England Rugby 2018/19 Thread

[Ragey Erasmus]

I actually nearly used him as my example. If Billy could play consistently at 80% of his potential he would be up there as the best 12 in the world.

His nickname suggests he's more than the sum of his parts, I only wish that was the case .

How does his nickname suggest that? 36? That's because 12trees = 12 3's in Irish, hence 36.

 

[Nudger]

Farrell played inside centre for the lions only after sbw was out of the series
Sbw would have had him for breakfast
Also he misses an awful lot of tackles for a 12 the trouble he is the best we've got
Can any of the usual suspects raise their game to break into the team??

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Hill at chiefs doing any good at 12?

 

[Scotty]

Hill at chiefs doing any good at 12?

Good carrier/ club player but not international level IMO. Devoto is alot closer but not there yet.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Hill at chiefs doing any good at 12?

What Scotty said, plus he struggles a lot with injuries. Very rare that he's able to string a long run of games together and is currently injured.

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

Safe to say nobody can question Marcus Smith's defence at this point. Monster defence

 

[higgik]

He is so talented. He reads the game so well that he manages to get his body in the right position to tackle most of the time and as we all know, little guys can bring down big guys if they get their angles right and are positive in the tackle.

Hope he gets some time on international duty very soon.

 

[Scotty]

He is so talented. He reads the game so well that he manages to get his body in the right position to tackle most of the time and as we all know, little guys can bring down big guys if they get their angles right and are positive in the tackle.

Hope he gets some time on international duty very soon.

100% agree but cant see it as its too close to the world cup so pretty sure we will keep and take ford faz cips rather than trying to get smith to international level. Its a shame.

 

[ratsapprentice]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/r...chot-claims-investment-needed-game-level.html

Bit of a nothing article - but interesting to see Kay say what he's supposed to have.

 

[Jimbo]

Wow what's going on with Ford he has suddenly remembered he can actually line break himself, still feel like Cips is a better 10 but think Eddie favours Ford, wouldn't surprise me if dropping him was more about trying to kick some form back into him that trying to make England better in the SA series, see if Ford can sustaine that level of performance especially against some of the usual top 6 clubs.

 

[Jimbo]

So much good stuff in their, a lot replicating what has been discussed in the forums. What I especially like is his discussion about the break down and tackling, because I've been saying the same thing. England smash players back away from their support who can jackal and towards the opposition who can support the runner quicker, where as almost every other side pulls the player down towards their side conceding ground, but giving their supporting players a chance to steal the ball and away from the attackers supporting players. How often did we see England supporting players late to clear out the ruck and so conceding a penalty for holding on. I didn't realise how much of an effect the rule change about tacklers not competing for the ball had had, but this video highlights why England's tackling tactics are all wrong and won''t work under current WR rules.

Good points well put, I also think this largely explains English clubs struggling so much in the champions cup, hopefully see that some lesions have been learned, would be nice to see a little more consistancy on reffing at the breakdown though some of Ireland and Scotland's clearouts looked to me at times to be pretty suspect, more diving into the clear out than staying on the feet which didn't seem to get pinged, still think refs have preconceived ideas of breakdown dominance or create early opinions in the game and continue with them regardless of what is actually occurring.

The continuing denial of Farrell's ability and importance to the team amazes me, he is a quality 10 & 12, he misses tackles but rushing out of the line creating problems will always make him prone to that its part of the game plan, I find it quite laughable that someone even commented on Slade being an upgrade to him, in what damn universe rarely does Faz have a bad game for England sometimes he is less impressive than other but still not usually a bad game, Slade has as many bad games as he does good.

If we start talking about someone who can offer something different at 12 like Manu or Teo I can understand but Slade really he is quicker than Faz but in other departments would simply be a poor mans Faz.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

One of my main concerns for an area other teams got away with internationally far more than us was having blockers at the ruck, ie players not part of the ruck would just stand or lie on the wrong side and actively hinder players joining it. In our last game against Wales they were doing it all the time, to the extent Webb actually grabbed Brown and blocked him about 2m from the ruck when we were right on their try line, completely ignored.

Refs need to agree to how the rucks will be played, inform the teams and then the teams need to be smart enough to work to that. All teams cheat but England aren't streetwise in how they do it, they cheat in areas that are being watched and don't know how to deal with cheating in areas that aren't. Couple that with our reputation for being slow to the breakdown and **** poor at clearing out and, all other things being equal, we will come out worse.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Guess we'll soon find out how long Shields will be out for.

Didn't see much this weekend. How did Underhill go? Am I reading a 2nd consecutive good review for Kvesic?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

A fit Underhill is England's best option at 6 bar none.


Kvesic has been outstanding so far this season but he's so far outside of EJs plans he's not even really worth discussing.

 

[MarkyH]

Cips, Ford, Tuilagi all had good games at the weekend. Billy back fit. Simmonds playing well and scoring a couple. Slade too.

Good news for England.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

A fit Underhill is England's best option at 6 bar none.

Kvesic has been outstanding so far this season but he's so far outside of EJs plans he's not even really worth discussing.

Agree on Underhill. I think his all round game is improving, but mainly I like that he hits very very hard.

Given that several shirts aren't nailed down and our injury record, I hope Jones judges what he sees and parks his preconceptions. Likes of Kvesic and Morgan should be given a fair hearing on what they're doing now, not what they weren't doing 3 years ago.

 

[NickBD]

I thought Hartley looked pretty decent too when he came on, 2 weeks in row now. He's a lock to start for England if he can keep this going.

 

[BPM]

Agree on Underhill. I think his all round game is improving, but mainly I like that he hits very very hard.

Given that several shirts aren't nailed down and our injury record, I hope Jones judges what he sees and parks his preconceptions. Likes of Kvesic and Morgan should be given a fair hearing on what they're doing now, not what they weren't doing 3 years ago.

100% agree. If Billy can stay fit, I'm less worried about Morgan (I would have called him this summer though), but if Kvesic keeps starting and keeps performing, he should definitely be in consideration. Cipriani has shown the Eddie can change his mind sometimes ...

 

[ratsapprentice]

Agree on Underhill. I think his all round game is improving, but mainly I like that he hits very very hard.

Core feature of a blindside.

 

[Geordie]

How has Sam James started the season with Sale? He's a centre I rate highly.

Is Underhill over his concussion issues. Then he is definitely a contender for the 6 shirt. I think we are lacking some genuine brute power and strength in that pack and he certainly brings that.
Kveisc as mentioned has started the season on fire. Is it true Baxter said he was too one dimensional when he signed him...obviously they have been working on expanding his game.