The Official English Rugby Thread

[Tichtheid]

Gray could have been pinged for being in front of the carrier there, but he got away with it.

Exeter are lethal when they get in that zone

[sockwithaticket]

Great chase down from Watson to save that. Cracking intercept and run from Hogg, though.

[Kawazaki]

Not a great time to make that comment as Maunder and Slade make so much ground.

You have a point inside the 5m channel, but they're plenty adventurous to get themselves into those positions.

I don't see their latching as being significantly worse than many other teams when they pick and go, they just pick and go more frequently than most.

...'than most'?!

How about 'than every team anywhere who's ever played'?

Can't argue with the efficacy. If you've got a strength, you use it.

15-man mauls from your own-22 might well be effective as well if they are practiced and executed fastidiously.

[Hal Jordan]

Gray on thin ice here.

Edit: Hill...

[sockwithaticket]

...'than most'?!

How about 'than every team anywhere who's ever played'?

Can't argue with the efficacy. If you've got a strength, you use it.

15-man mauls from your own-22 might well be effective as well if they are practiced and executed fastidiously.

And if they were, I'd fully expect to see sidfes using them. It'd be up to everyone else to find a counter or start doing it back.

[Raggs]

Clearly hits the head first, it moves down;.

[Ovals]

Lucky not to get a red there. Bath need to make the extra man count here.

[Hal Jordan]

And Bath shit the bed again.

[Kawazaki]

Props are thick

[Hal Jordan]

The whole pack had white line fever, Spencer should have taken it off them and let the backs have a go after the fiftieth pick and flop.

[Raggs]

Surely that was a high takle from the chiefs players leaping onto Joseph?

[sockwithaticket]

Surely that was a high takle from the chiefs players leaping onto Joseph?

Yeah, bit of a Superman leap from Ewers there.

Fair play to single out Woodburn for making 3 big tackles in a row there.

[Hal Jordan]

I think had Ewers not landed on Woodburn as opposed to Joseph he would have been in trouble.

[sockwithaticket]

Big win for the Exeter defence there. Saw out the card while under pressure without conceding.

[Hal Jordan]

Bath look absolutely clueless for 10 minutes, Exeter get the ball fior 10 seconds and score.

[Tichtheid]

Hoggy took the game by the throat for five minutes there

[sockwithaticket]

That didn't end how they'd want, but Exeter are really starting to go through the gears now.

How was that for boring rugby, Toga?

[Hal Jordan]

Cameron Redpath has had a fine game? What game have they watched, he's crabbed, fixed no one and passed to players surrounded by a posse of Exeter players.

[sockwithaticket]

Cameron Redpath has had a fine game? What game have they watched, he's crabbed, fixed no one and passed to players surrounded by a posse of Exeter players.

Harsh assessment, he's made at least two brilliant line breaks that might've gone somewhere if it wasn't for Bath not offering suitable support.

[Hal Jordan]

To be fair, my son has been literally in my face for most of the second half so I freely admit that I may be wrong.

Hill looks like a web footed yokel with that beard and semi-mullet.

[sockwithaticket]

To be fair, my son has been literally in my face for most of the second half so I freely admit that I may be wrong.

Hill looks like a web footed yokel with that beard and semi-mullet.

On that we can definitely agree!

I cannot fathom beards with the 'tache part missing. it always looks terrible.

Don't get me wrong, Redpath has been a bit mixed, but his match contribution was a net positive imo.

[Ovals]

Exeter just far too efficient for Bath. Their error count is very low, very organised, they protect the ball extremely well, tackle like demons, support each other and have enough skill and pace, in the backs, to get them into great field positions - where they are very hard to resist.

Wasps will have their work cut out for them in the final - it'll be interesting to see if Willis, et al, can manage to disrupt the Exeter rucks - if they can't, they'll be toast.

[sockwithaticket]

That'll feel extra sweet for Devoto. I'm sure.

[Tichtheid]

Top performance from Exeter.

[sockwithaticket]

Dominant half from Chiefs. Once they went back to 15 players, they never looked like losing.

Gotta say, I'm not sure Wasps are the side to beat them at full strength.

[Ovals]

Dominant half from Chiefs. Once they went back to 15 players, they never looked like losing.

Gotta say, I'm not sure Wasps are the side to beat them at full strength.

Unfortunately, I agree. I'm not sure we'll cope with them once they get in our 22 unless we can jackal - but Exeter make that very hard to do. We're a bit better at defending the maul than we were, but it's not exactly a strength. We'll kick and chase better than Bath though.

[Ovals]

We'll get a rest next weekend though - while Exeter will have a really tough outing.

[RodneyRegis]

Regards my latching observation above. Quick Google the this up...

https://www.rugbyworld.com/in-the-mag/p ... tch-110154

Dave Ewers...

“It’s important to know how your team-mates prefer to go into contact. Don Armand, for example, has a strong upper body so tends to go in a bit higher. When I carry, I don’t want someone latching before contact. That’s what I try to do as a latcher, too: allow the ball-carrier to do his thing and commit to contact, then I’ll try to add momentum by latching on.”

That reads like he latches on before contact to me.

Lol

When I carry, I don’t want someone latching before contact. That’s what I try to do as a latcher, too: allow the ball-carrier to do his thing and commit to contact, then I’ll try to add momentum by latching on.”

[sockwithaticket]

Graun raking over the coals a bit with Sarries/Exeter as Kitson has a book to sell about Exeter, but comments from Armand were somewhat interesting.

When Armand looked around the Exeter dressing room, he was also reminded of those players who had left the club prematurely because the club, in order to stay under the cap, could not afford to keep everyone. “We wouldn’t necessarily have won those three finals we lost but if we had won a couple of them it would have benefited individuals who have subsequently left. They would have had a much better CV and their career-earning potential would have been much better, as has happened when a Saracens player has left to join a French side.

“There’s also a lot of Exeter guys who should have played for England and haven’t. I could name a few. Even those guys who have been in and out have lost out, not just on career-changing money but career-changing reputations. Those frustrations get brushed under the carpet publicly – from an individual perspective there’s a lot that people don’t see.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... y-cheating

I hadn't thought of Sarries' robbing chiefs of potential titles as affecting outbound players looking for a new club, but I guess being able to put Prem champion x 2 or x 3 on your CV gives a bit more negotiating power.

Who do we think he's talking about when it comes to Exeter guys who should have had opportunities for England or got a limited shot and were impeded by Sarries players?


It made me wonder whether Mako would get selected as much if he wasn't part of that Sarries unit, but being a great loose player with somewhat dodgy scrummaging elsewhere.

Woodburn? Did Earle nick an undeserved squad place from him occasionally? 19 year old Isiekwe who ended up being hooked by Eddie in SA potentially prevented Hill from picking up a cap on that tour.

Most Chiefs players in the England conversation made it or aren't competing against a Saracen as far as I can think.

[Hal Jordan]

Maybe LCD vs George, although the former screams "impact sub" whenever I see him in an England shirt.

[Dinsdale Piranha]

Graun raking over the coals a bit with Sarries/Exeter as Kitson has a book to sell about Exeter, but comments from Armand were somewhat interesting.

When Armand looked around the Exeter dressing room, he was also reminded of those players who had left the club prematurely because the club, in order to stay under the cap, could not afford to keep everyone. “We wouldn’t necessarily have won those three finals we lost but if we had won a couple of them it would have benefited individuals who have subsequently left. They would have had a much better CV and their career-earning potential would have been much better, as has happened when a Saracens player has left to join a French side.

“There’s also a lot of Exeter guys who should have played for England and haven’t. I could name a few. Even those guys who have been in and out have lost out, not just on career-changing money but career-changing reputations. Those frustrations get brushed under the carpet publicly – from an individual perspective there’s a lot that people don’t see.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... y-cheating

I hadn't thought of Sarries' robbing chiefs of potential titles as affecting outbound players looking for a new club, but I guess being able to put Prem champion x 2 or x 3 on your CV gives a bit more negotiating power.

Who do we think he's talking about when it comes to Exeter guys who should have had opportunities for England or got a limited shot and were impeded by Sarries players?


It made me wonder whether Mako would get selected as much if he wasn't part of that Sarries unit, but being a great loose player with somewhat dodgy scrummaging elsewhere.

Woodburn? Did Earle nick an undeserved squad place from him occasionally? 19 year old Isiekwe who ended up being hooked by Eddie in SA potentially prevented Hill from picking up a cap on that tour.

Most Chiefs players in the England conversation made it or aren't competing against a Saracen as far as I can think.

Rugby more than most sports can make bang average players look good, and less often vice versa, by playing for a particular team. The number of players who look good for one club, then move (or get selected for their country) and show nothing special is significant.

I give you Joel Tomkins as exhibit A.

I personally don't rate Mako as highly as some. His scrummaging has always been dodgy - he's been comprehensively taken to the cleaners a few times - and I don't think he's his loose play makes up for it. He does a lot of carrying but isn't great at actually making ground. I suspect if he wasn't at Saracens he wouldn't have had the same England career.

[Kawazaki]

Armand clearly hasn't been paying attention to the England squads Crazy Eddie has been picking for the last 5 years. It's not been Saracens players blocking Exeter players, but even if they were, their selection at least has some meritocratic correlation between club achievement and England selection. It's the shithouse dross players from legacy clubs in the bottom half of the league that have stopped Exeter players getting England caps.


p.s Armand is clearly taking about himself in the third person here too which is weird.

[Un Pilier]

Maybe LCD vs George, although the former screams "impact sub" whenever I see him in an England shirt.

Darts. Simple as.

[Kawazaki]

Kyle Sinckler video.



Touch of the Harveys about him, no question. Brookes and Stuart have left him well behind in the pecking order.

[Margin__Walker]

I guess the real question is just how odd you have to be to make a 'lowlights' compilation of a player and stick it on YouTube.

[sockwithaticket]

Kyle Sinckler video.



Touch of the Harveys about him, no question. Brookes and Stuart have left him well behind in the pecking order.

Have they fuck. Brookes is playing the best he has in a long while and Stuart is a very good scrummager and promising young prop in general, but Sinckler has so much more to his game than either of them. Even if you suscribe to the view that he's going through a form slump right now, there's 0 chance Eddie picks those two ahead of him because Sinckler's ceiling has so far been shown to be much higher,

That video is pathetic. A handful of incidents, most of them at least a couple of years old as far as I can recall, some which weren't even penalised or penalisable (the screaming for example).

[SaintK]

Kyle Sinckler video.



Touch of the Harveys about him, no question. Brookes and Stuart have left him well behind in the pecking order.

Even though he's had a couple of good matches recently, a lowlights reel for Brookes would be at least 30 minutes long. He's also an injury waiting to happen as he has been at all the clubs he's played for!
Like the look of Stuart but he's currently as big a penalty machine as Sinckler used to be.

[Raggs]

And onto ignore you go. No real idea why i didn't do it sooner.

[Kawazaki]

He's not first choice for Bristol anymore so not sure why he should start for England.

It was the screaming thing that really stood out, what the hell is that all about?

[SaintK]

And onto ignore you go. No real idea why i didn't do it sooner.

Eh?