should Bannahan be starting at 13?

[whitto2008]

truthfully i dont think he should be starting at 13! for bath he has played half a season there and only because of injury. when Brock James is back he will be pushed back to wing where he belongs!

 

[cyRil]

Alright safe.
Lock this thread en?

 

[mohamed_ali12]

truthfully i dont think he should be starting at 13! for bath he has played half a season there and only because of injury. when Brock James is back he will be pushed back to wing where he belongs!

*Butch James

All of Bath's centres are fit - Barkley, Hape, Williams, Carraro

 

[gingergenius]

no

 

[eot345]

why does everyone seem to hate bannhan he is clearly a good rugby player, he scores trys off loads well and has good acceptable hands. he also does some crunching tackles.

 

[eot345]

i think bannahan is better than tindall... he is more powerfull than tindall aswell as quicker which means he actually poses a offencive threat. he has scored 3 trys in 5 apperences playing alongside a far weaker england team than the one we have now.

 

[Teh Mite]

I have my own take on that sentence;

"I know why everyone seem to hate bannhan. he is clearly an average rugby player, he [sometimes] scores trys, [never] off loads well and has feet for hands. he also does many illegal tackles."

Banahan ion the centre is like a more 1 dimensional, dim witted, tatooed Tindall without the reputation to back up the hype.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

i think bannahan is better than tindall... he is more powerfull than tindall aswell as quicker which means he actually poses a offencive threat. he has scored 3 trys in 5 apperences playing alongside a far weaker england team than the one we have now.

Power and Speed isn't everything. In the centre you need to be able to spot gaps in the oppositions defence, know exactly where to be on attack and defence and be running the right lines, all of this comes with experience.


I'm going to reserve judgement on Banahan until after the match, as I said before I think he's better in the centre than on the wing (and he's said in interviews he prefers to play there than on the wing) so let's see what he can do before completely writing him off.

 

[gingergenius]

Ok Olyy makes sense not to write him off yet. But centres are supposed to have rugby brains. Who are the best 13s (fit and on form) in the modern game? Smith, Fourie, O'Driscoll, Jauzion, Roberts, Ashley-Cooper...

can we really, even with the most optimistic view, see Banahan ever being as good as those guys? They all vary in size and speed, but they've got one thing in common which is that they have wonderful rugby brains and pick some great lines in attack. And rugby brain is something Banahan's never yet demonstrated he's got.

Waldouck's got a rugby brain. Allen's got a rugby brain. Even Tindall has a little of one, to his credit. And so does bloody Armitage. All of whom have been in the EPS this week and none of whom are starting on Saturday.

 

[iWin]

No. Absolutely not. Under no circumstances.

HOWEVER - Imo, Hape should never have been near the England squad either and he's been a stand-out player in the last couple, so I'll reserve judgement.
Been wrong too much too recently to dismiss stuff out of hand

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I agree GG, he definately doesn't look like a world-class 13 from what I've seen of him on the wing/at 13 for Bath, but he's had McGeechan, Meehan and Johnson all say/think he's good enough to play there so lets hope they've seen something in training that shows his talent.
(Though it's worth noting 2/3 of those people think Tim Payne is good enough to prop for the Lions/England soooo......)

 

[Teh Mite]

No. Absolutely not. Under no circumstances.

HOWEVER - Imo, Hape should never have been near the England squad either and he's been a stand-out player in the last couple, so I'll reserve judgement.
Been wrong too much too recently to dismiss stuff out of hand

:huh:

 

[iWin]

I will not be swayed by your perplexity! My opinion is that Hape has far exceeded expectations and has earned his place, at least for now.
Maybe stand-out was the wrong way to put it. I meant that he stood out due to my low estimations of his skill.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

He's only exceeded expecatations because people had very very low expectations!
He's hardly been standout, he's been adequate. Not done anything great, not done anything bad.

 

[mohamed_ali12]

I so hope Mite and Gingergenius are proven wrong this weekend.

 

[eot345]

Power and Speed isn't everything. In the centre you need to be able to spot gaps in the oppositions defence, know exactly where to be on attack and defence and be running the right lines, all of this comes with experience.


I'm going to reserve judgement on Banahan until after the match, as I said before I think he's better in the centre than on the wing (and he's said in interviews he prefers to play there than on the wing) so let's see what he can do before completely writing him off.

i agree power speed are not neccessarily the most important thing in the world for a centre but they sure as hell help... i think he needs a creative player beside him to allow him to be his best. (e.g Waldouck?) and before everyone says big non creative centres are bad hust look and Frances Basteraud he was by far and away last 6 nations most effective centre.

 

[iWin]

i agree power speed are not neccessarily the most important thing in the world for a centre but they sure as hell help... i think he needs a creative player beside him to allow him to be his best. (e.g Waldouck?) and before everyone says big non creative centres are bad hust look and Frances Basteraud he was by far and away last 6 nations most effective centre.

Because he wasn't 'just' a bulldozer. He can also break the line and give an offload, as well as picking some great lines off Jauzion. And he's a great finisher.
Yes he's a centre in the same vein as Banahan, but the difference is Bastaraud does it well.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

For all we know Banahan might as well!
It's all speculation that he's going to be shite (though it's speculation he won't be as well )

 

[veux]

I'll reserve judgement till after the match.

 

[SelimNiai]

I'll reserve judgement till after the match.

How insightful of you