Why Can't Robshaw become a traditional openside flanker

[BasqueBete]

I wouldn't ask a donkey to become a stallion, cos it can't

But neither would I then put the donkey in grade 1 horse race

The other open sides uou have mentioned are world class opensides, something which capt notsure will never be.

If England don't give some actual openside flankers the opportunity to build up 10 + caps by the time the World Cup comes round, England will just about get into the knockout stages, and then after that , disappointment will come long before the end if the final match...

You simply can not play successful top flight rugby without a specialist openside flanker, in the same way you can't do it without a specialist fly half, scrum half etc

He shouldn't even be in the 23 as any form of flanker as there are better blindside options

And the moving onto his ability to be a captain, well he is very much a "tim, nice but dim" and is bereft of dynamism, maturity and street savvy....

As said , as the saying goes, like dog like owner, he is Stuart blandwankres perfect choice as captain

 

[ZeFrenchy]

I wouldn't ask a donkey to become a stallion, cos it can't

But neither would I then put the donkey in grade 1 horse race

The other open sides uou have mentioned are world class opensides, something which capt notsure will never be.

If England don't give some actual openside flankers the opportunity to build up 10 + caps by the time the World Cup comes round, England will just about get into the knockout stages, and then after that , disappointment will come long before the end if the final match...

You simply can not play successful top flight rugby without a specialist openside flanker, in the same way you can't do it without a specialist fly half, scrum half etc

He shouldn't even be in the 23 as any form of flanker as there are better blindside options

And the moving onto his ability to be a captain, well he is very much a "tim, nice but dim" and is bereft of dynamism, maturity and street savvy....

As said , as the saying goes, like dog like owner, he is Stuart blandwankres perfect choice as captain

That's yet to be proven, and it's the point I was trying to make. Richie McCaw from 2011 fits no of the definitions given here of a specialist openside. He did a few years ago and then evolved away from that. Same with Pocock and Warburton after the RWC.

 

[McTallshort]

I wouldn't ask a donkey to become a stallion, cos it can't

But neither would I then put the donkey in grade 1 horse race

The other open sides uou have mentioned are world class opensides, something which capt notsure will never be.

If England don't give some actual openside flankers the opportunity to build up 10 + caps by the time the World Cup comes round, England will just about get into the knockout stages, and then after that , disappointment will come long before the end if the final match...

You simply can not play successful top flight rugby without a specialist openside flanker, in the same way you can't do it without a specialist fly half, scrum half etc

He shouldn't even be in the 23 as any form of flanker as there are better blindside options

And the moving onto his ability to be a captain, well he is very much a "tim, nice but dim" and is bereft of dynamism, maturity and street savvy....

As said , as the saying goes, like dog like owner, he is Stuart blandwankres perfect choice as captain

What a Muppet.

 

[BasqueBete]

So im a muppet because I have posted my point of view, ha ha, what a cnut

 

[BasqueBete]

What is yet to be proven?

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Read HM saying somewhere that Brussow wasn't needed in the breakdown as Hookers in SA were doing the role of 7

Heard those noises from many general SA fans as well. All that tells me is we generally (and worryingly HM specifically) have lost track of what a 'fetcher' does primarily which is get to a lot of breakdowns and have major influence there. Though Bismarck might steal 2 balls on the deck while McCaw actually turns over only 1 in a game the fact remains that Du Plessis as a hooker (Coenie Oosthuizen as a prop is also very strong over the ball) just isn't in a place- being in the center of the scrum and on the side lines of the line-out- to be arriving early at as many rucks as McCaw would be on the flank and as a front rower just is not built to actually go to the rucks (less mobile). Sure he'll steal 2 balls from the 3 break-downs where he happens to be near but the open side flank would be actively seeking to be at every ruck or as many as humanly possible and hampering and hassling; killing opposition momentum.

That's yet to be proven, and it's the point I was trying to make. Richie McCaw from 2011 fits no of the definitions given here of a specialist openside. He did a few years ago and then evolved away from that. Same with Pocock and Warburton after the RWC.

A couple of things here I'd like to point out;
- there essentially is no Pocock and/or Richie McCaw post 2011; Pocock has been basically injured the entire time while McCaw has been off on a sabattical and generally wrapped in cotton wool so to speak while NZ was looking, sucessfully, at developing Cane in that role.
- there is a fair amount of empirical evidence (which is about as 'proven' as anything can be in the context of rugby) to back up a statement that teams with a dedicated fetcher has the advantage. Laying that on the table is too involved an affare for me to bother ATM though.
- I would say Richie McCaw in fact does fit the core description in that he will arrive at a ton of breakdowns first (this is critical) and make an impact that benefits his team. That is all he needs to do; the core role. The fact that he does it so well it hardly gets registered on top of the other work he does is why he is arguably the best player to ever play.