RugbyRebels

Banquo wrote:

Mikey Brown wrote:

Banquo wrote:Itoje at 8 obvs.

Then where are you putting Ewels? Ewels has at least packed down there recently, while Itoje is much better over the ball. You're going all Andy Robinson here.

Blindside obvs. Itoje has everything it takes to be an 8, other than what it takes to be an 8.

But that means you need to shift Lawes to 7! Surely that role should go to Ben Youngs ?!? He’s the same height as Back, and that’s all that counts, right?

Stom wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Mikey Brown wrote:
Then where are you putting Ewels? Ewels has at least packed down there recently, while Itoje is much better over the ball. You're going all Andy Robinson here.

Blindside obvs. Itoje has everything it takes to be an 8, other than what it takes to be an 8.

But that means you need to shift Lawes to 7! Surely that role should go to Ben Youngs ?!? He’s the same height as Back, and that’s all that counts, right?

Nowell, you numpty.

Banquo wrote:

Stom wrote:

Banquo wrote: Blindside obvs. Itoje has everything it takes to be an 8, other than what it takes to be an 8.

But that means you need to shift Lawes to 7! Surely that role should go to Ben Youngs ?!? He’s the same height as Back, and that’s all that counts, right?

Nowell, you numpty.

Of course! How could I forget. Though he needs to do something about those tattoos and that hair, not befitting of an England player.

Stom wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Stom wrote:
But that means you need to shift Lawes to 7! Surely that role should go to Ben Youngs ?!? He’s the same height as Back, and that’s all that counts, right?

Nowell, you numpty.

Of course! How could I forget. Though he needs to do something about those tattoos and that hair, not befitting of an England player.

scrum cap can remain as long as he becomes a forward.

Great goalkicker that Farrell

Would love to see a breakdown of 10s when it comes to meters run ball in hand, passes made, tackle %age, tries, assists, kicking %age.

I imagine Ford would trump Farrell in every one.

Stom wrote:Would love to see a breakdown of 10s when it comes to meters run ball in hand, passes made, tackle %age, tries, assists, kicking %age.

I imagine Ford would trump Farrell in every one.

It does show Umaga and Smith have some work to do, and perhaps one reason why Cips has faded away (though with Faz alongside him you'd still have a great goalki....oh)

Umaga seems to be similar to Ford was when younger. Goes through phases of never missing, but then others of being average (not quite as many horrors as Ford though).

He also doesn't place kick if Sops or Gopps are on the pitch.

Goal kicking FB's seem to have gone completely out of fashion. Wonder why that is?

Stom wrote:Would love to see a breakdown of 10s when it comes to meters run ball in hand, passes made, tackle %age, tries, assists, kicking %age.

I imagine Ford would trump Farrell in every one.

The Rugby Magazine stats are from Opta and are broken down in to attacking and defensive stats on a game by game basis. It’d be a case of manually collating them though ...

I expect you are correct re. Ford vs. Farrell.

fivepointer wrote:Goal kicking FB's seem to have gone completely out of fashion. Wonder why that is?

True. I remember when Tom Homer used to be a very handy kicker for Irish. He never seems to kick anymore though?

Scrumhead wrote:

Stom wrote:Would love to see a breakdown of 10s when it comes to meters run ball in hand, passes made, tackle %age, tries, assists, kicking %age.

I imagine Ford would trump Farrell in every one.

The Rugby Magazine stats are from Opta and are broken down in to attacking and defensive stats on a game by game basis. It’d be a case of manually collating them though ...

I expect you are correct re. Ford vs. Farrell.

The Rugby Magazine fantasy rugby is based around Opta stats and their points scoring counts thing like metres run, tackles made vs tackles missed, passes, clean breaks, assists, goalkicking, etc. Interestingly enough, when you set it to sort by average points per 80 minutes played, Ford and Farrell are pretty much neck and neck, with Farrell very slightly ahead.

ETA. They are relatively closely followed by Smith and Umaga. Danny Cipriani doesn't even make the first page, being beaten by Priestland, Weir, Simmonds, Sheedy, Mcginty, Biggar, Searle, Du Preez, amongst others.

Puja

Raggs wrote:Umaga seems to be similar to Ford was when younger. Goes through phases of never missing, but then others of being average (not quite as many horrors as Ford though).

He also doesn't place kick if Sops or Gopps are on the pitch.

He therefore does have the same amount of work to do as Ford did. Hope he does- for his intl hopes, being a 1st choice club kicker would help immeasurably.

fivepointer wrote:Goal kicking FB's seem to have gone completely out of fashion. Wonder why that is?

Because they are expected to do much more than Bob Hiller .

Puja wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:

Stom wrote:Would love to see a breakdown of 10s when it comes to meters run ball in hand, passes made, tackle %age, tries, assists, kicking %age.

I imagine Ford would trump Farrell in every one.

The Rugby Magazine stats are from Opta and are broken down in to attacking and defensive stats on a game by game basis. It’d be a case of manually collating them though ...

I expect you are correct re. Ford vs. Farrell.

The Rugby Magazine fantasy rugby is based around Opta stats and their points scoring counts thing like metres run, tackles made vs tackles missed, passes, clean breaks, assists, goalkicking, etc. Interestingly enough, when you set it to sort by average points per 80 minutes played, Ford and Farrell are pretty much neck and neck, with Farrell very slightly ahead.

Puja

Hardly surprising when you compare their club sides; one is a Rolls Royce purchased by credit card fraud and the other a clown car.

Armchair ride v collapsing deck chair.

I'd absolutely love to see Ford behind the Sarries pack in full flight.

Puja wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:

Stom wrote:Would love to see a breakdown of 10s when it comes to meters run ball in hand, passes made, tackle %age, tries, assists, kicking %age.

I imagine Ford would trump Farrell in every one.

The Rugby Magazine stats are from Opta and are broken down in to attacking and defensive stats on a game by game basis. It’d be a case of manually collating them though ...

I expect you are correct re. Ford vs. Farrell.

The Rugby Magazine fantasy rugby is based around Opta stats and their points scoring counts thing like metres run, tackles made vs tackles missed, passes, clean breaks, assists, goalkicking, etc. Interestingly enough, when you set it to sort by average points per 80 minutes played, Ford and Farrell are pretty much neck and neck, with Farrell very slightly ahead.

ETA. They are relatively closely followed by Smith and Umaga. Danny Cipriani doesn't even make the first page, being beaten by Priestland, Weir, Simmonds, Sheedy, Mcginty, Biggar, Searle, Du Preez, amongst others.

Puja

Yep. The manual piece I was referring to is if you want to break down the detail to compare.

Banquo wrote:Hardly surprising when you compare their club sides; one is a Rolls Royce purchased by credit card fraud and the other a clown car.

Armchair ride v collapsing deck chair.

I'd love to be able to protest that description of my club, I really would.

I think the quality of Ford was seen during the Gloucester game, when he came on at half-time and just utterly changed the match. Admittedly, introducing an experienced fly-half into a team of academy players is always going to have an impact, but he made everyone around him look better, almost instantly. He imparted structure, control, calmness - all on his own.

I was annoyed at losing Tuilagi to the contract renegotiations, but it was a survivable loss - Moroni and Scott will plug the hole. If we'd lost Ford, that would've been it for this team - he is without a doubt our most important asset.

Puja

Banquo wrote:Poor old Kvesic.

Who?

Puja wrote:

Banquo wrote:Hardly surprising when you compare their club sides; one is a Rolls Royce purchased by credit card fraud and the other a clown car.

Armchair ride v collapsing deck chair.

I'd love to be able to protest that description of my club, I really would.

I think the quality of Ford was seen during the Gloucester game, when he came on at half-time and just utterly changed the match. Admittedly, introducing an experienced fly-half into a team of academy players is always going to have an impact, but he made everyone around him look better, almost instantly. He imparted structure, control, calmness - all on his own.

I was annoyed at losing Tuilagi to the contract renegotiations, but it was a survivable loss - Moroni and Scott will plug the hole. If we'd lost Ford, that would've been it for this team - he is without a doubt our most important asset.

Puja

Agreed. The only thing I’d add is that Youngs also played a big part in steadying the ship. I’m generally pretty critical of Youngs - mostly out of frustration. He’s like the little girl with curl in the middle of her forehead - when he’s good, he can be very, very good, but when he’s bad, he’s horrid ...

He was good against Gloucester though.

With all this talk about backs and forwards being interchangeable, in this evening’s Top14 fixture Lyon v Racing, Mathieu Bastareaud has been picked at 8! That would make Eddie purr in appreciation!

francoisfou wrote:With all this talk about backs and forwards being interchangeable, in this evening’s Top14 fixture Lyon v Racing, Mathieu Bastareaud has been picked at 8! That would make Eddie purr in appreciation!

He played there a bit for New York in the MLR, having proven thoroughly ineffective at centre. He was pretty ineffective at 8 too, but at least he got to run his belly into people a bit more from there.

Has he at all slimmed down since going back to France?

Puja

Puja wrote:

francoisfou wrote:With all this talk about backs and forwards being interchangeable, in this evening’s Top14 fixture Lyon v Racing, Mathieu Bastareaud has been picked at 8! That would make Eddie purr in appreciation!

He played there a bit for New York in the MLR, having proven thoroughly ineffective at centre. He was pretty ineffective at 8 too, but at least he got to run his belly into people a bit more from there.

Has he at all slimmed down since going back to France?

Puja

Living in Lyon, the so-called gastronomic capital of France, I would imagine that his considerable girth has expanded!

And yet both Ford and Youngs played with our first team today and we were utterly devoid of any attacking or defensive clue. Weird that.