The Official English Rugby Thread

[SaintK]

Feel bad now. ACL apparently, which is a shit end to a shit season for him.

Who the hell is Sam Jeffries?

[Raggs]

Feel bad now. ACL apparently, which is a shit end to a shit season for him.

Who the hell is Sam Jeffries?

Bristol lock, 30 years old. Most likely reason for being picked is he's an Aussie and was probably already in country! Tackle bag holder of the finest type.

Just learnt this from Wikipedia.

[JM2K6]

Classic Eddie. Crocks someone in training then calls up a fucking no-mark Aussie.

[Raggs]

To be honest, I'm not that worried about losing Ewels....

[sockwithaticket]

You don't want anyone to get injured, but it really doesn't harm the team having him unavailable.

[Oxbow]

Dave Ribbans really must have pissed in Eddie's cornflakes several times over.

[Kawazaki]

Who the fuck is Sam Jeffries?

[Lobby]

Classic Eddie. Crocks someone in training then calls up a fucking no-mark Aussie.

I think its a different Sam Jeffries. The one that's been called up is 28 and has been at Bristol since 2016, having joined them from Bristol University. In 2019 he suffered a serious knee injury and wasn't expected to play again, so between 2019 and 2021 he was a member of Bristol's backroom staff as a Professional Development Manager. He rejoined Bristol's playing squad this season, and apparently trained with the England senior squad for the first time in advance of the Barbarians match (not that any of us noticed). The other one is an Aussie currently playing in Japan.

The fact that none of noticed his performances for Bristol either before or after his injury suggests he's one of Eddie's special picks to show that Eddie sees things in players no one else does.

[SaintK]

Dave Ribbans really must have pissed in Eddie's cornflakes several times over.

Quite!!!!

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Dave Ribbans really must have pissed in Eddie's cornflakes several times over.

I'd like to see Ribbans get another chance and actually get to take it. And actually I would have Ribbans over Chessum, although I get wanting to put the time into Chessum who's both younger and English as well as being a comparative talent

This one doesn't feel either like an unfair call against Ribbans if the locks ahead of him are Itoje, Hill, Chessum, probably Lawes,and then Jeffries is likely a faster fetch to have someone stand on the training paddock to run set piece and some open play drills and maybe hold the tackle bags

[Kawazaki]

Tizard would be a far better choice both because he's a better player than Pam Heffers and is much younger so will benefit from the experience.

[geordie_6]

image uploader

[Hal Jordan]

Tizard would be a far better choice both because he's a better player than Pam Heffers and is much younger so will benefit from the experience.

Disgusting Saracens bias.

[SaintK]

Tizard would be a far better choice both because he's a better player than Pam Heffers and is much younger so will benefit from the experience.

Really like the look of him. Reckon he'll do well at Sarries.

[JM2K6]

Title-winning Hugh Tizard did pretty well at Quins too, tbf. He's obviously a serious player.

Tizard, Ribbans, Freddie Clarke, Harry Wells... there's some much better options than both Ewels and Jeffries

[Oxbow]

Api Ratuniyarawa has signed for Irish. If he can continue last season's form they've got themselves a quality player.

[Margin__Walker]

Api Ratuniyarawa has signed for Irish. If he can continue last season's form they've got themselves a quality player.

It's an interesting one. 35, but has been in superb form this year. He absolutely murdered us in the game in Brentford back in March. If the rumours are to believed, it came down to Saints only offering a one year deal, where as LI offered two.

The last pensioner we rolled the dice on ended up paying off (Creevy), but it doesn't always work out.

[Kawazaki]

Tizard would be a far better choice both because he's a better player than Pam Heffers and is much younger so will benefit from the experience.

Disgusting Saracens bias.

Not often Saracens poach a Quins product.

The ledger is still very much in Quins favour though.

[Kawazaki]

Tizard would be a far better choice both because he's a better player than Pam Heffers and is much younger so will benefit from the experience.

Really like the look of him. Reckon he'll do well at Sarries.

He just looks like Kruis2.0

[Hal Jordan]

Tizard would be a far better choice both because he's a better player than Pam Heffers and is much younger so will benefit from the experience.

Disgusting Saracens bias.

Not often Saracens poach a Quins product.

The ledger is still very much in Quins favour though.

Back when people knew their place, they knew leaving tinpot clubs to play for the establishment the way to get picked for England.

Those were the days...

[Kawazaki]

Disgusting Saracens bias.

Not often Saracens poach a Quins product.

The ledger is still very much in Quins favour though.

Back when people knew their place, they knew leaving tinpot clubs to play for the establishment the way to get picked for England.

Those were the days...

All those advantages and Quins still won fuck all.

[Hal Jordan]

Not often Saracens poach a Quins product.

The ledger is still very much in Quins favour though.

Back when people knew their place, they knew leaving tinpot clubs to play for the establishment the way to get picked for England.

Those were the days...

All those advantages and Quins still won fuck all.

We played for the joy of the game, when we could be bothered to turn up.

[JM2K6]

Won a few European trophies too - and the Anglo-Welsh cup a few times. Clearly more inspired by playing against cultured exotic opponents rather than domestic savages

[Kawazaki]

Won a few European trophies too - and the Anglo-Welsh cup a few times. Clearly more inspired by playing against cultured exotic opponents rather than domestic savages

Quins were lethal against an enemy armed to the teeth with kiwi fruit and dry guava halves*.






* ©Blackadder

[Raggs]

20 minutes in and the English attack is looking handy. Yes it's going wrong here and there, but there's real intent, good front foot ball etc.

[Oxbow]

Well that was a pile of shit.

Edit: My stream cut out just before Arundel scored the try, looks like I missed the only good moment of the match for England.

[sockwithaticket]

Well that was a pile of shit.

Edit: My stream cut out just before Arundel scored the try, looks like I missed the only good moment of the match for England.

He very nearly scored moments later and set up the position for van Portvliet to go over.

Imagine what would've happened if he'd been on for for than a few minutes.

[Oxbow]

Missed the only two good moments then. At least I can fast forward to the last five minutes of the highlights.

[Kawazaki]

Freddie Steward defending...

[Stranger]

yes he definitely messed that up. Have you got any videos of a Saracens player making a mistake in the game, or was it just Steward

[Torquemada 1420]

yes he definitely messed that up. Have you got any videos of a Saracens player making a mistake in the game, or was it just Steward

Plenty of more experienced players have made that mistake. And more than once. The real question over Steward is if his total lack of pace is more than compensated for by other factors such as his high ball takes. Given than the Eng backline (bar injured May) has no pace.

[JM2K6]

That's not Steward's fault, it's Cokanasiga's. At the start of that clip, Coka is far too narrow and unsure who he's meant to be marking. He goes for wrong guy initially, meaning Steward now thinks he has to take the next guy even though Coka eventually does manage to tackle him himself.

Could Steward have done better? Sure. But Coka created the panic there.

Steward also made a fine 1-on-1 tackle at one point and was brilliant in the air again.

[sockwithaticket]

Yeah, you've got three inside defenders very tight there leaving Steward exposed covering 2 men in a massive amount of space. If he pushed out further to cover Petaia then that leaves more space for the Aussie who delivered the pass to get outside Cokanasiga. If Steward does that, then maybe Cokanasiga closes the gap or makes it difficult enough to get round him that Care can make a better cover tackle, but it's easy to see far more experienced players make the same decision. Difficult to blame him.

yes he definitely messed that up. Have you got any videos of a Saracens player making a mistake in the game, or was it just Steward

Plenty of more experienced players have made that mistake. And more than once. The real question over Steward is if his total lack of pace is more than compensated for by other factors such as his high ball takes. Given than the Eng backline (bar injured May) has no pace.

With the players we have available, it's far easier to get some pace into the wing slots by ditching Nowell and Cokanasiga than to replicate Steward's aerial stability.

The early successful Eddie years had 11. May, 13. Joseph, 14. Watson, 15. Brown. We can somewhat replicate that now with Marchant at outside centre and any of Arundell, Freeman or Radwan on the wings (in the absence of May and Watson) while keeping Steward at fullback. Enough pace can somewhat mitigate our lack of a physical backline carrier.

[Kawazaki]

That's not Steward's fault, it's Cokanasiga's. At the start of that clip, Coka is far too narrow and unsure who he's meant to be marking. He goes for wrong guy initially, meaning Steward now thinks he has to take the next guy even though Coka eventually does manage to tackle him himself.

Could Steward have done better? Sure. But Coka created the panic there.

Steward also made a fine 1-on-1 tackle at one point and was brilliant in the air again.

Nah, it's a classic example of ball watching. His hips are always square, it was a doozy for the Aussie midfield to fix him.

I've been impressed by Steward though, he appears flawless under the high ball. He's just so bloody slow.

[JM2K6]

That's not Steward's fault, it's Cokanasiga's. At the start of that clip, Coka is far too narrow and unsure who he's meant to be marking. He goes for wrong guy initially, meaning Steward now thinks he has to take the next guy even though Coka eventually does manage to tackle him himself.

Could Steward have done better? Sure. But Coka created the panic there.

Steward also made a fine 1-on-1 tackle at one point and was brilliant in the air again.

Nah, it's a classic example of ball watching. His hips are always square, it was a doozy for the Aussie midfield to fix him.

I've been impressed by Steward though, he appears flawless under the high ball. He's just so bloody slow.

Well, I disagree, and the pundits after the game made much the same point. Cokanasiga being a useless lumbering git and there being an acre of space between him and Steward is why Steward is having to hedge his bets there.

[Kawazaki]

That's not Steward's fault, it's Cokanasiga's. At the start of that clip, Coka is far too narrow and unsure who he's meant to be marking. He goes for wrong guy initially, meaning Steward now thinks he has to take the next guy even though Coka eventually does manage to tackle him himself.

Could Steward have done better? Sure. But Coka created the panic there.

Steward also made a fine 1-on-1 tackle at one point and was brilliant in the air again.

Nah, it's a classic example of ball watching. His hips are always square, it was a doozy for the Aussie midfield to fix him.

I've been impressed by Steward though, he appears flawless under the high ball. He's just so bloody slow.

Well, I disagree, and the pundits after the game made much the same point. Cokanasiga being a useless lumbering git and there being an acre of space between him and Steward is why Steward is having to hedge his bets there.

JCok is the player hedging his bets as he always stays on the inside and can see both attackers as he drifts across. Steward is square, on his heels and is neither fully committed to hitting man and ball or has any idea where the outside man is. It's poor defending.

[dpedin]

Nah, it's a classic example of ball watching. His hips are always square, it was a doozy for the Aussie midfield to fix him.

I've been impressed by Steward though, he appears flawless under the high ball. He's just so bloody slow.

Well, I disagree, and the pundits after the game made much the same point. Cokanasiga being a useless lumbering git and there being an acre of space between him and Steward is why Steward is having to hedge his bets there.

JCok is the player hedging his bets as he always stays on the inside and can see both attackers as he drifts across. Steward is square, on his heels and is neither fully committed to hitting man and ball or has no idea where the outside man is. It's poor defending.

JCok should have drifted wide earlier, left ball carrier to inside man drifting across to cover and thereby push Steward out to cover outside man. Covering man behind could have then come in as second man into tackle as needed. With JCok to slow to drift the whole defence is fixed leaving space outside . Collectively this is pretty poor defending but JRok has always been poor positionally when defending and is slow with his lateral movement and left Steward in a difficult position thinking he was going to have to mark 2 men.

[Kawazaki]

Well, I disagree, and the pundits after the game made much the same point. Cokanasiga being a useless lumbering git and there being an acre of space between him and Steward is why Steward is having to hedge his bets there.

JCok is the player hedging his bets as he always stays on the inside and can see both attackers as he drifts across. Steward is square, on his heels and is neither fully committed to hitting man and ball or has no idea where the outside man is. It's poor defending.

JCok should have drifted wide earlier, left ball carrier to inside man drifting across to cover and thereby push Steward out to cover outside man. Covering man behind could have then come in as second man into tackle as needed. With JCok to slow to drift the whole defence is fixed leaving space outside . Collectively this is pretty poor defending but JRok has always been poor positionally when defending and is slow with his lateral movement and left Steward in a difficult position thinking he was going to have to mark 2 men.

Just watch the video clip first then comment. What you've written bears nothing in common with the clip.


Bizarre.

[Oxbow]

Curry is out of the tour with concussion. Ludlam played well when he came on, but I wonder which no-mark Aussie Eddie can find to call up instead of Ben Earl.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/62034556

[Margin__Walker]

No call up. They've got Willis, Ludlum and Underhill, so no real point flying someone out.

Willis would be my pick with Ludlum remaining on the bench as utility back row cover.