England team for SA Northern Barbarians

First topic message reminder :

Apologies if it's been already posted:

15 Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)
14 Christian Wade (London Wasps)
13 Anthony Allen (Leicester Tigers)
12 Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)
11 Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
10 Charlie Hodgson (Saracens)
9 Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)
1 Matt Mullan (Worcester Warriors)
2 Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
3 Paul Doran Jones (Northampton Saints)
4 Graham Kitchener (Leicester Tigers)
5 George Robson (capt, Harlequins)
6 Jamie Gibson (London Irish)
7 Carl Fearns (Bath Rugby)
8 Ben Morgan (Scarlets)

Replacements
16 Joe Gray (Harlequins)
17 Rupert Harden (Gloucester Rugby)
18 Mouritz Botha (Saracens)
19 James Haskell (Otago Highlanders)
20 Karl Dickson (Harlequins)
21 David Strettle (Saracens)
22 Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)

Suggest to me for the 3rd test: Dave Strettle will be replaced, Waldrom to start.

P.S I am a massive fan of Jonny May so over the moon!

sugarNspikes wrote:

lammergeier wrote:

sugarNspikes wrote:I'm sure it's already been mentioned, but is are SA Baa Baa's sides allergic to grass?

This is what playing on the Moon is going to be like.

It doesn't rain in winter and frosts kill the grass. There is no money for all the watering and upkeep that needs to be done to have a decent pitch in the smaller towns. Our main pitches on the highveld used to be like this in the old days.

I wasn't having a go, mate. It's just odd seeing it from our point of view. Nice to have a change from a mudbath to be honest (and see if some of our flyers do well on a hard pitch)

We have mudbaths as well. The second round of the Junior World Championship was really boggy. So bad that the IRB changed venues. But you won't get that on the highveld.

Wade's hard to put down, but that was a bit too much of a wriggle by him there!

Wade wasn't held in the tackle there...

can't see this being a try...

nasty.

Bit of an elbow there? Just clumsy maybe.

Mind you, Barbarian player made no effort to wrap his arms in the tackle.

Okay no try, but no penalty at all? C'mon ref!

Abendanon. Nice shimmying.

Odd decision by the officials in the corner.

Better now. In both defence and attack. Keep it up.

Just tuded in. 10-31 is really impressive but have we played that well or have the Barbarians been that poor?

And what's happened to Monye?

Much better than last week after a poor start.

Monye got knocked out, his head bumped off a defenders arse and whipped back nastily.

A nice lead for England at half time, Abendanon getting three trys.

Will their be anymore Hat tricks in this game i wonder?

Lets hope they will not sit back now and think that the game is won and let them back in.

Youngs throwing still shocking?

Do we have a defence coach?

Massively unimpressed by the D in all of the Eng games so far. Dare I say come back Farrel?

Don't know how that was a yellow or how the conveniently blind touch judge didn't see the SA player playing the ball on the floor there.

the lever of Homer officiating has been horrific this tour

Poor start to this half.

A try conceded and then a yellow card, but the ref is not so good there and doing nothing for that elbow smash as wade was going for the line earlier.

England look liken they will lose this now , they just conceded another. Very very poor and giving sa more momentum to thrash this side so bereft of players now.

yappysnap wrote:Do we have a defence coach?

Massively unimpressed by the D in all of the Eng games so far. Dare I say come back Farrel?

Agreed. We lost on Saturday through a shambles of defence early on and in these mid week games they are like schoolboys.

The officials are disgusting, the way they went to yellow there and yet the line bloke totally failed to transmit the truth to the ref in the first half.

This is exactly what i did not want to happen. I can see England losing this game.

Yep in front of the kicker, first time picked up all tour but watch every game it happens on every kick.

They are giving the test team no support, all this does is shows how weak they are to the Safas.

1st 15 mins of 2nd half show some England problems. Poor handling, pushing passes in our own half when under constant pressure. Forget the glory stuff, concentrate on basic handling and maintaining possession.

Mind you that May's pretty good.

True that. You need to be so controlled and good that no bad official can change anything.

Great attack from may but a hint of holding and immediate pen against him under the posts.

Barnes is correct,. The defence from eng is horrible though.

Gwoan Johnny May ya big daft Cherry!

How was Strettle selected over May at the beginning of this tour?

Feck knows. He had a stormer against Toulouse that should have seen him right on the radar.

Again good offence this week.

They need a defence coach.

Quality finish by May.


More like it.

Do you need to go out for a walk Hound?

Please please please let May be on the bench this Sat.

He looks very good. Best thing here today for eng.

trebellbobaggins wrote:Again good offence this week.

They need a defence coach.

The way they play though, is there much difference to if they weren't coached? Not too many set plays or structured attacks.

Defense is optional

Oh this tackling is a joke. It doesn't exist.

A painfully average side, allowed to score off a forward pass but there was no tackling.

yappysnap wrote:

trebellbobaggins wrote:Again good offence this week.

They need a defence coach.

The way they play though, is there much difference to if they weren't coached? Not too many set plays or structured attacks.

That's true, is that because it's a midweek game or is this to be the way with lancaster? I started that way osat to an extent.

Pen try at the end. So good score, poor scoreline against.

We could definitely do with Farrell back as defence coach. Poor tackling lead to most of the tries, and how the hell did Morgan let that 9 get past him for the 2nd try.

trebellbobaggins wrote:

yappysnap wrote:

trebellbobaggins wrote:Again good offence this week.

They need a defence coach.

The way they play though, is there much difference to if they weren't coached? Not too many set plays or structured attacks.

That's true, is that because it's a midweek game or is this to be the way with lancaster? I started that way osat to an extent.

I hope it's because they're a midweek team and it's easier to let the players play to their strengths rather then waste time trying to mix things up.

The worry is that the Test team seems to be coached the same but test rugby doesn't give you the chances to score that this game has.

timhen wrote:We could definitely do with Farrell back as defence coach. Poor tackling lead to most of the tries, and how the hell did Morgan let that 9 get past him for the 2nd try.

A touch of the Tim Paynes, lazyness mixed with zero awareness. Genuine question who is our defence coach??

Mike Catt, 'nuff said.

May has definitely put his hand up for inclusion on Saturday.

Fearns is looking more like his old self but is still way short of full fitness after missing much of last season (hence the cameo performance in the first half), I'd like to see him shift to 8 for Bath and see how he goes.

Other than that, I don't think anyone really stood out.

The FKAS Ratings:

1.Mullan - had the big Bok wrapped up and standing up under the pressure at the scrum, did a lot of hard work in the tight and was generally industrious. Needs to make more impact in the loose. - 7
2.Youngs - work rate of a flanker, running lines of a centre, pace, hands and a solid lineout showing (only the 1 went wrong) capped an excellent display from the centre convert - 8
3.PDJ - did ok in the scrum but was quiet round the park. - 5.5
4.Kitchener - very good in the loose but gave away a couple of penalties in the tight, excellent in the lineout. - 6
5.Robson (c) - lineout was excellent, work rate was high but his tackling was pretty awful. Run over by the opposition scrum half for the third try and for the second try allowed the player to ghost past him with Gibson looping round for the dispairing tackle. Needs to carry more as well. - 4
6.Gibson - stupid yellow card, quiet in attack and defence. - 3.5
7.Fearns - bones shuddering first half in both attack and defence, second half was a bit to quiet. - 7
8.Morgan - great in attack but average in defence, good control at the base of the scrum. - 6
9.Dickson - more flair and pace on show, not always that clinical though and the box kicks took an age without really being worth the wait. Slipped off the double tackle for the first try. - 6
10.Hodgson - useless in defence, passing wasn't as crisp as expected and the kicking was a bit to long due to a general lack of precision from the experienced 10. - 5
11.Monye - bit to much bosh but his physicality did seem to be working well, unfortunate to have to leave the field so early but he got his head in the wrong place in the tackle (let's hope it's not as bad as Croft's injury). - 7
12.JTH - very direct in defence and attack but I'd like to see more of the passing skills he showed in the first mid week game. - 7
13.Allen - did everything right, created two tries with lovely delayed passes and scored one himself with a pick up off his boot laces at pace. Made all his tackles as well. - 9 (MOTM)
14.Wade - electric when he got the ball but needs to go looking for it more often. Caught out early doors with his positioning. - 7
15.Abendanon - magnificent in attack with a well taken hattrick, no tactical kicking on show and should have made his tackles for the first and fourth tries. - 8

16.Gray - quiet but efficient. - 6
17.Harden - at the heart of the penalty try effort. - 6
18.Botha - a lot of effort but not a lot seemed to happen. - 5
19.Haskell - didn't come on
20.K Dickson - energetic but passing was a touch slow. - 6.5
21.Strettle - one break was all he got and it was enough to show his lack of pace when compared to the other English options. - 5
22.May - defensive question marks remain but the ball handling skills, footwork and electric pace are undenyably brilliant. - 7

I have to say, even though we knew both the Barbarian teams were going to get a hiding, I am impressed with their gusto, what was it 8 tries scored against england in the two games, and none of these guys are anywhere near the Premier currie cup division.

Not too shabby.

fearns and may looked quality. i don't think botha/strettle/hodgson will wear a white shirt again.

biltongbek wrote:I have to say, even though we knew both the Barbarian teams were going to get a hiding, I am impressed with their gusto, what was it 8 tries scored against england in the two games, and none of these guys are anywhere near the Premier currie cup division.

Not too shabby.

Totally agree; if England could bottle their heart, pride and physicality we'd be the best team in the world.

rozakthegoon wrote:fearns and may looked quality. i don't think botha/strettle/hodgson will wear a white shirt again.

Is it me or does Strettle always look like he's running in wellies?

Botha is not one for the future and Charlie Ackroyd is probably 5th in line for me.

i feel for strettle, a few years ago he looked amazing, but in the 2nd half today he had a break on, looked liked a lock. any of the other wingers in the squad would have ran that in i think.

formerly known as Sam wrote:
13.Allen - did everything right, created two tries with lovely delayed passes and scored one himself with a pick up off his boot laces at pace. Made all his tackles as well. - 9 (MOTM)

Hmm, a fair bit of golden boy club bias there methinks, he certainly wasn't a grade higher than every one else to my eyes. Is one of those tries he created the Abendanon one? Wade did all the work to create that.

Rozak,

May would've dotted down at a canter, he's like a freakin greyhound.

I think Strettle has suffered from bulking up a bit, it's happened to a few players over the years, they put on a few pounds of muscle but don't improve their calisthenics to counter the additional weight.

mbernz, I wasn't going to say anything, but now you come to mention it...

PJHolybloke wrote:Rozak,

May would've dotted down at a canter, he's like a freakin greyhound.

I think Strettle has suffered from bulking up a bit, it's happened to a few players over the years, they put on a few pounds of muscle but don't improve their calisthenics to counter the additional weight.

mbernz, I wasn't going to say anything, but now you come to mention it...

I think he also tipped his hand with his grading of Youngs & Fearns. Both showed up well and were on a par for me, but Youngs got an 8 and Fearns a 7.