EPS Watch / Player Form Thread

[Mellsblue]

Great bit in the times today that Marler is fines master and one of the more severe punishments is to be forced to have lunch with the kamikaze twins due to both being a bit weird and boring.

[Banquo]

Great bit in the times today that Marler is fines master and one of the more severe punishments is to be forced to have lunch with the kamikaze twins due to both being a bit weird and boring.

Joined by Eddie I'd think.

[Scrumhead]

Worcester vs. Exeter is fairly entertaining so far.

Chiefs running some slick first phase moves and Jamie Shillcock looking good for Worcester.

[Puja]

Worcester vs. Exeter is fairly entertaining so far.

Chiefs running some slick first phase moves and Jamie Shillcock looking good for Worcester.

Crap! Forgot that was on!

Just watching the half-time coverage to catch up - Ted Hill looks like they've just grabbed a uni student out of the stands. Are Wuss good value for their lead?

Puja

[Stom]

BTW, in no shock to anyone, Jack Clifford is injured again. Dislocated his shoulder against LI in what was, incredibly, only his 100th game for the club.

[Scrumhead]

I can never decide whether Clifford is desperately unlucky or made of glass.

[Mikey Brown]

BTW, in no shock to anyone, Jack Clifford is injured again. Dislocated his shoulder against LI in what was, incredibly, only his 100th game for the club.

Such a shame. I was so pleased for him when EJ started involving him from the bench. He could have been what Ludlum is now but with 40 caps and able to play 8.

[twitchy]

Clifford definitely seems to be headed to that "what could have been" category.

[Mellsblue]

[richy678]

More and more like a back row player.

[Beasties]

Arf.

[Danno]

Don't make me call the mod

[Raggs]

Do turnovers won include wrapping up mauls and lineout intercepts?

[Banquo]

More and more like a back row player.

On a serious note, that's why he's so valuable playing in the second row. Plus all the excellence at lineout and restarts etc.

If I say Itoje three times, does Puja appear?

[twitchy]

[Stom]

Oh, what a surprise, George Ford is good shocker.

[Puja]

More and more like a back row player.

On a serious note, that's why he's so valuable playing in the second row. Plus all the excellence at lineout and restarts etc.

If I say Itoje three times, does Puja appear?

You rang?

I agree with you - he's a superb second row who also carries out some characteristics of a back row. This is the big stage for him though. If he can pull out what he's capable of in this RWC, against the big teams, we'll stand a good chance of winning the whole thing.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Oh, what a surprise, George Ford is good shocker.

Don’t worry, there’s still a BBC article questioning whether EJ should stick with him.

I can’t even be arsed to read it, I’m assuming it’s the same recycled nonsense about Ford being a flake and Farrell’s only flaw being that he’s world class at both 10 and 12.

[Mellsblue]

Oh, what a surprise, George Ford is good shocker.

Don’t worry, there’s still a BBC article questioning whether EJ should stick with him.

I can’t even be arsed to read it, I’m assuming it’s the same recycled nonsense about Ford being a flake and Farrell’s only flaw being that he’s world class at both 10 and 12.

I’m a huge George Ford fan but he/we/Eng have had three walkovers, so far. No other player has had this luxury. That said, we’ve kicked away so much ball this probably evens it out.

[Mikey Brown]

I mean I get what you're saying but he's probably been the best player in those walkovers. How anybody could pretend that Farrell has shown something in those games suggesting he should be taking the reigns, I don't know.

I do like his Mr. Motivator qualities and I'm sure he'll kick far better than he did vs Argentina, so there's that.

[Mellsblue]

Just playing devils advocate but nobody has ever questioned his quality when given front foot ball. My comparison isn’t with Farrell. It’s versus the other 10s/playmakers who have actually had 80mins against tier 1 teams with 15 men. As you hopefully know, I’d have Ford has England’s 10 times out of 10.
For all the talk of the group of death, I reckon ours is possibly the easiest.

[Stom]

Just playing devils advocate but nobody has ever questioned his quality when given front foot ball. My comparison isn’t with Farrell. It’s versus the other 10s/playmakers who have actually had 80mins against tier 1 teams with 15 men. As you hopefully know, I’d have Ford has England’s 10 times out of 10.
For all the talk of the group of death, I reckon ours is possibly the easiest.

The problem is...it's very tough to compare against the other playmakers.

We don't build our gameplan around him like Ireland do with Sexton, we don't play like NZ, so he won't get the kind of ball Barrett/Mo'unga gets, he's better than Pollard, but Pollard isn't there to make things happen, he's there to just keep it going.

Aus...well, their 10 plays like...however their 10 feels like playing. They're a basket case.

Wales don't really make anything happen from 10. Scotland like to get wide but mostly fail.

It's hard to compare, and he does benefit from the power runners we can put onto the ball. But he does that very well. Very, very well.

[Timbo]

Bit of a shocker, Johnny Williams has been diagnosed with testicular cancer...

[twitchy]

I expect Billy to be on top form again for Aus:

"We love Miyazaki beef. We have 80kgs of a special consignment coming Saturday night and Billy (Vunipola) is allowed his beef again. We will do a bit of light training Friday, a good hit-out on Saturday, a few beers, some beef and get ready for the week ahead."


Didn't england make this mistake last world cup not allowing billy to eat and he looked a shadow of his normal self?

[Mikey Brown]

I expect Billy to be on top form again for Aus:

"We love Miyazaki beef. We have 80kgs of a special consignment coming Saturday night and Billy (Vunipola) is allowed his beef again. We will do a bit of light training Friday, a good hit-out on Saturday, a few beers, some beef and get ready for the week ahead.


Didn't england make this mistake last world cup not allowing billy to eat and he looked a shadow of his normal self?

Did you watch the press conference where the journos kept asking about Billy's injury and EJ just wouldn't fucking shut up about Kobe beef? I don't know if it was EJ just being incredibly neurotic or he had some deeper reason for repeatedly mentioning it. After getting another question about his injury he responded again "like I told you, he's had too much Kobe beef... [to seemingly blank responses from the journos] and... he's also rolled his ankle. Which we are monitoring."

It was surreal.

Not sure how relevant that is to your question but there you go.