Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Help Support The Rugby Forum :
Forums
Featured
2024 Guinness Six Nations
England v Scotland, 02/02/13
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="j&#039;nuh" data-source="post: 548565" data-attributes="member: 55446"><p>Has Billy Vunipola only just been called up to England?</p><p></p><p>I'm really happy with our pack at the minute. Rowntree has always been impressive, and it's even better now that the squad selections in the pack are good. Only change I would make is to bring Wood in for Vunipola. I like the idea of a Wood-Hartley-Wilson bench for a potential late-game penalty-winning scrummaging unit.</p><p></p><p>Half-backs and centers resembling something good. Outside backs need improvement though. Brown is not a winger. I don't doubt he's got talent and admit he does good things even in games where he plays on the wing, but he could do those same things at fullback without any of the defensive liabilities he brings on the wing. For example, for the Sean Maitland try (after being gassed by Hogg down the left wing, where he drifts to Maitland too fast), as the Scotland backline swing the ball over to Brown's wing, as a winger Brown had to drift into the corner if possible. Instead, Grant carries forward, gets tackled 2m away from the line, and Brown brings himself into the ruck instead of guarding the blindside he should be responsible for. It left Maitland a very easy run in.</p><p></p><p>Another example - when Brown plays fullback his kicks come from the middle of the field and his big boot means he can drill the ball for touch, and he only needs to run down the middle of the field and play his team onside to get help in defending the return. Kicking from the wing gives a much sharper angle to work with and you generally have to keep it in-field. You should only kick a ball as far as you'll be able to chase to when it lands. If you kick the ball 60m, but can only make 40m by the time it lands, it gives the opponents a chance to run most of that remaining 20m and also line up a counterattack. A well-timed kick has you within 10m as the ball comes down and doesn't give the opponent any time to get any kind of speed in running the ball back. In the run up to the Maitland try when Hogg gassed Brown down the left wing, it came about because Brown's kick down the left wing was done at a low trajectory and Brown's pace and lack of awareness to chase that kick left Hogg and Maitland in ~30m of space to run the ball back with.</p><p></p><p>If you're willing to play a player with defensive flaws, might as well just go full-out and play Varndell or Wade. Or, you know, Sharples. It's unfair that he got dropped after one game for a couple of defensive flaws whereas Brown keeps his place there. He doesn't have the pace, and he's still very far off the awareness needed for a wing. Given time, Abendanon could make a decent shift from fullback to wing. But we have a lot of wingers, why do we need to convert fullbacks!? Biggs or Monye would be decent selections now. Strettle would be better than Brown. Come the Summer, JSD, May and Benjamin could come into contention. Brown is a good strike runner, and Goode isn't needed as long as we have Twelvetrees instead of Barritt, so Brown takes over at fullback.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="j'nuh, post: 548565, member: 55446"] Has Billy Vunipola only just been called up to England? I'm really happy with our pack at the minute. Rowntree has always been impressive, and it's even better now that the squad selections in the pack are good. Only change I would make is to bring Wood in for Vunipola. I like the idea of a Wood-Hartley-Wilson bench for a potential late-game penalty-winning scrummaging unit. Half-backs and centers resembling something good. Outside backs need improvement though. Brown is not a winger. I don't doubt he's got talent and admit he does good things even in games where he plays on the wing, but he could do those same things at fullback without any of the defensive liabilities he brings on the wing. For example, for the Sean Maitland try (after being gassed by Hogg down the left wing, where he drifts to Maitland too fast), as the Scotland backline swing the ball over to Brown's wing, as a winger Brown had to drift into the corner if possible. Instead, Grant carries forward, gets tackled 2m away from the line, and Brown brings himself into the ruck instead of guarding the blindside he should be responsible for. It left Maitland a very easy run in. Another example - when Brown plays fullback his kicks come from the middle of the field and his big boot means he can drill the ball for touch, and he only needs to run down the middle of the field and play his team onside to get help in defending the return. Kicking from the wing gives a much sharper angle to work with and you generally have to keep it in-field. You should only kick a ball as far as you'll be able to chase to when it lands. If you kick the ball 60m, but can only make 40m by the time it lands, it gives the opponents a chance to run most of that remaining 20m and also line up a counterattack. A well-timed kick has you within 10m as the ball comes down and doesn't give the opponent any time to get any kind of speed in running the ball back. In the run up to the Maitland try when Hogg gassed Brown down the left wing, it came about because Brown's kick down the left wing was done at a low trajectory and Brown's pace and lack of awareness to chase that kick left Hogg and Maitland in ~30m of space to run the ball back with. If you're willing to play a player with defensive flaws, might as well just go full-out and play Varndell or Wade. Or, you know, Sharples. It's unfair that he got dropped after one game for a couple of defensive flaws whereas Brown keeps his place there. He doesn't have the pace, and he's still very far off the awareness needed for a wing. Given time, Abendanon could make a decent shift from fullback to wing. But we have a lot of wingers, why do we need to convert fullbacks!? Biggs or Monye would be decent selections now. Strettle would be better than Brown. Come the Summer, JSD, May and Benjamin could come into contention. Brown is a good strike runner, and Goode isn't needed as long as we have Twelvetrees instead of Barritt, so Brown takes over at fullback. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Featured
2024 Guinness Six Nations
England v Scotland, 02/02/13
Top