EPS Watch / Player Form Thread

[Raggs]

Crowd favorite gets a run of starts finally, proves to crowd exactly why they were only benching before...

It happens quite often to be fair, Spencer isn't exactly a youngster either.

[Oakboy]

Have you seen Spencer this season?! There's a reason Saracens have gone back to Wigglesworth - he's been dire.

Puja

Yes, I see a youngish guy frustrated by a lack of game time. Spencer is more of a physical presence than the other contenders. That alone, makes him worth at least a fringe spot. I suspect that Saracens' limited, stifling game style simply does not suit him.

Don't you get frustrated by this sort of situation? Why aren't the coaches (Saracens and England) getting the best out of him? We seem to have so many players that are under-performing.

[Mikey Brown]

You can see why he might have thought he could just wait it out and become the 9 for a top side by default, but RW has stuck around for so long. There are a good few sides who could’ve done with a more physical running option at 9 in the last few years and he might have developed a lot more.

[fivepointer]

I suggested a couple of years back that Spencer should move on. He needed to play week in, week out as do all aspiring young players and particularly 9's.
Going to SA and playing all of 10 minutes and then getting dumped out of the initial training squad cannot have done his confidence much good.
9 is a problem position in the English game and its not at all obvious why it should be. It is a demanding position, but you would have thought that we should be getting a good one through every couple of seasons, as we do with most other positions.

[twitchy]

It's odd that 9 is a problem you would have thought we should have loads.

[p/d]

It's why we were generally wanting the likes of Robson, Simpson and a few others to be brought in 2 years ago .......... even when their form absolutely demanded it our coach failed to see the fault lines in his selection 'loyalty'.

[Raggs]

We seem to like to stick our good young 9s behind reliable SH imports. Then complain that they lack game management ability.

[Mikey Brown]

BREAKING:

Austin Healey just said Youngs is "a top, world-class 9" literally seconds ago. So, you know... settle down guys.

[Mellsblue]

Another English no8 bites the dust. Thomas Waldrom retires.

[Puja]

Carl Fearns, the former Bath back-row playing for Lyon, believes that, once fit, he is the next best option for England at No 8 after Billy Vunipola. “If I do get back to the levels I was at two years ago, then I feel like I should be there,” he said. “I am the second guy behind Billy Vunipola in my eyes … if you take him out of the England team there is no other real back-row who plays like me.”

That's wonderful Carl. What a shame you've never had an opportunity to join an English club and make yourself available. It would've been even better if you could have joined a club where you could be in direct competition with a competitor for that place.

Still, never mind. Enjoy watching England on television.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Carl Fearns, the former Bath back-row playing for Lyon, believes that, once fit, he is the next best option for England at No 8 after Billy Vunipola. “If I do get back to the levels I was at two years ago, then I feel like I should be there,” he said. “I am the second guy behind Billy Vunipola in my eyes … if you take him out of the England team there is no other real back-row who plays like me.”

That's wonderful Carl. What a shame you've never had an opportunity to join an English club and make yourself available. It would've been even better if you could have joined a club where you could be in direct competition with a competitor for that place.

Still, never mind. Enjoy watching England on television.

Puja

I used to quite like Carl Fearns. That might have been before I’d ever heard him speak or read anything he’d written though.

[TheDasher]

I like Fearns and if he was in England I'd be considering him at 6/8 as a squad option. For him to suggest he's better than Morgan though is laughable. Morgan is far better at 8.

[Scrumhead]

I’ve said this before, but Fearns has come across as an entitled, sour w@nker since he moved to Lyon.

How he can claim to be the second best in his position is even more laughable given that he’s barely played in the last 12months.

[twitchy]

Mallinder out for the season apparently.

[Mikey Brown]

I’ve said this before, but Fearns has come across as an entitled, sour w@nker since he moved to Lyon.

How he can claim to be the second best in his position is even more laughable given that he’s barely played in the last 12months.

It's just popped in to my head that it was him who decked Henson a few years back wasn't it? I remember thinking Henson was a total arsehole, but I don't actually know where I'd got that idea from. I judged him based entirely on his hair, his tan and his cockiness on the pitch, but he actually seems like a really good bloke. Have I mixed that up? I'm pretty sure it was Fearns.

[Puja]

I’ve said this before, but Fearns has come across as an entitled, sour w@nker since he moved to Lyon.

How he can claim to be the second best in his position is even more laughable given that he’s barely played in the last 12months.

It's just popped in to my head that it was him who decked Henson a few years back wasn't it? I remember thinking Henson was a total arsehole, but I don't actually know where I'd got that idea from. I judged him based entirely on his hair, his tan and his cockiness on the pitch, but he actually seems like a really good bloke. Have I mixed that up? I'm pretty sure it was Fearns.

You are right that it was Fearns, although I'm not sure about exonerating Henson.

Puja

[fivepointer]

From July 2013 when they were both at Bath -

"Bath back-row Carl Fearns and fly-half Gavin Henson have been fined and warned about their future conduct following their altercation in a city centre pub last week.

Henson, 31, was floored by a punch from Fearns, 24, at the Pig and Fiddle pub in Bath on Wednesday night. Eye witnesses suggested that Henson confronted his team-mate having been goaded about his reality TV appearances and was subsequently left slumped on the floor"

Oh to have been a fly on that particular wall.....

[twitchy]

There is a video of that some where.

[Oakboy]

Mallinder out for the season apparently.

What's he done?

[Mellsblue]

Mallinder out for the season apparently.

What's he done?

Broken a toe nail......
That’s unfair. He’s been a lot better this season. It would be a terrible irony if he’s been injured attempting to head on tackle Painter with his newly found cojones.

[fivepointer]

knee injury which requires an op. Pity as he was looking pretty good from what I saw. Definite signs of greater physical commitment.

[Scrumhead]

From July 2013 when they were both at Bath -

"Bath back-row Carl Fearns and fly-half Gavin Henson have been fined and warned about their future conduct following their altercation in a city centre pub last week.

Henson, 31, was floored by a punch from Fearns, 24, at the Pig and Fiddle pub in Bath on Wednesday night. Eye witnesses suggested that Henson confronted his team-mate having been goaded about his reality TV appearances and was subsequently left slumped on the floor"

Oh to have been a fly on that particular wall.....

Exactly as Mikey Brown said, I automatically assumed Henson was being a prick and deserved it. Perhaps not. In hindsight, perhaps Fearns was taking the goading a little too far and Henson was just standing his ground. IIRC in the video it looks like 0-60 aggression.

[Digby]

Utterly unacceptable to lose Laws in such fashion, back injury to a too small bed, that's amateur hour from England which for the money being spent isn't close to being on a far distant horizon from acceptable

[Timbo]

Utterly unacceptable to lose Laws in such fashion, back injury to a too small bed, that's amateur hour from England which for the money being spent isn't close to being on a far distant horizon from acceptable

The ‘too small bed’ was from being away with Saints a few weeks back.

He had a couple of weeks off, then played for Northampton against Clermont. Seems the niggle hasn’t fully settled down. England expect him back in camp in a couple of days and have said he’s still in contention for SA test.

[Digby]

Utterly unacceptable to lose Laws in such fashion, back injury to a too small bed, that's amateur hour from England which for the money being spent isn't close to being on a far distant horizon from acceptable

The ‘too small bed’ was from being away with Saints a few weeks back.

He had a couple of weeks off, then played for Northampton against Clermont. Seems the niggle hasn’t fully settled down. England expect him back in camp in a couple of days and have said he’s still in contention for SA test.

Then I should drink less wine, or more, before looking at the beeb site. Absurd from Saints however if not England