Aviva Premiership - Round 9

[Patchey]

That Evans lad looks damn good against Irish from what I saw. Consistently over the gain line.

 

[Wendigo7]

Who is this Evans lad?

Worth watching?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Worth watching?

Gods no, easily the worst game of rugby to happen this season.

 

[Wendigo7]

Cipriani' s face doesn't fit.
He has been far more consistent in the past 18 months than Ford, and is a better defender now too, but then Myler gets in instead even though we already have Farrell in the EPS as our boring option.

Lancaster wants mediocrity on attack from his halfbacks and centres.
Someone who'll look up, see gaps opening up, weak shoulders to exploit, and then kick the ball direct to the opposition fullback instead.

Maybe.

The only thing is I would say kicking from hand Ford is light years ahead of Cips and that is where the down fall for shooting out to the main team Cips loses for me. He'd be a great backup but Ford's tactical kicking is second to none in the league.

 

[ExpatDadSG]

My review of the weekends action

 

[Wendigo7]

My review of the weekends action

Read through some of the paragraphs. Seem a bit muddled and written on the hop. Nice summary of the weekends action though. Could be a bit more detailed but overall a solid 6/10 hitting most of the key points for each game.

 

[ExpatDadSG]

Thank you for the feedback. Especially for the Sunday games time is tight so it doesn't help when there are three like this weekend, but that's not the readers issue it's mine to sort out.

 

[j'nuh]

Who is this Evans lad?

Worth watching?

Gareth Evans. Despite the name, he's an English 8 that came through the Gloucester academy, who is a bit over 17st (so not exactly the biggest 8 around) but can shift fast for an 8, making him difficult to stop. He's also got ridiculous upper body strength (see dat enormous chest in the picture below), so he has an amazing hand-off and floors tons of people on contact if they tackle too high. Compare to Ben Morgan, who is a lot more solid with a lower centre of mass, a little heavier, but certainly not as fast. Both difficult players to put down in their own ways.

He became a regular starter in the squad for the first time last season, outperforming Morgan for most of the season. Like, no one in their right mind would have picked Morgan over Evans at the time. Then he picked up a long-term injury towards the end of the season that has kept him out until a few games ago this season. He's now had two bench and a 60 minute appearance for Gloucester this season after recovery, and looks damn impressive. Minute-for-minute, I would have said he was the most impressive Gloucester player in all three games.

Lots of Gloucester fans are saying that it wouldn't be a loss if Ben Morgan (who is up for contract renewal) moved on this season because Evans is that good. Some are even saying that Evans ought to be starting ahead of Morgan right now, even in spite of Morgan's showings for England. (Personally, I'd have Evans at 6 and Morgan at 8.) Either way, everyone at Gloucester is excited about him.

 

[Maverick1987]

Wow wow wow !! Just been watching aviva highlights ! Maro Itoje has beefed up massively . He's a serious tank now

 

[ratsapprentice]

He's an Etzebeth tier athlete... unit.

He/Sarries are targeting 118kg - so we'll see what he can do at that weight soon enough.

 

[Maverick1987]

He's an Etzebeth tier athlete... unit.

He/Sarries are targeting 118kg - so we'll see what he can do at that weight soon enough.

Wow that's around 18.5 stone . If he keeps his athleticism that will make him an impressive specimen . He seems to have stopped looking like a kid now and looks more than comfortable at senior level