Saracens vs Sale - Sunday

[Banquo]

Healey was banging on about playing him on the wing....

[Banquo]

I rarely choose to compliment Saracens, but whoever found McFarland did an unbelievable job.

To have found a player with the ability to go from being completely unheard to one of the best blindside flankers in the league in just over a season is a massive scouting triumph.

The mad thing is how new McFarland is to rugby. If he continues this rate of development, he could be an absolute monster. He clearly has excellent athleticism and a natural feel for the game. Experience will only add to that.

Wish he was English. He's like Lawes, Curry and Watson rolled into one.

Agreed. He would be Eddie’s dream 6.

Could be an interesting case study though - McFarland was primarily a basketball player until 2019. He had played rugby, but not at a high level, so it goes to show that there is plenty of scope for those with the athletic potential/physical attributes for rugby to switch.

When I think about the massive amount of players in football who don’t make it, there must be some who would have the ability to transfer to rugby if they were encouraged to do so.

Its exactly what Bob Dwyer did with Oz way back, scouted other sports, esp basketball to find new talent..eg IIRC Jason Little had played little rugby when he spotted him and by 19 was playing for Australia.

[Mellsblue]

I rarely choose to compliment Saracens, but whoever found McFarland did an unbelievable job.

To have found a player with the ability to go from being completely unheard to one of the best blindside flankers in the league in just over a season is a massive scouting triumph.

The mad thing is how new McFarland is to rugby. If he continues this rate of development, he could be an absolute monster. He clearly has excellent athleticism and a natural feel for the game. Experience will only add to that.

Wish he was English. He's like Lawes, Curry and Watson rolled into one.

Agreed. He would be Eddie’s dream 6.

Could be an interesting case study though - McFarland was primarily a basketball player until 2019. He had played rugby, but not at a high level, so it goes to show that there is plenty of scope for those with the athletic potential/physical attributes for rugby to switch.

When I think about the massive amount of players in football who don’t make it, there must be some who would have the ability to transfer to rugby if they were encouraged to do so.

There is such an experiment on a larger scale going on in the USA:

https://americanraptors.com/raptors-history/

[Puja]

Wish he was English. He's like Lawes, Curry and Watson rolled into one.

Agreed. He would be Eddie’s dream 6.

Could be an interesting case study though - McFarland was primarily a basketball player until 2019. He had played rugby, but not at a high level, so it goes to show that there is plenty of scope for those with the athletic potential/physical attributes for rugby to switch.

When I think about the massive amount of players in football who don’t make it, there must be some who would have the ability to transfer to rugby if they were encouraged to do so.

There is such an experiment on a larger scale going on in the USA:

https://americanraptors.com/raptors-history/

I don't know how much of a success it is going to be. Everyone talks about converting talented sportsmen to rugby and "untapped resources", but at the top level, it very rarely works. Even converting from rugby league, a sport with so many similarities, has only a very patchy success rate, and sports that're further away, like Gridiron, seem to be 1 in 100.

Aside from some special talents, the key seems to be playing rugby union in your teens at latest. People talk up McFarland as a crossover like he'd never seen a ball, but he played it growing up in Samoa and had played Samoa 7s before coming to Sarries.

I just don't think there wil be success from getting athletes to touch a rugby ball for the first time and convert, just the same as NFL's attempts to rope in outside talent have been nigh universal failures. No matter how skilled an athlete you are, at the highest level, it's the top two inches that make the difference and there's just too much for a crossover to catch up on.

Puja

[Peej]

Hayden Smith was a pretty good example. Played basketball in Aus and went to the US on school scholarship. Didn't make the NBA, became a lock in rugby, played for the Eagles. Then went to the NFL for two years - but did actually play in games and caught a pass (so more than guys like Wade/Gray/Okoye/Scotland-Williamson).

Nowhere near as high profile as others but he actually did it. Fair play to him.

[Oakboy]

One factor which may help is size. 20-30 years ago, McFarland's build was rare. Not so, now.

[Beasties]

Just caught up on the highlights for this. Tomkins work in the lead up to Earl’s try was fabulous. Every time I watch Sarries I’m impressed with Tomkins, doesn’t seem to get a lot of praise on here. If only he were English. Oh.
And yeah, McFarland’s ridiculous.

[Banquo]

Just caught up on the highlights for this. Tomkins work in the lead up to Earl’s try was fabulous. Every time I watch Sarries I’m impressed with Tomkins, doesn’t seem to get a lot of praise on here. If only he were English. Oh.
And yeah, McFarland’s ridiculous.

Tomkins been a revelation since moving to 12- does all the midfield jobs well.