Tuesday 14 February 2017

England Ratings (Wales 2017)

15 - Mike Brown - Acceptable

Brown's best work this match was done digging out his wingers. He rode the tackle well from Daly's hospital pass, he supported the isolated Nowell ably after Daly flubbed a box kick into into Biggar's path, and he made decent ground when Daly and Ford passed the ball to him to escape the kick chase. His surge for the line off of Daly's off-load that led to Youngs' try was vintage Brown too.

That was his main contribution to England's attack though and he lost a ball in contact in a very similar position in the second half. Getting turned over from a kick off in the second half wasn't entirely his fault either but wasn't entirely not his either and along with his clearance kick that went straight out, played part of a prominently bad day for the exit strategy.


14 - Jack Nowell - Good/Very Good

Very secure defensively and a vital source of go forwards in attack, this was one of Nowell's better games for England and he thoroughly justified the decision to start him ahead of May. A lot of Wales' attacks involved giving Liam Williams the ball with space to attack but Williams was only able to get free of Nowell (and his accomplice Joseph) once. Particular kudos for not giving away a dumb penalty when he lifted Williams in the tackle.

He also showed smart feet to escape the kick chase after one good box kick and to draw Samson Lee into a kickable penalty, and a great eye for a gap on a number of occasions when roaming off his wing. Seems to have particularly good chemistry with Ben Youngs. And he did a great job with the already mentioned kick through from Biggar. All in all, a fine day at the office, if maybe short of game changing magic.

13 - Jonathan Joseph - Acceptable/Good

Joseph's game in Jones' regime has been one of defensive excellence and attacking opportunism, seizing what few chances he can to attack space when living off of scraps. This game was a prime example, with Joseph making some very smart decisions and not missing a tackle despite the Welsh traffic. The only arguably bad decision he made was when Liam Williams scored - he probably should have stuck closer to Farrell and trusted his pace to get across if Wales went wide.

He only got to run the ball four times though, which seems a waste of such a talent. He did well enough considering the lack of space opposite him, although he wasted a couple of ball in hand opportunities with a pass over Nowell's head and a pointless kick through. Joseph's lack of attacking opportunity isn't on him but it does limit how well he can play. I wouldn't mind seeing him and Nowell swap positions on occasion; Nowell is better in traffic while Joseph loves the open space.

12 - Owen Farrell - Good

Another player with a definite performance type by now. Farrell will run a few nice lines but mainly float outside Ford as second distributor while hitting hard in defence and kicking most of shots at goal. Farrell's tackling wasn't so much in demand as it is at times with the forwards shouldering most of the burden but he did that and the goal kicking well enough. He also ran the usual nice line off of a line out move, leading fairly directly to Daly's missed penalty attempt, although he did also overrun Ford and turned over possession on occasion.

It was his distribution that was most interesting though. There was one unkind pass to Joseph but for the most part it was quick, accurate, and putting men into space. He showed good vision to call the blindside move that led to Moriarty's late tackle and showed neat quick hands on two occasions to put men into space, once when rescuing a rare bad pass from Ford. A shame he didn't show this when England had an overlap early on and elected to get munched and turned over by Alun Wyn Jones but these things happen. Credit too for his leadership on a team that never panicked in the final stages and for the final pass and kick to seal victory.

11 - Elliot Daly - Acceptable/Good

A harsh rating for the man scoring a game winning try and whose quick hands were pivotal in creating the first. Daly had a good game in attack, popping up to link all over the place. There is a need for a back three playmaker in the modern game and Daly's the closest England have had to one since, uhm, hmm, lets abandon that thought. He also showed good pace to rescue the situation after Biggar intercepted that pass, although I can't help but wonder whether a more experienced back three player would have rescued the ball and presented a platform to clear from.

And here is where I need to be harsh on Daly. His actions there were fine given the circs, but as noted, he did get the team into trouble on a number of occasions. He spent too long considering his actions counter-attacking and nearly put Brown in the morgue, he missed one up and under when contesting with Cuthbert and was bloody lucky that Garces didn't fancy looking at his kick-off chase where he took Cuthbert in the air. A nice chase to keep in Ford's errant kick-off doesn't entirely excuse a sloppy game in terms of back three skills.

10 - George Ford - Good

It was very notable that Wales' main source of attacking yardage involved running at George Ford. The line never broke though and Ford made some good defensive interventions, particularly when chasing back to get Webb after Wales' big break and catching Jon Davies after the centre noticed a lack of ruck guards. Ford will always be something of a vulnerability but is rarely a liability.

Ball in hand, a couple of poor kicks (the kick-off going out and a crap up and under) and a couple of blips in communication with Farrell were the only real blemishes. Elsewise he kept putting his runners into what space could be found and bossed an attack that looked threatening despite a lack of attacking set-piece platform. Also, his late opportunistic kick behind Wales off of loose ball might have gone a little long for perfection's sake, but it still set the platform for the game winning try that he helped create.

9 - Ben Youngs - Absymal/Poor

Lets be nice and talk about the good first. He did (mostly) well ball in hand when directing the attack. Most of his box kicks were decent to good. His (possibly offside) charge out on Alun Wyn Jones produced a try saving knock on. Shame he had to go and get charged down from the resulting clearance opportunity.  Oh, and he scored a try. Can't knock that.

Of course, we might have scored a try earlier if he'd passed to the biggest overlap earlier rather than going for glory. Then there's the pass to Dan Biggar when camped on the Welsh line. The aforementioned charge down was ugly and cost us the try he'd just saved. That box kick from 10 metres behind the maul was weird. Lets not forget that potentially back breaking pass to Dan Biggar for too long either. Or his decision to make an odd little chip from inside our half that allows Dan Biggar to send us back into our 22. Or the decisions to pass to Dan Biggar when on the Welsh try line. Did I mention he threw an intercept pass to Dan Biggar yet? Getting charged down when your protection is poorly set happens (although it happens less if the scrum-half organises it better). Throwing intercept passes on the opposition try line... yeesh.

8 - Nathan Hughes - Acceptable/Good

On first watch, I thought Hughes had done poorly. Watch him get destroyed by Moriarty! And flub his kick returns from the 22 drop outs! And that really bad knock on. And give away a turnover when Tipuric scrags him straight from a scrum. I'm not too impressed with him charging straight into Biggar's chop tackle from a scrum either, I like my 8s to keep their feet after a scrum. There is no question that the Welsh brought huge amounts of physicality and he came off second best from time to time.

On a second watch though, the amount of times he provided valuable go forwards became more apparent, particularly in the first half. Apparently he broke the gain line on 10 of his 22 carries, which sounds about right. There's no opportunity for Youngs to butcher without him grabbing hold of Brown's spill and driving forwards. He seemed to be quieter in the second half going forwards but was also one of the more notable exponents of England's anaemic defensive breakdown effort.

7 - Jack Clifford - Poor

It is no surprise that a ball carrying 8 in less than ideal match condition struggled with the role of being a blast everything in the ruck 7. He did show the ability to blast clear the opposition but struggled with being in the right place in the right time. Kicking the ball out of the ruck after Hughes got chopped down by Biggar was a real low point. More surprising and more disappointing was his complete absence ball in hand. This was presumably part of a game plan as most of his carries were out wide, an area of the pitch England used rarely, but a shame nevertheless.

What Clifford can be proud of is a solid defensive stint complete with plenty of line speed and a decent tackle count. He also showed nice hands when he offloaded before the tackle for Farrell's looping run and twice was the first man in support of an isolated back three player. Clifford may not have had a good day but he showed the ability to be effective and will doubtless get better opportunities in the coming days.

6 - Maro Itoje - Good

Was Itoje really playing 6 this match? On more than one occasion he was scrummaging in the second row and nothing of his performance in the loose bespoke a man playing a different game to his normal one. Itoje carried strongly, tackled strongly, cleared out well and was industrious. He was a key part of our kick chase and showed good maturity in calling a successful lineout by using the other jumpers.

Perhaps it would have been better if he had used himself more. Or taken a more prominent role attacking a creaky Welsh lineout. Itoje also only really started looking for turnovers once Haskell was on and never quite got his body positions right, although he did manage to once pressure Webb into a knock on. In general, Itoje lacked the moments of outstanding momentum changing athleticism that were his trademark last Six Nations. While that's a normal part of a player's growing pains, it should put the kibosh on calls for captaincy for a while.

5 - Courtney Lawes - Very Good

If there is a finer lock in the defensive line in the Six Nations, I have not seen him. Twenty tackles with only one miss only undersells his effectiveness. There were two vital cover tackles when Liam Williams and Scott Williams were threatening to make decisive line breaks and he was part of the big double hit that gave England possession for the final thrust along with Launchbury. He gave away a cheap penalty but other than that, Lawes' defensive game was big. People talk of him as inconsistent, but he's not in defence.

On Saturday though, his attack matched his defence and he was arguably England's most effective carrier, finding shoulders and charging at them hard. His pick up of Launchbury's spill and his basketball pass for Nowell showed his game wasn't all about physicality today either. And his importance at the lineout was demonstrated by him taking the final throw in to secure victory. It would have been nice to see more of him in the rucks but that would be asking for perfection. A very good day indeed.

4 - Joe Launchbury - Very Good/Excellent

Launchbury is the Rolls-Royce of water carriers and Saturday was a demonstration of his full range. There were a number of small errors but that's to be expected when a man makes 23 tackles (no misses), 18 carries, hits gods know how many rucks and is one of the key lineout targets. Two of his carries resulted in a little succour for Wales, with one ball popping backwards to Lawes and another resulting in him getting driven back with England nearly losing the ball. There was also a slight unnecessary penalty under the shadow of the posts and although he did well to fall on Sinckler's rash offload, he wasn't able to get up and protect it from the marauding Welsh. Oh, and he failed to take Wales' final kick-off cleanly. Bad boy.

Elsewise, he was everywhere and he was effective. His charge down started England's first period of pressure, his claiming of Webb's box-kick under pressure from Cuthbert started another, and his part in the double tackle mentioned above started the last one. He was taking on the hardest carries, into two defenders practically everytime, and won more than he lost. Good line speed too in defence. Most impressive was the way he tracked back to help the back three when it was kicked down field despite all that work and punishment..It is difficult to see England winning this match without his vital role in securing English ball and in taking on the ice breaking carries.

3 - Dan Cole - Acceptable/Good

From the busiest member of the pack to the quietest. Cole barely touched the ball and only made 5 tackles in his long shift. He had some decent moments at the ruck - part of the counter-ruck with Itoje that forced Webb's knock on, the turnover that was whistled to Wales due to Haskell's infringement - but not a lot else. He showed good awareness to pick up a ball and pass it to Ford with no scrum-half in sight, but the pass left something to be desired.

Fortunately, tightheads live and die by the scrum and Cole can rest easy there. England won two very well timed penalties deep in their own half and never got badly in trouble. Much as we'd liked to see more of an impact, either there or elsewhere, Cole did what he needed to do as can be seen from his long spell on the pitch.

2 - Dylan Hartley - Acceptable

Hartley's private and candid views on being taken off so early would be interesting to hear. That he seemed to be struggling with the pace of the game a bit can be seen in two desperate tackles on the ankles of Rob Evans and Sam Warburton (the former probably classified as a miss due to it being a tap tackle) when caught a little out of position. He won't have enjoyed getting stripped by Biggar either in his most memorable moment ball in hand. The failure to protect Ben Youngs' box kick properly wasn't exactly glorious either.

The set-piece went strongly so that's a major plus point but it feels more and more likely that Hartley's race is coming to an end. Its a little harsh to be judging him like this when he's been so short of game time (whose fault that though?) but right now he's there because he's captain. Do you credit the captain's leadership for two great escapes when he's not on the field?

1- Joe Marler - Good/Very Good

That the set-piece went well has been established which means extra cookies with Marler's breakfast. He backed that up with a hero's game in defence with 16 tackles and no misses, many of them big momentum stoppers. He was another one who demonstrated great line speed, charging up to hurl himself at people's knees time and time again, with one particularly fine example bring down Cuthbert before the winger could do anything about the front rows facing him.

Marler also had a couple of decent rumbles ball in hand, but didn't touch it much. That does suggest he should have been busy clearing rucks. Given how good England's progress was when they kept it tight, he probably did a decent job, but not entirely so. Nevertheless, a far cry from the player who looked like he wasn't quite fit enough for the job against France.

16 - Jamie George - Good

George was sent on early and put himself about. He was one of England's key carriers when on and did well, although he did lose one ball in contact and was on the end of Wales' big defence at times. He backed this up without ball in hand with 12 tackles and no misses, a busy day for a substitute front row. No obvious weakness in set-piece. His day marches closer.

17 - Matt Mullan - Good

He did make 5 tackles in his nine minutes, which is some solid work and enthusiasm right there.

18 - Kyle Sinckler - Curate's Egg

Sinckler threw one suicidal potentially match losing offload on the Welsh line and won the turnover penalty that saw the match out. Pretty hard to rate that but certainly not a quiet nine minutes.

19 - Tom Wood - N/A

Sent on for two minutes. Made a tackle. Suspect his brief England renaissance might be an end.

20 - James Haskell - Good

Not sure how his 8 carries only yielded 2 metres, but they presented good ball and sucked in Welshmen. Notably only English carrier using footwork before the hit. 9 tackles and great line speed in defence - shades of that Australia tour. Only blemish was a slightly dumb penalty under posts.

21 - Danny Care - Acceptable/Good

Care came on and delivered good quick service to his own team. Can't complain about that. Showed good support of Te'o's break. That he made 16 passes to Youngs' 81 tells you who had the lion's share of the attacking opportunities. One box kick didn't go that far.

22 - Ben Te'o - Good

One fantastic side-stepping run will stay in everyone's memories and it was exactly the contribution you're looking for from an outside back sub. Nice pass to the supporting player. Struggled a bit with Wales' defence on other carries but so did everyone.

23 - Jonny May - Acceptable

He had one job which was make good ground without getting bundled into touch near their line. He managed it, even if I'm not quite sure how on the replay. Can't ask more than that.

Eddie Jones - Good

I'd love to know Jones' self-assessment here. Personally, I think any win in Cardiff is a good one, for all he tried to play down the significance of the venue before the match. 

Nowell for May paid off, no question there. Clifford for Wood is a little harder to answer but, while the veteran may have been sharper at the rucks, there's no guarantee there, and he may well have been less disciplined and effective in defence to boot. Certainly Jones never felt the need to stick Wood on to improve things there. 

There is a lot of talk about the impact of Haskell and George. I'm not sure I buy this. They added fresh physicality and played well, but I don't think they changed the game. England's breakdown became no more secure and the attack no more fluid; if England had kicked all their points in the first half as well as the second, England would have scored 13 points in both halves. That said, maybe Wales score the second crucial try they needed without the fresh bodies.

Care and Te'o were more important substitutions. Youngs' execution simply wasn't at the races today and arguably putting Care on earlier would have resulted in England's second try a lot sooner. Te'o simply poses a different threat in the minds of defenders to Joseph and it seemed to be one the Welsh respected more. Joseph is certainly capable of the break Te'o made though.

In general though, I thought it was a good performance. A lot of people disagree - I think I did immediately after the match - but rewatching it showed England dominating the start and the end of the match and being very niggardly when Wales were on top. Defence and discipline were both notably good - conceding only 6 penalties was a match winner. Something Jones should be relatively pleased with is the set-piece, which was solid in all respects for once. 

In attack, we struggled at times with the ferocious Welsh defence but the team never panicked. It trusted itself to keep making progress ball in hand - and it did - and that trust is a credit to the coaches. Quick ball and relentless pressure forced the line to crack. We didn't make it break enough to create genuine opportunities for the strike runners though and there's something to work on there, with ball protection in contact something the players didn't do well enough. We are lucky that the Welsh kept the ball infield when clearing their lines and allowed us to correct our mistakes - but there was no luck in putting the Welsh on the back foot to begin with.


Thursday 2 February 2017

First Round Preview

Scotland vs Ireland (14.25)

Scotland: Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland, Huw Jones, Alex Dunbar, Tommy Seymour, Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw (capt), Allan Dell, Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Richie Gray, Jonny Gray, Ryan Wilson, Hamish Watson, Josh Strauss.
Replacements: Ross Ford, Gordon Reid, Simon Berghan, Tim Swinson, John Barclay, Ali Price, Duncan Weir, Mark Bennett.

Ireland: R Kearney; K Earls, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, S Zebo; P Jackson, C Murray; J McGrath, R Best (capt), T Furlong; I Henderson, D Toner; CJ Stander, S O'Brien, J Heaslip.
Replacements: N Scannell, C Healy, U Dillane, J Ryan, J van der Flier, K Marmion, I Keatley, T Bowe.

If I've learned a thing from previous tournaments, its that I will be right far more often than I'm wrong by refusing to get taken in by the idea that this could be Scotland's year. Looking at that Scotland team, I see no reason to change my stance. Scotland have an excellent back line going forwards, genuinely possibly the best in the tournament in that sphere, so I might be wrong if Scotland can start controlling territory and possession. The problem is I don't see this happening. The only area where the Scottish pack look a decent 50-50 bet to come out on top is the lineout, where Ireland have been muck over the last year. Ireland's pack will hope for an edge at the scrums and should triumph in the loose.

Should Ireland start edging it up front, they have the firepower to make it count. Jackson's not as adept a territorial kicker as Sexton but Murray can mind most of that, leaving Jackson to unleash the hounds when its on. The carrying capabilities of that Irish pack should give them a lot of 'on'.For all of Scotland's fine qualities, the main threat to the Irish here is in their own minds. A top Irish performance will beat a top Scottish performance, Murrayfield or not. If they do start slow though and the line out creaks and the wingers aren't collecting the garryowens, maybe doubt will set in. That backline doesn't look the happiest defence I've seen either, which should at least make for an interesting match whatever happens. Should be an Irish victory though. And even if the Scots do win it, they'll probably blow the next match. I'll believe otherwise when they prove me wrong.

England vs France (16.50)

England: Mike Brown; Jonny May, Jonathan Joseph, Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley (captain), Dan Cole; Joe Launchbury; Courtney Lawes; Maro Itoje, Tom Wood, Nathan Hughes.
Replacements: Jamie George, Matt Mullan, Kyle Sinckler, Teimana Harrison, James Haskell, Danny Care, Ben Te'o, Jack Nowell.
France: Scott Spedding, Noa Nakaitaci, Remi Lamerat, Gael Fickou, Virimi Vakatawa, Camille Lopez, Baptiste Serin; Cyril Baille, Guilhem Guirado (captain), Uini Atonio, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Yoann Maestri, Damien Chouly, Kevin Gourdon, Louis Picamoles.
Reserves: Clement Maynadier, Rabah Slimani, Xavier Chiocci, Arthur Iturria, Loann Goujon, Maxime Machenaud, Jean Marc Doussain, Yoann Huget.

I put about as much belief in French resurgences as I do Scottish resurgences. That said, that's a pretty serious team and it will come at England with bruising physicality and searing pace. England should be able to cope with that in the forwards at least but if France can get good ball wide quickly, there are some clear physical mismatches. No one sane doubts the ability of the English backs to bring the giant down at least nine times out of ten, but you've got to figure the French will be looking to do it more than nine times. In the French's probable favour there is England's make shift back row, which will prefer to defend narrow. Against is the lack of distribution and subtlety in their team. 

I imagine Jones will be looking to play territory first and foremost. The French lineout is nothing great, nor is their back three positioning much either. In contrast, England have some outstanding jumpers and five decent to great tactical kickers. The odds would seem to very much favour England there. If that went right, it would simply be a matter of taking their points when on offer and not allowing France many chances to take theirs. If play slows down, then don't bother trying to get going again, but stick the ball behind them and find out who's fitter and faster. Things could start to get hairy if it turns into an arm wrestle though. Even then, you'd fancy a strong looking England team at home to win.

Italy vs Wales (14.00)

Italy: Edoardo Padovani (Zebre); Giulio Bisegni (Zebre), Tommaso Benvenuti (Treviso), Luke McLean (Treviso), Giovanbattista Venditti (Zebre), Carlo Canna (Zebre), Edoardo Gori (Treviso); Andrea Lovotti (Zebre), Ornel Gega (Treviso), Lorenzo Cittadini (Bayonne), Marco Fuser (Treviso), George Biagi (Zebre), Abraham Steyn (Treviso), Maxime Mata Mbanda (Zebre), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais Paris, capt).
Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini (Toulouse), Sami Panico (Calvisano), Pietro Ceccarelli (Zebre), Joshua Furno (Zebre), Francesco Minto (Treviso), Giorgio Bronzini (Treviso), Tommaso Allan (Treviso), Michele Campagnaro (Exeter Chiefs).
Wales: Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon); George North (Northampton), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Liam Williams (Scarlets); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys); Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester).
Replacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Rob Evans (Scarlets), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Cory Hill (Newport Gwent Dragons), James King (Ospreys), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Sam Davies (Ospreys), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins).
Its been a while since anyone tried to persuade me of an Italian resurgence. Its also been a while since anyone tried to persuade me that Rob Howley was a good international head coach. The Welsh team feels full of the out-of-form, has-beens and never-will-bes. The quality is there, but in a rather lopsided fact best evidenced by Warburton at 6. Outstanding player that he's capable of being, he's no blindside. The Welsh pack should be formidable in a loose game but may not fare so well in a tight one. Nor do they have Jamie Roberts as a spare battering ram. Wales could win handily or lose handily and neither would surprise me.
Fortunately for them, they're against Italy. I respect O'Shea's ability and reckon there's some decent players there but at the very worst you'd say this was 50-50 and most wouldn't even go that far. In a tight game, you'd bet against their lack of game-winning experience and generalship in the half-backs. If they can get traction against the Welsh set-piece, then maybe it happens, particularly if Venditti has a big game. The greatest source of hope to the Italians though is just how blunt Wales have been at times. Italy need Wales to be wasteful. I don't think they will be that wasteful, but I don't feel particularly confident saying it.