England vs New Zealand - World Ranked #2 vs World Ranked #1

[Mellsblue]

Seems an odd way to defend (no pun intended) Daly’s inability to make one on one tackles when the last line of defence. Brown, Lewsey etc were all able to make the vast majority of one on one tackles without concussing themselves all the time.

[Danno]

So why play a fullback at all? Once you break the defensive line, try. Or penalty try if anyone dares stop you. Gets you another body in the line and all you have to do is pray that the kicker's boot falls off as they hoof it behind you. Nice.

[TheDasher]

Seems an odd way to defend (no pun intended) Daly’s inability to make one on one tackles when the last line of defence. Brown, Lewsey etc were all able to make the vast majority of one on one tackles without concussing themselves all the time.

This.
And anyway, it's not as simple as just throwing oneself into the runners spokes, it's about playing aggressively enough to get to the runner as quickly as possible after the break has been made, rather than thinking about it for a few seconds and allowing the runnner to get into even more space and up to higher speed, which is what Daly seems to do.

[Digby]

Seems an odd way to defend (no pun intended) Daly’s inability to make one on one tackles when the last line of defence. Brown, Lewsey etc were all able to make the vast majority of one on one tackles without concussing themselves all the time.

Throwing yourself into a tackle doesn't mean you'll get concussed, and even getting a tackle right with your head on the correct side doesn't mean you will avoid a concussion. But it's shifting the probabilities if people want to see stick the body in the way tackles like other fullbacks have done.

If he had a lick more pace Piers Francis might offer a better defensive tackle option, as opposed to players like Daly and JJ who tend to show a carrier to the outside and back their pace. With Daly I'm not suggesting he can't improve, I'm merely wondering what people are asking for, because the further back you are initiating contact the more you're in the lap of the gods, and if you simply work hard to close the space you can end up too close and get brushed being too upright into contact.

It's an interesting one, considering what the options are when a carrier has space to attack either side of a defender. I don't know if anyone is reliably getting it right if one considers the risk of concussion

[Puja]

Seems an odd way to defend (no pun intended) Daly’s inability to make one on one tackles when the last line of defence. Brown, Lewsey etc were all able to make the vast majority of one on one tackles without concussing themselves all the time.

Throwing yourself into a tackle doesn't mean you'll get concussed, and even getting a tackle right with your head on the correct side doesn't mean you will avoid a concussion. But it's shifting the probabilities if people want to see stick the body in the way tackles like other fullbacks have done.

If he had a lick more pace Piers Francis might offer a better defensive tackle option, as opposed to players like Daly and JJ who tend to show a carrier to the outside and back their pace. With Daly I'm not suggesting he can't improve, I'm merely wondering what people are asking for, because the further back you are initiating contact the more you're in the lap of the gods, and if you simply work hard to close the space you can end up too close and get brushed being too upright into contact.

It's an interesting one, considering what the options are when a carrier has space to attack either side of a defender. I don't know if anyone is reliably getting it right if one considers the risk of concussion

I would say that, as a full-back facing a Koroibete break, you've got to make an early and positive decision. You've either got to come up quickly if you think you can catch him before he accelerates, or try and herd him one way or the other, usually keeping to his inside to stop the step back inside and saying he has to go between you and the touchline to get through.

The Beale break is a perfect example:


Daly gets far too square on - he's offering both sides to Beale and is basically only in position to make a front-on tackle. He should be on Beale's inside shoulder and offering him the touchline -that way he knows which way Beale is going and he's got the pace and the touch to track him down. Or he should cover the touchline and try and force Beale inside to where covering defence might be.

As it is, Beale feints left and Daly absolutely sells himself, so Beale goes right and walks past with barely a tap on the hips as he goes through. If it was touch rugby, that was great. As it is, that leads to Australia's first points.

If we look at the first Koroibete try:


Watson does this perfectly. He's isolated 2-on-1 with a dangerous runner in Petaia coming at him - he keeps his feet moving, stays on Petaia's inside shoulder, doesn't allow a step, and is only beaten by Koroibete coming in to make it 3-on-1.

Daly starts off well by being on Koroibete's inside and preventing the inside step, but he panics when Koroibete stutter steps and plants his feet to avoid being boshed. He's got the line on him perfectly - if he just keeps running straight, he's got him every day of the week. That's a straightforward tackle for a Lewsey or a Brown. Daly panics and stops, allowing Koroibete to set the agenda, rather than keeping going forward and making the tackle.

I can't find video of the second Koroibete break that was called back, but from memory is was the same as the Beale one - Daly was square on, ceded complete control over the situation and let the attacker decide how it was going to unfold.

If he gets beaten because the opposition is just too good, that's fair enough - full back is a tough position. But all three of those he was beaten because he made poor decisions due to not having a full-back's instincts.

Puja

[Digby]

I'm happy to accept Daly can improve footwork and decision making, and just to be clear what I responded to was the phrase 'throwing myself at the runner, Mike Brown style'

[Mikey Brown]

Good examples there Puja.

Daly has now played his last 19 England games in a row at 15. How long do you wait for someone to show that they have the instinct for it.

Also, oddly, seems to have had a sub appearance at number 8 but I imagine that's some strange sin-bin situation.

http://en.espn.co.uk/statsguru/rugby/pl ... view=match

[Mikey Brown]

JNGF ALERT



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-world ... underhill/

[Renniks]

I'm really glad that I have this forum to spout shite on - none of my friends in the real world understand how amazing it is that we now have such a wealth of potential options at 6 and 7

(Our biggest risk now is that we have too many and that means we don't give the right ones the game time and experience to turn into world class players)

[jngf]

I'm really glad that I have this forum to spout shite on - none of my friends in the real world understand how amazing it is that we now have such a wealth of potential options at 6 and 7

(Our biggest risk now is that we have too many and that means we don't give the right ones the game time and experience to turn into world class players)

The nice thing is there are still a number of potentially valuable experiments with the England flanker berths that could be done post RWC 2019 including:

1.Could a flier like Sam Simmonds or Jack Clifford fit in to give even more attacking options and linking options out wide? - I’d class Will Evans and Lewis Ludlum as potentially in this category too (suspect Ludlum is a bit quicker than Underhill or T Curry - though I may be wide of the mark here)

2.Does Ben Curry get a chance at 7 (as an out and out fetcher) ?

3.Does Matt Kvesic get a (further) chance at 7?

4. Does Jack Willis get a chance at 6/7 ?

5.Does Lewis Ludlow get a chance at 6 ( or for that matter Jamie Gibson and Ben Nutley)?

6.Can Mark Wilson or for that matter Chris Robshaw rejunvenate themselves into being workrate sixes?


All options alongside keeping T Curry and Underhill as is or swapping their shirt numbers:)

[Mellsblue]

Ben Nutley will have to play bloody well for Coventry to get a chance with England.

[Scrumhead]

JNGF ALERT



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-world ... underhill/

Ah man ... posting this here was like writing 666 on the mirror backwards ...

[Mikey Brown]

Jamie Gibson? WTF? There are probably 20 flankers ahead of him. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.

[Stom]

Jamie Gibson? WTF? There are probably 20 flankers ahead of him. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.

Hmm...

Curry
Underhill
Wilson
Clifford
Curry
Willis
Hill
Dombrandt
Robshaw
Ludlam
Mercer
Harrison
Simmonds
Armand
Ewers
Thompson
Evans
Kvesic
Sheilds
Ellis

How's that for a 20?

Then we have Earl and Ross (eugh) and everyone else I forgot.

[Mellsblue]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but......fears that Jonny May is struggling with a hamstring injury.

[Renniks]

Shite. That's huge

Who comes in…

I'd be going with Big Joe - but I really could see value of Nowell against NZ…

[Stom]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but......fears that Jonny May is struggling with a hamstring injury.

Losing him could tip the balance...

He's possibly the best wing around right now.

[Puja]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but......fears that Jonny May is struggling with a hamstring injury.

What few reports are coming out of camp say that he didn't train today, but is expected back tomorrow.

Puja

[Puja]

On the subject of May, the Rising Sons behind the scenes series have just released the one for the week building up to the Australia match, and there's a lot of talk about May and his 50th cap. Includes the phrase, "Jonny thinks differently. Jonny's a different... erm... character... erm. In a good way," from Scott Wisemantel.



Also interesting - Eddie brought in a Japanese scrum half to train with the team before the Australia game, who was 4th choice with Suntory, but who had a very similar playing style to Genia so they could be used to defending against that style of 9.

Puja

[Renniks]

Does he have any English Grandparents?

[Mellsblue]

Does he have any English Grandparents?

Haha! Very good.

[Adam_P]

Jamie Gibson? WTF? There are probably 20 flankers ahead of him. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.

Hmm...

Curry
Underhill
Wilson
Clifford
Curry
Willis
Hill
Dombrandt
Robshaw
Ludlam
Mercer
Harrison
Simmonds
Armand
Ewers
Thompson
Evans
Kvesic
Sheilds
Ellis

How's that for a 20?

Then we have Earl and Ross (eugh) and everyone else I forgot.

Harsh on Gibbo

[Cameo]

Surely Nowell would be a risk in defence. Every time I see him up against a semi decent attacking wing (even Tim Visser) they seem to beat him one on one at least a couple of times

[Lizard]

NZ have named same team as last week, but Savea at 7, S Barrett at 6 (“Barvea”, obvs), S Cane to the bench, Todd out with injury, Tuipulotu on the bench.

Interesting. 4 locks. Hmm.

[p/d]

Farrell back at 12