Trying to play catch up. Does this mean Beauden baby is making himself available to play for us on the Sunday?
If only. No like NZ around the time of the last world cup we're just going to shoehorn the players they think they think are the best into the side to try and make up for the lack of a coherent and well balanced 23 that's been built up over a period of time.
Lol.....the only possible person you can be talking about is BB, and they'd started his conversion over a year early (and in fact he'd covered 15 a few times from the bench earlier in his AB career, as well as for the canes).
Hansen said he regretted starting Barrett over Smith in the semi final in 2019.
Beauden said his preferred position was 10 before that tournament.
A few months ago Justin Marshall and Morgan Turinui were complaining in the media that Barrett is a 10 and moving Will Jordan (who they described as the best fullback in Super Rugby) onto the wing to accommodate him makes the ABs weaker.
But no you're right Barrett has always been a prime 15 for the ABs and it's never been a case of shoehorning a second playmaker into a position he'd covered a few times before (as a lot of quick 10s do, particularly off the bench).
Let's move it back to England shall we. Hopefully Sweaty Ballbag announces the team earlier this week so we can quickly get back to the impending dread of a massacre at the hands of Fiji.
BB played all of his age grade footy at 15, where he carved it up for the Unner Twennies. If anything he has been shoe horned in at 10. Ditto D-Mac. Mo'unga is the only "pure" 10 we have.
Justin Marshall is Enzid’s answer to Matt Dawson, ie your first reaction should be to believe the opposite of what he’s said.
I suppose the difference between ‘shoehorning’ B Barrett at 15 and Jordan at 14 is they’re still in the top 3/4/5 at the position in the world whereas we’re shoehorning players in when they’re not even top 3/4/5 in the world in their full time position.
If only. No like NZ around the time of the last world cup we're just going to shoehorn the players they think they think are the best into the side to try and make up for the lack of a coherent and well balanced 23 that's been built up over a period of time.
Lol.....the only possible person you can be talking about is BB, and they'd started his conversion over a year early (and in fact he'd covered 15 a few times from the bench earlier in his AB career, as well as for the canes).
But no you're right Barrett has always been a prime 15 for the ABs and it's never been a case of shoehorning a second playmaker into a position he'd covered a few times before (as a lot of quick 10s do, particularly off the bench).
no need to put words in my mouth, I said nothing of the sort. I pointed out that unlike Smith he had started a lot at 15 in his career (as verified by mp) was actually pretty good there, and was played there as part of a longer term plan (given he is still there, with a break or two, seems reasonable; he also is more than a second playmker....still a fine runner). Unless you are suggesting Smith at 15 and Steward at wing is a long term solution, which is doubtful to say the least. Both Barrett and Jordan look top class in their current positions tbh.
If Borthwick picks Farrell at either 10 or 12 and lets him kick, I will be cheering Fiji. It will be sufficient evidence that Borthers doesn't have what it takes to progress with England (and making it to the easiest semi-final in history will cover that up).
Can anyone explain how Farrell is allowed to kick over Ford when his kicking percentage is worse (the only stats I can find are for the most recent Six Nations where he was under 60% and I believe he has been around that for the last couple of years) never mind the fact that he allowed the clock to run down on one kickable pen? Especially when a near faultless kicking display from Ford won us the Argentina game?
Still in shock that we’re comparing a former two time world player of the year to Marcus Smith and arguably the best back three player in the world to Freddie Steward. Will Jordan is so shoehorned out on the wing that he’s scoring at a hair’s breadth under one try a match.
Mellsblue wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 11:42 am
Just when you think English rugby can’t get any more depressing you post this dollop of harsh truth.
If you look through the squad it’s so bare in places which is a position England should never be in:
Hooker - George, a talented but callow converted centre and a bloke Slow Backlover doesn’t trust to do anything more than hold a tackle bag.
Lock - Itoje, a raw but talented Chessum, a bloke who has moved back and forth between lock and blindside in his two pro seasons, and a Saffa with a bad back who’s off to France
no8 - a way past his best Billy and a flanker
Scrumhalf - a bloke who wasn’t in the original squad, the oldest back in England’s history and St Benny.
Centres - a temporarily converted 10/permanently converted 6, Tuilagi who is too slow and erratic in d to now play 13, a bloke off to France and Lawrence who just doesn’t seem to be trusted.
Wing - Grandpa May - who has admitted that he won’t play for England after this World Cup - an uber talented but callow 15, and a bloke who’ll be second choice 15 at Bristol next season. Edit: oh yeah, and Daly who has been so forgettable this tournament that I, well, forgot about him.
Fullback - a bloke with the athletic profile of a rangy blindside who can catch a high ball and then nobody other than a flyhalf who hadn’t played 15 until 10 days ago.
Fml.
Welp...
You can't help but think some of this is Borthwick's own fault:
- At no.8 he left Mercer out after taking a cursory glance - maybe his profile didn't fit but then doesn't an international coach need to work with his most talented players? Hard to believe he couldn't improve the team somewhere given the lack of ball carrying options
- On the wing, Murley and Freeman have been ignored despite being the form wings in the prem (and in Freemans case looking every inch a test player on the Oz tour). Again hard to believe they wouldn't offer more than the wings we have in situ who have been desperately poor (Arundell's spurt against Chile aside).
Even at scrum half and full back form players like Gus Warr and Joe Carpenter were ignored.
SixAndAHalf wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 9:54 pm
If Borthwick picks Farrell at either 10 or 12 and lets him kick, I will be cheering Fiji. It will be sufficient evidence that Borthers doesn't have what it takes to progress with England (and making it to the easiest semi-final in history will cover that up).
Can anyone explain how Farrell is allowed to kick over Ford when his kicking percentage is worse (the only stats I can find are for the most recent Six Nations where he was under 60% and I believe he has been around that for the last couple of years) never mind the fact that he allowed the clock to run down on one kickable pen? Especially when a near faultless kicking display from Ford won us the Argentina game?
Mellsblue wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 11:42 am
Just when you think English rugby can’t get any more depressing you post this dollop of harsh truth.
If you look through the squad it’s so bare in places which is a position England should never be in:
Hooker - George, a talented but callow converted centre and a bloke Slow Backlover doesn’t trust to do anything more than hold a tackle bag.
Lock - Itoje, a raw but talented Chessum, a bloke who has moved back and forth between lock and blindside in his two pro seasons, and a Saffa with a bad back who’s off to France
no8 - a way past his best Billy and a flanker
Scrumhalf - a bloke who wasn’t in the original squad, the oldest back in England’s history and St Benny.
Centres - a temporarily converted 10/permanently converted 6, Tuilagi who is too slow and erratic in d to now play 13, a bloke off to France and Lawrence who just doesn’t seem to be trusted.
Wing - Grandpa May - who has admitted that he won’t play for England after this World Cup - an uber talented but callow 15, and a bloke who’ll be second choice 15 at Bristol next season. Edit: oh yeah, and Daly who has been so forgettable this tournament that I, well, forgot about him.
Fullback - a bloke with the athletic profile of a rangy blindside who can catch a high ball and then nobody other than a flyhalf who hadn’t played 15 until 10 days ago.
Fml.
Welp...
You can't help but think some of this is Borthwick's own fault:
- At no.8 he left Mercer out after taking a cursory glance - maybe his profile didn't fit but then doesn't an international coach need to work with his most talented players? Hard to believe he couldn't improve the team somewhere given the lack of ball carrying options
- On the wing, Murley and Freeman have been ignored despite being the form wings in the prem (and in Freemans case looking every inch a test player on the Oz tour). Again hard to believe they wouldn't offer more than the wings we have in situ who have been desperately poor (Arundell's spurt against Chile aside).
Even at scrum half and full back form players like Gus Warr and Joe Carpenter were ignored.
I have some sympathy for Soiled Boxershorts in some positions, such as hooker where it’s not his fault we can’t produce more than two players with both the talent and experience to take to a World Cup, but to play Steward in the warm-ups when he’d already played pretty much non stop for 12 months only to soil his boxer shorts in September and then experiment with Smith is all on him. Selections at winger have baffled since day 1 and continue to baffle until what seems like day 1001.
Last edited by Mellsblue on Mon Oct 09, 2023 10:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
SixAndAHalf wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 9:54 pm
If Borthwick picks Farrell at either 10 or 12 and lets him kick, I will be cheering Fiji. It will be sufficient evidence that Borthers doesn't have what it takes to progress with England (and making it to the easiest semi-final in history will cover that up).
Can anyone explain how Farrell is allowed to kick over Ford when his kicking percentage is worse (the only stats I can find are for the most recent Six Nations where he was under 60% and I believe he has been around that for the last couple of years) never mind the fact that he allowed the clock to run down on one kickable pen? Especially when a near faultless kicking display from Ford won us the Argentina game?
SixAndAHalf wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 9:54 pm
If Borthwick picks Farrell at either 10 or 12 and lets him kick, I will be cheering Fiji. It will be sufficient evidence that Borthers doesn't have what it takes to progress with England (and making it to the easiest semi-final in history will cover that up).
Can anyone explain how Farrell is allowed to kick over Ford when his kicking percentage is worse (the only stats I can find are for the most recent Six Nations where he was under 60% and I believe he has been around that for the last couple of years) never mind the fact that he allowed the clock to run down on one kickable pen? Especially when a near faultless kicking display from Ford won us the Argentina game?
SixAndAHalf wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 9:54 pm
If Borthwick picks Farrell at either 10 or 12 and lets him kick, I will be cheering Fiji. It will be sufficient evidence that Borthers doesn't have what it takes to progress with England (and making it to the easiest semi-final in history will cover that up).
Can anyone explain how Farrell is allowed to kick over Ford when his kicking percentage is worse (the only stats I can find are for the most recent Six Nations where he was under 60% and I believe he has been around that for the last couple of years) never mind the fact that he allowed the clock to run down on one kickable pen? Especially when a near faultless kicking display from Ford won us the Argentina game?
If only. No like NZ around the time of the last world cup we're just going to shoehorn the players they think they think are the best into the side to try and make up for the lack of a coherent and well balanced 23 that's been built up over a period of time.
Lol.....the only possible person you can be talking about is BB, and they'd started his conversion over a year early (and in fact he'd covered 15 a few times from the bench earlier in his AB career, as well as for the canes).
Hansen said he regretted starting Barrett over Smith in the semi final in 2019.
Beauden said his preferred position was 10 before that tournament.
A few months ago Justin Marshall and Morgan Turinui were complaining in the media that Barrett is a 10 and moving Will Jordan (who they described as the best fullback in Super Rugby) onto the wing to accommodate him makes the ABs weaker.
But no you're right Barrett has always been a prime 15 for the ABs and it's never been a case of shoehorning a second playmaker into a position he'd covered a few times before (as a lot of quick 10s do, particularly off the bench).
Let's move it back to England shall we. Hopefully Sweaty Ballbag announces the team earlier this week so we can quickly get back to the impending dread[glow=] of a massacre at the hands of Fiji.[glow=]
I sometimes wonder if I'm on this planet. Sweeney is in the press today defending his support for Jones. Screw Ball-less has just played Farrell at 12 followed by moving him to 10 and taking Ford off in a game we nearly lostl. We can now look forward to one of the weakest ever QFs where we will play Fiji who lost to Portugal, thereby scraping through to the knockout stage with a losing bonus point to eliminate Jones's Australia. We will probably see Farrell in the XV and we are at risk of not beating Fiji.
Try making that lot up to sell a sports novel! Too unlikely to get published, I'd guess.
There's one group who must be thrilled with how this RWC is going and that's the RFU's marketing department - normally they have to invent some bogus colour clash ("oh no, we can't wear white against Australia" ) to get a chance to wear the away shirts so they can sell some, but this world cup we've managed to play the only three nations that we actually clash with. They'll.be cheering for Argentina this weekend in the hope we could play them in the 3rd/4th game.
Interestingly I noticed that some of the press are daring to suggest that OF is not the greatest player in the world and is inhibiting the rest of the team, so I wonder if there is a bit of a whisper coming from the management ot the dressing room about team changes. Actually I rather doubt it, but one can live in hope. So Boring gave his usual dirge about how the rest of the team admire and respect his leadership blah blah blah.
Stephen Jones still gave him a 7/10 for his match winning performance on Saturday .
I also noticed that when he eventually managed to kick a ball through the posts to break the record only George came and congratulated him.
) to get a chance to wear the away shirts so they can sell some, but this world cup we've managed to play the only three nations that we actually clash with. They'll.be cheering for Argentina this weekend in the hope we could play them in the 3rd/4th game.
