England Vs Barbarians match thread 27th May 2018

[ratsapprentice]

No idea.

Probably depends entirely on who the other centres are.

 

[BPM]

Right so positives...

Daly looks like a possible successor to Brown so he can be dumped.
Singleton played well in general.
Curry got some turnovers and showed what a proper 7 can do.
Mercer did alright and definitely one for the future.

And...I'm done.

Francis did well too I thought. He scored two tries and had a hand in two others. Also made a couple of decent hits in defence. With Trinder's day being a complete non-event, I'd imagine Francis will tour.

Really concerned about the tour to SA now. With a new coach and some European-based players back in the side, they're going to be motivated to beat us. Right now a 3-0 whitewash looks like a strong possibility.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Which do you reckon is his best?

He was 12 when they played Ireland.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Francis' positioning and defence was shocking.
He made a dominant tackle or two, and I'm not taking anything away from his tries, but I don't wanna see him for England again anytime soon.

 

[BPM]

I agree his positioning was suspect at times but he certainly wasn't the only one guilty of that and at least everything else he did - the two tries, the take from the restart that was a big part of one of our tries and the miss pass out to Cipriani in the build up to May's try were all positive contributions.

He'd be nowhere near my first choice side and probably not in my first choice squad but he was fairly good today.

 

[Sixways Cheryl]

Not sure where to start with all that?! With my Worcester hat on, very pleased with the way Singleton played on his England debut. Curry did what Curry does, Daly keeps showing that he's world class & we scored some nice tries. Negatives - well, everything else. Robshaw was dreadful, picking Brown on the wing (or even picking him at all) was utterly baffling, Trinder & Robson didn't make the most of their opportunities & Cipriani was wasted at 15.

But you'd have to be a real rugby grinch to focus on England's negatives after a game as entertaining as that. The Barbarians were magical and all the column inches should be dedicated to them. They put on their own try of the season competition & how they can play at that level after only a week training together is amazing. Well done Baa Baas.

 

[Zootalaws]

Jones may have used it as an advancedtraing/blooding exercise, but that's still got to smart.

Lucky the Bokke are in disarray, unless they just field the Lions...

I'm not sure Jones knows what to do when he has so many to choose from - he seems best when he's got to work with what he's got. Too many choices makes too many changes.

Play two possibles/probables matches and let the team pick itself, then he can stick to what he does better - game day tactics.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

The Barbarians were magical and all the column inches should be dedicated to them. They put on their own try of the season competition & how they can play at that level after only a week training together is amazing. Well done Baa Baas.

OK, we were missing a lot of our first choice and the Baa Baas had some serious talent.

But the one big takeaway from this has to be that you don't need endless training camps and you don't need more laptops than NASA. The Baa Baas just played what they saw. And how much better is that than death by analysis rugby?

Of course some structure is necessary, but within that give players the freedom to do their thing - you know, the stuff they got picked for in the first place. If you don't know what you're going to do next, nor does the opposition defence coach. If you're very structured, he knows exactly what's coming.

It was an inconsequential match in some respects, but with some players failing their auditions and some established names not covering themselves in glory it's given Jones yet more headaches. South Africa's now starting to look very important.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

More laptops than NASA. Haha.

 

[Reiser99]

OK, we were missing a lot of our first choice and the Baa Baas had some serious talent.

But the one big takeaway from this has to be that you don't need endless training camps and you don't need more laptops than NASA. The Baa Baas just played what they saw. And how much better is that than death by analysis rugby?

Of course some structure is necessary, but within that give players the freedom to do their thing - you know, the stuff they got picked for in the first place. If you don't know what you're going to do next, nor does the opposition defence coach. If you're very structured, he knows exactly what's coming.

It was an inconsequential match in some respects, but with some players failing their auditions and some established names not covering themselves in glory it's given Jones yet more headaches. South Africa's now starting to look very important.

I'm sure I remember a quote from Eddie about wanting England to play heads up rugby. If anything they are getting more robotic and following team plans rigidly.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

I'm sure I remember a quote from Eddie about wanting England to play heads up rugby. If anything they are getting more robotic and following team plans rigidly.

Agreed. We can blame Jones and his coaching team but when things go wrong, as they have, and the pressure's on the players revert to type. And if you believe in nurture over nature, "type" can be traced all the way back to the academies......