.
Plus I just wonder if adding genuine alternatives to the likes of Dombrandt pushes his form, lack of competition doesn't help drive up the standards or help build depth.
Just to clarify I know nothing about the issues facing Wales my comments were not so much about them but a far more basic selfish ideology that them being a big part of Englands remaining WC preparations is not great for us for many reason and this is simply one more.
Totally.
The main mistakes dombrandt had been making are when he's been running some pretty solid lines but the timing has been off or he's fumbled the pass. Those start going to have and I think he will be cutting through defences in a way Vunipola never did.
Yep, that's his USP but they have to start sticking. There have been other issues though like a fumbled kick off and missing that tackle on McVdM.
Kind of worried about their self-awareness if they didn't realise how bad it was. Also more criticism for EJ if he either hadn't identified the issue or hadn't actually told his players.‘We didn’t realise how bad it was’: inside the England scrum with Mako Vunipola
England prop revealed the problems with his side’s scrum and how Steve Borthwick’s attention to detail could help them fix itwww.theguardian.com
More reason to think EJ was a Trojan Horse.
