RugbyRebels

Digby wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:

Digby wrote:A change at 12 must surely be on the cards even if Te'o stinks the place out on tour, it's been a too weak area for England

I don't think so. Farrell obviously isn't a running threat, but on the occasions where the Ford/Farrell combination has clicked, we've played some very nice rugby.

So we could have plan A of change the team for a selection that makes sense, or plan B of waiting for those games where the opposition allow our self inflicted lack of running options not to be an issue

quite

Digby wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Te'o made some excellent breaks again for the Lions today and is looking very much like he'll make the test side at 12.

Food for thought for Eddie?

Pretty obvious to me that Teo would suit England to a tee (o) at 12, outside Ford and inside JJ; Watson at 15, Daly and someone like Roko. Tasty.

And for p/d it means he can perform the banana boat song with the name Te'o being repeated over and over

Something I knocked up earlier:

Lizard wrote:

Digby wrote:

Banquo wrote: Pretty obvious to me that Teo would suit England to a tee (o) at 12, outside Ford and inside JJ; Watson at 15, Daly and someone like Roko. Tasty.

And for p/d it means he can perform the banana boat song with the name Te'o being repeated over and over

Something I knocked up earlier:

thanks for that, its really great

Timbo wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Does anyone know if we have a summer tour scheduled for next season? I'm trying to figure out how many games we'll have before Japan.

At the moment, I make it something like 18-20.

Tonight's game, 3 AIs, 5 6N (2018), 3-4 AIs, 5 6N (2019) plus a couple of World Cup warm-up games.

That said, we do normally have some kind of June tour and the Old Mutual game might go back to another capped fixture rather than a Barbarians game, so there could be somewhere between 4-6 more.

I think 3 tests against the Springboks next summer.

Ooh yes please!

Is anyone else a touch unsure about our back up in the second row?

Isiekwe is clearly a talent, but with Skelton and Day joining Saracens, how much game time is he going to get in the next season or two?

Ewels looked good in Argentina so has effectively cemented his place at 5th choice, but 5 locks isn't enough IMO.

There is always Attwood, but he doesn't seem to be highly regarded by Eddie and I feel like we've missed an opportunity to blood another credible option like Symons or Barrow.

Scrumhead wrote:Is anyone else a touch unsure about our back up in the second row?

Isiekwe is clearly a talent, but with Skelton and Day joining Saracens, how much game time is he going to get in the next season or two?

Ewels looked good in Argentina so has effectively cemented his place at 5th choice, but 5 locks isn't enough IMO.

There is always Attwood, but he doesn't seem to be highly regarded by Eddie and I feel like we've missed an opportunity to blood another credible option like Symons or Barrow.

How many top locks do NZ have?

5 seems enough to me. If the poo hits the fan and we have to throw Attwood/Symons/whoever on the bench in an injury crisis then I'm pretty comfortable with that.

Banquo wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Is anyone else a touch unsure about our back up in the second row?

Isiekwe is clearly a talent, but with Skelton and Day joining Saracens, how much game time is he going to get in the next season or two?

Ewels looked good in Argentina so has effectively cemented his place at 5th choice, but 5 locks isn't enough IMO.

There is always Attwood, but he doesn't seem to be highly regarded by Eddie and I feel like we've missed an opportunity to blood another credible option like Symons or Barrow.

How many top locks do NZ have?

Fair point ... come to think of it, beyond Retallick and Whitelock, they're fairly ordinary.

Scrumhead wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Is anyone else a touch unsure about our back up in the second row?

Isiekwe is clearly a talent, but with Skelton and Day joining Saracens, how much game time is he going to get in the next season or two?

Ewels looked good in Argentina so has effectively cemented his place at 5th choice, but 5 locks isn't enough IMO.

There is always Attwood, but he doesn't seem to be highly regarded by Eddie and I feel like we've missed an opportunity to blood another credible option like Symons or Barrow.

How many top locks do NZ have?

Fair point ... come to think of it, beyond Retallick and Whitelock, they're fairly ordinary.

....and have a look round the rest of the world.....

Scrumhead wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Is anyone else a touch unsure about our back up in the second row?

Isiekwe is clearly a talent, but with Skelton and Day joining Saracens, how much game time is he going to get in the next season or two?

Ewels looked good in Argentina so has effectively cemented his place at 5th choice, but 5 locks isn't enough IMO.

There is always Attwood, but he doesn't seem to be highly regarded by Eddie and I feel like we've missed an opportunity to blood another credible option like Symons or Barrow.

How many top locks do NZ have?

Fair point ... come to think of it, beyond Retallick and Whitelock, they're fairly ordinary.

As the Chicago game will attest. We've got a literal world-class quartet of locks at the moment to fill 3 spots in the XXIII and even our fifth choice is someone that we would've been exulting over 5 years ago. We'd need three injuries just to get someone we don't trust onto the bench, let alone the starting XV. I think it's fair to say we have more pressing areas to be concerned about.

Puja

Scrumhead wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Is anyone else a touch unsure about our back up in the second row?

Isiekwe is clearly a talent, but with Skelton and Day joining Saracens, how much game time is he going to get in the next season or two?

Ewels looked good in Argentina so has effectively cemented his place at 5th choice, but 5 locks isn't enough IMO.

There is always Attwood, but he doesn't seem to be highly regarded by Eddie and I feel like we've missed an opportunity to blood another credible option like Symons or Barrow.

How many top locks do NZ have?

Fair point ... come to think of it, beyond Retallick and Whitelock, they're fairly ordinary.

Trouble is those two are quite exceptional.

Digby wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:

Banquo wrote:
How many top locks do NZ have?

Fair point ... come to think of it, beyond Retallick and Whitelock, they're fairly ordinary.

Trouble is those two are quite exceptional.

Trouble is without them we get beaten by Ireland for the first time after 111 years of not being beaten by Ireland.

Scrumhead wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Is anyone else a touch unsure about our back up in the second row?

Isiekwe is clearly a talent, but with Skelton and Day joining Saracens, how much game time is he going to get in the next season or two?

Ewels looked good in Argentina so has effectively cemented his place at 5th choice, but 5 locks isn't enough IMO.

There is always Attwood, but he doesn't seem to be highly regarded by Eddie and I feel like we've missed an opportunity to blood another credible option like Symons or Barrow.

How many top locks do NZ have?

Fair point ... come to think of it, beyond Retallick and Whitelock, they're fairly ordinary.

Retallick must now be comfortably the world's best lock, and well ahead of any other. He excels in all aspects of tight and loose play. He's hard as nails, has ball skills, a positional- and game reading brain, and a tremendous engine. He is probably the All Blacks best ever lock with his combination of size, power and skills. (Whitelock may be the current world's second best, or very close).

Of course. I agree completely.

I'd take any of our locks over Romano, Fifita and Barrett though.

Boys all went well today- Lawes (who should not have played, let alone come back on) was everywhere, ditto Cole who put a mighty shift in. The Hask was decent, Nowell very good with the ball, and Daly showed flashes of class and real gas. Marler went well in the scrum.

Best game i've seen from Dan Cole for ages. Lasted a full 80, was excellent in scrum and made a real mark in the loose. Haskell's best game since coming back from injury.

fivepointer wrote:Best game i've seen from Dan Cole for ages. Lasted a full 80, was excellent in scrum and made a real mark in the loose. Haskell's best game since coming back from injury.

yep and yepper

Banquo wrote:Boys all went well today- Lawes (who should not have played, let alone come back on) was everywhere, ditto Cole who put a mighty shift in. The Hask was decent, Nowell very good with the ball, and Daly showed flashes of class and real gas. Marler went well in the scrum.

Just watched it again and Lawes was very good. And that was the good Nowell and when it comes off you can see he why he has his fans. There is talk that Gatland is quite the Nowell fan and likes how busy he is. Nowell has some defensive concerns but you have to admire his work rate and how much he looks to receive the ball. All wingers should do this. I see Gatland has said that North must look for the ball more and they encourage him to get around 15 touches a game. Yet this is about the 5th time Gatland has said this about Nort and even Howley has said North must do more but boy George never seems to respond. Personally i would start Daly over North and put Liam Williams on the bench but i imagine North will cling on for this weekend. But fair play to Nowell for todays performance.

But boy George was equal top try scorer in the 6n.......

p/d wrote:But boy George was equal top try scorer in the 6n.......

Oh. Didn't he also get dropped after a lackluster showing? Maybe my memory is playing tricks. I do believe he is talented but needs a rocket up his ass and is purely picked up on reputation at the moment.

skidger wrote:

p/d wrote:But boy George was equal top try scorer in the 6n.......

Oh. Didn't he also get dropped after a lackluster showing? Maybe my memory is playing tricks. I do believe he is talented but needs a rocket up his ass and is purely picked up on reputation at the moment.

At his best he is world class, just that would be 4 yrs ago now. Definetly a player selected on reputation. Now if Dibble Grub was on tour .....

skidger wrote:

Banquo wrote:Boys all went well today- Lawes (who should not have played, let alone come back on) was everywhere, ditto Cole who put a mighty shift in. The Hask was decent, Nowell very good with the ball, and Daly showed flashes of class and real gas. Marler went well in the scrum.

Just watched it again and Lawes was very good. And that was the good Nowell and when it comes off you can see he why he has his fans. But fair play to Nowell for todays performance.

I haven't watched the match as someone had the audacity to call me into the office but is Nowell's improved performance at all linked to the lesser quality of the oppo?

Mellsblue wrote:

skidger wrote:

Banquo wrote:Boys all went well today- Lawes (who should not have played, let alone come back on) was everywhere, ditto Cole who put a mighty shift in. The Hask was decent, Nowell very good with the ball, and Daly showed flashes of class and real gas. Marler went well in the scrum.

Just watched it again and Lawes was very good. And that was the good Nowell and when it comes off you can see he why he has his fans. But fair play to Nowell for todays performance.

I haven't watched the match as someone had the audacity to call me into the office but is Nowell's improved performance at all linked to the lesser quality of the oppo?

Perhaps, in the sense he wasn't having to defend so much and that the Lions were much better and very dominant in the tight. He was good with the ball in hand, and was very busy.....

Nowell was good. looked eager for work, scored 2 nice tries and was error free.

What i do like about him is his relish to get stuck into a ruck and effect a good clearout. He does this regularly. OK, thats not what you would pick a winger for, but its these sort of things that mark him out from most other wingers.

Don't really understand the level of criticism levelled at Nowell prior to the chiefs game. He's not the world's best and i'm not sure i'd've had him with the lions but he clearly can cut it at international level.