New and Improved EPS Watch/Player Form Thread

[TheDasher]

I don't think Alfie has been in the front row or had to throw a dart in about 7 years. And if you think CCS' workrate isn't up to snuff...

re the front-row, I know but as I've said before, I can't help feeling if Rassie was in charge of England it's the kind of thing he'd do - you have this bowling ball of a player who can offer something at 8 and 2 - there's probably something in it. Could his darts be better than Dan's as a reserve hooker, maybe. And on the workrate, I suspect that's management again - work harder, play for England, central contract etc.

Anyway, who knows, regardless as I said, CCS would be the one for me at 8 anyway.

[TheNomad]

Am i going mad, or did my post disappear?

[Which Tyler]

Am i going mad, or did my post disappear?

Two things can both be true...

[TheDasher]

Am i going mad, or did my post disappear?

You posted it in the England squad announcement thread no? And anyway, you win, no more Alfie Barbeary chat!

It's why I'm not very good at posting stuff on here, I say something that's a tiny, mere thought that comes to me for half a second and then disappears because it's not relevant (Barbeary covering hooker potentially in some format) and then I find myself defending it for a far longer period of time. I wouldn't pick him in my squad anyway.

[TheNomad]

Am i going mad, or did my post disappear?

You posted it in the England squad announcement thread no? And anyway, you win, no more Alfie Barbeary chat!

It's why I'm not very good at posting stuff on here, I say something that's a tiny, mere thought that comes to me for half a second and then disappears because it's not relevant (Barbeary covering hooker potentially in some format) and then I find myself defending it for a far longer period of time. I wouldn't pick him in my squad anyway.

Oh yeah. I 'm a muppet

[Which Tyler]

hmmm
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso surgery delayed after ‘RFU medics had Christmas off’

TBH, that article, despite the spin they're trying to put on it, is just backing up what Which has said on the issue - trying rehab is not wasted time and, as a trainee doctor, Feyi-Waboso was in the best possible position to make his own decisions on how his body was treated. With hindsight, probably should've made different decisions, but I can't see it's the RFU's fault.

It just indicates how difficult it remains to manage players even with the new contracts, and how the clubs will always look to have a pop at the rfu.

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/sport/ot ... l-10589981

England winger Will Muir has undergone surgery on his ankle, which will rule him out for Bath Rugby for a couple of months, Johann van Graan as confirmed.

Muir, who became a full England international in the summer in the 2-0 series win away in Argentina, injured his ankle in a pre-season friendly win away at Worcester Warriors and has not featured this season. After giving the injury a month to recover naturally, Bath's medical team have decided surgery is now the best route.

If only Bath's medics had listened to Bath's medics, and had the surgery straight away - he might have had a chance at returning in time for the AIs...

[Puja]

Am I right in saying that not a single England squad player went off injured this weekend, despite all playing the week before the first international? Extraordinary luck.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Think thats the case but we're still going to be without a few and i'm not sure how fit JVP, Rodd and CCS are going to be.

[Scrumhead]

Am I right in saying that not a single England squad player went off injured this weekend, despite all playing the week before the first international? Extraordinary luck.

Puja

Puja - come on man. You know way better than to mock the fates like this.

[Captainhaircut]

Think thats the case but we're still going to be without a few and i'm not sure how fit JVP, Rodd and CCS are going to be.

Rodd is out for 4 weeks apparently.

[Puja]

Am I right in saying that not a single England squad player went off injured this weekend, despite all playing the week before the first international? Extraordinary luck.

Puja

Puja - come on man. You know way better than to mock the fates like this.

I made sure all the games were finished for the weekend before speaking! If we lose them in training, that's not my fault!

Puja

[Captainhaircut]

Even with “limited” injuries, we’ll still be missing Rodd, Martin, Curry x 2, Hill, Furbank, Atkinson and possibly JVP who would all be in the wider squad. Almost 1/4 of the squad. Plus Muir and Carpenter who would be close. Probably forgotten someone too.

[Puja]

Even with “limited” injuries, we’ll still be missing Rodd, Martin, Curry x 2, Hill, Furbank, Atkinson and possibly JVP who would all be in the wider squad. Almost 1/4 of the squad. Plus Muir and Carpenter who would be close. Probably forgotten someone too.

That's not an intolerable list though. Of those, Furbank is the only starter who we don't have a similar quality replacement for - while it'd be useful to have all of them fit, I don't know we're substantially weaker.

Puja

[Danno]

Even with “limited” injuries, we’ll still be missing Rodd, Martin, Curry x 2, Hill, Furbank, Atkinson and possibly JVP who would all be in the wider squad. Almost 1/4 of the squad. Plus Muir and Carpenter who would be close. Probably forgotten someone too.

That's not an intolerable list though. Of those, Furbank is the only starter who we don't have a similar quality replacement for - while it'd be useful to have all of them fit, I don't know we're substantially weaker.

Puja

Aye, Genge and Baxter are way ahead of Rodd, happy with Itoje, Chessum and Coles as our locks, back row stocks aren't exactly lacking and Dingwall (hopefully selected) hasn't really put a foot wrong

[Scrumhead]

I wasn’t exactly sure where to put this but wanted to share as it’s a great video:

Fin Smith comes across very, very well.

[Captainhaircut]

https://archive.ph/lnyWL

Feels a bit too late in his career but also thought Ford would make a sensational scrum half. Think it’s clear we want to open up possibility of a 7-1 bench and that will need to be with another 10 starting (fin at 12 or Marcus at 15) and a scrum half or back row who can be versatile or Ford covering scrum half.

Interesting but a world with say Itoje, Chessum, Pepper, Curry, Pollock as starters plus Martin, CCS, Underhill and Earl on the bench could certainly be fun.

[FKAS]

From that article "George Ford being able to provide back-up cover at scrum-half (he did so impressively once before during a sin-bin situation when he was at Leicester)"

That game was Saints away. Biggar Vs Ford. Ford was sensational and Tigers battered Saints in the first half. Biggar went off injured. Second half Saints showed up a bit and Wigglesworth was sin binned. Ford effectively played 9 and 10 in the French style of petit generale. Couple of box kicks Tigers won back and a drop goal from a Saints goal line drop out. Definitely a role he could do in an emergency.

[Captainhaircut]

Wouldn’t mind seeing it but we just don’t get chance to experiment. 3 tough autumn internationals and the Fiji game will probably be needed to get some cohesion going pre NZ.

Otherwise wouldn’t be adverse to seeing Ford 10, fin smith 12 for Fiji with Ford having a run at 9 for last 20 or so.

[Mellsblue]

It’s all going a bit Eddie Jones, isn’t it. High turnover of coaches and numberless players. I’d rather he just concentrated on beating SA & NZ.

[Captainhaircut]

It’s all going a bit Eddie Jones, isn’t it. High turnover of coaches and numberless players. I’d rather he just concentrated on beating SA & NZ.

Yeah other than the bit where we’ve won 7 in a row. Also, I don’t think Jones ever actually went through with one of his theories. Borthwick has done so with Earl covering centre allowing us to have some success with a 6-2 split.

Isn’t one of the ways to possibly beat SA and NZ to ensure we have strong bench impact and utilise the best players we have? That’s possibly done via 6-2 or 7-1. We lost a lot of tight games last year against the top sides due to lack of bench impact.

[Mellsblue]

Didn’t see SA or NZ in those seven wins… which is my main point.
We won’t out Bok the Boks, imo. I just think he’s putting the cart before the horse. I’d suggest getting a strong core of 35 players and a settled coaching unit would be the priorities at this point.
Let’s reinvent the wheel if that doesn’t work.

[FKAS]

Didn’t see SA or NZ in those seven wins… which is my main point.
We won’t out Bok the Boks, imo. I just think he’s putting the cart before the horse. I’d suggest getting a strong core of 35 players and a settled coaching unit would be the priorities at this point.
Let’s reinvent the wheel if that doesn’t work.

I don't think we're trying to out Bok the Boks though. Even then Rassie is ripping up the Bok stereotype and developing a side that plays in different ways.

Borthwick has largely built a stable 35 man squad. Centre is a work in progress and TWillis option to take the cash has upset some of the stability. The coaching setup has consistent elements, I don't think it's necessarily great to never have any change to the setup but less turnover would be good.

The game plan today was some distance from what the Boks would generally go towards. We loaded the bench up against a side that likes to finish strong and just took the game away from them after half time. Just clever tactics. Wins over NZ and the Boks would be nice, got a good chance to get one of those in the coming weeks.

[Scrumhead]

Depends what you mean by ‘out Bok the Boks’.

Borthwick has also acknowledged that we don’t have the personnel to play a power game so he’s not trying to do it in that way.

If you mean trying to be more flexible in positions and changing the makeup of the bench to bring players who we might usually consider ‘starters’ later in the game, then yes, possibly we are looking at going in that direction.

[Oakboy]

6:2 yesterday gave us two 7s to replace two 7s. It denied us, say, Arundell for Steward. Whichever three (out of Pollock, Curry, Earl and Underhill) are selected at 7, 8, 20, surely one can do an effective 80.

[Captainhaircut]

6:2 yesterday gave us two 7s to replace two 7s. It denied us, say, Arundell for Steward. Whichever three (out of Pollock, Curry, Earl and Underhill) are selected at 7, 8, 20, surely one can do an effective 80.

Strange to watch that game and think that what we needed was to leave out one of Curry or Pollock for Arundell.