Nathan Hughes
Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:40 am
Just rewatched the game from Saturday and received my usual set of corrections to my perceptions of player performances after watching in a less heightened emotional state (Lawes significantly worse than first thought, Youngs significantly better, May even better than I thought, Yarde even worse, etc). However one thing which caught my eye was confirmation of my impression that Nathan Hughes was constantly walking around the pitch. So, I rewound to where he came on in the 53rd minute and started just watching him alone.
In the 30 minutes that he was on the pitch (including time after the 80 on our last attack), Hughes attended just five rucks in both attack and defence. I say attended because for four of them he ambled up and leaned on the side after the ball had been won. The fifth was where the ruck formed in front of him and he had an unsuccessful go at the ball.
When he did not directly have the ball in his hands, he only went above a slow jog once (and that was the charge down that saw him unfairly penalised). This was egregious enough in defence and was a significant factor in both SA tries, as his failure to get across with any speed left us short on the blind side. However, in attack, he also showed very little interest in putting effort in.
This was the worst of it:
England turn over the ball about 55m out through Mike Brown. Hughes is standing 3 men out, having made absolutely no effort to get anywhere near the ruck.
The ball is spread wide to Daly. Note that Hughes has moved a grand total of 3m and appears to have little to no interest in getting back into the game.
Daly makes ground and a ruck is set up on the halfway. Hughes again has no interest in going anywhere near it. The ball comes quickly and Farrell runs a close line through a gaping hole in the SA defence. I've noted a few key players down on the screenshot and their relative positions. Closest to Farrell is Nathan Hughes, who is pretty much on his shoulder when he receives the ball.
In the space of 3 seconds, Hughes has gone from being the closest player to the ball carrier to being the fifth closest and dropping. He makes literally no effort to accelerate and support the break. He's been overtaken by Ford and Care (understandable - they're backs), Billy V (disappointing - he should be looking to compete with Billy) and Marler (fucking outrageous), all of whom were a significant distance further away. But wait, it gets worse.
Farrell slips the ball to Ford who runs into the 22 and ends up chipping and chasing. At this point, Hughes is now over 20m away from the play, unlike BillyV who is one of the main chasers. He still has not gone above a slow jog. But wait, it gets even worse.
What are you doing there Nathan? South Africa have recovered the chip through and Ford, Care and Billy V secure the ruck while Marler and George, two front row, take up defensive guard positions. Hughes however is in no-man's land, wandering blithely up the centre of the pitch and looking like he's hoping someone else might form a defensive line which he might tag onto the end of. He's achieving absolutely f-all there. And to add insult to further insult, he's now been caught up by Dan Cole, who is a) a tighthead and b) shagged out from having played 69 minutes. Can it get worse?
Yep, apparently it can. It shows up better in the video and was hard to get a good screenshot of, but that's Dan Cole, the aforementioned knackered tighthead who is leading the chargedown attempt, while recent substitute back row Hughes gently wanders forward, again achieving sweet f-all.
I am astounded that such a performance is being rewarded with a starting role this weekend. If I were Tom Media Wood, I'd be fuming that Eddie had told me to improve my workrate and then dropped me for that clown. I'm hoping someone has given Hughes a phenomenal rocket and he's promised to do better next time, cause that 30 minutes was just plain unacceptable of anybody at any level, and I say that as an arch work avoider on the pitch myself.
Puja
In the 30 minutes that he was on the pitch (including time after the 80 on our last attack), Hughes attended just five rucks in both attack and defence. I say attended because for four of them he ambled up and leaned on the side after the ball had been won. The fifth was where the ruck formed in front of him and he had an unsuccessful go at the ball.
When he did not directly have the ball in his hands, he only went above a slow jog once (and that was the charge down that saw him unfairly penalised). This was egregious enough in defence and was a significant factor in both SA tries, as his failure to get across with any speed left us short on the blind side. However, in attack, he also showed very little interest in putting effort in.
This was the worst of it:
England turn over the ball about 55m out through Mike Brown. Hughes is standing 3 men out, having made absolutely no effort to get anywhere near the ruck.
The ball is spread wide to Daly. Note that Hughes has moved a grand total of 3m and appears to have little to no interest in getting back into the game.
Daly makes ground and a ruck is set up on the halfway. Hughes again has no interest in going anywhere near it. The ball comes quickly and Farrell runs a close line through a gaping hole in the SA defence. I've noted a few key players down on the screenshot and their relative positions. Closest to Farrell is Nathan Hughes, who is pretty much on his shoulder when he receives the ball.
In the space of 3 seconds, Hughes has gone from being the closest player to the ball carrier to being the fifth closest and dropping. He makes literally no effort to accelerate and support the break. He's been overtaken by Ford and Care (understandable - they're backs), Billy V (disappointing - he should be looking to compete with Billy) and Marler (fucking outrageous), all of whom were a significant distance further away. But wait, it gets worse.
Farrell slips the ball to Ford who runs into the 22 and ends up chipping and chasing. At this point, Hughes is now over 20m away from the play, unlike BillyV who is one of the main chasers. He still has not gone above a slow jog. But wait, it gets even worse.
What are you doing there Nathan? South Africa have recovered the chip through and Ford, Care and Billy V secure the ruck while Marler and George, two front row, take up defensive guard positions. Hughes however is in no-man's land, wandering blithely up the centre of the pitch and looking like he's hoping someone else might form a defensive line which he might tag onto the end of. He's achieving absolutely f-all there. And to add insult to further insult, he's now been caught up by Dan Cole, who is a) a tighthead and b) shagged out from having played 69 minutes. Can it get worse?
Yep, apparently it can. It shows up better in the video and was hard to get a good screenshot of, but that's Dan Cole, the aforementioned knackered tighthead who is leading the chargedown attempt, while recent substitute back row Hughes gently wanders forward, again achieving sweet f-all.
I am astounded that such a performance is being rewarded with a starting role this weekend. If I were Tom Media Wood, I'd be fuming that Eddie had told me to improve my workrate and then dropped me for that clown. I'm hoping someone has given Hughes a phenomenal rocket and he's promised to do better next time, cause that 30 minutes was just plain unacceptable of anybody at any level, and I say that as an arch work avoider on the pitch myself.
Puja
