RugbyRebels

Mr Mwenda wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 5:33 pm

Banquo wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 3:27 pm

Puja wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 2:55 pm

One of the reasons I'm such a huge Jonny May fan - he's the top professional era try-scorer for England, but only 6 of them are against lower level sides (and those are Samoa, Tonga, and Italy who are still pretty good), with 22/32 against Fra/Ire/Wal/SA/NZ/Aus.

Incredible when you think he was dropped after his sixth cap because he hadn't scored a try yet.

Puja

Jonny May definitely gets the most surprising improvement to top class award. (also amazing that he played centre for the u20's)- not sure how he 'avoided' a Lions call when one thinks of those who have had one.

It was total bollocks last tour, a sop to the Celts.

Mr Mwenda wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 5:33 pm

Puja wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 3:43 pm Peel on why he turned down England: https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://ww ... -saracens/

“I know I might not get another chance to coach with England again. But what we decided as a family was that while I might not get that opportunity, if I did go for it now, I definitely would not get the chance to spend the time with my kids from the ages of 12 to 16 and 10 to 14.

“When I spoke to Steve, I told him it was a huge honour to be even considered for the job and I was super excited about it. But having had time to reflect, I felt that if I keep developing as a coach and working hard, I might have another chance in the future. If I don’t, I am fine with that, but I am never going to get the chance again to spend the next World Cup cycle with my kids.”

Fair enough really.

Puja

I like this. Much better than the guff about international rugby being all there is to life.

Puja wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 3:43 pm Peel on why he turned down England: https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://ww ... -saracens/

“I know I might not get another chance to coach with England again. But what we decided as a family was that while I might not get that opportunity, if I did go for it now, I definitely would not get the chance to spend the time with my kids from the ages of 12 to 16 and 10 to 14.

“When I spoke to Steve, I told him it was a huge honour to be even considered for the job and I was super excited about it. But having had time to reflect, I felt that if I keep developing as a coach and working hard, I might have another chance in the future. If I don’t, I am fine with that, but I am never going to get the chance again to spend the next World Cup cycle with my kids.”

Fair enough really.

Puja

Mr Mwenda wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 7:30 pm Graham rowntree as a future England coach? This Munster v stormers game has been jolly exciting

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 2:52 pm Good. He’s the best thing about the ITV coverage. I honestly with they’d just let him ramble more and ditch Sir Clive.

Hasn’t he been working with basically all the England fly halves for years? I guess this is a more formal role?

Puja wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 3:04 pm Interesting article about Joe Gray and his business that I found while internet wandering: https://www.businessleader.co.uk/rugby- ... -joe-gray/

Puja

Puja wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 2:59 pm

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 2:52 pm Good. He’s the best thing about the ITV coverage. I honestly with they’d just let him ramble more and ditch Sir Clive.

Hasn’t he been working with basically all the England fly halves for years? I guess this is a more formal role?

I mean, I'm not against ditching Woodward in the slightest, but I'm surprised that you're so positive about Jonny. I still haven't recovered from the time he was employed to pundit an Italy 6N game, was asked about Paolo Garbisi and genuinely didn't know who he was or anything about him.

Puja

Puja wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 2:59 pm

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 2:52 pm Good. He’s the best thing about the ITV coverage. I honestly with they’d just let him ramble more and ditch Sir Clive.

Hasn’t he been working with basically all the England fly halves for years? I guess this is a more formal role?

I mean, I'm not against ditching Woodward in the slightest, but I'm surprised that you're so positive about Jonny. I still haven't recovered from the time he was employed to pundit an Italy 6N game, was asked about Paolo Garbisi and genuinely didn't know who he was or anything about him.

Puja

Beasties wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 11:47 pm I’m looking at that and wondering what all the fuss is about Ted Hill. Still. I just don’t get it. Take away the fact he jumps in the lineout and what’s left?

Tom Moore wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 7:55 am Hill's profile seems most like that of Martin. On which basis I'd be relatively happy trialling him as a lock without major Tom Croft concerns.

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 11:53 am Yeah I don't see the appeal of Hill at lock at all. Either he has the talent to step up as a 6 or he doesn't. The usefulness of a versatile player who isn't particularly good in either position really seems to be overstated.

He's very athletic, physical and abrasive from what I've seen, but those stats don't seem to suggest much other than he can take lineouts and make a small number of dominant tackles. It's interesting that Martin's dominant tackle percentage is so low, but who knows how these are assessed or what volume of tackles he is making.

Puja wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 12:06 pm

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 11:53 am Yeah I don't see the appeal of Hill at lock at all. Either he has the talent to step up as a 6 or he doesn't. The usefulness of a versatile player who isn't particularly good in either position really seems to be overstated.

He's very athletic, physical and abrasive from what I've seen, but those stats don't seem to suggest much other than he can take lineouts and make a small number of dominant tackles. It's interesting that Martin's dominant tackle percentage is so low, but who knows how these are assessed or what volume of tackles he is making.

It's a weird data set for Martin - his form took off in the second half of the season, but that was when he was playing lock the majority of the time, so I don't think, from looking at the wording of those charts, that any of those games were counted. From a purely unscientific and anecdotal perspective, he does seem to make 1 or 2 *really* big tackles in a game and then puts in a lot of solid and competent tackles that probably wouldn't be counted as "dominant". He's not Underhill or Lawes yet - still a work-on (and I say that because his ceiling is so high).

I think Hill is in many people's minds on hope more than anything. He definitely has potential and the physical ingredients, and he put in some monstrous performances when he was breaking through, but I haven't seen him recently produce enough quality, regularly enough, to be in the England conversation. I wonder if being given the captaincy at Worcester so early, and so often being laden with the pressure of having to carry them, took a toll on his development? Hopefully he'll kick on with a full pre-season at his new club.

Puja

Tom Moore wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 6:00 pm

Puja wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 12:06 pm

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 11:53 am Yeah I don't see the appeal of Hill at lock at all. Either he has the talent to step up as a 6 or he doesn't. The usefulness of a versatile player who isn't particularly good in either position really seems to be overstated.

He's very athletic, physical and abrasive from what I've seen, but those stats don't seem to suggest much other than he can take lineouts and make a small number of dominant tackles. It's interesting that Martin's dominant tackle percentage is so low, but who knows how these are assessed or what volume of tackles he is making.

It's a weird data set for Martin - his form took off in the second half of the season, but that was when he was playing lock the majority of the time, so I don't think, from looking at the wording of those charts, that any of those games were counted. From a purely unscientific and anecdotal perspective, he does seem to make 1 or 2 *really* big tackles in a game and then puts in a lot of solid and competent tackles that probably wouldn't be counted as "dominant". He's not Underhill or Lawes yet - still a work-on (and I say that because his ceiling is so high).

I think Hill is in many people's minds on hope more than anything. He definitely has potential and the physical ingredients, and he put in some monstrous performances when he was breaking through, but I haven't seen him recently produce enough quality, regularly enough, to be in the England conversation. I wonder if being given the captaincy at Worcester so early, and so often being laden with the pressure of having to carry them, took a toll on his development? Hopefully he'll kick on with a full pre-season at his new club.

Puja

He's in my mind as someone who can jump in a lineout and isn't Charlie Ewels.

jngf wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2023 10:12 pm

Tom Moore wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 6:00 pm

Puja wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 12:06 pm

It's a weird data set for Martin - his form took off in the second half of the season, but that was when he was playing lock the majority of the time, so I don't think, from looking at the wording of those charts, that any of those games were counted. From a purely unscientific and anecdotal perspective, he does seem to make 1 or 2 *really* big tackles in a game and then puts in a lot of solid and competent tackles that probably wouldn't be counted as "dominant". He's not Underhill or Lawes yet - still a work-on (and I say that because his ceiling is so high).

I think Hill is in many people's minds on hope more than anything. He definitely has potential and the physical ingredients, and he put in some monstrous performances when he was breaking through, but I haven't seen him recently produce enough quality, regularly enough, to be in the England conversation. I wonder if being given the captaincy at Worcester so early, and so often being laden with the pressure of having to carry them, took a toll on his development? Hopefully he'll kick on with a full pre-season at his new club.

Puja

He's in my mind as someone who can jump in a lineout and isn't Charlie Ewels.

I’m interested to see how Sutton Bonnington’s locks pan out - personally would love to see Itoje and Lawes dogging it out for the “athletic” berth and Chessum, Ribbans and ideally a rejuvenated Launchbury challenging for the tighthead lock spot. I do think we need some more of the carrying from a standing start in heavy traffic from somewhere in the second row - so maybe that puts a player like Martin more in the frame?

FKAS wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2023 1:21 pm

jngf wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2023 10:12 pm

Tom Moore wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 6:00 pm

He's in my mind as someone who can jump in a lineout and isn't Charlie Ewels.

I’m interested to see how Sutton Bonnington’s locks pan out - personally would love to see Itoje and Lawes dogging it out for the “athletic” berth and Chessum, Ribbans and ideally a rejuvenated Launchbury challenging for the tighthead lock spot. I do think we need some more of the carrying from a standing start in heavy traffic from somewhere in the second row - so maybe that puts a player like Martin more in the frame?

Launchbury hasn't been named in any squads so I don't think he's in consideration.

Lawes is a backrow now as a starting option, he might get used as a lock off the bench. Isiekwe is I suspect the Itoje understudy. Hill, Chessum, Ribbans and Martin fighting it for the tighthead lock.