Maybe its because I haven't watched that much rugby recently, but my thoughts keep going back to Australia 2016 as I watch this current iteration of England snatch disaster from the jaws of competence.
I never got round to writing up my thoughts about that series here but one thing I do remember crystal clear. I wasn't convinced.
Because I couldn't be convinced.
Whitewashing one of SANZAR away from home is about as good as it gets for English rugby short of the World Cup. The opposite is far more regular - worth remembering in the current situation - so for Jones to do so was the single biggest sign he could have given that he was the man. But I couldn't be convinced because I would posit that a lot of people could take an elite sporting side that's on a high and take them to success.
The trick is to take them back to success when they start to fail. And they will fail. Gravity is inevitable. Back in 2016, Jones' England hadn't tasted failure. I didn't know what would happen when they did.
I think we all have a better idea now.
It would be unfair to form permanent judgments on two windows alone, on the 6N after a Lions tour (often bad) and SH tour (often worse). People will judge though, and even the most sober minded will form impressions and note the direction of travel. The direction is backwards, like Wile E Coyote plastered to the front of a train. Pick a criticism, any criticism, and someone will have made it. Most of the time there'll be a kernel of truth to it.
Maybe not more than a kernel though. One of the reasons I keep getting reminded of Australia is this England team looks a lot like the one that faced the Aussies. Same rapier like attack off quick ball and patient bluntness off slow. The continuous blitz defence that leaked opportunities once teams got round it. The players of course - there's been no large turnover.
So why is it going wrong now?
Partly South Africa appear to be better than Australia were then. Partly teams have had more chance to work out Jones. Partly that team relied on ferocious physicality in defence when they could reach them, and Joseph's canny defence to limit the damage out wide - injured Vunipola, fading Haskell, and injured Joseph are big losses there.
Another part is discipline.
The 2016 Wallabies were one of the stupidest and self-harming teams I've ever seen. They gave England so many easy outs and opportunities. The extent to which they shot themselves in the foot remained etched on my mind as I was convinced I'd never see its like again. But I may well be doing so. The sight of Mako Vunipola handing a perfect zone entry to South Africa for... I've no idea why he felt the need to indulge in handbags, but him doing so is getting etched as well.
England in 2016 were outplayed for large swathes of the game, maybe more so than in Australia. It didn't bother them though. They stuck to their game and were rewarded. Come 2018 and England races into leads only to blow them a strong and stable government with a majority.
I don't like being too sure about what's going on in an international team's camp but it looks like something is wrong. England look on edge and easily rattled, trying too hard to snatch the glory moment and with no trust in the process. They look underconfident and overconfident all at once.
And they won't win international games regularly until Eddie Jones fixes this. If he can.
Friday 22 June 2018
Saturday 27 May 2017
England vs Baabaas preview
England:
15. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 60 caps), 14. Nathan Earle (Saracens, uncapped), 13. Sam James (Sale Sharks, uncapped), 12. Alex Lozowski (Saracens, uncapped), 11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 25 caps), 10. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 35 caps), 9. Danny Care (Harlequins, 71 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap), 2. Jack Singleton (Worcester Warriors, uncapped), 3. Will Collier (Harlequins, uncapped), 4. Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 3 caps), 5. Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, uncapped), 6. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, 55 caps), 7. Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, uncapped), 8. Josh Beaumont (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Subs:
16. George McGuigan (Leicester Tigers, uncapped), 17. Ross Harrison (Sale Sharks, uncapped), 18. Jamal Ford-Robinson (Bristol Rugby, uncapped), 19. Will Spencer (Bath Rugby, uncapped) 20. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, uncapped), 21. Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, uncapped), 22. Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens, 27 caps), 23. Mike Haley (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Barbarians:
15 Alex Goode (Saracens & England) 21 caps, 14 Timoci Nagusa (Montpellier & Fiji) 24, 13 Yann David (Toulouse & France) 4, 12 Frans Steyn (Montpellier & South Africa) 53, 11 Adam Ashley-Cooper (Bordeaux-Begles & Australia) 116, 10 Ian Madigan (Bordeaux-Begles & Ireland) 30, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i (Bath Rugby & Samoa) 31
1 Mikheil Nariashvili (Montpellier & Georgia) 41, 2 Richard Hibbard (Gloucester & Wales) 41, 3 Census Johnston (Toulouse & Samoa) 59, 4 Patricio Albacete (Toulouse & Argentina) 57, 5 Jeremy Thrush (Gloucester & New Zealand)12, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse & France, captain) 80, 7 Steffon Armitage (Pau & England) 5, 8 Facundo Isa (Lyon & Argentina) 25
Replacements
16 Schalk Brits (Saracens & South Africa) 10, 17 Ben Franks (London Irish & New Zealand) 47, 18 WP Nel (Edinburgh & Scotland) 15, 19 Joe Tekori (Toulouse & Samoa) 34, 20 Gillian Galan (Toulouse), 21 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa) 88, 22 Robbie Fruean (Bath Rugby), 23 Horacio Agulla (Castres & Argentina) 63
15. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 60 caps), 14. Nathan Earle (Saracens, uncapped), 13. Sam James (Sale Sharks, uncapped), 12. Alex Lozowski (Saracens, uncapped), 11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 25 caps), 10. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 35 caps), 9. Danny Care (Harlequins, 71 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap), 2. Jack Singleton (Worcester Warriors, uncapped), 3. Will Collier (Harlequins, uncapped), 4. Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 3 caps), 5. Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, uncapped), 6. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, 55 caps), 7. Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, uncapped), 8. Josh Beaumont (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Subs:
16. George McGuigan (Leicester Tigers, uncapped), 17. Ross Harrison (Sale Sharks, uncapped), 18. Jamal Ford-Robinson (Bristol Rugby, uncapped), 19. Will Spencer (Bath Rugby, uncapped) 20. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, uncapped), 21. Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, uncapped), 22. Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens, 27 caps), 23. Mike Haley (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Barbarians:
15 Alex Goode (Saracens & England) 21 caps, 14 Timoci Nagusa (Montpellier & Fiji) 24, 13 Yann David (Toulouse & France) 4, 12 Frans Steyn (Montpellier & South Africa) 53, 11 Adam Ashley-Cooper (Bordeaux-Begles & Australia) 116, 10 Ian Madigan (Bordeaux-Begles & Ireland) 30, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i (Bath Rugby & Samoa) 31
1 Mikheil Nariashvili (Montpellier & Georgia) 41, 2 Richard Hibbard (Gloucester & Wales) 41, 3 Census Johnston (Toulouse & Samoa) 59, 4 Patricio Albacete (Toulouse & Argentina) 57, 5 Jeremy Thrush (Gloucester & New Zealand)12, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse & France, captain) 80, 7 Steffon Armitage (Pau & England) 5, 8 Facundo Isa (Lyon & Argentina) 25
Replacements
16 Schalk Brits (Saracens & South Africa) 10, 17 Ben Franks (London Irish & New Zealand) 47, 18 WP Nel (Edinburgh & Scotland) 15, 19 Joe Tekori (Toulouse & Samoa) 34, 20 Gillian Galan (Toulouse), 21 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa) 88, 22 Robbie Fruean (Bath Rugby), 23 Horacio Agulla (Castres & Argentina) 63
It is traditional for England to concede the edge when it comes to experience in this fixture but I cannot think of any game recently where the disparity has been so vast. It is most obvious of all in the last place you would desire it too; the tight five. Ignore England's four caps (mostly from the bench) for a moment. Will Collier is the experienced man there, with 26 years of age and over a hundred games for Quins. His comrades are 22, 21, 21 and 19 respectively. Jack Singleton doesn't even have a Wikipedia page yet.
Ellis Genge is the only starter in the unit who isn't at least 10 years younger than his opposite man; he's merely 5 years younger than Nariashvili. That bodes well if the ball is zipping around a lot but you have to think, even with this being the Baabaas, England might not have too much ball to zip with given the corresponding set-pieces. It is to be devoutly hoped for that the team in black and white turn up with hangovers and asking what each other's names are, because elsewise this looks a bit of a mismatch.
That's true all over the pitch. This Baabaas team isn't the strongest that could have been named from the initial squad but its still pretty gnarly. That three quarter line is a pretty interesting mix of skill and speed, all ordered in a large size, and you can be sure Alex Goode will be drifting in to offer an extra playmaking option. Militantly against Goode's further participation for England as I am, there's no denying he is a quality player and this is exactly the sort of game which might let his skillset shine to the fullest. He's also probably going to be the single most motivated player on the pitch too.
The back row is my favourite part of the team though - fantastic all round unit that is capable of taking over a match vs anyone in Europe on paper - along with Pienaar on the bench. I might get around to writing the piece of vitriol I have deep in me over Pienaar being let go by Ulster; suffice to say he's a better scrum-half than either of England's and will offer a side of nous to the helping of blunt force waiting to come on.
The back row is my favourite part of the England team too, and not a bad mirror of its opposition. Robshaw plays the duracel bunny type of blindside nearly as well as Dusautoir, Beaumont is a rangy 8 who can really make an impact when on form and while Underhill lacks Steflon's groundhogging, he's still a very physical option for an openside. Its a really well balanced, dangerous looking back row. Just not quite as good at peak performance as what they face. Which is the tale of the team.
One position where that isn't true is at 10. Madigan has all the skills but little of the brain. If George Ford can hit his top game, his ability to pin teams back into their own territory and make the most out of scant ball will be gigantic and probably England's best chance of winning. He'll need to bring his goal kicking boots too (I have no idea of his recent form there and am too lazy to look it up) but he can be a difference. For all their talent, you would expect the Baabaas to leave a few tries behind due to unfamiliarity. England probably can't afford that.
Of course, it is questionable just how much more familiar with each other England will be, particularly with centres Lozowski and James. Individually they're wonderful talents with a bit of everything (its probably the best distributing partnership England have played in a long time), but if they've played together, I am not aware of it. Its not like either is a veteran of the England way of doing things either. Hopefully their natural intelligence will let them gel quickly.
Nathan Earle is the only new face in the back three and a most interesting one he is too. At U20 level he promised to be a more powerful version of Watson but has yet to deliver on that for Saracens. There's some great highlights of his time at Canterbury that show why he's getting the chance but at 22, he's reaching the age where people will stop wanting to give him chances and start wanting performances. It feels ridiculous to say this but, looking back, we might think this was Nathan Earle's make or break summer. There's always another chance but this might be the best one.
And ultimately this is what the game is about. Nobody really gives a crap about the score tomorrow. They want to see who's ready to kick on and play real international rugby. Although even then, you've got to wonder how much Jones values this game vs the time he's had in training with them. Eighty minutes max in a scratch side vs how they react to his instructions, how they carry themselves, how they push themselves day in day out? The latter seems at least as valuable. Certainly the next two games against Argentina will carry more weight. For now though, this is the game we've got.
Of course, even then, a gap to advance into is more important than performance today. No matter how well Singleton plays, he's got four players very solidly ahead of him for the hooker shirt. Isiekwe and Ewels will have to turn in unbelievable performances to get a sniff of an England squad with everyone healthy. Ditto for Ellis Genge. But some guys have wide open routes to the squad ahead of them.
One of the clearest is that of Mike Haley on the bench as there is no clear understudy to Brown right now. But its fellow sub Tom Curry - and his injured twin Ben - and Underhill who have the most obvious route. England are well served for beasts of burden in the back row but have no one who can offer much subtlety. Jones has talked about wanting five ball carriers and three ball handlers in his pack. Today would be a great chance to advance that cause.
But lighter skillful forwards tend to live and die with the tight five's platform. If England's young tyros stand to their task there, we could have an interesting match on their hands.
Nathan Earle is the only new face in the back three and a most interesting one he is too. At U20 level he promised to be a more powerful version of Watson but has yet to deliver on that for Saracens. There's some great highlights of his time at Canterbury that show why he's getting the chance but at 22, he's reaching the age where people will stop wanting to give him chances and start wanting performances. It feels ridiculous to say this but, looking back, we might think this was Nathan Earle's make or break summer. There's always another chance but this might be the best one.
And ultimately this is what the game is about. Nobody really gives a crap about the score tomorrow. They want to see who's ready to kick on and play real international rugby. Although even then, you've got to wonder how much Jones values this game vs the time he's had in training with them. Eighty minutes max in a scratch side vs how they react to his instructions, how they carry themselves, how they push themselves day in day out? The latter seems at least as valuable. Certainly the next two games against Argentina will carry more weight. For now though, this is the game we've got.
Of course, even then, a gap to advance into is more important than performance today. No matter how well Singleton plays, he's got four players very solidly ahead of him for the hooker shirt. Isiekwe and Ewels will have to turn in unbelievable performances to get a sniff of an England squad with everyone healthy. Ditto for Ellis Genge. But some guys have wide open routes to the squad ahead of them.
One of the clearest is that of Mike Haley on the bench as there is no clear understudy to Brown right now. But its fellow sub Tom Curry - and his injured twin Ben - and Underhill who have the most obvious route. England are well served for beasts of burden in the back row but have no one who can offer much subtlety. Jones has talked about wanting five ball carriers and three ball handlers in his pack. Today would be a great chance to advance that cause.
But lighter skillful forwards tend to live and die with the tight five's platform. If England's young tyros stand to their task there, we could have an interesting match on their hands.
Friday 21 April 2017
England squad reaction
And now for the great entertainer himself.
Forwards:
Ellis Genge, Matt Mullan (LH), Will Collier, Paul Hill, Harry Williams (TH) Luke Cowan-Dickie, Dylan Hartley** (HK), Charlie Ewels, Nick Isiekwe, Joe Launchbury (LK), Ben Curry, Tom Curry, James Haskell, Chris Robshaw, Sam Underhill, Tom Wood (FL) Nathan Hughes (N8)
Good old Eddie. What other coach would decide the best way to enliven a summer tour to Argentina would be to name 15 uncapped players with 4 of them from the U20 squad? They don't even pull that sort of stunt in the countries with only 4 pro teams in a Lions year, nevermind us with a solid 12 to pick from. Well, more than 12 if you count the Championship, which Eddie does. Step forwards Joe Cokasaniga, your time has come. What does Eddie see in him?
"He's big mate. And he's fast."
That's the analytical skills needed to be an international coach folks!
Okay, seriously. This is a shock. The Lions squad? Everyone there made sense if you thought ahead of time which players had unique skill sets or had really proven themselves to the coaches involved. This squad?
We knew there'd be some new faces. There was some talk that maybe a few of the U20s might benefit more from training with Eddie than going to the Junior World Cup. But no one was expecting guys like Isiekwe or Collier. And there's a lot of people who'd pencilled in names like Dan Robson and Marland Yarde who are now quite surprised.
Here's the squad itself, organised by position, with asterisk for vice-captain and double asterisk for captain:
Forwards:
Ellis Genge, Matt Mullan (LH), Will Collier, Paul Hill, Harry Williams (TH) Luke Cowan-Dickie, Dylan Hartley** (HK), Charlie Ewels, Nick Isiekwe, Joe Launchbury (LK), Ben Curry, Tom Curry, James Haskell, Chris Robshaw, Sam Underhill, Tom Wood (FL) Nathan Hughes (N8)
Backs:
Danny Care*, Jack Maunder (SH) George Ford*, Piers Francis, Alex Lozowski (FH), Sam James, Harry Mallinder, Joe Marchant, Henry Slade (CE), Joe Cokanasiga, Nathan Earle, Jonny May, Denny Solomona (WI), Mike Brown* (FB)
The most obvious thing to note is that we've got three vice-captains among the backs and none among the forwards, which is a sure sign of impending apocalypse. If God had wanted backs to have authority, he'd have invented an entirely different game. Its madness. There's also a few positional imbalances. I've no idea whether any of the tightheads are meant to be able to cover loosehead in case of injury, or which of that rather lightweight bunch of back rows is meant to fill in at lock, or who'd be third choice scrum-half. James Haskell at 8 wouldn't be ideal either, although it works, and its interesting to see who's lined up as full-back number 2 if needed; all of Slade, Lozowski and even Mallinder have been mentioned as possibilities there, although I think Earle is the only one in the squad I've seen start a game there. Probably won't come up though.
Looking at the front row and there's a definite commitment to finding a guy who can stand and scrummage all day to succeed Dan Cole. Sinckler and Paul Hill can't half shift and have big hopes of being the complete deal, but Collier and Williams are there in case that doesn't work. Judging from Jones' comments Collier is the more likely of those two to get caps this tour and if he hadn't got injured so much its possible he'd already have. On the other side of the scrum Genge and Mullan are no surprise at all.
Some people will wish Hartley had been left at home. I am one of them. Others will say there was never a chance of a key leader being left out of a raw touring party like this, and for good reason too. I am also one of them. I'd far rather see Luke Cowan-Dickie get starts with Tommy Taylor on the bench than Hartley soak up more game time, but I can see why he's there. Such is life.
I've also have given Launchbury a vice-captaincy. I want to see him be a leader in this England team. But there we go, he'll just have to be gobby and a scene-stealer without any title. Launchbury needs to keep emphasising just how good a player he is. Besides him Charlie Ewels continues his international rise and will hopefully demonstrate what he plans to bring to the England team, because I can't say I've seen it yet. Clearly talented, just I'm not sure it should be happening this soon. U20s aside, I've never seen Isiekwe play. Given the squad make up, caps seem almost inevitable. Should be fun to see.
I have seen the Currys play a bit though. One of them. Not sure which. No one is. If nothing else, its an incredible story - a pair of twins, both natural opensides, reaching the England squad at the age of 18. They're possibly the most exciting players I've seen at that age in the Premiership in forever. I appreciate I've doomed them to being the next Andy Saull - both of them - with those words, but there we go. Between them and Underhill, there's a big chance we finally see the start of a natural openside who sticks the course.
There is also of course a big chance we barely see them due to the three veteran back rows there. There feels like at least one too many. Personally I'd have merrily chopped Wood but there's something to be said for resting one of Haskshaw too. We want those guys to make the next World Cup. At their age, missing a development tour is no bad thing. Maybe we would have if Sam Jones and/or Jack Clifford were available. Then again, maybe not.
I'm also not sold on Danny Care, who has never consistently stolen the scene for England, or even kicked well. I'm a big fan of kicking scrum-halves in both senses of the sentence. I can't say I've heard too much about Maunder's boot but by all accounts, he's more than earned his call up with Exeter.
I am very happy to hear about George Ford getting a leadership role though. This is Ford's big chance to put to bed any notion he needs Farrell around. I am a massive fan of his natural talent but if he shits the bed on this one, the questions about his composure will suddenly get a lot more awkward. I know next to nothing about Piers Francis other than he's a 10/12 and has played Super Rugby so can't be all crap. Famous last words. Lozowski is a player Jones seems to love and I've got an inkling he'll be tried at 12 or 15.
Which leaves him fighting with Henry Slade, the man who was meant to be England's latest wunderkind and is instead... something. People talk about him needing to settle on a position and make it his own and while there's a degree of sense, what he really actually needs to do is to start regularly taking over games and being the best player on the pitch. People see settling in a position as the best way to do that but a) lets not confuse the aim with the method and b) Elliot Daly just earned himself a Lions tour while out of position. If you are good enough, that should be shining through, positional vagueness or not. One of the curses of British rugby are these young backs who have huge oodles of talent but somehow don't quite have the full skillset for any of the positions at the highest level. Stand out international players should have the vision, judgement and athleticism to cut through that bollocks. Slade shows signs of that. It would be great to see the full works.
Speaking of which, Harry Mallinder is an even more pronounced example of this, with the added curiosity of being built like a blindside and routinely accused of being more yellow than the young Danny Cipriani. A summer with Eddie Jones sounds make or break to me. Sam James is another in the mould, except he knows how to use his physicality and oddly for the oversized fly-half reject, has mostly settled on 13. Like Slade had. You get the feeling Jones isn't the keenest on him but, at the same time, respects his intelligence and desire. You'll never have enough players with intelligence and desire. Then there's Joe Marchant aka Jonathan Joseph mk 2. He should get starts.
On the wings, Solomona will be greeted with hissing and spitting from some: the debate about nationality always divides people, but most can agree that a guy who said he wouldn't want to play for England's rugby league team because his heart was with New Zealand and Samoa probably shouldn't be playing for England's rugby union team either. However, the RFU offers a lot of money, he's available, and Eddie Jones likes winning rugby games, so here he is. Jones would have been lynched if he'd ignored an English winger with Solomona's record in Union. Although its a bit odd that the RFU, supposedly in favour of a 5 year residency period no matter what the rest of the world says, haven't quite felt like enforcing just yet. Oh well.
Its possible him and May will keep the others out, but hopefully not. Cokasaniga is, as Jones so expertly pointed out, big and fast. He's 114kg - or, according to the RFU website, a kilo heavier than Isiekwe. Earle is a more conventional 101kg (I think Jones wants a powerhouse winger) but oozes class. Some of the highlights coming back from his time in New Zealand were very good. Cokasaniga could just be there to learn but Earle should be getting game time.
Then there's Mr Angry. I don't agree with the whole "I hope the Lions only take the England players I don't want for England" crap but, I'll admit, I wouldn't be sad if they decided to call Brown up and allow England a chance at moving on from him. Its a shame Mike Haley got injured in South Africa last year and didn't continue his charge to unseat Brown.
Which leads us onto the interesting part of this - why has Jones gone for such a total shake up of England's fringe and what does it mean for the guys who were there? Remember when Jones kept Itoje back at the start of the last 6N, saying he wasn't ready, that he wanted players to work for it in order to have really great careers? This no longer appears to be true. Jones is known for not letting an interesting story spoil the truth, of course. But what is going on?
That this is a giant kick up the arse for everyone left out goes without saying. There is no room for complacency after this. Everyone needs to go out and bust a gut now. And, based on what we hear of Jones, that alone might have been reason enough to do this.
However, we are also about two years away from the next World Cup and that's really not much time at all to bring players through. Jones has taken this opportunity to get his hands on as many of England's raw talents as possible. He talks about getting 3-4 players up to being better than the players who went on the Lions tour. It won't happen immediately but going straight for the raw talent has given him the best chance of making that happen. And there's no real pressure on him after his incredible start and the amount of attention the Lions will be drawing.
Things could be different in the autumn. Previously Jones had talked about letting Lions players rest then but his stance on that seems to be weakening. He's talked about being willing to lose some battles to win the war, but he won't want to lose too many. Its a bad habit. He's unlikely to be too patient with players who are out of their depth which, lets be honest, could be most of them.
Which could be where all the fringe players come back into the reckoning. Maybe that's his plan. Find out which of the big talents are ready for immediate progression when no one cares, then add them to the usual second string in the Autumn, then see where he is next Six Nations.
Or maybe I'm making a bunch of crap up. In any case, it seems weird to think that guys like Haley, Robson, Ben Spencer, Yarde, Tommy Taylor, Kieran Brookes, Matt Kvesic, Josh Beaumont, Ollie Devoto and so on have no more part to play, particularly given the youth of most of them. But its up to them to make it happen.
Still - interesting thought experiment. This would be my predicted team from the squad:
Brown; May, Marchant, Slade, Solomona; Ford, Care; Mullan, Hartley, Hill, Launchbury, Ewels, Robshaw, Haskell, Hughes; Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Collier, Isiekwe, Underhill, Maunder, Lozowski, Earle
And this is the best team I can think of from the left behind:
Haley; Rokoduguni, Tompkins, Devoto, Yarde; Burns, Spencer; Catt, Taylor, Brookes, Symons, Kitchener, Ewers, Kvesic, Beaumont; McGuigan, Rapava-Ruskin, Cooper-Woolley, Attwood, Chisholm, Robson, Cipriani,Addison
That's a tight game and just about everyone I've named has been part of the England set-up in some way recently enough. So there's definitely a way back.
But for now, we get Uncle Eddie's Youth Revolution.
Thursday 20 April 2017
Lions squad reaction
Okay, this is a little late, so lets skip to the chase. The midfield. Pretty much no unit does more to dictate how a team plays a game. Lets look at the guys selected by Gatland.
FH: Biggar, Farrell, Sexton
CE: Daly, Davies, Henshaw, Joseph, Payne, Te'o
The commonality is size and aggression. Joseph and Daly are the only two rapiers there. It seems likely neither starts in the centres. Daly's game time has come in the back three and Joseph was strongly rumoured not to be making it only to beat out Ringrose. They took all the big guys they could find who were vaguely up to standard then started looking at other people.
Welcome to Gatlandball.
Which is worrying as all hell.
Reason One - Those lads are big but they're nothing special. There is no prime Roberts or Tuilagi there. Henshaw and Te'o would be the most physical pairing and the All Blacks would respect that pairing, but they'd back themselves to contain it. I'd also back them.
Reason Two - Gatlandball last looked threatening when Wales had a fly-half who could stand flat and deliver. The Lions squad has just one of those players - Sexton. All of the fly-halves with really great timing and zippy passes - Ford, Russell, Jackson - not involved. Farrell might be able to do it on the international arena, what with him having come on a lot since his last meaningful go as an international fly-half, but he might not. Biggar certainly can't. He's proven that with Wales.
The Lions look set to turn up to a gun fight with a knife. A very blunt knife.
Now maybe I'm wrong about Gatland's intentions. Its difficult to believe that with Rob Howley there though. A man doesn't bring his attack coach and chief lieutenant in order to execute a very different plan as a rule.
To be honest, I'm a bit fucked off about it really. I love the Lions, I want them to play great games of rugby and not be more of a source of continual bickering than they have to. I let myself believe that Gatland was willing to adapt to win, and knew that running into a brick wall wouldn't be enough. I also believed that Gatland would recognise that this is no longer 2013 and that Wales aren't top dogs of these isles, they're third at best and arguably fourth.
Instead we get a summer of Gatlandball and people whining about the 12 Welshmen in the squad. I'm not really feeling the urge to be a part of that. I don't really want a Lions squad that does things by the Baabaas ethos, or looks for representative quotas, so I guess I've got to accept days like these, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Hopefully I'm wrong.
Anyway, rage aside, its a pretty decent squad. The game has kicked on a lot in the last four years around these parts. Hell, most of the players I've complained about would have been totally non-contentious on the last two tours.
All hopes of a Lions victory lies with the pack. If they can beat up the All Black pack then there's a chance. They probably can't, but it is loaded with great forwards and theirs isn't the strongest. I think the Lions can edge this up front which would be no mean feat - just not the walloping needed.
Speaking of the forwards, lets talk about the most controversial omission of the tour; Launchbury. He's arguably been the best forward available to Gatland this Six Nations and the best lock of the last four years. Its a bit bloody bonkers he's not going. That said, its difficult to argue with any of the five going as being bad calls. Personally, I'd have taken one less back row (bye bye Moriarty) and one more second row, what with it being a lot easier for locks to cover the back row than vice versa.
I suspect Launch might go anyway. Its an attritional business at the best of times and Lawes and Henderson have form for breaking the moment someone looks at them. Of course, maybe Gatland will just take Jonny Gray or Donnacha Ryan or someone else. That would be even more mad but hey, this is Gatland.
Being a bit serious for a moment though, this smells pretty bad for Launchbury, as it seems pretty likely that Borthwick agreed with the selection and Launchbury being 4th of England's locks. Its one thing to have Gatland be a nutter and do you out of two Lions tours, but when the England forwards coach has a downer on you... anyway, let this be a lesson to any aspiring young forwards. The only area where Launchbury definitely loses out to his peers is the line out and this is the second tour in succession where lineout ability has been highly valued by the selectors. So practice your jumping. Incidentally, wouldn't be at all surprised to see O'Mahony start for this very reason. Not sure why some are calling him a surprise. In fact, I'd go so far as to say there's no surprise inclusions in that squad.
Anyway, that's about it. News that Murray might miss the tour due to injury is even more depressing than the midfield selection. Marler and Sinckler are worthy enough calls, but I'm not all that sure someone other than their club coach would have taken both. Launchbury and creative fly-halves aside, there are no really weird omissions. I could write a lot more but I'm fairly sure that injury and form would render it pointless before then anyway. Besides, there's also the England squad to go through...
Full squad list:
FH: Biggar, Farrell, Sexton
CE: Daly, Davies, Henshaw, Joseph, Payne, Te'o
The commonality is size and aggression. Joseph and Daly are the only two rapiers there. It seems likely neither starts in the centres. Daly's game time has come in the back three and Joseph was strongly rumoured not to be making it only to beat out Ringrose. They took all the big guys they could find who were vaguely up to standard then started looking at other people.
Welcome to Gatlandball.
Which is worrying as all hell.
Reason One - Those lads are big but they're nothing special. There is no prime Roberts or Tuilagi there. Henshaw and Te'o would be the most physical pairing and the All Blacks would respect that pairing, but they'd back themselves to contain it. I'd also back them.
Reason Two - Gatlandball last looked threatening when Wales had a fly-half who could stand flat and deliver. The Lions squad has just one of those players - Sexton. All of the fly-halves with really great timing and zippy passes - Ford, Russell, Jackson - not involved. Farrell might be able to do it on the international arena, what with him having come on a lot since his last meaningful go as an international fly-half, but he might not. Biggar certainly can't. He's proven that with Wales.
The Lions look set to turn up to a gun fight with a knife. A very blunt knife.
Now maybe I'm wrong about Gatland's intentions. Its difficult to believe that with Rob Howley there though. A man doesn't bring his attack coach and chief lieutenant in order to execute a very different plan as a rule.
To be honest, I'm a bit fucked off about it really. I love the Lions, I want them to play great games of rugby and not be more of a source of continual bickering than they have to. I let myself believe that Gatland was willing to adapt to win, and knew that running into a brick wall wouldn't be enough. I also believed that Gatland would recognise that this is no longer 2013 and that Wales aren't top dogs of these isles, they're third at best and arguably fourth.
Instead we get a summer of Gatlandball and people whining about the 12 Welshmen in the squad. I'm not really feeling the urge to be a part of that. I don't really want a Lions squad that does things by the Baabaas ethos, or looks for representative quotas, so I guess I've got to accept days like these, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Hopefully I'm wrong.
Anyway, rage aside, its a pretty decent squad. The game has kicked on a lot in the last four years around these parts. Hell, most of the players I've complained about would have been totally non-contentious on the last two tours.
All hopes of a Lions victory lies with the pack. If they can beat up the All Black pack then there's a chance. They probably can't, but it is loaded with great forwards and theirs isn't the strongest. I think the Lions can edge this up front which would be no mean feat - just not the walloping needed.
Speaking of the forwards, lets talk about the most controversial omission of the tour; Launchbury. He's arguably been the best forward available to Gatland this Six Nations and the best lock of the last four years. Its a bit bloody bonkers he's not going. That said, its difficult to argue with any of the five going as being bad calls. Personally, I'd have taken one less back row (bye bye Moriarty) and one more second row, what with it being a lot easier for locks to cover the back row than vice versa.
I suspect Launch might go anyway. Its an attritional business at the best of times and Lawes and Henderson have form for breaking the moment someone looks at them. Of course, maybe Gatland will just take Jonny Gray or Donnacha Ryan or someone else. That would be even more mad but hey, this is Gatland.
Being a bit serious for a moment though, this smells pretty bad for Launchbury, as it seems pretty likely that Borthwick agreed with the selection and Launchbury being 4th of England's locks. Its one thing to have Gatland be a nutter and do you out of two Lions tours, but when the England forwards coach has a downer on you... anyway, let this be a lesson to any aspiring young forwards. The only area where Launchbury definitely loses out to his peers is the line out and this is the second tour in succession where lineout ability has been highly valued by the selectors. So practice your jumping. Incidentally, wouldn't be at all surprised to see O'Mahony start for this very reason. Not sure why some are calling him a surprise. In fact, I'd go so far as to say there's no surprise inclusions in that squad.
Anyway, that's about it. News that Murray might miss the tour due to injury is even more depressing than the midfield selection. Marler and Sinckler are worthy enough calls, but I'm not all that sure someone other than their club coach would have taken both. Launchbury and creative fly-halves aside, there are no really weird omissions. I could write a lot more but I'm fairly sure that injury and form would render it pointless before then anyway. Besides, there's also the England squad to go through...
Full squad list:
Forwards: Rory Best (Ireland), Dan Cole (England), Taulupe Faletau (Wales), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Jamie George (England), Iain Henderson (Ireland), Maro Itoje (England), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), George Kruis (England), Courtney Lawes (England), Joe Marler (England), Jack McGrath (Ireland), Ross Moriarty (Wales), Sean O'Brien (Ireland), Peter O'Mahony (Ireland), Ken Owens (Wales), Kyle Sinckler (England), CJ Stander (Ireland), Justin Tipuric (Wales), Billy Vunipola (England), Mako Vunipola (England), Sam Warburton (Wales)
Backs: Dan Biggar (Wales), Elliot Daly (England), Jonathan Davies (Wales), Owen Farrell (England), Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), Stuart Hogg (Scotland), Jonathan Joseph (England), Conor Murray (Ireland), George North (Wales), Jack Nowell (England), Jared Payne (Ireland), Johnny Sexton (Ireland), Tommy Seymour (Scotland), Ben Te'o (England), Anthony Watson (England), Rhys Webb (Wales), Liam Williams (Wales), Ben Youngs (England)
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.
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)
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)
Italy vs Wales (14.00)
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.
Wednesday 25 January 2017
England Six Nations Preview
With a squad named, its time to start getting excited. Particularly as it was named about a week ago. For those who can't remember it, this is the squad:
Catt, Genge, Marler, Mullan
Cole, Sinckler
Hartley, George, Taylor
Ewels, Itoje, Kruis, Launchbury, Lawes
Clifford, Harrison, Haskell, Hughes, Williams, Wood
Youngs, Care
Ford, Farrell, Lozowski
Daly, Joseph, Slade, Te'o
May, Nowell, Watson, Yarde
Brown
To a certain extent, there's not a lot to say here. Its very much a business as usual squad with everyone bar Catt, Williams and Lozowski previously involved. However, there's a few points of interest.
Uncle Eddie clearly wants Marler in the team asap and isn't sure when that will be, but the inclusion of both Genge and Catt points to an interesting call. Genge had one of the shooting stars of Jones' reign until missing the most recent training squad with Catt getting the nod. I've no idea who'll get the nod for the bench if Marler does miss some games but in any case, spare a thought for Paul Hill, another of the shooting stars who's now not making the squad at all. That might be a sign of Genge's fate as well - a team looking for more experienced scrummagers. We'll see. If Genge does join Hill in the cold, it wouldn't be the worst thing. Sparing young props heavy work loads is always a good thing and so too is Jones' philosophy of making the kids work for it.
Speaking of kids working for it, Ewels can congratulate himself on a job well done in making his first Six Nations squad. He's probably going to be holding tackle bags most of the time, fitness permitting, but its still a big step up for him. It also hints at the possibility of a big step back for Itoje - why else do you need five locks? In Robshaw's absence, Itoje is almost certainly the safest bet for England's blindside and heaven knows the flankers in the squad aren't making a man excited to play them. You'd imagine Itoje would end up besides Hughes in that case. That's a lot of raw talent but I wouldn't be surprised if come mid-point in the Six Nations, we were all pining for Robshaw and Vunipola.
The general assumption in the papers seems to be that May and Nowell are in pole position for starting shirts, with Watson's spell out costing him in the pecking order. If so, this opens up some interesting questions about who gets to sit on the bench. Te'o and Watson would seem to be the obvious pairing, covering everything and offering a few changes in plan. Jones doesn't always put too much stock in that sort of thing though and both Daly and Slade have displayed added versatility under him. In short, it could be anyone.
In any case, the real enemy this window is complacency. Which is not to dismiss the other teams - Ireland in Dublin should be a real challenge - or the impact of the injured. Those things matter a lot. However, Jones' reign to date has revealed an England team whose peak performance allows them to cope with those things (although they are yet to play an in form Ireland). The question is how long can they keep this up?
My prediction for this spring would be four wins and a coin toss as to who takes the Grand Slam in Dublin. Welsh folk may bristle at that one but with Gatland away, I reckon it would be an upset for them to win, Cardiff or no. And its now an upset when England lose to not-NZ in Twickenham until proven otherwise. Soon we'll see how true this holds.
p.s.
I'm a big fan of the U20 6N as a way to spend a Friday night. I haven't been paying too much attention to the squad this time round, so I'm just going to link you a pretty good review of England's squad I found elsewhere.
Catt, Genge, Marler, Mullan
Cole, Sinckler
Hartley, George, Taylor
Ewels, Itoje, Kruis, Launchbury, Lawes
Clifford, Harrison, Haskell, Hughes, Williams, Wood
Youngs, Care
Ford, Farrell, Lozowski
Daly, Joseph, Slade, Te'o
May, Nowell, Watson, Yarde
Brown
To a certain extent, there's not a lot to say here. Its very much a business as usual squad with everyone bar Catt, Williams and Lozowski previously involved. However, there's a few points of interest.
Uncle Eddie clearly wants Marler in the team asap and isn't sure when that will be, but the inclusion of both Genge and Catt points to an interesting call. Genge had one of the shooting stars of Jones' reign until missing the most recent training squad with Catt getting the nod. I've no idea who'll get the nod for the bench if Marler does miss some games but in any case, spare a thought for Paul Hill, another of the shooting stars who's now not making the squad at all. That might be a sign of Genge's fate as well - a team looking for more experienced scrummagers. We'll see. If Genge does join Hill in the cold, it wouldn't be the worst thing. Sparing young props heavy work loads is always a good thing and so too is Jones' philosophy of making the kids work for it.
Speaking of kids working for it, Ewels can congratulate himself on a job well done in making his first Six Nations squad. He's probably going to be holding tackle bags most of the time, fitness permitting, but its still a big step up for him. It also hints at the possibility of a big step back for Itoje - why else do you need five locks? In Robshaw's absence, Itoje is almost certainly the safest bet for England's blindside and heaven knows the flankers in the squad aren't making a man excited to play them. You'd imagine Itoje would end up besides Hughes in that case. That's a lot of raw talent but I wouldn't be surprised if come mid-point in the Six Nations, we were all pining for Robshaw and Vunipola.
The general assumption in the papers seems to be that May and Nowell are in pole position for starting shirts, with Watson's spell out costing him in the pecking order. If so, this opens up some interesting questions about who gets to sit on the bench. Te'o and Watson would seem to be the obvious pairing, covering everything and offering a few changes in plan. Jones doesn't always put too much stock in that sort of thing though and both Daly and Slade have displayed added versatility under him. In short, it could be anyone.
In any case, the real enemy this window is complacency. Which is not to dismiss the other teams - Ireland in Dublin should be a real challenge - or the impact of the injured. Those things matter a lot. However, Jones' reign to date has revealed an England team whose peak performance allows them to cope with those things (although they are yet to play an in form Ireland). The question is how long can they keep this up?
My prediction for this spring would be four wins and a coin toss as to who takes the Grand Slam in Dublin. Welsh folk may bristle at that one but with Gatland away, I reckon it would be an upset for them to win, Cardiff or no. And its now an upset when England lose to not-NZ in Twickenham until proven otherwise. Soon we'll see how true this holds.
p.s.
I'm a big fan of the U20 6N as a way to spend a Friday night. I haven't been paying too much attention to the squad this time round, so I'm just going to link you a pretty good review of England's squad I found elsewhere.
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