He still has the greatest demonstrated ceiling of ability at club level out of basically any English player though. Even when docking points for doubts, he's still probably one of our better ideas if available. Like, I share enough of your doubts that I don't support rewriting the rules just for him, but he's clearly one of our more likely players to have an impact at international level. If he's available, we find out.
I like Kvesic, but he needs to go and boss hog a few high profile games. Hoping he gets a chance this 6N. Armitage was in a clearly outgunned World XV against the Bokke and still looked rocking.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think Armitage is bad. It's more that I think that highly of Kvesic, than thinking lowly of Armitage.
When has he ever done it a lot though?
For Saints he might get one every 5 games... I'd prefer a guy who will put in 5-10 dominant tackles that don't make the highlight reel, than one jaw droppingly massive "sack" every couple of games.
If it was that much of a boon, Motu Matu'u would be playing for NZ, not Samoa.
The same goes for carrying - although Courtney's ability in the wide channels is pretty good - his tight carrying and rucking isn't.
100% agreed. I'd call Lawes' hits a little perk to his game, something nice to have if he gets the rest of his game right. Although I don't think he does his hits as rarely as once every five games. At his best, it'll be at least one a game.
But we lack in so many fundamentals as a pack that it's not a game-changer as far as selections come; the rest of his game needs to be spot on. In an ideal world, I'd love for us to have a powerful lock with a massive leg drive, who might not break tackles, but can stay on his feet and drive forward to give us some good reset ball. An Etzebeth-like player. Not sure who exactly fits that bill though.
And so is the case with many England players it seems. So many look like they could go that bit further and then don't. It's actually sort of worrying how we have so many "good" players yet struggle so much to produce "great" players. Hell even Italy managed it with Parisse.
Our U20s are fine, we have one of the best teams there.
Our clubs are fine, we remain fairly competitive in Europe despite diluting our stars amongst so many teams.
It makes me think that the problem is the transition between club and country. If so, that's not as dire a situation as it could be, as the problem is in the final link in the chain.
Prediction-wise, for me, it comes down to poor tactics. I think our stars are hidden in poor game plans. Take the same set of players and give them all Irish nationalities and I think stars would emerge within a year. You can't tell a star to do daft things and expect them to retain star status. It's like telling Usain Bolt to run the 100m on his hands and cursing him when he doesn't place first.
