Quins v Sale

[Epaminondas Pules]

Starting XV:

1. Joe Marler (270)

2. Sam Riley (38)

3. Will Collier (227)

4. Joe Launchbury (8)

5. Dino Lamb (89)

6. Chandler Cunningham-South (4)

7. Will Evans (72)

8. Alex Dombrandt (122 - Captain)

9. Danny Care (361)

10. Marcus Smith (144)

11. Cadan Murley (102)

12. Andre Esterhuizen (73)

13. Will Joseph (6)

14. Nick David (39)

15. Tyrone Green (58)

Impact Players:

16. Nathan Jibulu (10)

17. Fin Baxter (33)

18. Dillon Lewis (4)

19. Irne Herbst (29)

20. James Chisholm (139)

21. Will Porter (8)

22. Jarrod Evans (7)

23. Oscar Beard (38)



Sale Sharks Starting XV:  

15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Sam Bedlow, 11. Arron Reed, 10. George Ford, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Si McIntyre, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Ernst van Rhyn, 7. Ben Curry ©, 8. Dan du Preez.  

Replacements:  

16. Agustin Creevy, 17. Ross Harrison, 18. James Harper, 19. Josh Beaumont, 20. Sam Dugdale, 21. Raffi Quirke, 22. Sam James, 23. Tom O’Flaherty. 

[Mikey Brown]

Pleased with that Wuins team. I haven’t seen much of Sale but they always seem intensely physical. Looking forward to it.

Curry v Evans, Murley v Roebuck, the halfback battle etc. should all be interesting from an England POV.

[fivepointer]

The two back 3's are an exciting proposition. Interesting to see how CC-S gets on.

[FKAS]

Wow Sale look all at sea in the backfield. Warr looks like he's going to let the ball bounce over the touchline before losing his nerve and then gets caught a metre from his line. Then Carpenter with a howler. Let's the ball bounce then tries to keep the ball alive by throwing it back in field when being pulled into touch. Pass only falls for Tyrone Green though.

Ford got them out of jail after the Warr error by stripping the ball from Esterhuizen in the tackle (he did give up 5m as well but emerged with the ball).

[Mikey Brown]

Very scrappy from both sides so far. Fun though.

[Mikey Brown]

Then again, Austin Healey keeps talking.

[FKAS]

Then again, Austin Healey keeps talking.

Adding something to the error strewn kick fest so far for me.

Quins can't seem to get over the gain line and are relying on a series of errors by Sale in the backfield to give them territory. Carpenter is having a real shocker, looks bereft of confidence after the early mistake led to the try.

[twitchy]

This almost feels like a training game. I'm guessing everyone is just freezing.

[Mikey Brown]

I loved that defensive set but yeah it’s been a bit all over the place.

[Mikey Brown]

I’d love to see a supercut of Warr’s defensive efforts today.

[Mikey Brown]

So… Jonny Hill is still a fucking idiot then.

[Oakboy]

How did Hill not get carded for an elbow to the throat?

[Oakboy]

Based on the game so far Smith is outplaying Ford.

[Oakboy]

Does Green qualify for us yet?

[FKAS]

Based on the game so far Smith is outplaying Ford.

Yeah, Ford hasn't had a lot of ball and Smith's benefitted from a Carpenter horror show at the back that's made his kicking lot fantastic. Smith's had a couple of off weeks but the more this game goes on the more he looks like his confidence is flooding back. The more the game goes on the better he's playing.

Evans has had another stand out game in the battle of the 7s.

[Oakboy]

Based on the game so far Smith is outplaying Ford.

Yeah, Ford hasn't had a lot of ball and Smith's benefitted from a Carpenter horror show at the back that's made his kicking lot fantastic. Smith's had a couple of off weeks but the more this game goes on the more he looks like his confidence is flooding back. The more the game goes on the better he's playing.

Evans has had another stand out game in the battle of the 7s.

Evans has been remarkable.

[Danno]

Hill should be cited and banned for his shit. He'll never learn.

[fivepointer]

Pretty limp effort from Sale. When your best player is a 19 year old tight head brought in late to the matchday 23 you know you've not had a good night.
Quins did get better as game wore on. Evans was outstanding and I thought Riley looked right at home.

[FKAS]

Based on the game so far Smith is outplaying Ford.

Yeah, Ford hasn't had a lot of ball and Smith's benefitted from a Carpenter horror show at the back that's made his kicking lot fantastic. Smith's had a couple of off weeks but the more this game goes on the more he looks like his confidence is flooding back. The more the game goes on the better he's playing.

Evans has had another stand out game in the battle of the 7s.

Evans has been remarkable.

So has the Sale replacement tighthead whose name I will have to learn to spell at some point.

[Oakboy]

Based on the game so far Smith is outplaying Ford.

Yeah, Ford hasn't had a lot of ball and Smith's benefitted from a Carpenter horror show at the back that's made his kicking lot fantastic. Smith's had a couple of off weeks but the more this game goes on the more he looks like his confidence is flooding back. The more the game goes on the better he's playing.

Evans has had another stand out game in the battle of the 7s.

I agree that Ford did not get as much good ball as Smith. However, on two occasions when he did, up went the spiral bomb to zero effect. In similar circumstances, Smith looked to run or move the ball through the hands. What he also did was move in support at a rate which I would suggest is the fastest of any FH in rugby. Quite simply, everything about Smith, physically and mentally, shouts positivity.

Interestingly, he actually kicked more and far better than Ford did.

[p/d]

I don’t doubt Ford’s footballing skills and game awareness but he is still a conservative player who offers up play that can frustrate.

To be fair JW was no different, but he was a warrior!!!

New England needs to focus on Smith at 10 and not lose him to the wilderness of a utility back.

[Oakboy]

I don’t doubt Ford’s footballing skills and game awareness but he is still a conservative player who offers up play that can frustrate.

To be fair JW was no different, but he was a warrior!!!

New England needs to focus on Smith at 10 and not lose him to the wilderness of a utility back.

England have always opted for 'plain-Jane' style FHs - JW, Andrew, Grayson, Farrell etc. How much of it was because we rarely, if ever, had a top quality SH?

[FKAS]

Based on the game so far Smith is outplaying Ford.

Yeah, Ford hasn't had a lot of ball and Smith's benefitted from a Carpenter horror show at the back that's made his kicking lot fantastic. Smith's had a couple of off weeks but the more this game goes on the more he looks like his confidence is flooding back. The more the game goes on the better he's playing.

Evans has had another stand out game in the battle of the 7s.

I agree that Ford did not get as much good ball as Smith. However, on two occasions when he did, up went the spiral bomb to zero effect. In similar circumstances, Smith looked to run or move the ball through the hands. What he also did was move in support at a rate which I would suggest is the fastest of any FH in rugby. Quite simply, everything about Smith, physically and mentally, shouts positivity.

Interestingly, he actually kicked more and far better than Ford did.

I'd agree with much of that bar the far better kicking bit. Smith's kicking was not any better the difference was the two back threes. Quins were composed and experienced enough to deal with the pressure. Sale's young back three completely fell apart and gifted Quins territory and the first try in particular. Smith kicked a lot in the first half and didn't offer a great deal, his confidence grew over the course of the game no doubt helped by the incompetence of the Sale back three to deal with a fairly simple kicking game. Once Smith's tail was up and he started attacking a tiring Sale forwards pack (who'd done plenty of defending due to the aforementioned back threes inability to effectively deal with kicks) he was in his element and was carving up Sale.

Whilst I'd definitely be looking at Smith to be a big part of the England team moving forward this game shouldn't be used as a big case for him. No international side will field kicks as badly as Sale did last night and give him so much territory and possession to work with and tire their pack.

Quins defence was also fantastic. The one real period of pressure Sale exerted in the Quins 22 their forwards were repelled from the line close in and pressured to the point Ford couldn't get any usable ball and his back were closed down. Sale desperately missed Manu with Bedlow generally offering nothing and falling off tackles which should be worrying for them given Manu's injury history.

[p/d]

I don’t doubt Ford’s footballing skills and game awareness but he is still a conservative player who offers up play that can frustrate.

To be fair JW was no different, but he was a warrior!!!

New England needs to focus on Smith at 10 and not lose him to the wilderness of a utility back.

England have always opted for 'plain-Jane' style FHs - JW, Andrew, Grayson, Farrell etc. How much of it was because we rarely, if ever, had a top quality SH?

We are pragmatic by nature and this generally reflects in style and performance.
Just look at the ‘abuse’ CH got and yet at club level he was a much admired magician.

This is why players like Randall will be judged on their known weaknesses rather than risking playing to their strengths.

[Oakboy]

I don’t doubt Ford’s footballing skills and game awareness but he is still a conservative player who offers up play that can frustrate.

To be fair JW was no different, but he was a warrior!!!

New England needs to focus on Smith at 10 and not lose him to the wilderness of a utility back.

England have always opted for 'plain-Jane' style FHs - JW, Andrew, Grayson, Farrell etc. How much of it was because we rarely, if ever, had a top quality SH?

We are pragmatic by nature and this generally reflects in style and performance.
Just look at the ‘abuse’ CH got and yet at club level he was a much admired magician.

This is why players like Randall will be judged on their known weaknesses rather than risking playing to their strengths.

P/D, I can't believe you like 'pragmatic'. You are right that we have been that way. It's why we rarely win anything. It also means we constantly underachieve even if we are not good enough to win anything. I just hope it's not why SB got the job!!!!