Tuilagi and England's centres

[j'nuh]

Tomkins

No. Anyone but him.

And...

I'd probably be looking at Daly or Trinder . I guess playing 36 and Trinder together would be ok as they already know each other well

No. Good going forward, defensively not good enough. Probably would be a wasted cap. I'm eager to see Trinder after a good defensive coach has worked with him long-term though.

Daly would be a good option though. I hate to say it, but Barritt would also be okay as a one-off. May could also move inwards with his level of experience at 13. Although I'd imagine Lancaster would prefer Yarde to be the one that moves inwards.

You know who I would have absolutely loved to see give 13 a go? Foden. He's got such a complete skill set, I can imagine him playing anywhere 11-15. But at 13 would have been fantastic to see. Has pretty much every required attribute: the pace, he's a rock defensively, knows how to attack, good pass on him. If Foden got back to his best, finding a place for him and Brown in the team would be handy. Not quite the powerful crasher that Burrell or Tuilagi is and we'd have to adjust our game slightly on that basis, but what an alternative it would be to the power of Tuilagi/Burrell.

 

[McTallshort]

I'd probably be looking at Daly or Trinder . I guess playing 36 and Trinder together would be ok as they already know each other well

Barrett would be the choice for me but I doubt it will come to that. Saints might make the final I doubt we will.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Twelvetrees with Eastmond at 12?

Most likely to be Barritt, followed by Tomkins, though.

 

[Aristodemus]

We've attacked better with Burrell at 13 because:
- The England squad finally went away from Youngs/Dickson and brought in Care, who has tremendously increased the pace on the game. (He might not be the best at what he does, but I think he's made the biggest of impacts on this squad.)
- Farrell has upped his game. A lot. He takes the ball flatter, which gives the backline much more space to work with.
- Twelvetrees is a big improvement on Barritt, who is, I believe, the only center to have worked with Tuilagi.
- Brown has been in the form of his life and has been playing in his favoured position when Burrell has been in the squad. Tuilagi had Goode.
- May and Nowell provide much better counterattacking wingers than Ashton and out-of-position Brown/Foden.
- The pack is playing better now than before too. (I won't go through the individual changes.)

Point is, Burrell looks good in a great team and Tuilagi looked great in a good team, IMO.

Also, I don't get criticising Tuilagi for taking the ball into contact. We saw him tie three Italians up doing that. We do feel the benefits on the next phase, and getting the ball past the gain line is tremendously important. Moreover, suppose Tuilagi did pass it down the line. What the heck was the backline he played with going to do with it? Tuilagi did it so much because it was our best tactic at the time. I'd like to see him pass more, but I wouldn't mind using him mainly as a dummy runner and crasher. Crash to set up good next phase ball, and dummy run to pull off a backline move. May receiving it outside the back of Tuilagi would be lethal with his kind of pace.

This is exactly how I feel, the backline has improved vastly because of other factors than the 13 shirt. Goode, Barritt and Ashton were woeful selection decisions that Lancaster stuck with for some reason I can't fathom. People might say Burrell had a good strike rate, but what was Manu's this 6N? 1 in 20min or something like that and an exceptional one before that in relation to team tries. Tuilagi is feared around the world for good reason. Also I can't believe that Burrell is only 3kg lighter, not that weight equates to strength (you taking notes Yoe?).

 

[nickdnz]

This is exactly how I feel, the backline has improved vastly because of other factors than the 13 shirt. Goode, Barritt and Ashton were woeful selection decisions that Lancaster stuck with for some reason I can't fathom. People might say Burrell had a good strike rate, but what was Manu's this 6N? 1 in 20min or something like that and an exceptional one before that in relation to team tries. Tuilagi is feared around the world for good reason. Also I can't believe that Burrell is only 3kg lighter, not that weight equates to strength (you taking notes Yoe?).

He breaks all kinds of ferry proticals?

 

[Aristodemus]

He breaks all kinds of ferry proticals?

That and he can hit you with a dwarf from 50 paces!

 

[TheSaffycen]

Twelvetrees with Eastmond at 12?

Most likely to be Barritt, followed by Tomkins, though.

THIS !!!!! can you imagine if Farrell had eastmond one side and 36 the other he would have even more confidence and we could spread the ball wide in two passes and we would always have a player who is left and right of a ruck to make the next wave of attack. With Barritt at 13, if he has a creative player with him he looks a different player completely. Against Scotland we looked quite good with him and 36, with Saracens he looks better with Bosch than when he plays with Wyles because he has a distributor alongside him and he can just tackle everything that goes near him.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

After what Burrell has done this 6N, I wouldn't want to see him go. When Tuilagi came on he scored but he never looked like doing anything other than smashing into the Italian defence. Against a different defence, I don't think he would have got through. Whilst it's great to have his power at 13, we can't just revert to Manu-ball any more. I feel the rest of the team will get that but not sure Tuilagi will. However the concept of a distributing Tuilagi is an exciting prospect. I just wonder what role there is for Burrell in the team if that happens. He clearly is a good talent and it would be a shame to waste him. Maybe see how he performs as an impact sub allowing Tuilagi to go all out in the game in the same way the Vunipola/Morgan partnership worked.

 

[Aristodemus]

Leicester looking pretty damn mean all of a sudden.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Leicester look a lot better with some of their 1st choice players back... not really a surprise.
Exeter looked tired from their LV campaign though, some of the looser tries wouldn't have been conceded if they had been knocked out vs Bath I think.

Leicester are almost too big an organisation to fail at this point.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Nowell took a battering from Mulipola (who had his best game) huge, huge hit and at some speed. Hope he is alright.

 

[mt518]

Thoughts on the centres next year? Personally I would think sam burgess and tuilagi would be a good pair, but really depends on how bath is going to play him. At the moment, it seems bath is going to put him into the back rows....

 

[j'nuh]

I think our current options are the best ones: Twelvetrees/Eastmond and Tuilagi/Burrell.

 

[saryboy86]

Twelvetrees is hopeless can't tackle for love not money!! As for tuilagi and Burrell think that would be a very good partnership Burrell didn't deserve to loose his place when he did against Italy! As for burgess I called it months before he switched they needed to get him with his pace strength and agility he's ideal for the centre back row would be a waste maybe good for his defensive work but as an attacker his pace and all the other attributes are lethal just ask SBW!!

 

[goodNumber10]

Twelvetrees is hopeless can't tackle for love not money!! As for tuilagi and Burrell think that would be a very good partnership Burrell didn't deserve to loose his place when he did against Italy! As for burgess I called it months before he switched they needed to get him with his pace strength and agility he's ideal for the centre back row would be a waste maybe good for his defensive work but as an attacker his pace and all the other attributes are lethal just ask SBW!!

12trees makes one mistake at international level and he's suddenly a hopeless defender?

As for Burgess, he doesn't have the passing game for a union midfielder, he's exactly the kind of centre England DON'T need.

I'm under no illusion that at some point he'll play international union but I don't think it'll be before this world cup and I don't think it'll be at centre.

 

[saryboy86]

Actually he's made several gives a lot of penalties away as well and isn't all that in attack granted he's got a great boot on him but takes more than that! As for burgess he's got a good off loading game in league but will see how he adjusts to the passing game of union tuilagi us t exactly a world class passer of the ball but he manages perfectly fine! It's all pointless anyway all depends where bath decide to play burgess as apparently ford has already said he's looking at 6/8 so maybe a pointless conversation will wait and see!

 

[saryboy86]

Personally Gloucester need to play him more at 10 think he could give Farrell a good run with his huge boot and passing game would make a good 10 but needs to stop switching between that and centre did Farrell no good when sarries kept moving him about now they've finally left him at 10 and his game has come in leaps and bounds think the same would happen with 36

 

[j'nuh]

This is the first time I've ever heard anyone accuse Twelvetrees of not being able to tackle. :huh:

He's regularly one of the top tacklers for Gloucester, beating most of the forwards most games in the number of tackles he makes...

 

[goodNumber10]

I can't bring up the stats but i don't recall him being a penalty magnet in either the six nations nor the Premiership, I think it's another example of someone being tarnished off the back of one mistake.

Two things Twelvetrees isn't is poor in attack and a bad tackler.

I also find it laughable that someone criticising Twelvetrees as an attacking option is advocating a stifled midfield of Burrell and Tuilagi and Burgess.

 

[saryboy86]

Considering the amount of tries that Burrell scored in the six nations and how well he played and tuilagi always offers a danger in both defence or attack it's laughable to call them that both scored more tries than twelvetrees!