EPS Watch / Player Form Thread

[francoisfou]

Ruddles County used to make me fall over all too regularly but It must be 25 years since I had a pint.
'Tis apparently brewed by Greene King now and I bet it ain't the same.

[Digby]

Banks's mixed was a very fine pint.

Sometimes if I wasn't such an optimist I'd despair for this world

er lol. and don't knock what you haven't tried? Do you have children

I do, and she's a positive little ray of sunshine, albeit I'll go out on a limb and say she doesn't like mild either. She is though fast closing on being a teen, so I suspect the positivity may wane just a little. I've also tried (and served) both mild and mix, for some reason I prefer sticking to the bitter

[Banquo]

Sometimes if I wasn't such an optimist I'd despair for this world

er lol. and don't knock what you haven't tried? Do you have children

I do, and she's a positive little ray of sunshine, albeit I'll go out on a limb and say she doesn't like mild either. She is though fast closing on being a teen, so I suspect the positivity may wane just a little. I've also tried (and served) both mild and mix, for some reason I prefer sticking to the bitter

I prefer bitter, but its a broad beer church. Drink de jour when I worked in a Banks's pub was a pint of mixed in a sleever, so I thought I'd try it.....became the staple post shift drink on the house. Happy days

[Banquo]

Ruddles County used to make me fall over all too regularly but It must be 25 years since I had a pint.
'Tis apparently brewed by Greene King now and I bet it ain't the same.

It is the same! Greene King are ok as a business, currently.

[francoisfou]

Ruddles County used to make me fall over all too regularly but It must be 25 years since I had a pint.
'Tis apparently brewed by Greene King now and I bet it ain't the same.

It is the same! Greene King are ok as a business, currently.

Reassuring news indeed! I’m coming over next week and will try to find some canned County in Waitrose or wherever.

[Banquo]

Ruddles County used to make me fall over all too regularly but It must be 25 years since I had a pint.
'Tis apparently brewed by Greene King now and I bet it ain't the same.

It is the same! Greene King are ok as a business, currently.

Reassuring news indeed! I’m coming over next week and will try to find some canned County in Waitrose or wherever.

Go for the Adnams range as well!

[francoisfou]

It is the same! Greene King are ok as a business, currently.

Reassuring news indeed! I’m coming over next week and will try to find some canned County in Waitrose or wherever.

Go for the Adnams range as well!

Don't encourage me, as I may get back to the old habit of falling over, and 'er indoors won't be amused!

[Raggs]

Alex reider retires. Nice article in the times about his headspace, painkillers etc.

Am i right to see it as a positive that two recent wasps retirees have felt willing to open up about their experiences?

[Mellsblue]

Terrible day at work so I though I’d watch the Eng v NZ semi to cheer myself up. Even in probably the best England performance of all time, Ben Youngs was still poor.

I really hope we move on from him in the 6N.

[Gloskarlos]

Amen to that

[Mikey Brown]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... world-cup/

Brilliant stuff from Sinkler. Looks like Quins will definitely lose him which I’m gutted about, but he really does seem to have grown as both a player and a person.

Seems like Bristol getting rid of Madigan and his £4 billion salary has really given them some room for upgrades.

[Mellsblue]

Something needs to be done to enable clubs to hold on to home grown players should they want to. I’m all in favour of the salary cap but it does punish those who produce international players.

[Raggs]

I can't think of a way that seriously helps with that, whilst also not enabling billionaires to exploit it.

[Scrumhead]

And TBH, I don’t think it’s just the money. The ambition Bristol are showing on and off the field is a marked contrast to what we have at Quins.

Loyalty aside, there is nothing keeping him at Quins.

[Mellsblue]

I can't think of a way that seriously helps with that, whilst also not enabling billionaires to exploit it.

If a club is producing enough quality players that they need a billionaire to cover their wages I’m ok with that.

[switchskier]

I can't think of a way that seriously helps with that, whilst also not enabling billionaires to exploit it.

Surely you just make the salary cap a flat £Xm but allow that to be flexed by fixed percentages according to the number of players that spent at least 4 years in their academy. The trick would be to ensure that they have spent enough time in the academy's to avoid billionaires just paying out large academy contracts for a year before promoting them.

However I've always said that the way forward is for the RFU to take over the academies, link them to universities/colleges to ensure everyone gets an education and then run a draft each year for the players that want to turn pro. It's the best way to make a salary cap work and create an equal playing field.

[Digby]

The draft works much better in NFL where many careers are very, very short. But even supposing the RFU had the money and wanted to so dramatically insert itself into the club game, and I doubt both, it can take 3-4 years of being a senior to start showing a return on an academy player, so how long would drafted players be tied to a club?

As an aside workers' rights are now for shit is our official government policy, sure I read that in the Guardian, so if you wanted some draconian controls over players now's the time

[switchskier]

The draft works much better in NFL where many careers are very, very short. But even supposing the RFU had the money and wanted to so dramatically insert itself into the club game, and I doubt both, it can take 3-4 years of being a senior to start showing a return on an academy player, so how long would drafted players be tied to a club?

As an aside workers' rights are now for shit is our official government policy, sure I read that in the Guardian, so if you wanted some draconian controls over players now's the time

The average in the NFL is just shy of four years, which, you're right, is a damning indictment given that some players have 10 year careers and the obligatory contract for a first round pick is four years with a fifth year option. The NFL also has an issue with college players effectively playing for free whilst generating millions for the universities.

However, whilst the NFL model has many problems, it doesn't mean that there aren't done good ideas in there. The short careers only happen because the supply of cheap well rounded college players exceeds the number of those retiring each year. If the RFU ran academies they could manage supply and ramp up interest through a draft process and ensure a level playing field. There should also be economies of scale rather than having lots of individual programmes. I understand that it'll never happen though.

[Mellsblue]

Stuart Barnes is the latest savant to join the Mark Atkinson bandwagon, in his column in today’s Times.

[Digby]

He's far too slow

[Mellsblue]

He's far too slow

Agreed*. Some of us were calling for this 18 months ago.


*Being serious, he’s no slower than Farrell but it’s a weakness, along with being too flat footed in defence.

[fivepointer]

Lack of pace and agility are certainly weaknesses. Age too is against him as he's almost 30. Darn good player, though. Lovely hands and great vision.

[Scrumhead]

I’d agree. Probably too late for him now, but I would have preferred to have seen him given a shot over Te’o. I reckon he would have done well and possibly would have made the RWC squad.

[Raggs]

Marler has been a bit of a silly boy in the last few games, losing his head again. Not wanting to go to the 6N?

[Beasties]

If we're discussing ICs who are almost good enough for the Eng squad (and preferable to His Holiness) I'll raise you Ryan Mills.