Tigers v Saracens Sun 3pm

[p/d]

What is a positive interaction? Farrell had 1/1 for kicks and I thought his kick through was a waste of good, quick, attacking possession. As for a ‘positive pass’ being solely down to accuracy, that’s utter balls. As Goode then pointed out. He also pointed out that a flyhalf is very much reliant on the quality of ball, of those on his team and the opposition. As always, stats are only useful if used as context rather than unarguable facts.

I thought Farrell looked a class above everyone else tbh.

Our best 10.

[Mellsblue]

What is a positive interaction? Farrell had 1/1 for kicks and I thought his kick through was a waste of good, quick, attacking possession. As for a ‘positive pass’ being solely down to accuracy, that’s utter balls. As Goode then pointed out. He also pointed out that a flyhalf is very much reliant on the quality of ball, of those on his team and the opposition. As always, stats are only useful if used as context rather than unarguable facts.

I thought Farrell looked a class above everyone else tbh.

I didn’t say he wasn’t. I just said that stats aren’t the be all and end all. Even more so when the analyst doesn’t understand them and you can easily argue their validity.

Farrell was good. Still a couple of awful passes, though. Sarries 9, 10, 12 & 13 were all better than their Leicester counterparts. That is of course helped by the fact they were playing be the superior pack. If I were to pick any of the Sarries backs as standouts, it’d be Spencer. I say that as someone who didn’t previously see the hype and thought him pretty average, other than a few odd well strung together phases, over the last couple of weeks..........being behind a dominant pack makes life so much easier.

[p/d]

So Tigers 15 was the pick!!!! I knew you secretly harboured a a man crush for Matty

[Oakboy]

Tigers will be also-rans until they overhaul the back 5 of their scrum.

Yes, ain't that the truth. Until it's sorted, it's hard to assess the Youngs/Ford partnership.

[Mellsblue]

What a horror show from Youngs.

What did you think of Spencer?

Would probably be my motm. See above for caveats.

[Mellsblue]

So Tigers 15 was the pick!!!! I knew you secretly harboured a a man crush for Matty

Poor man’s Rob Millar.

[Tom Moore]

What a horror show from Youngs.

Dear Santa

For Christmas, please could I have a consistently international class scrum half?

All the other boys from other countries have them.

[Puja]

I would essay that Kitchener and Fitzgerald are literally the worst starting locks in the entire Premiership. It's made doubly frustrating by the fact that I know that both of them are actually capable of significantly better, but just appear to be lazy f*ckers who have taken the opportunity to put their feet up while there's no pressure on their places.

Puja

[Bloggs]

I would essay that Kitchener and Fitzgerald are literally the worst starting locks in the entire Premiership. It's made doubly frustrating by the fact that I know that both of them are actually capable of significantly better, but just appear to be lazy f*ckers who have taken the opportunity to put their feet up while there's no pressure on their places.

Puja

Matthews and Merrick...?

[Scrumhead]

Matthews and Merrick aren’t first choice. Horwill massively improves the situation regardless of which distinctly average player we partner him with.

I think Puja’s frustration is that Kitchener and Fitzgerald are capable of more but underperforming. Matthews and Merrick aren’t brilliant, but generally perform at the level they are capable of. In fairness to Matthews he’s been pretty good this season and has had a couple of stand-out games.

[Oakboy]

What a horror show from Youngs.

What did you think of Spencer?

Would probably be my motm. See above for caveats.

Agreed. I like a SH with a bit of physicality (Gareth, Holmes, VdW etc.). If I was picking the England team tomorrow, I'd have to consider Spencer, Cipriani, Lozowski, Slade as the starting 9, 10, 12, 13. If not Cips, Farrell has to be ahead of Ford. I still prefer Ford's skill-set but Farrell simply affects the game more (sadly).

[Tigersman]

I would essay that Kitchener and Fitzgerald are literally the worst starting locks in the entire Premiership. It's made doubly frustrating by the fact that I know that both of them are actually capable of significantly better, but just appear to be lazy f*ckers who have taken the opportunity to put their feet up while there's no pressure on their places.

Puja

Yep.

I just hope we announce a few new locks in Jan at least and 2 new backrowers.
Will Spencer and Guy Thompson for Fitzgerald and BOC would be a good start and would be cost effective.

[Puja]

I would essay that Kitchener and Fitzgerald are literally the worst starting locks in the entire Premiership. It's made doubly frustrating by the fact that I know that both of them are actually capable of significantly better, but just appear to be lazy f*ckers who have taken the opportunity to put their feet up while there's no pressure on their places.

Puja

Yep.

I just hope we announce a few new locks in Jan at least and 2 new backrowers.
Will Spencer and Guy Thompson for Fitzgerald and BOC would be a good start and would be cost effective.

I'd be happy with that as a start. Fitzgerald is the main problem to my mind - Kitchener is known to be lazy when not driven (ample evidence from his time at Worcester), but has shown much better when he works. Fitzgerald is older, more experienced, and shoud know better, but has failed to show much of anything in his time here, least of all a work ethic.

Have Spencer and AN Other as the starting locks, with Kitchener, Barrow and Wells fighting to get into the XXIII. I wouldn't mind Symons if he's fed up with being second fiddle at Wasps.

Puja

[Raggs]

Symons has consistently started when fit for wasps.

[Puja]

Symons has consistently started when fit for wasps.

Indeed? I thought he'd dropped below Rowlands this season?

Puja

[Raggs]

Nope. Just lots of injuries. May have been benched whilst building match fitness. Now out fort the season.

[twitchy]

I just read this and thought of your post puja.

https://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/feature ... nd-johnno/

[Oakboy]

I just read this and thought of your post puja.

https://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/feature ... nd-johnno/

Good read! It makes me wonder if the likes of Johnson and Dallaglio would be so influential in today's games. Instead of captains and senior players automatically making on-field decisions, the head coach in the stand is constantly sending out messages in a communicative stream that did not exist (or was not used) in their era. Now, you even see the likes of Farrell looking towards the stand for guidance on penalty options. I doubt that senior men ever thought of doing that 10-20 years back.

That leaves me wondering why Eddie would be critical of on-field leadership failings. It's the approach of head coaches that has brought about the lesser need for on-the-hoof decision-taking. Chicken or egg?

[Which Tyler]

Maybe Eddie simply disapproves of the new trend, and wants to players to make decisions on the pitch and stop looking to him make their decisions for him.

[Puja]

I just read this and thought of your post puja.

https://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/feature ... nd-johnno/

Hmmm. I disapprove of extrapolating fron a single extreme data point and especially of any claim that 'the good old days' were better than the world created by the youth of today. Plus there's more than a little mythologising about the Titans of Auld there - LBND was actually a pretty flaky captain when looked at overall.

Still, the point that there's no-one in the ilk of Johnson around anymore is still valid, although I have hopes that Itoje might one day grow into that, if he grows out of flapping his mouth so much.

One thing which has become clear of late is that Fazlet is a strikingly ineffective captain. He might be great for cheering up his team, but he should never be allowed to be the representative to the ref for his team. A good captain like Warburton gets future decisions to go his way. Fazlet whines plaintively about the one just gone and gets future decisions against him.

Puja

[twitchy]

Maro is the clear choice for england captain but maybe not just yet.

[Oakboy]

Maro is the clear choice for england captain but maybe not just yet.

I'd think so too but post-jamboree he's not been the automatic starter that he used to be. Maybe, the injury-enforced rest will see him re-emerge on top form

[twitchy]

Clear starter for me in any game that matters.

[Raggs]

The suggestion that it was captaincy that lead to all those results is a bit of a stretch. Gameplan, personnel, health all seemingly played a bigger part than the captains i reckon.

[Mellsblue]

This just strikes me as I need to file 1000 words and I don’t really have anything else to write about.