FKAS wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 9:34 am
Mellsblue wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 9:08 am
16th man wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 8:55 am
Tbf to Steward, when he first broke into the team we used him much more than as just a one trick pony under the high ball. See his try vs South Africa.
He's not the only player who has suffered over the last year or so from the adoption of a ridiculously reductive approach to attacking play.
I have no desire to see him picked at 12 or on the wing, to try to crowbar him in, just for that reductive approach, but i do think he has aspects to his game which have bee woefully underused .
If the try vs SA is the one I’m thinking of then he ran a good line but, to use another Farrell comparison, the line break was someone doing something good inside him and a decent hole opening up. Neither will make an incisive line break through speed of foot.
There was two Vs SA wasn't there? One where he runs an angle off of Smith and then rounds the fullback. Second is where he powers over from close range on a pop from Youngs.
You're thinking of the try against Australia where he rounded the full-back, I believe.
Oakboy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 9:34 am
Is there any real evidence that Steward is slow? I'm not sure that some of the anecdotal stuff on tries conceded supports it. If defensive holes leave a FB trying to defend one-on-one or worse how often can he do much? He's no more a winger with gas than Malins but I see his attacking potential from FB as seriously curbed by our game plan rather than his lack of pace etc. Putting him on the wing as part of a shuffle to crowbar Smith in at FB is desperation brought about by poor selection with the other backs and bad coaching, I'd suggest.
He's not slow at all, but he definitely doesn't have a full-time winger's pace. On his one-on-one defence, the problem is that he sells himself too early and doesn't have the agility to recover if a good step is put in. Partly it's inexperience and youth, and partly it's being 6'5 and having a more difficult frame to manouevre. One of those can be fixed, with time and good coaching - he'll never be as nimble as a smaller, lighter player, but he can certainly learn to do better with what he has.
Oakboy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 8:27 am
Banquo wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 8:13 am
...plus, its up front where it really matters tbh.
Yes. Maybe, SB's just being stubbornly phlegmatic in terms of building from the front. From his original assessment that 'we are not good at anything', by settling on a front five and picking Lawes at 6, he has brought solidity of set-piece. Curry's red card was one set-back and Billy V's poor form is another. On the credit side, Earl has excelled though, oddly, that highlights the selection mistake of omitting T Willis (as it was probably either/or with those two rather than TW or BV as it should have been).
I think this has hit the nail on the head. It's exactly how he built with Leicester - first half season was a bit of a mess as he worked out what resources he had, second season was a focus on the basics and building the foundations and culture, with occasional forays into something more expansive. I'm hoping the third season would've been building upon those foundations into a truly dominant team, but we never got to see that. With luck, that's what we'll see from his England in 2024. The addition of [Felix] Jones as an outside voice will definitely not hurt the process.
It's all hope right now though - we'll see if it comes to fruition.
Puja