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Rodney can't agree on Ford being better than Farrell but completely agree on Tuilagi not being a 12 - he's barely ever played at 12 and with good reason. We can only hope that he and Slade will be interchanging fairly regularly.
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Farrell world class at what?
He missed more tackles (at 12) in 2018 6Nations than any other player of all 6 countries, and missed more tackles (at 10) than any other England player in the AI's.
His kicking stats for the 2018 6Nations were the worst of all the primary kickers of all 6 countries (a risible 63%)
His passing is average, his kicking out of hand is poor and his captaincy consists of making the wrong calls (NZ in the AI's), saying nothing to his team-mates most of the time or berating them for not passing to him (Cips in SA), or repeatedly getting warned about his shouting and screaming at sir while not having the first clue how to speak to them (many on the Sarries forum say he's not a captain).
If this was any other player they wouldn't be anywhere near the team. Even his ex team-mates are now calling him Englands weak link:
https://www.france24.com/en/20190129-hothead-england-captain-farrell-weak-link-stringer
Not sure Id take much notice of Irish mind games from Stringer who played at Sarries when Farrell was a teenager anymore than Id relate to stats taken from Englands worst performance as a team in the Spring of 2018 since 6N started in 2000 . -
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Here's an alternative view: Eddie needs at least 2 fullback options for the RWC. Watson would have been one, but there's no guarantee he will be back in time. So he needs to develop another.
Daly has the huge advantage of versatility, but he's inexperienced at fullback. So, with one eye on the RWC, who do you get more value from giving game time to?
Mike Brown, who's shown time and again that he will turn up and do a job as long as he's fit, doesn't need time to play himself into form and will react to being dropped by working harder until he's back in contention.
Or Elliot Daly, who's an outrageous talent but needs to get experience of playing crunch games , especially in an unfamiliar position?
I'm surprised Eddie has picked Daly for this game, but on the other hand it's almost certainly the toughest game for a full back before the RWC itself.
I would still bet on Brown being part of the RWC squad if he's fit, though, because the only other experienced international full back is Goode, and he doesn't cut it at International level.
You could substitute "Robshaw" and "Shields" or "Wilson" in the sentences above and they'd read much the same.
That's fine but, ive been saying for a while "Who plays if Brown picks up an injury the day before the first game?". Jones should not be "trying" stuff now, he should have done this before now.
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Farrell world class at what?
He missed more tackles (at 12) in 2018 6Nations than any other player of all 6 countries, and missed more tackles (at 10) than any other England player in the AI's.
His kicking stats for the 2018 6Nations were the worst of all the primary kickers of all 6 countries (a risible 63%)
His passing is average, his kicking out of hand is poor and his captaincy consists of making the wrong calls (NZ in the AI's), saying nothing to his team-mates most of the time or berating them for not passing to him (Cips in SA), or repeatedly getting warned about his shouting and screaming at sir while not having the first clue how to speak to them (many on the Sarries forum say he's not a captain).
If this was any other player they wouldn't be anywhere near the team. Even his ex team-mates are now calling him Englands weak link:
https://www.france24.com/en/20190129-hothead-england-captain-farrell-weak-link-stringer
Oh, and this? Yeah, this is just utter rubbish.
Passing average? Kicking out of hand poor? Bizarre. When did you last watch Farrell play, 5 years ago?
Captaincy hardly relevant because it'll be Hartley for the WC - and you can't tell me Faz doesn't have the attributes to make a great captain one day. It's a learning curve. He's got the respect of the squad - so he's well on the way, just needs to learn the etiquettes. That will come.
The thing he has in spades is passion - rivalled perhaps only by the likes of Brownie, Vunipola, Sinck... You can't coach the level of intensity Faz brings to the game at the top level. I'm sure he'll rein in his tackling (although I do think those types of things get blown out of proportion when it comes to the world class guys - the media circus goes crazy for that stuff). But the fight he shows to go after everything, if cloned across the rest of the team, would see us win every time. He makes game changing plays, cover tackles, passes - you name it. Big game player. Always first name on the England team sheet for me. -
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Faz and Ford are both fine players - you'd have to be massively one-eyed to claim that Ford's "been found out time and again" while overlooking the times Faz has been an utter liability though. Both are prone to it now and then.
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One of the rugby pods (can't remember which) has been saying Daly at 15 for this game and if he still can't cut it then that's it, end the experiment. Personally I think that he had 4 games in the autumn and didn't impress, why does anyone think Daly is going to improve now?
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That's fine but, ive been saying for a while "Who plays if Brown picks up an injury the day before the first game?". Jones should not be "trying" stuff now, he should have done this before now.
I am pretty sure that Eddie's plan was to play Watson into the role; he certainly looked the part on the Lions tour. But Watson has been crocked pretty much ever since - but was always supposed to be fit again in time. As that has looked less likely, Eddie's looked for other options.
As far as the RWC is concerned, England can't really afford to think in terms of "first choice" and "backup". They have one of the hardest schedules imaginable: Argentina, France, QF, SF, Final on successive weeks if they want to win the thing.
Eddie needs to be thinking (and I think is thinking) in terms of having 31 players who would all merit a start. There's just no way to play 5 games of that intensity with the same XXIII.
What might that mean? Something like this perhaps (though lots up for debate):
Props (6): Mako, Genge, Moon; Sinckler, Williams, Cole
Hookers (3): Hartley, George, LCD
Locks (4): Itoje, Kruis, Lawes, Launchbury
Back rows (5): Billy, Underhill, Wilson, Shields, Robshaw, Hughes
Scum halves (3): Youngs, Care, Robson
Fly halves (2): Ford, Farrell
Centres (4): Tuilagi, Slade, Joseph, Te'o
Back three (4): May, Daly, Nowell, Brown
I just put that together, and I'm guessing at a few of the edge calls. But the point is that you'd be happy to see pretty much any player in that squad in the starting XV. Robson and Williams aside, pretty much all of them have had decent chunks of time as starters. -
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If Cole gets near an England shirt again we may as well give up and come home
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If Cole gets near an England shirt again we may as well give up and come home
He’s playing well at the moment. Who would be your third tighthead in his place? -
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Do you not think Curry will get a look in, Poorfour?
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He’s playing well at the moment. Who would be your third tighthead in his place?
He’s a penalty magnet - and we’re bad enough at that already -
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Do you not think Curry will get a look in, Poorfour?
Maybe. He's in the mix, but at least one of the current crop of back rows will miss out, most likely one of the flankers.
It will probably depend on whether Underhill is injured, Wilson is out of favour or Robshaw's international career is over. The former? Quite likely. The middle one? Hard to call. The latter? Depends on whether you believe the pundits or the evidence. -
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If Cole gets near an England shirt again we may as well give up and come home
He’s a penalty magnet - and we’re bad enough at that already
Still need a third tighthead. Who's the alternative? Brookes? Hill? Collier? -
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I like that squad, although I would include Curry and then probably choose between Sheilds and Robshaw. 3rd TH, Interesting question!?!?!
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I am pretty sure that Eddie's plan was to play Watson into the role; he certainly looked the part on the Lions tour. But Watson has been crocked pretty much ever since - but was always supposed to be fit again in time. As that has looked less likely, Eddie's looked for other options.
Watson's been really poor for England as a fullback. He's a world class winger. Which is why he played for the Lions on the wing, and not at fullback. -
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