Lots of 10s don't want to tackle. Yes Jonny especially raised the bar in terms of body on the line thinking, but it's not the worst thing to trade off some up and at them defensive resilience from your 10 if you get a return elsewhere, and really a team will know if that's a player they want to work for and protect.Gumboot wrote: ↑Mon Sep 04, 2023 4:04 am Cipriani was a pea-hearted flake of a player. A prodigious attacking talent, sure, but I lost all respect for him after his 2011-12 stint with the Rebels, when week after week he produced some of the most gutless defensive efforts I've ever seen from a professional player. He often didn't even pretend to be interested in tackling, but was sure bloody animated about expecting his teammates to plug the gaps. Then there was all his disrespectful off the field bollocks. No idea why anyone would be interested in anything he has to say in his autobiography. Or why a never-was like him thinks his playing career even warrants a feckin' autobiography. The most over-hyped player since Orange Gav.
For England, well we clearly don't over produce skilful players and he was superbly skilled, and that we failed to exploit his whilst playing some coma inducing rugby with a lousy win % isn't something to just skip past, unless you're of the 57 old farts ilk and are happy to go along with whatever's happening providing we're still serving decent claret at the post-match function, You're only going to get a reaction from the old farts when they can't continually hike ticket prices for France, Wales, NZ and so on, and still have guaranteed sellouts
