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Re: The Official English Rugby Thread

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2025 8:38 am
by Hal Jordan
duke wrote: Fri Jul 04, 2025 6:55 am
Hal Jordan wrote: Fri Jul 04, 2025 6:53 am Who is covering fly half?
Slade I suspect
<shivers>

Thank fuck for nepotism and an apparent problem at 12, or Ford would have been with the Lions...

He should have been anyway.

Re: The Official English Rugby Thread

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2025 8:55 am
by SaintK
Paddington Bear wrote: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:26 pm
SaintK wrote: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:13 pm
Paddington Bear wrote: Thu Jul 03, 2025 3:41 pm What on earth are we learning about Ewells, Spencer, Dombrandt and Slade?
Happy with Spencer. The others are shite.
Ted Hill not selected again even on the bench is a crime
Spencer is a fine player and should have 80 caps. He doesn’t and tbh every time he plays for England now he plays well below his best, I’m sure he knows he’s been shafted and I wouldn’t blame him if it plays on his mind. The chances of him playing the next 6N are not high, so we may as well blood someone else.

Totally agree on Ted Hill
I don't mind Pepper on the bench but what's the point of Dombrandt? He's just not an international No8.
Borthwick trying to turn Chandler Cunningham-South into a lock by the looks of the bulking-up he appears to have done. Maybe not a bad move

Re: The Official English Rugby Thread

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2025 9:46 am
by sockwithaticket
SaintK wrote: Fri Jul 04, 2025 8:55 am
Paddington Bear wrote: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:26 pm
SaintK wrote: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:13 pm
Happy with Spencer. The others are shite.
Ted Hill not selected again even on the bench is a crime
Spencer is a fine player and should have 80 caps. He doesn’t and tbh every time he plays for England now he plays well below his best, I’m sure he knows he’s been shafted and I wouldn’t blame him if it plays on his mind. The chances of him playing the next 6N are not high, so we may as well blood someone else.

Totally agree on Ted Hill
I don't mind Pepper on the bench but what's the point of Dombrandt? He's just not an international No8.
Borthwick trying to turn Chandler Cunningham-South into a lock by the looks of the bulking-up he appears to have done. Maybe not a bad move
I think it's colossaly stupid tbh. 6'4 is short for an international lock these days, sacrifices a fair bit in the lineout. Maro gets away with being 6'5 because he has unusually long arms.

And we are producing locks, they just need to be given a chance.

Re: The Official English Rugby Thread

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2025 10:21 am
by Paddington Bear
SaintK wrote: Fri Jul 04, 2025 8:55 am
Paddington Bear wrote: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:26 pm
SaintK wrote: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:13 pm
Happy with Spencer. The others are shite.
Ted Hill not selected again even on the bench is a crime
Spencer is a fine player and should have 80 caps. He doesn’t and tbh every time he plays for England now he plays well below his best, I’m sure he knows he’s been shafted and I wouldn’t blame him if it plays on his mind. The chances of him playing the next 6N are not high, so we may as well blood someone else.

Totally agree on Ted Hill
I don't mind Pepper on the bench but what's the point of Dombrandt? He's just not an international No8.
Borthwick trying to turn Chandler Cunningham-South into a lock by the looks of the bulking-up he appears to have done. Maybe not a bad move
Yep. I think we’ll probably lose so experimenting in a way that might yield results in future is great. We know what we’re getting from Dombrandt and it isn’t a test match player. Same with Ewells

Re: The Official English Rugby Thread

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2025 10:28 am
by Hal Jordan
SaintK wrote: Fri Jul 04, 2025 8:55 am
Paddington Bear wrote: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:26 pm
SaintK wrote: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:13 pm
Happy with Spencer. The others are shite.
Ted Hill not selected again even on the bench is a crime
Spencer is a fine player and should have 80 caps. He doesn’t and tbh every time he plays for England now he plays well below his best, I’m sure he knows he’s been shafted and I wouldn’t blame him if it plays on his mind. The chances of him playing the next 6N are not high, so we may as well blood someone else.

Totally agree on Ted Hill
I don't mind Pepper on the bench but what's the point of Dombrandt? He's just not an international No8.
Borthwick trying to turn Chandler Cunningham-South into a lock by the looks of the bulking-up he appears to have done. Maybe not a bad move
Dombrandt reminds me a lot of Tony Diprose, a mobile 8 with great handling skills who shines at club level, but he can't do what Borthwick seems to want from his 8 which seems to be a tackle machine and heavy traffic carrier rather than a fly half tracker/hit the line at pace in wider positions (which Dombrandt excels at, which is why he's always in the tries at Quins). See also his try against France last week.

If we had issues at 6, you could make an argument for him there as a free roamer (see Tom Croft as an example) but we definitely don't need any more flankers and I agree that he has had a lot of chances to prove himself, and hasn't exactly grabbed the brass ring.

Also, Borthwick seems obsessed with picking tons of backrowers on the bench. I suspect he'd pick nothing but "hybrids" if he could get away with it.