The Official English Rugby Thread

[JM2K6]

B+

At this point in the rebuild Bortwick's clearly decided, probably not unjustly, that beating Sarrries might be a bit beyond his charges, so why bother with the full side? It might not be whast we want to see as fans, but it is the pragmatic use of resources a DoR gets paid for.

Tigers are top of the league - we aren't talking Worcs here. And Steward is missing out on a big chance to show what he can do.

Do league positions count for anything after two rounds?

Who would Steward be showing and for what purpose? He's clearly in Eddie's thoughts for the national team and we know he doesn't really give a shit about what people are doing for their clubs once he's settled on them.

Showing Jones what he can do. Learning more. Playing against a direct competitor for his shirt, in conditions where he'd be one of the most important players on the pitch, against one of the best teams around for providing a kicking threat.

And the point about their position is that tigers are playing well and certainly had no need to throw a match with the selection. And this Saracens side isn't the title winning one.

[Kawazaki]

Ben Kay is hopelessly biased in commentary.

[JM2K6]

Youngs and Ford the halfbacks is considered a Leicester B team?

No, but eight players have been swapped out.

If that's the criteria then Saracens have made 6 changes and are missing at least 6 more!

Have they deliberately dropped 6 first choice players? Or are you counting Lions players coming back in?

[Paddington Bear]

Leicester’s woes thus far stem from shite kicking from their England players rather than anything else

[JM2K6]

Leicester’s woes thus far stem from shite kicking from their England players rather than anything else

Well their back three being bollocks has counted for a lot, too.

[Kawazaki]

No, but eight players have been swapped out.

If that's the criteria then Saracens have made 6 changes and are missing at least 6 more!

Have they deliberately dropped 6 first choice players? Or are you counting Lions players coming back in?

How do you accidentally drop a player?

[Paddington Bear]

Cole’s milked that for all it’s worth but not opposed to refs cutting out the glib stuff after penalties

[Paddington Bear]

Leicester’s woes thus far stem from shite kicking from their England players rather than anything else

Well their back three being bollocks has counted for a lot, too.

Yeah but a lot of that is the time Sarries have had to line up kicks, doing so under no pressure

[sockwithaticket]

Tigers are top of the league - we aren't talking Worcs here. And Steward is missing out on a big chance to show what he can do.

Do league positions count for anything after two rounds?

Who would Steward be showing and for what purpose? He's clearly in Eddie's thoughts for the national team and we know he doesn't really give a shit about what people are doing for their clubs once he's settled on them.

Showing Jones what he can do. Learning more. Playing against a direct competitor for his shirt, in conditions where he'd be one of the most important players on the pitch, against one of the best teams around for providing a kicking threat.

And the point about their position is that tigers are playing well and certainly had no need to throw a match with the selection. And this Saracens side isn't the title winning one.

I get the sense Eddie's already basically annointed Steward as his 15 going forward, I don't think playing in this game or not is going to sway Eddie on him. It is a fair point that playing against this kicking onslaught from a team who are good at it in the rain would be beneficial for him. Clearly ol' scab-nose has decided otherwise.

Perhaps Borthwick wants to see how his back ups measure up and he feels two wins on the trot this early gives him the leeway to run that experiment? We're all just speculating.

[Kawazaki]

Dan Cole is so dull, he collapsed his own side's rolling maul!

[Kawazaki]

Do league positions count for anything after two rounds?

Who would Steward be showing and for what purpose? He's clearly in Eddie's thoughts for the national team and we know he doesn't really give a shit about what people are doing for their clubs once he's settled on them.

Showing Jones what he can do. Learning more. Playing against a direct competitor for his shirt, in conditions where he'd be one of the most important players on the pitch, against one of the best teams around for providing a kicking threat.

And the point about their position is that tigers are playing well and certainly had no need to throw a match with the selection. And this Saracens side isn't the title winning one.

I get the sense Eddie's already basically annointed Steward as his 15 going forward, I don't think playing in this game or not is going to sway Eddie on him. It is a fair point that playing against this kicking onslaught from a team who are good at it in the rain would be beneficial for him. Clearly ol' scab-nose has decided otherwise.

Perhaps Borthwick wants to see how his back ups measure up and he feels two wins on the trot this early gives him the leeway to run that experiment? We're all just speculating.

We don't know if Eddiot asked Borthwick not to pick Steward either given he's going to b̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶o̶n̶i̶c̶ ̶1̶9̶8̶0̶s̶ ̶W̶e̶l̶s̶h̶ ̶v̶a̶l̶l̶e̶y̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶a̶c̶h̶ expose him to high quality coaching for the next three days.

[sockwithaticket]

We don't know if Eddiot asked Borthwick not to pick Steward either given he's going to b̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶o̶n̶i̶c̶ ̶1̶9̶8̶0̶s̶ ̶W̶e̶l̶s̶h̶ ̶v̶a̶l̶l̶e̶y̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶a̶c̶h̶ expose him to high quality coaching for the next three days.

That's also a fair point.

[Dragster]

Tigers have definitely fielded a weakened side regardless of Steward. Perhaps they think that’s enough to deal with Sarries?

[JM2K6]

We don't know if Eddiot asked Borthwick not to pick Steward either given he's going to b̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶o̶n̶i̶c̶ ̶1̶9̶8̶0̶s̶ ̶W̶e̶l̶s̶h̶ ̶v̶a̶l̶l̶e̶y̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶a̶c̶h̶ expose him to high quality coaching for the next three days.

That's also a fair point.

No chance. Players aren't put on the bench because the England coach - who gets to pull these players out during the season for extended periods, which the RFU has to pay for - suggested it so the player can be fit for a few days of camp.

And it doesn't explain the others either.

[Dragster]

This is some cripple fight.

Worst I’ve seen youngs kick I reckon.

[JM2K6]

He's been piss.

[Kawazaki]

Tigers have definitely fielded a weakened side regardless of Steward. Perhaps they think that’s enough to deal with Sarries?

Malins is a better fullback than Steward anyway. Steward hasn't got that priceless asset for test rugby - pace.

[Kawazaki]

Worst I’ve seen youngs kick I reckon.

New to rugby I presume?

[Paddington Bear]

Worst I’ve seen youngs kick I reckon.

New to rugby I presume?

No he’s been noticeably awful

Outraged Welford Rd crowd is fun to watch

[Kawazaki]

Worst I’ve seen youngs kick I reckon.

New to rugby I presume?

No he’s been noticeably awful

Outraged Welford Rd crowd is fun to watch

Youngs has been noticeably awful since 2014.

[Dragster]

I’ve seen him regularly pass worse but this kicking is next level.

[sockwithaticket]

Looking at the scores, it doesn't seem as though any of the other 15:00 kick offs are going any better.

[Paddington Bear]

Yet another example of why you should always compete at 5m line outs

[JM2K6]

Ben Earl with three really dumb penalties now.

V surprised how poor George was, fully expected a fuck-you-Eddie performance from him.

[sockwithaticket]

Surely a card coming soon?

Edit - re-issued the warning. Fair enough.

[Paddington Bear]

Surely a card coming soon?

Edit - re-issued the warning. Fair enough.

Yeah has to be soon

[sockwithaticket]

Surely a card coming soon?

Edit - re-issued the warning. Fair enough.

Yeah has to be soon

At this rate it won't matter. Tigers are finding it more difficult to score than a priest in a convent.

[JM2K6]

Literally invented that offside, very strange!

After a very poor start, Billy has had a tidy game.

[Kawazaki]

The peerless Alex Goode comes on to show the young pretenders what fullback play is all about.

[Dinsdale Piranha]

I'll make some allowances for the conditions but this is pretty poor.

[Kawazaki]

There's a big gap in the market for somebody to make a rugby ball specifically for wet conditions.

[Paddington Bear]

Wet weather day try right there

[JM2K6]

That was quite funny

[Paddington Bear]

There's a big gap in the market for somebody to make a rugby ball specifically for wet conditions.

Or, and bear with me here, professional rugby players should learn to handle the wet ball

[JM2K6]

Miles in front. Lucky it's not Carley reffing this!

[Kawazaki]

There's a big gap in the market for somebody to make a rugby ball specifically for wet conditions.

Or, and bear with me here, professional rugby players should learn to handle the wet ball

I don't think they're any worse now than they've always been. Likely much better in all honesty.

[Paddington Bear]

There's a big gap in the market for somebody to make a rugby ball specifically for wet conditions.

Or, and bear with me here, professional rugby players should learn to handle the wet ball

I don't think they're any worse now than they've always been. Likely much better in all honesty.

NH rugby prioritises bosh over handling. Watch a kiwi side play on a shite day and they don’t have the same issue

[Kawazaki]

Or, and bear with me here, professional rugby players should learn to handle the wet ball

I don't think they're any worse now than they've always been. Likely much better in all honesty.

NH rugby prioritises bosh over handling. Watch a kiwi side play on a shite day and they don’t have the same issue

No, because they kick it more.

[sockwithaticket]

I might be biased, but Wasps managed to play a lot of decent rugby in the washed out 19/20 league final.

Most of the time I think it's mindset rather than ability that holds teams back in the rain.

[Kawazaki]

I might be biased, but Wasps managed to play a lot of decent rugby in the washed out 19/20 league final.

Most of the time I think it's mindset rather than ability that holds teams back in the rain.

The clue might be in the word 'final' there.

This is round 3 (round 2 for Saracens).