England v Australia, Sat 13 Nov KO 5.30pm

[Raggs]

Whats the alternative MP? If games are cancelled because of 1 or 2 positive COVID tests then that makes national rugby unions untenable as COVID is not going away. RFU cannot function without Twickenham sell outs and I doubt the autumn opposition will be able to survive without their yearly tests.

Quite rightly their is a worry about COVID reaching Tonga but is this not better dealt with by isolating returning Tongan players with daily testing then cancelling entire matches?

Tonga will be king hit if the virus takes hold there. Tonga's infrastructure > RFU profit. Hospitalisation is > 2x higher for unvaccinated positive cases versus vaccinated cases. NHS workers are required to be vaccinated in the very near future, so why not professional sportspeople (in all teams), from whom the risk of spread internationally is several orders of magnitude more probable. The alternative is to not have these games yet, and the alternative to that alternative is to let the public in multiple countries take an uncalculated risk of spread, hospitiaisation, and an inevitable genetic and antigenic drift of the pathogen that will render currently unavailable vaccines ineffective. There is no easy simple solution, but there are decisions on priority that will have a direct bearing on how long the need to isolate persists in disrupting life, for rugby players and fans and people that don't give a fig about rugby but need to work and live. It's that simple.

Can you explain why the whole Tonga rugby circus can't just isolate for, say, 2 weeks, please. Surely, the overall profit from Murrayfield/Twickenham and a reasonable isolation of those exposed works for Tonga's innocents and their rugby?????

Surely all the Tongans returning to Tonga were going to isolate anyway? At least for a week? If you've got a country free of covid, visiting pretty much the worst performing country in the western world, you're not going to just wave them back in.

[Danno]

In any case he would be a great bencher, since he can cover 15, 10, and wing.

Could be his destiny, versatility can be a bit of a curse

[morepork]

Tonga will be king hit if the virus takes hold there. Tonga's infrastructure > RFU profit. Hospitalisation is > 2x higher for unvaccinated positive cases versus vaccinated cases. NHS workers are required to be vaccinated in the very near future, so why not professional sportspeople (in all teams), from whom the risk of spread internationally is several orders of magnitude more probable. The alternative is to not have these games yet, and the alternative to that alternative is to let the public in multiple countries take an uncalculated risk of spread, hospitiaisation, and an inevitable genetic and antigenic drift of the pathogen that will render currently unavailable vaccines ineffective. There is no easy simple solution, but there are decisions on priority that will have a direct bearing on how long the need to isolate persists in disrupting life, for rugby players and fans and people that don't give a fig about rugby but need to work and live. It's that simple.

Can you explain why the whole Tonga rugby circus can't just isolate for, say, 2 weeks, please. Surely, the overall profit from Murrayfield/Twickenham and a reasonable isolation of those exposed works for Tonga's innocents and their rugby?????

Surely all the Tongans returning to Tonga were going to isolate anyway? At least for a week? If you've got a country free of covid, visiting pretty much the worst performing country in the western world, you're not going to just wave them back in.

They are, and that is a big part of the reason why many weren't released for the ABs game a few weeks back...too long away from European club duty.

BTW, the "circus" comment is just glib. They do isolate, but apparently English circus performers don't have to. You think match day profit goes back into the community? Even if it did, what price would you put on public health for a small Pacific country with 4 hospitals that deliver over 90% of all health care? Tonga's innocents....bitch pleeze...mata usi.

[Danno]

Does this not work both ways? No-one put the Tongan players in thumbscrews to make them come over to the plague island

[badback]

On Steward, I don’t think anyone is saying he’s another Cullen. But it’s nice to have someone at the back who doesn’t make you bury your head in your hands every time the ball goes to him. He looked secure, confident and competent. To my mind that’s impressive this early on. Who knows what comes next? Plus if you have Smith as fly half having a big full back who can catch anything and straighten the line seems to make sense.

[Raggs]

He also rarely got a chance to actually do a Mike Brown and run the ball back, he was taking the high ball and landing into a tackle for the most part.

[Timbo]

I think people are excited about Steward for 2 main reasons; his ability under the high ball is freakish, obviously aided by his height and frame. Already you can see the potential for him to be one of, if not the best in the world in that area. And the higher the levels you go the more important aerial domination gets. It can be, and often is, the difference between winning and losing test matches.

Also, his temperament. He has a ‘to the manor born’ kind of air about him. Unfazed, confident and full of belief.

[Danno]

I think people are excited about Steward for 2 main reasons; his ability under the high ball is freakish, obviously aided by his height and frame. Already you can see the potential for him to be one of, if not the best in the world in that area. And the higher the levels you go the more important aerial domination gets. It can be, and often is, the difference between winning and losing test matches.

Also, his temperament. He has a ‘to the manor born’ kind of air about him. Unfazed, confident and full of belief.

There was a low kick near the touchline that he caught and blasted back into space, with less than half a second before the chaser caught him, that impressed me a lot, plenty of others would have taken the contact and yet he barely looked hurried

[francoisfou]

Freddie Steward is only 20 and is full of promise. I just don't get the one or two posters who declare, "I'm not convinced..." etc.
How many 20-year-old full backs have made their test débuts in the past and shown promise? I've not checked, but there won't be many. He's clearly a player with a bright future, and maybe he hasn't quite mastered all it takes to be the "be all and end all" but he's there or thereabouts.
With the support of his club and the England coaching staff, he could make the 15 shirt his own for many years to come.

[Timbo]

Oz have just called up Ollie Hoskins from Irish! Presume TH is an issue for them.

[Danno]

Oz have just called up Ollie Hoskins from Irish! Presume TH is an issue for them.

Makes me feel ever so slightly better about Davison at LH. Sort of. Maybe.

[Digby]

Freddie Steward is only 20 and is full of promise. I just don't get the one or two posters who declare, "I'm not convinced..." etc.
How many 20-year-old full backs have made their test débuts in the past and shown promise? I've not checked, but there won't be many. He's clearly a player with a bright future, and maybe he hasn't quite mastered all it takes to be the "be all and end all" but he's there or thereabouts.
With the support of his club and the England coaching staff, he could make the 15 shirt his own for many years to come.

He could, but there are holes in his game, and he's but 1 of 3-4 players in and around the squad who might have the shirt for the coming seasons. A decent enough start, he should keep the shirt for the next game, and that's enough for an unproven kid

I don't get why people would be moving away from saying fine give 'em a chance but they've got ground to make up just to establish adequacy at test level. Anything more than that is straying into wrist injury territory

[Danno]

Think the major worry is that Daly is suddenly named starting in the 6n again. We've had neither solidity under the high ball or a reasonable last ditch tackler in many years, so I, for one, am a little excited about his potential.

[Puja]

The forwards might not be ready for first team regular appearances now, bar maybe Dombrandt, but these friendlies whilst we have a largely fit squad are a good time to ease them in. Can't really ease them in during the 6N bar the Italy game.

See, I could follow that logic if I was convinced that the likes of Blamire were actually going to be our future number 2. At the moment, he's just a vaguely promising player without any actual pedigree to back him up, much like Singleton was. No point forcing minutes into a player who might go exactly nowhere in internationals.

Puja

[morepork]

Does this not work both ways? No-one put the Tongan players in thumbscrews to make them come over to the plague island

Yes.

[Digby]

Think the major worry is that Daly is suddenly named starting in the 6n again. We've had neither solidity under the high ball or a reasonable last ditch tackler in many years, so I, for one, am a little excited about his potential.

Similar thinking to wanting Daly though, establishing he does some of the job well and extrapolating from that the whole is satisfied/has potential.

[Puja]

Think the major worry is that Daly is suddenly named starting in the 6n again. We've had neither solidity under the high ball or a reasonable last ditch tackler in many years, so I, for one, am a little excited about his potential.

Similar thinking to wanting Daly though, establishing he does some of the job well and extrapolating from that the whole is satisfied/has potential.

Which part of being a full-back did Daly do well? He's a very decent rugby player, but I don't remember him specifically excelling at full-back stuff. He was there because we wanted another creator (which he was pretty good at).

Puja

[Danno]

Think the major worry is that Daly is suddenly named starting in the 6n again. We've had neither solidity under the high ball or a reasonable last ditch tackler in many years, so I, for one, am a little excited about his potential.

Similar thinking to wanting Daly though, establishing he does some of the job well and extrapolating from that the whole is satisfied/has potential.

Which part of being a full-back did Daly do well? He's a very decent rugby player, but I don't remember him specifically excelling at full-back stuff. He was there because we wanted another creator (which he was pretty good at).

Puja

And there's a very real danger that he just slots back in as soon as he is fit. The Steward/Malins/Furbank selections have happened by accident. For my money Daly needs to earn his place again - and it's not, or ever was, at fullback

[Digby]

Think the major worry is that Daly is suddenly named starting in the 6n again. We've had neither solidity under the high ball or a reasonable last ditch tackler in many years, so I, for one, am a little excited about his potential.

Similar thinking to wanting Daly though, establishing he does some of the job well and extrapolating from that the whole is satisfied/has potential.

Which part of being a full-back did Daly do well? He's a very decent rugby player, but I don't remember him specifically excelling at full-back stuff. He was there because we wanted another creator (which he was pretty good at).

Puja

He ran large parts of the attack. And his coverage was pretty good, if in part because it was a pacy and hardworking back three. I suppose some will not allow attack is part of the fullbacks job until some notion of solid basics are met, but it does come down to points for and against

For me all of our options for 15 in advance have flaws.

[badback]

I thought Daly was an excellent wing. And when he played full back I still thought he was an excellent wing!

[Danno]

Either that or he's intentionally trying to throw Rennie off the scent, as he's known to be a bit of a nause when it comes to opponent analysis. Train for the cameras with Smith at 10 and Faz at 12, only to unleash the Smith/Manu/Slade hydra on Saturday?

I like your reality. Let's live there! Sadly, I fully expect Eddie to fall back into his same old patterns, exactly the same as he did with Itoje.

His comments about Raducanu were pretty shitty, even by Eddie's standards. Not only did it show a lack of knowledge about tennis, but heavily implied that a teenage girl got distracted by clothes, modelling, fame, and looking pretty rather than continuing to work hard which, quite apart from leaning into harmful stereotypes about women in sport, is far worse when you consider that there is an actual teenage girl on the other end of his barbed comments. I doubt he'll apologise, but he really fucking should.

Puja

“I’m not really sure who or what that means,”

Quote from the lady herself when asked about Jones', comments, delivered with a shit-eating grin.

[Oakboy]

I thought Daly was an excellent wing. And when he played full back I still thought he was an excellent wing!

I always thought Daly was right up there as one of the most effective wings in world rugby - top six or better. At FB he would not have got into many other countries' teams just as he would not at 13.

Even if there was an original case for trying him at FB there was never a good case for keeping him there, never mind for such a long run.

It will be interesting to see what happens to him once he's fit again. Does he have an international future?

[Digby]

I get not liking some of what Daly did or didn't do at 15, but the win record was still very decent with him as a big contributor, and it allowed picking May and Watson on the wings. That's a good case, even if you might have preferred something different.

[Oakboy]

I get not liking some of what Daly did or didn't do at 15, but the win record was still very decent with him as a big contributor, and it allowed picking May and Watson on the wings. That's a good case, even if you might have preferred something different.

Fair enough but what I find so bizarre about that trio is that swapping Watson and Daly was never considered. Why not at least try it?

[Digby]

Either that or he's intentionally trying to throw Rennie off the scent, as he's known to be a bit of a nause when it comes to opponent analysis. Train for the cameras with Smith at 10 and Faz at 12, only to unleash the Smith/Manu/Slade hydra on Saturday?

I like your reality. Let's live there! Sadly, I fully expect Eddie to fall back into his same old patterns, exactly the same as he did with Itoje.

His comments about Raducanu were pretty shitty, even by Eddie's standards. Not only did it show a lack of knowledge about tennis, but heavily implied that a teenage girl got distracted by clothes, modelling, fame, and looking pretty rather than continuing to work hard which, quite apart from leaning into harmful stereotypes about women in sport, is far worse when you consider that there is an actual teenage girl on the other end of his barbed comments. I doubt he'll apologise, but he really fucking should.

Puja

“I’m not really sure who or what that means,”

Quote from the lady herself when asked about Jones', comments, delivered with a shit-eating grin.

I wasn't sure if she'd say who?, looking at their performance in a final they should try to get on some magazine covers, or, yes some additional work outside tennis has come my way since the US open win but some additional work was always going to come with a step up to the full tour and for a fact since moving on from my time in education my physical commitments to tennis in the training I'm doing have only increased, that increase will continue as part of a managed process