I played with a fullback back in the early-90s who was, on reflection, years ahead of his time. First off he was tall by the standards of the time, about 6'2", he was quick but he was also naturally big, massive thighs and he did loads of weights and extra training. Add to this a real natural ability, great in the air, kicked it a mile and could pass off either hand. He had everything, except one thing. I'm not entirely certain what that thing was, not sure it was simply 'bottle' though that was what we all said at the time. He just didn't play rugby as well as he probably should have been able to. Maybe nerves, I don't know.
The Official English Rugby Thread
Bit harsh! JIm Mallinder was a good 1st class club palyer if not of international standard.
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Margin__Walker
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Teams for LI v Sarries in the Prem Cup. KO 7.45on BT Sport. Cillian Redmond a late replacement for James Stokes on the wing.
Saracens Men team to play London Irish:
1 Richard Barrington
2 Theo Dan
3 Sam Wainwright
4 Cameron Boon
5 Callum Hunter-Hill
6 Theo McFarland
7 Toby Knight
8 Andy Christie (c)
9 Ivan van Zyl
10 Manu Vunipola
11 Rotimi Segun
12 Dom Morris
13 Brandon Jackson
14 Ben Harris
15 Elliott Obatoyinbo
Replacements:
16 Samson Adejimi
17 Sam Crean
18 Harvey Beaton
19 Obinna Nkwocha
20 Ben Earl
21 Ruben de Haas
22 Tom Mills
23 Francis Moore
Saracens Men team to play London Irish:
1 Richard Barrington
2 Theo Dan
3 Sam Wainwright
4 Cameron Boon
5 Callum Hunter-Hill
6 Theo McFarland
7 Toby Knight
8 Andy Christie (c)
9 Ivan van Zyl
10 Manu Vunipola
11 Rotimi Segun
12 Dom Morris
13 Brandon Jackson
14 Ben Harris
15 Elliott Obatoyinbo
Replacements:
16 Samson Adejimi
17 Sam Crean
18 Harvey Beaton
19 Obinna Nkwocha
20 Ben Earl
21 Ruben de Haas
22 Tom Mills
23 Francis Moore
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Margin__Walker
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Pearson's great. Another Cardiff Met find
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sockwithaticket
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If you're giving this as an offence, it has to be a pen try. That cover wouldn't reach the player in time.
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Margin__Walker
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Yeah, I think so. Not the worst travesty though I guess. It wasn't the most blatant deliberate knock on I've seensockwithaticket wrote: ↑Fri Nov 19, 2021 8:10 pm If you're giving this as an offence, it has to be a pen try.
Just watching Munga a bit (sp?), seems really strong, stopped several big carries dead in their tracks. Does he pack down behind the tighthead in the scrum?
Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
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Margin__Walker
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Seen him pack down both sides depending on who he's playing with. He's a strong athletic kid. Not seen a lot of real X factor yet, but he can hold his own in a game at this level.
Phew. I don't think I've ever swore so much during a rugby match, so many ridiculous fucking penalties. Aside from the scrappy win, the one thing I'll take away from the game is that we really don't need Youngs and Farrell any more, there is so much better available in both positions.
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sockwithaticket
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Relieved to win that.
The number of penalties we concede has been bad for ages, but this was on another level. Desperately need to get the discipline sorted.
On the upside, the young guns in the back line looked good.
The number of penalties we concede has been bad for ages, but this was on another level. Desperately need to get the discipline sorted.
On the upside, the young guns in the back line looked good.
Now I want to see: Quirke, Smith, Malins, Tuilagi, Slade, Marchant, Steward.
Thought Malins was great, Steward flagged a bit at the end, but still was impressive, Marchant looked sharp too.
Thought Malins was great, Steward flagged a bit at the end, but still was impressive, Marchant looked sharp too.
Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
I want to see Radwan play. He's so fast and has skills that can't be coached. Or defended. If a rookie played like May did today, he'd be dropped immediately.
Really odd game. Excellent first half, and I felt we got the short end of the stick from the ref (with the possible exception of the scrums, not going to claim to know if we deserved the free kicks / pens there). Thought the backs went well, nice from Smith, great from Steward.
Then massacred at all forward play in the second - penalty at what felt like (was?!) every scrum, couldn't win a lineout, driven back 10+ metres at the maul, losing tons of our own rucks. On the rare occasion we got the ball Smith twice kicked badly. No complaints about most (all?) of the pens that half, not sure how we got away without a yellow for so long, which means we could easily have had two. How we only lost that half by 4 points I have no idea - helps that they missed two kickable pens, but they should really have run away with it. Loved the first phase try on the rare occasion we won our ball! Steward missing a couple of catches, too, though under a lot of pressure.
Curate's egg. Don't think Quirke & Smith nailed their places down, but they could legitimately ask to be judged when not behind a pack taking a total hiding...
Then massacred at all forward play in the second - penalty at what felt like (was?!) every scrum, couldn't win a lineout, driven back 10+ metres at the maul, losing tons of our own rucks. On the rare occasion we got the ball Smith twice kicked badly. No complaints about most (all?) of the pens that half, not sure how we got away without a yellow for so long, which means we could easily have had two. How we only lost that half by 4 points I have no idea - helps that they missed two kickable pens, but they should really have run away with it. Loved the first phase try on the rare occasion we won our ball! Steward missing a couple of catches, too, though under a lot of pressure.
Curate's egg. Don't think Quirke & Smith nailed their places down, but they could legitimately ask to be judged when not behind a pack taking a total hiding...
Wha daur meddle wi' me?
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Margin__Walker
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There comes a point when credit in the bank runs out for someone like May. There are a lot of good young wings in the English game at the moment.
He may come good in the 6N, but at the moment he's in there on reputation.
He may come good in the 6N, but at the moment he's in there on reputation.
Really liked Malins’ composure. If the game is shifting to a clever and skilful backfield, I reckon him and steward are decent bedfellows
Also like the smith and quirke combo - the pass was snappy and smith was moving the pieces where he wanted.
The pack though; we need a big tight head lock to either stop getting injured (launch) or one to emerge.
A pack of
Genge/ marler ,
lcd/George,
sinks/Stewart
Itoje/hill
Launch/an other
Lawes/under hill
Curry/an other
Dormbrant/simmonds
With a pair of really fucked off vinipolas in the mix ain’t too bad.
Should give us a bit of ball to play around.
Plus some penalties to keep the opposition in the game to keep things interesting
Also like the smith and quirke combo - the pass was snappy and smith was moving the pieces where he wanted.
The pack though; we need a big tight head lock to either stop getting injured (launch) or one to emerge.
A pack of
Genge/ marler ,
lcd/George,
sinks/Stewart
Itoje/hill
Launch/an other
Lawes/under hill
Curry/an other
Dormbrant/simmonds
With a pair of really fucked off vinipolas in the mix ain’t too bad.
Should give us a bit of ball to play around.
Plus some penalties to keep the opposition in the game to keep things interesting
Random1 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 7:01 pm Really liked Malins’ composure. If the game is shifting to a clever and skilful backfield, I reckon him and steward are decent bedfellows
Also like the smith and quirke combo - the pass was snappy and smith was moving the pieces where he wanted.
The pack though; we need a big tight head lock to either stop getting injured (launch) or one to emerge.
A pack of
Genge/ marler ,
lcd/George,
sinks/Stewart
Itoje/hill
Launch/an other
Lawes/under hill
Curry/an other
Dormbrant/simmonds
With a pair of really fucked off vinipolas in the mix ain’t too bad.
Should give us a bit of ball to play around.
Plus some penalties to keep the opposition in the game to keep things interesting
Beg Kruis to come back to Saracens.
Losing Tuilagi was a real hammer blow, left us with no out ball in midfield particularly with a lack of carriers in the forwards. Thought Underhill was dreadful, perhaps I missed a ton of ruck work but your openside missing 2 out of 5 attempted tackles and managing one carry while looking incredibly ponderous whenever there was a loose ball was a real problem, Curry continues to not be able to carry like an 8 but is brilliant as a 7. Quirke made great impact and didn't let the chargedown get to him. Malins on the wing was fantastic, Steward near perfect for a long period. Slade had the sort of game we want to see more of. Dombrandt made more tackles than any other England player, in 25 minutes on the pitch. Smith was mostly good but a bit too keen to boot it even though it largely worked out just fine - probably because of the lack of a Tuilagi to offload to. May was clearly embarrassed by his howlers and then compounded the problem by trying to make up for it every time he got the ball instead of calming the fuck down and doing the right thing - it won't matter how many caps he has, he's just not that bright.
Not really sure how we won considering we got gubbed at the set piece and blown away for most of the second half up front, but that's the joy of having a team that can create and score tries vs one that almost refuses to. Some really poor discipline at times didn't help, very frustrating.
I was happy last week that we ended up with the youngsters all on the pitch at the same time - this week they got more game time and delivered. Well done kids.
Sadly, I said when the squad was picked for this autumn that I was surprised we were sticking with Manu as he's guaranteed to break - and so it proved. While he's probably not international class, it would've been good to find out if someone like Atkinson can actually mix it at this level...
Not really sure how we won considering we got gubbed at the set piece and blown away for most of the second half up front, but that's the joy of having a team that can create and score tries vs one that almost refuses to. Some really poor discipline at times didn't help, very frustrating.
I was happy last week that we ended up with the youngsters all on the pitch at the same time - this week they got more game time and delivered. Well done kids.
Sadly, I said when the squad was picked for this autumn that I was surprised we were sticking with Manu as he's guaranteed to break - and so it proved. While he's probably not international class, it would've been good to find out if someone like Atkinson can actually mix it at this level...
Curry, other Curry, Jack Willis, Will Evans are all extremely high quality 7s. We're lacking all-round sixes at the moment, though I'm happy with Lawes' performances there since the end of last season for club, country, & Lions.Random1 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 7:01 pm Really liked Malins’ composure. If the game is shifting to a clever and skilful backfield, I reckon him and steward are decent bedfellows
Also like the smith and quirke combo - the pass was snappy and smith was moving the pieces where he wanted.
The pack though; we need a big tight head lock to either stop getting injured (launch) or one to emerge.
A pack of
Genge/ marler ,
lcd/George,
sinks/Stewart
Itoje/hill
Launch/an other
Lawes/under hill
Curry/an other
Dormbrant/simmonds
With a pair of really fucked off vinipolas in the mix ain’t too bad.
Should give us a bit of ball to play around.
Plus some penalties to keep the opposition in the game to keep things interesting
Tom Willis is another option at 8 for a big ball busting carrier.
We do need to develop that 3rd hooker, which goes against Eddie's ethos in camp normally, and Rodd has earned his shirt as the 3rd place / 2nd when Marler decides he's had enough.
Think we are going to shift a lot of players on and may falls into that age group.Margin__Walker wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 6:31 pm There comes a point when credit in the bank runs out for someone like May. There are a lot of good young wings in the English game at the moment.
He may come good in the 6N, but at the moment he's in there on reputation.
To be honest I'm not worried about 6/7 for me as long as we have a lineout option in the backrow, I just want them both able to tackle, ruck and carry well enough. I think any pair of J Willis, Curry and Underhill works very well. Willis at least isn't terrible in the air either, but it'd be nice to have a taller 8. George Martin interestingly has been getting starts at 8.
Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Hill? As in the Hill we've currently got playing for England?
Munga looks like he's got some serious strength about him.
Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
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Hal Jordan
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12 remains an issue as it has since about 2003, we haven't had a convincing proper inside centre for years. Farrell has played manfully but his lack o a running threat has caught us out too often, and he ain't getting any younger. Tuilagi is a complete waste of a squad place as he's made of glass.
Yes. Random1 was bemoaning the lack of one, no?
I guess technically he is a big old lump, he just doesn't tend to do much useful stuff in my mind. Depresses me to see how powerful Etzebeth is and able to carry like a truck etc. That said, if he keeps avoiding the stupid penalties, he's probably the best available at the moment.
Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
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Hal Jordan
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- Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:48 pm
- Location: Sector 2814
Well, the sooner we dump Ewels through better, I have no idea what Jones sees in him.
Gosh, okay. I see him having huge impact, think he's had a stellar autumn.Raggs wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:35 pmI guess technically he is a big old lump, he just doesn't tend to do much useful stuff in my mind. Depresses me to see how powerful Etzebeth is and able to carry like a truck etc. That said, if he keeps avoiding the stupid penalties, he's probably the best available at the moment.