The Official English Rugby Thread

[sockwithaticket]

It'd be a great move for Fin Smith. Hope he can kick on.

Arundell flat out bouncing back rows that go in for the hit on him .

Literally just watched this and I honestly thought it was Creevy for a second. Just a total "get fucked" brick wall response to a big hit attempt followed by the backhand offload.

He's freakishly strong for a relatively normal looking outside back at his age. Read an interview somewhere where he said he borrowed some gym gear and spent the whole of lockdown a couple of years ago doing little other than strength training.

Up top, but his thighs are big for any age. Absolute tree trunks.

[Margin__Walker]

Yeah, relatively is doing a bit of work in that sentence.

You'd hope he doesn't get too much bigger, as he's got the right balance of mobility and strength at the moment.

[Kawazaki]

I just watched the LIvBath highlights to see Arundell bumping off the Bath forward - happens right at the start of the highlights below. I think it is Bayliss the no.8 that just bounces off him after lining him up. You can see the Bath forward just sitting on the pitch afterwards looking up at Arundell wondering what the hell just happened!

[Torquemada 1420]

Wake up call for Briz.

[ASMO]

Wake up call for Briz.

Time for Lam to go i think, he has taken this lot as far as he can, they are now going backwards at a rate of knots.

[Torquemada 1420]

Wake up call for Briz.

Time for Lam to go i think, he has taken this lot as far as he can, they are now going backwards at a rate of knots.

Much as I love the intention, you cannot ignore basic of fwds and simply play harem scarem rugby. And you are right: any coach who thinks otherwise should find another profession.

[fishfoodie]

Wake up call for Briz.

Time for Lam to go i think, he has taken this lot as far as he can, they are now going backwards at a rate of knots.

Much as I love the intention, you cannot ignore basic of fwds and simply play harem scarem rugby. And you are right: any coach who thinks otherwise should find another profession.

Yep !

It was the same story at Connacht; the Rugby was great to watch; but it was often infurriating the way they coughed up points, & possession in the red zone, because they refused to just kick the fucking ball out !!!

You need to be pragmatic in defense.

[Kawazaki]

Lam just hasn't kicked on at all, he's coaching the same stuff he was 3-5 years ago. No surprise that the best two Bristol players when they finished top of the league weren't Bristol players.

[inactionman]

Bath losing at home again - look to be same old woes of dull basics at key points and not hard-nosed enough in defence.

Although that looked a pretty clear obstruction to me for the third try, maybe Reid should have just smashed through Meehan. I've not got commentary on so no idea what the TMO nor pundits thought of it.

[sockwithaticket]

Well, not getting hammered is am improvement for Bath.

Glaws will be concerned about the 4 yellows they gave away.

[Brazil]

Sale top of the league. That'll do.

[sockwithaticket]

Tom Willis and Vincent Koch are late withdrawals from Wasps squad. Doesn't do much for our chances.

Reckon advantage Saints now. Willis has been huge for us.

[Oxbow]

Tom Willis and Vincent Koch are late withdrawals from Wasps squad. Doesn't do much for our chances.

Reckon advantage Saints now. Willis has been huge for us.

Can't honestly say I'm too sad about that as a Saints fan, but don't worry, we'll likely still find a way to fuck it up.

[sockwithaticket]

Tom Willis and Vincent Koch are late withdrawals from Wasps squad. Doesn't do much for our chances.

Reckon advantage Saints now. Willis has been huge for us.

Can't honestly say I'm too sad about that as a Saints fan, but don't worry, we'll likely still find a way to fuck it up.

We're also pretty prone to that...

Could be a real spack off in the closing stages.

[Oxbow]

If I had £1 for every stupid penalty Saints have given away in the past couple of seasons I'd never need work again.

[sockwithaticket]

Were it not for that late try I'd be feeling reasonable about our efforts in that half. Although first halves haven't really been the problem so far this season.

[Raggs]

Now we get to see if Wasps are just awful in the 2nd half, or if we only lose focus when we've got a big lead.

[SaintK]

Worst half I’ve seen Saints play this season. Possibly best by Wasps

[Raggs]

Worst half I’ve seen Saints play this season. Possibly best by Wasps

? You've not been watching Wasps first halves then.... it's our second halves where we collapse.

[Kawazaki]

Tom Willis and Vincent Koch are late withdrawals from Wasps squad. Doesn't do much for our chances.

Reckon advantage Saints now. Willis has been huge for us.

I reckon Koch will bide his time to see what happens to Wasps before/if he makes his debut.

[Raggs]

Thought one of those angles might have shown it getting knocked loose. But hard to tell for sure.

[sockwithaticket]

About time some of that 22 pressure led to something. Some line from Odogwu.

[sockwithaticket]

I thought things were going too well...

Hope he's ok, but that was terrible defence from Umaga. May as well have just let him land and score.

[JM2K6]

Wasps unlucky there - penultimate try should not have stood, massive cleanout straight to Atkinson's head at the final ruck before the score.

You can set your watch by Umaga's spectacular bed shitting, mind.

Great game to watch.

[ASMO]

Wasps snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Umaga needs a brain scan to see if he actually has one, that challenge was utterly stupid and cost his team the game.

On the plus side, Willis was an absolute monster at the breakdown which means Eddiot will ignore him for selection

[sockwithaticket]

I feel like I've witnessed far too many last moment defeats as a Wasps supporter.

[Oxbow]

Not sure we deserved to win that, and despite the ridiculous finish I somehow still feel disappointed with Saints today.

[SaintK]

Not sure we deserved to win that, and despite the ridiculous finish I somehow still feel disappointed with Saints today.

I’ll take it

[SaintK]

Fin Smith puts pen to paper at Saints mand joins from Worcester with imediate effect. Good news an excellent prospect.

Northampton Saints have secured the signature of Fin Smith on a multi-year deal, with the highly-rated young fly-half joining the men in Black, Green and Gold with immediate effect.
Smith, 20, arrives at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens from Worcester Warriors where he has progressed through the Academy set-up.

https://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/n ... -saints

[Oxbow]

Fin Smith puts pen to paper at Saints mand joins from Worcester with imediate effect. Good news an excellent prospect.

Northampton Saints have secured the signature of Fin Smith on a multi-year deal, with the highly-rated young fly-half joining the men in Black, Green and Gold with immediate effect.
Smith, 20, arrives at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens from Worcester Warriors where he has progressed through the Academy set-up.

https://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/n ... -saints

Good signing, hope he really kicks on. Shame he won't have Biggar to mentor him after this season.

[JM2K6]

Very pleased for him

Where do we think Ted Hill will rock up? The hilariously one-eyed fans on the Quins forum seem to think he'd struggle to get a game at Quins, which largely ignores the fact that he'd be the best blindside at the club and the very worst would be fighting for starts with Lawday and the mostly crocked Chisholm, but thinking about it I wasn't sure where he'd want to go.

Bath - basket case, crap back row though so easily the best option for him.
Glaws - he'd be the best 6 in the club.
Tigers - Lots of competition across the back row
Saracens - Lots of competition across the back row
Quins - would likely be the best 6
Saints - would be a bench option behind a strong back row
Exeter - could be a good fit, not obviously worse than any of their options
Irish - would likely be the best 6
Sale - might struggle to get a starting shirt given the Saffers and the Currys (and Jono Ross, though he's a clear upgrade)
Newcastle - bit of a dead end for his career. Would be one of the best players at the club.
Bristol - a side in freefall, and he might struggle to get ahead of Vui or Luatua, but it's really hard to say. Would probably be a very canny signing.

Apparently Gareth Simpson is a good 9 and we need one at Quins as Care's backup/replacement... I'm hoping Porter wants to leave Wasps though

[Margin__Walker]

I think Sale and Quins would both be good fits.

I like him, but don't actually think he'd be the best 6 at LI as of today. Gonzales is a hell of a player, albeit one that's away a fair bit with the Pumas and may end up going to a bigger club before too long.

[JM2K6]

I think Sale and Quins would both be good fits.

I like him, but don't actually think he'd be the best 6 at LI as of today. Gonzales is a hell of a player, albeit one that's away a fair bit with the Pumas and may end up going to a bigger club before too long.

Yeah fair enough, I don't know Gonzales very well. I figure there's going to be a few players like that I'm underrating.

[Margin__Walker]

Talking of flankers, how well has Evans kicked off this season? Just looking on the prem site and he's won double the number of turnovers as his nearest competition.

How's he been around the park, or is has he been quiet outside of that?

[Raggs]

Talking of flankers, how well has Evans kicked off this season? Just looking on the prem site and he's won double the number of turnovers as his nearest competition.

How's he been around the park, or is has he been quiet outside of that?

Not sure that can be updated? It has Jack Willis down for 5 turnovers. Fairly sure he won 5 just in the game at the weekend, and I'm positive he's won a fair few more than that. Don't know if more than Evans, but I'm positive it's more than 5.

[Kawazaki]

Talking of flankers, how well has Evans kicked off this season? Just looking on the prem site and he's won double the number of turnovers as his nearest competition.

How's he been around the park, or is has he been quiet outside of that?

Not sure that can be updated? It has Jack Willis down for 5 turnovers. Fairly sure he won 5 just in the game at the weekend, and I'm positive he's won a fair few more than that. Don't know if more than Evans, but I'm positive it's more than 5.

The stats can look odd. If you were going to pick any 7 in the league for your fantasy team, I doubt Evans would be the name you'd think of.

[Margin__Walker]

May not have updated everything tbf.

They've probably got aa bit of work to do post Worcester anyway to remove the stats from those games (assuming that's what they do)

[Brazil]

I think Sale and Quins would both be good fits.

I like him, but don't actually think he'd be the best 6 at LI as of today. Gonzales is a hell of a player, albeit one that's away a fair bit with the Pumas and may end up going to a bigger club before too long.

I think it would depend what happens at the end of the season for us. We've got the Currys, The du Preez clan and Jono, but there's talk that the du Preez might be off for a big payday so that would free up some space. I'm also not sure if we've got anything coming through the academy in the back row.

[SaintK]

One for JM?

England midfielder Joe Marchant has been strongly linked with a switch to the Top 14 following next year’s World Cup in France. The Harlequins player has currently slipped down the Test selection pecking order under Eddie Jones. After starting the series-opening loss to Australia last July in Perth, the 26-year-old wasn’t picked for the other two tour matches and he was also omitted from the 36-strong squad for last week’s three-day training camp in London.

In the meantime, it has been reported in France that Marchant is said to be in advanced contact with Stade Francais about joining them next season. The Parisians currently have Paul Gustard, Marchant’s ex-Harlequins boss, on their books as defence coach and they are already planning for next season with two of Fabien Galthie’s France team assistants, Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal, having agreed to take over following the World Cup.

[Oxbow]

Spoiler

Show

One for JM?

England midfielder Joe Marchant has been strongly linked with a switch to the Top 14 following next year’s World Cup in France. The Harlequins player has currently slipped down the Test selection pecking order under Eddie Jones. After starting the series-opening loss to Australia last July in Perth, the 26-year-old wasn’t picked for the other two tour matches and he was also omitted from the 36-strong squad for last week’s three-day training camp in London.

In the meantime, it has been reported in France that Marchant is said to be in advanced contact with Stade Francais about joining them next season. The Parisians currently have Paul Gustard, Marchant’s ex-Harlequins boss, on their books as defence coach and they are already planning for next season with two of Fabien Galthie’s France team assistants, Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal, having agreed to take over following the World Cup.

If I'd slipped behind Guy Porter in the pecking order I reckon I'd feel like pissing off for a bit of sunshine and a payday.