Jeremy Guscotts Team of the Tournament

[goodNumber10]

really disagree with that, Bennett's off load against France was incredible, and he popped up in moves on numerous occasions, Hoggs cover tackling was excellent and he vovered more ground than any other Fullback - i'm not a stats fan but that certainly not the numbers of a below average/ poor attacking 15.

 

[McTallshort]

really disagree with that, Bennett's off load against France was incredible, and he popped up in moves on numerous occasions, Hoggs cover tackling was excellent and he vovered more ground than any other Fullback - i'm not a stats fan but that certainly not the numbers of a below average/ poor attacking 15.

Its easy to spot small moments like Bennetts offload when the whole team are playing badly, Hoggs cover tackling had to be excellent hes a full back but thats all we really saw would you have him over Brown or Halfshilling?

 

[goodNumber10]

Its easy to spot small moments like Bennetts offload when the whole team are playing badly, Hoggs cover tackling had to be excellent hes a full back but thats all we really saw would you have him over Brown or Halfshilling?

yes.

 

[McTallshort]

yes.

Fair enough

 

[The Jones Boy]

Dan Cole should have been in there, he was a handful for all of his opponents.

 

[nickdnz]

I agree with Hogg as fullback of the competition.

I'd have Vunipola at 8.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

http://balls.ie/rugby/the-official-...ns-is-the-stuff-of-joe-schmidts-dreams-34234/

Interesting look at things, obviously the purely statistical nature of things takes away from the likes of O'Connell and AWJ and missing games also has a bad effect on players but Rob Kearney was reasonably hot despite claims stating otherwise! I wasn't going to say anything about it but this convinced me, his performances against France and England were quite incredible, I reckon he did exactly what Schmidt wanted him to do to absolute perfection.

 

[big ginger 8]

http://balls.ie/rugby/the-official-...ns-is-the-stuff-of-joe-schmidts-dreams-34234/

Interesting look at things, obviously the purely statistical nature of things takes away from the likes of O'Connell and AWJ and missing games also has a bad effect on players but Rob Kearney was reasonably hot despite claims stating otherwise! I wasn't going to say anything about it but this convinced me, his performances against France and England were quite incredible, I reckon he did exactly what Schmidt wanted him to do to absolute perfection.

Apart from the South Africans I think most people underrate him.

A lot more focus on what he doesn't or can't do rather than what he can and does. With his organisational skills, boot, high ball skills and strike running he's the perfect fullback for Schmidt.

 

[ncurd]

http://balls.ie/rugby/the-official-...ns-is-the-stuff-of-joe-schmidts-dreams-34234/

Interesting look at things, obviously the purely statistical nature of things takes away from the likes of O'Connell and AWJ and missing games also has a bad effect on players but Rob Kearney was reasonably hot despite claims stating otherwise! I wasn't going to say anything about it but this convinced me, his performances against France and England were quite incredible, I reckon he did exactly what Schmidt wanted him to do to absolute perfection.

Interesting to note Nowell as top 11 for the tournament as he didn't play the first two games. Shows how poor players in that position was and how relatively good he was.

 

[RedruthRFC]

Interesting to note Nowell as top 11 for the tournament as he didn't play the first two games. Shows how poor players in that position was and how relatively good he was.

Or just how flawed the statistical analysis is! It's barely explained in the article, for example are the points tallies an average (i.e. divided by matches played) or just cumulative, if the latter, is there an advantage to players who have played more games or is an "average" performance designed to return a zero score? All metres made are hardly born equal, similarly some missed tackles are much more damaging that others.

Given the popular opinion that he makes a lot of mistakes, it is surprising to see Nowell as the top eleven, but hardly mind blowing compared to Jonny Gray being "better than" AWJ and POC and Chris Robshaw being "better than" Sam Warburton or even James Haskell being "better than" Thierry Dusautoir.

 

[goodNumber10]

Or just how flawed the statistical analysis is! It's barely explained in the article, for example are the points tallies an average (i.e. divided by matches played) or just cumulative, if the latter, is there an advantage to players who have played more games or is an "average" performance designed to return a zero score? All metres made are hardly born equal, similarly some missed tackles are much more damaging that others.

Given the popular opinion that he makes a lot of mistakes, it is surprising to see Nowell as the top eleven, but hardly mind blowing compared to Jonny Gray being "better than" AWJ and POC and Chris Robshaw being "better than" Sam Warburton or even James Haskell being "better than" Thierry Dusautoir.

it says it's cumulative not average - people (like Sexton) miss out because of lack of game time.

 

[RedruthRFC]

it says it's cumulative not average - people (like Sexton) miss out because of lack of game time.

Did it say that in the video (which my browser doesn't want me to watch for some reason)? I still can't see any mention of that on the page.

As I said above, the fact that it is cumulative doesn't necessarily mean that playing more matches is an advantage. Assuming that it is, Nowell coming out on top isn't all that surprising as neither Williams or Makaitaci played the full tournament either. If anything is surprising, surely it's Makaitaci cracking the top 3 with just two matches under his belt. It does nothing to explain POC and AWJ finishing behind Gray though.

 

[goodNumber10]

Did it say that in the video (which my browser doesn't want me to watch for some reason)? I still can't see any mention of that on the page.

As I said above, the fact that it is cumulative doesn't necessarily mean that playing more matches is an advantage. Assuming that it is, Nowell coming out on top isn't all that surprising as neither Williams or Makaitaci played the full tournament either. If anything is surprising, surely it's Makaitaci cracking the top 3 with just two matches under his belt. It does nothing to explain POC and AWJ finishing behind Gray though.

No, but it says this:

The fact that Johnny Sexton and Jamie Heaslip both missed games have contributed to their absence

If it was an average then that wouldn't be the case.

 

[RedruthRFC]

Thanks, point taken. Apparently I'd stopped reading by then! That being the case, I'd say that the model is rather poorly designed. <insert quote about statistics here>

 

[Tony Manx]

I would not worry what Guscott says! Great player but one wonders why he has a contract with BBC as known a lot sharper needles in the packet!!!

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Guscott's a strange fish. He's typically a bit right and a lot wrong.

As has been covered, why North is in there when he was perhaps the poorest of the Welsh backs, is beyond me. Williams would have been worth a spot.
Healy seemed to struggle with the pace in the match I saw of him..

 

[LiRFCMatt]

Our first of 2 team of the tournaments is up, not sure I agree with JG too much, but then again I never saw a lot of the reasoning behind his Team of the Week selections either.

Look here for reasons: Team of the Tournament (1) - 6 Nations 2015 http://fourballsblog.blogspot.com/20...tions-2015.htm

Players:

McGrath
Best
Cole
AWJ
POC
POM
Warburton
Vunipola
Youngs
Ford
Nowell
Roberts
Joseph
Venditti
Hogg

 

[LiRFCMatt]

Our second opinion is up here with reasons:

Team of the Tournament (2) - 6 Nations http://fourballsblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/team-of-tournament-2-6-nations.html

Team is:

McGrath
Baldwin
Cole
Charteris
J Gray
O'Mahony
Robshaw
Vunipola
B Youngs
Ford
Nowell
Henshaw
Joseph
Bowe
Hogg

- - - Updated - - -

Our second opinion is up here with reasons:

Team of the Tournament (2) - 6 Nations http://fourballsblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/team-of-tournament-2-6-nations.html

Team is:

McGrath
Baldwin
Cole
Charteris
J Gray
O'Mahony
Robshaw
Vunipola
B Youngs
Ford
Nowell
Henshaw
Joseph
Bowe
Hogg

 

[Tony Manx]

Just seen Greenwood's XV and totally agree except for Roberts at 12 but if he says so, who am I to disagree! He is the best analyst in the world

 

[goodNumber10]

He is the best analyst in the world

he's not even the best analyst on sky.