Who did you see this Autumn who impressed you without hitting the headlines?

First topic message reminder :

Which players didn't make the headlines but in your opinion looked superb...?

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I'd have Weir over Jackson every time.

I thought Weir looked good. He looks to carry quite strongly, hits the advantage line and showed some positivity.

Biltong wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I'd have Weir over Jackson every time.

I thought Weir looked good. He looks to carry quite strongly, hits the advantage line and showed some positivity.

I thought the same then Jackson played really well vs the Ospreys on friday night. Weir must be the lad for the six nations now.

Scratch wrote:Nigel Owens

Ok so he has been in the press but he is fast becoming the best ref in the world, sad he won't be eligible to referee the RWC Final.

Scratch, surely he would be ineligible anyway, aren't Wales booked in for the final   

For an England perspective:

Marler was excellent, and seemed to go totally unnoticed. He moved ahead of Vunipola for me.
Hartely did get some media but i thought it was his best performances for England.

Robshaw never gets any praise, but him and Wood just crack on quietly and play to a consistantly high standard. Calls to be dropped are just rediculous.

GeordieFalcon wrote:For an England perspective:

Marler was excellent, and seemed to go totally unnoticed. He moved ahead of Vunipola for me.
Hartely did get some media but i thought it was his best performances for England.

Robshaw never gets any praise, but him and Wood just crack on quietly and play to a consistantly high standard. Calls to be dropped are just rediculous.

Yes I think you highlighted some relevant names there. Marler was very good, certainly better than previous, I thought Wood was outstanding against the All Blacks.

I remember just before the game how you and me were discussing the pros and cons of Robshaw and I watched him closely. He covers a lot of ground, but I think the expectation on him and being the Captain maybe moves him out of contention of this particular thread. Had a great game though and I was very impressed with his performance.

Maesteg,

We did indeed. I think to be fair to him, England are playing a more left and right flanker, over a Blindside and openside, as both our guys are very similar, very strong in all areas if not an "expert " in one or two particular areas like the breakdown etc (where they are still very good).

Actually i thought all our forwards were very good and aside from those i listed above, most got their deserved praise, like Launchbury, Lawes Vunipola etc.

Just a shame that their great work is constantly let down by such a poor backline.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Maesteg,

We did indeed. I think to be fair to him, England are playing a more left and right flanker, over a Blindside and openside, as both our guys are very similar, very strong in all areas if not an "expert " in one or two particular areas like the breakdown etc (where they are still very good).

Actually i thought all our forwards were very good and aside from those i listed above, most got their deserved praise, like Launchbury, Lawes Vunipola etc.

Just a shame that their great work is constantly let down by such a poor backline.

Launchbury is superb too. Been a huge fan of his for a while now, I would have liked him on the Lions tour to be honest. He is the future, athletic and a grafter with great skills.

He is definitely a great candidate for this thread.

From what I understand the thinking on Launchbury is that he had played a hell of a lot of rugby last season and getting a rest this time around was probably more important than the Lions. Injury permitting he should make the next 2 or 3 tours.

maestegmafia wrote:Launchbury is superb too. Been a huge fan of his for a while now, I would have liked him on the Lions tour to be honest. He is the future, athletic and a grafter with great skills.

He is definitely a great candidate for this thread.

Launchbury's had loads of good press this autumn!

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Launchbury is superb too. Been a huge fan of his for a while now, I would have liked him on the Lions tour to be honest. He is the future, athletic and a grafter with great skills.

He is definitely a great candidate for this thread.

Launchbury's had loads of good press this autumn!

I thought the other fella Lawes was the headline grabber?

I think most of the England forward got a lot of praise to be fair...which i why i pointed out Marler, and Robshaw specifically as not receiving much praise at all.

They've had a lot of criticism - Marler about his scrummaging and Robshaw seemingly about everything. Marler showed he can more than play at this level against the best, and Robshaw well...the guy is just high level consistancy all the way.

But this thread isnt just about England, who else impressed? Who for Ireland, Wales and Scotland?

GeordieFalcon wrote:I think most of the England forward got a lot of praise to be fair...which i why i pointed out Marler, and Robshaw specifically as not receiving much praise at all.

They've had a lot of criticism - Marler about his scrummaging and Robshaw seemingly about everything. Marler showed he can more than play at this level against the best, and Robshaw well...the guy is just high level consistancy all the way.

But this thread isnt just about England, who else impressed? Who for Ireland, Wales and Scotland?

For Ireland D'Arcy, Best and Murray didnt grab too much pre match limelight but really impressed me.

Darcy was very impressive v the AB's..

GeordieFalcon wrote:Darcy was very impressive v the AB's..

He sure was but sure half the country still think he is past it.

GunsGerms wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Darcy was very impressive v the AB's..

He sure was but sure half the country still think he is past it.

Thing is his beard doesn't help that opinion much either. Fair play I have been impressed with him the last few times I have seen him play, but I always think he should have retired about 5 years ago whenever I see his name on a team sheet.

Why 5 years ago? He is only 33. 34 in Jan I think.

If you enjoy playing and you are still getting picked and contracted then why not play on? He actually nearly lost his Ireland contract about 5 years ago.

I suppose Tom Shanklin is only 34 himself and retired a while back albeit due to injury.

IF he performs to that level every game why should he not be there. It was a top class performance. Didnt see any other games but im assuming he played to the same level in those?

Age shouldnt matter, regardless if someones 17 or 40 its about performances and having the fitness to last the high intensity and pace for 80 mins.

For Scotland, Ali Dickinson, normally the weak link in the Scottish Scrum but he put in some great shifts in the loose and never looked out of his depth against anyone he came up against.

For England, Chris Robshaw. A master class at how to be world class and remain unseen.

NZ, Beauden Barrett I thought was outstanding, particularly in the try at the death against Ireland. He was an absolute menace every time he got the ball.

Wales, Ryan Jones. Don't know what he has to do to get into the Wales squad over Warbs or Lydiate.

GunsGerms wrote:Why 5 years ago? He is only 33. 34 in Jan I think.

If you enjoy playing and you are still getting picked and contracted then why not play on? He actually nearly lost his Ireland contract about 5 years ago.

I suppose Tom Shanklin is only 34 himself and retired a while back albeit due to injury.

I think he was off the boil a bit then, and I remember thinking he was past it. SO even though he isn't, and he is actually playing well, in the back of my head when I see his name I always think 'jesus the old git should have retired', if that makes sense.

Agree about Ryan Jones...always looks good.