EPS Watch / Player Form Thread

[Epaminondas Pules]

It does actually seem surprising they didn’t stick him at 8 given how enormous he looks compared to others in those early schools clips.

Though I think I saw him with an 8 on his back at some point in there.

That was in the 7's.

[twitchy]

https://australia.rugby/news/2020/09/17 ... ling-coach

[Puja]

https://australia.rugby/news/2020/09/17 ... ling-coach

Good news for a young English coach. Always liked Parling - he had heart as a player and never stopped running. Played in the improbable Leicester 2nds victory over South Africa which always endears me to a player.

Puja

[twitchy]

[padprop]

His X-factor is pretty special. His attack work sets him apart in the same way Willis’s breakdown work does. Then you have curry as the all rounders

[Scrumhead]

Agreed. Although he also does some good stuff in defence and is good at the breakdown too. A lot to like.

[twitchy]

Currently he seems like the perfect super sub. He can cover pretty much the whole back row for injuries or just be used to run against tired legs in a tactical switch.

[Which Tyler]

Currently he seems like the perfect super sub. He can cover pretty much the whole back row for injuries or just be used to run against tired legs in a tactical switch.

We've got a lot of those as well though. Curry, Mercer, Willis, Simmonds, Ludlam...

Actually, Hill, Vunipola and Dombrandt are probably the only of our 12 backrow options who can't.

[Banquo]

Billy looked pretty decent yesterday I thought.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Billy looked pretty decent yesterday I thought.

He certainly did. Had a very good game.

[16th man]

You can see why Eddie sees him as being able to play on the wing in extremis.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Another strong performance from Will Evans last night for Quins. Such a damned nuisance at the breakdown and getting better and better with every game.

[Stom]

Another strong performance from Will Evans last night for Quins. Such a damned nuisance at the breakdown and getting better and better with every game.

He is starting to look really good, tbf. A true successor to Will Skinner, but potentially a lot better (though without the injury problems, Skins could probably have been better than he was).

[Banquo]

Another strong performance from Will Evans last night for Quins. Such a damned nuisance at the breakdown and getting better and better with every game.

Bloody good player. In a long queue though

[Mikey Brown]

What was the deal with that crucial penalty he gave away when it was 19-17 to Quins. Looked legit to me, but of course it would.

[Raggs]

What was the deal with that crucial penalty he gave away when it was 19-17 to Quins. Looked legit to me, but of course it would.

The one where it was clearly a ruck, and he still stuck his hands in and had a grab? Despite already being in a strong enough position to just drive over for the legal turnover .

[Epaminondas Pules]

What was the deal with that crucial penalty he gave away when it was 19-17 to Quins. Looked legit to me, but of course it would.

Looked to me like the ruck had formed before he got his hands on the ball.

[padprop]

It would almost be quicker to name Young english backrowers that arent promising, with Archie White leading the charge.

[Timbo]

Will Evans is doing very well, good to see after a few years of injury and Illness.

Can’t help but wish Quins would get more out of him as an attacking threat though. He’s a good athlete and genuinely skilful, but Quins are pretty much just refusing to play any rugby at the moment.

[Danno]

It would almost be quicker to name Young english backrowers that arent promising, with Archie White leading the charge.

Fair enough. Can we have some 9s and 12s now please?

[Digby]

It would almost be quicker to name Young english backrowers that arent promising, with Archie White leading the charge.

Fair enough. Can we have some 9s and 12s now please?

Twelvetrees had a strong game last night

[Raggs]

Did he? I thought he had an awful one. Though i did miss the 20 minute period in which bath scored most their points. I find it hard to believethat's when he shone though.

[twitchy]

Did he? I thought he had an awful one. Though i did miss the 20 minute period in which bath scored most their points. I find it hard to believethat's when he shone though.

That was the only bit I watched and he did play well.

[Mellsblue]

12T back in the EPS would be so 2020.

[Digby]

Did he? I thought he had an awful one. Though i did miss the 20 minute period in which bath scored most their points. I find it hard to believethat's when he shone though.

That was the only bit I watched and he did play well.

In the period where Glaws built a lead, albeit in part because Priestland left a few points out there, I thought 36 did well, and certainly nowhere close to awful.

He worked hard following the ball up and down the pitch, whether it's chasing box kickings, moving to be an option at a lineout he's doing plenty of work off the ball even if not used. His work over the ball was mostly good, perhaps he got a little lucky at the breakdown just prior to the 2nd Glaws try but he did have to hurdle Spencer to get to the breakdown. The entry points Bath were getting into the game were discipline and/or setpeice issues and that was pretty much all down to what passes for a pack that Glaws have, not a lot he can do there. He was decent swapping with Evans to allow Evans to scan more and use the pace that Twelvetrees doesn't have. And he mostly had Glaws numbering up correctly either side of the field.

There were gripes, he had one clunky pull back pass, perhaps that was his error, perhaps others overran, maybe the less than helpful conditions. He was messy in a few tackles, but I don't know any of those were men down his channel and rather he was scrambling and still got something in the way even if not perfect, perhaps that first missed tackle on Faletau was an error on his part, I've not seen it back so maybe he fecked up or maybe with Bath early doors presenting multiple options he didn't identify correctly Faletau was the threat and sometimes you just don't, and Faletua isn't without ability. And there was the phase he got caught with the ball by Faletau, that was a slow execution of a kick, it was the right choice to kick when Bath had knocked back Ackerman just after Underhill had thundered back Evans, so he was under pressure in a side going backwards, I suppose at least he protected the ball once Faletau got to him and he presented it safely back.

There were a couple of moments of his work rate I really liked, though one also had for me his worst moment. When Heinz tapped and went that led to Glaws getting a little pace in their game, it was Ackerman who carried next after Heinz I think (maybe to was Polledri) but next up again on the carry was Twelvetrees, and at the point Heinz took the penalty Twelvetrees was still on the floor from the previous breakdown, excellent work off the ball. And then the other bit of footwork and work rate I liked was after the Spencer dink through that Banahan read well to sweep up and it's Twelvetrees working back around to be strong over the ball, though he then followed that up with a clearout on Underhill and held Underhill in such a manner the ref had to tell him to release the pressure on the arm, that's not a good look and I can't say I enjoyed that moment of his performance.

I thought mostly he was controlled, contributing in all areas, and he knocked over some points. From time to time I might edge toward a negative take, but I didn't about Twelvetrees in the exact same period, especially with Bath typically winning contact. Which is all good stuff, it'd be a duller game if people didn't take different things from it. Though everyone but the opposition should want VRR to drop his penalty count.