James Haskell, former players opinions and poor Journalism

Just saw a comment by Mr. Dayglo,

https://twitter.com/#!/bbcsport_simon

The WC is the stage for James Haskell to show he is the bes t no. 8 in the world.

Excuse me?

It makes you wonder about former players sometimes. although they themselves may have been world class players alot seem to have a very poor understanding of the game.

While Haskell has been much improved in the last 12 months, I think it's fair to say that Dayglo is overshooting just a tad, not surprising as he has a vested interest in Haskell being his former mentor.

Yeah not like LOL to over egg his former pupils is it.
How much did he slate Johnsosn for dropping the world class Cipriani?

Having said that the WC is the stage to prove you are a class player. You kind of have to get in the side first though. Haskell probably will start at 7 with Moody injured, but play 8 ahead of Easter? Hmmm.....
The challenge and standard eset has to be go out and show youre up there with the best of course, but being realistic is Haskell likely to outperform every other player at number 8 ( let alone even get pciked there? I guess most sane people would opt for no there even if he is unfairly derided at times.

Best number 8 in the world?

He's arguably not even the best 8 for England, and definitely not the best 8 at his former club.

Haskell

This is all about Dayglo's ego...mentored him at Wasps and now he is getting a bit long in the tooth he is trying to take credit for it...Haskell...best in the world!!? Jonners might drop him just to spite Dayglo

Dallaglio is jumping the gun, but you are taking his comments out of context. He didn't say anywhere that Haskell is the best number 8 in the world, just that he can become it if he is played there enough. I'd disagree with that as well, but it's at least a much more reasonable thing to say than claiming he's currently better than parisse/heaslip/read

I have to say I was in stitches when I heard Dayglo say this.

But then Dallaglio has a reputation for ridiculous talking up of Wasps players or former Wasps players in this case.

Watching Scrum V with Rick O'Sheas commentary on the red button (him and some lads having a chat basically) Haskell came up and Rick pretty much said that "Brand Haskell" was the embodiment of everything he hates about modern rugby.

But this morning on ITV (Scotland v Romania) Thom Evans said that Haskell had worked very hard to get where he was and suggested that he was a player younger players should look to emulate.

The guy clearly splits opinion. I think hes a bit to big for his boots. Need to settle down, tone down the "Brand Haskell" thing and chase some eggs.

Coleman wrote:Watching Scrum V with Rick O'Sheas commentary on the red button (him and some lads having a chat basically) Haskell came up and Rick pretty much said that "Brand Haskell" was the embodiment of everything he hates about modern rugby.

Whatever people think about Haskell, Rick O'Shea is a real twerp. Some of the tripe he used to write on the Beeb was trite nonsense.

i don't think Dayglo is saying he's the best in the world. From the quoted text above, it sounds like he's trying to say the world cup is the stage to show off his skills, show people that's he's number 1. Not that he IS number 1 in the world.

if that makes sense!

After the debacle with the shirts he can be whatever number he likes

I personally think that 'Brand Haskell' is brilliant for the sport, I am sure many young players regularly search for videos of their favourite players, often trying to see how strong they are in the gym for example. Haskell has brought the rugby union lifestyle to a lot of people, by this i mean he regularly posts videos of his training, nutrition and other stuff that a lot of the younger generation find particularly interesting.

I don't like it but he is one of the few Brand players (Hesnon/Cips) that actually backs it up...world 's best not by a long chalk and he comes across as smug in interview and is, in my humble opinion, rather up himself in a precious Dayglo esque way

I like Haskell. I actually think people don't quite get his humour. Yes, he's got the 'brand' thing going on, but I think he can laugh at himself and he seems quite a joker. When you read about training camps etc or hear interviews with other players his name crops up quite a lot as someone who is involved in the tomfoolery and seems to be laughing and joking a lot.

That he gets on with the other players really well makes me think he's not smug or aloof.

He's not the best 8 in the world of course, but he's going in the right direction at the moment. There was a while when I thought he wasn't going to make an impact or make it internationally but he's been one of England's best players recently. If he's delivering on the pitch he can do what he likes with the 'brand' thing.

He needs to get himself a better scrum-cap though. That one today must have come off half a dozen times!