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England Autumn Internationals - MARK II

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Post by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 20, 2021 3:43 pm

First topic message reminder :

England squad for autumn Tests:

Forwards: Jamie Blamire (Newcastle), Callum Chick (Newcastle), Jamie George (Saracens), Tom Curry (Sale), Trevor Davison (Newcastle), Nic Dolly (Leicester), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), Charlie Ewels (Bath), Ellis Genge (Leicester), Jonny Hill (Exeter), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Courtney Lawes (Northampton), Lewis Ludlam (Northampton), Joe Marler (Harlequins), George Martin (Leicester), Sam Simmonds (Exeter), Kyle Sinckler (Bristol), Will Stuart (Bath), Sam Underhill (Bath)

Backs: Mark Atkinson (Gloucester), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Tommy Freeman (Northampton), George Furbank (Northampton), Max Malins (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester), Raffi Quirke (Sale), Adam Radwan (Newcastle), Harry Randall (Bristol), Henry Slade (Exeter), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Freddie Steward (Leicester), Manu Tuilagi (Sale), Joe Marchant (Quins), Ben Youngs (Leicester)

In Positions:
1.Marler, Genge
2.George, Blamire, Dolly
3.Sinckler, Stuart, Davison
4.Itoje, Hill
5.Lawes, Ewels
6.Curry, Martin
7.Underhill, Ludlam
8.Dombrandt, Simmonds, Chick

9.Youngs, Randall, Quirke
10.Smith

11.May, Radwan
12.Farrell, Atkinson
13.Tuilagi, Slade
14.Freeman, Marchant
15.Steward, Malins, Furbank
-------------------------------------------------
England v Tonga - 6th November
England v Australia - 13th November
England v South Africa - 20th November

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Post by Big Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:48 am

Soul Requiem wrote:
I can't recall any ex England player having a bad word to say about Jones including the ones he possibly jettisoned a bit early...

I'm not saying Jones is a bad guy, but not sure how much we can read into this as players tend not to criticise the coach while he still gets to choose whether or not they get another shot! Comments tend to come once a coach is gone.

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Post by lostinwales Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:51 am

Big wrote:
Soul Requiem wrote:
I can't recall any ex England player having a bad word to say about Jones including the ones he possibly jettisoned a bit early...

I'm not saying Jones is a bad guy, but not sure how much we can read into this as players tend not to criticise the coach while he still gets to choose whether or not they get another shot!  Comments tend to come once a coach is gone.

But you still get generally positive comments from the guys he has dumped who won't get back in. Sounds like the coaches do get a tough time from him though.

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Post by lostinwales Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:56 am

Farrell - it is a team game and the team is playing better without him. He isn't bigger than the team.

It will be very interesting to see where we go from here. I can see the benefit of him coming off the subs bench in a controlling role, but I wonder if even having him as part of the matchday squad can inhibit the rest of the team.

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Post by Poorfour Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:00 am

king_carlos wrote:I'd agree with Big there. Sinckler getting absolutely mulched by Nche then Kitshoff for a significant part of the game then Marler getting annihilated during at least one scrum I remember actually made me wonder if Sinckler's injury and Marler's benching had as big a difference as I'd hypothesised since the RWC final. I still think with Marler and Kruis starting, Sinckler fit it would have been closer but unlikely overturning that gigantic deficit for a final. The forwards were just dominated in contact around the fringes for most of 80 minutes in 2019. That created a huge number of errors to build up. Hence SA getting 11 scrum put ins to England's 3 in that final.

Yes, we had our 3rd choice hooker and LH but this was a significantly diminished, albeit still fantastic, Boks pack from the final that ruined our scrum as well. Missing Malherbe (for my money the best scrummaging TH in rugby). Mtwarira has retired. They didn't have the full 'bomb squad' as Snyman was absent so not full tight 5 on the bench. Even trading PSdT for Smith at scrum time is losing 4 stone of muscle behind one your props!

I still think the biggest challenge against this Boks side is finding ways to diminish the effect of their physicality in open play rather than set-piece. In this win we diminished the effect for most of the first half but were still being bullied up front towards the end of the first 40. Then for the second half our forwards were getting rag dolled in contact around the fringes. In the RWC loss that was the case for both halves though.

I think the effect of their forwards dominating contact around the fringes can be diminished by moving the ball more as we did early on in this win. For this England side that is a big shift though as our attack under Jones has relied on using multiple 'volleys' of forwards carrying off 9 in quick succession making yards to turn slow ball into quick ball. That platform can then be used to either run or kick on the front foot putting much more pressure on the defence either way. Billy and Mako at their peaks were a huge part of that. When we got on top around the fringes it could be extremely effective but when they didn't there was little alternative, hence the RWC final demolition. I think this Autumn, especially the first half against the Boks was evidence of trying to move away from that over reliance. There were green shoots but still a long way to go.

I don't think you can judge the England scrum on Saturday against the standards of the RWC pack. That pack had been playing together for a couple of years, whereas Saturday's pack had trained together for a week. I'm not even sure if Marler had had a scrummaging session with Blamire and Dolly given he was isolating until Thursday night.

My point about losing Sinckler in the RWC Final is much more about carrying than scrummaging. I am all but certain that Eddie had intended to use Sinckler as an attacking weapon during the Final, playing at first receiver in the red zone. We'd seen it a couple of times in the previous AIs, and in the build up to Manu's try in the semi final, and then it had been put under wraps. I think losing him that early disrupted England's game plan significantly. The scrummaging impact was more that Cole had to go 78 minutes - most of them with a weaker scrummaging loosehead and setpiece lock. Marler and Kruis got back on terms with the Boks when they came on, but by that point the damage had been done; England had been on the back foot for too long and the tiredness was what the Boks exploited to score

Losing Manu could have had a similar effect - Eddie was clearly hoping to use him to counter Am's rush at 13 and create space out wide. What was impressive was that a backline that had never played together before found a different way to achieve the same end, by having three players who can all kick pass and run running lines that gave the defence too much to watch close in, and then getting the ball wide when they stayed tight and exploiting the gap when the Bok defence was just a fraction too wide (assisted, as that hilarious TAS video pointed out, by Marx deciding that if he charges in a straight line towards the player he needs to tackle it doesn't matter if the ref is in the way)
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Post by Soul Requiem Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:15 am

Big wrote:
Soul Requiem wrote:
I can't recall any ex England player having a bad word to say about Jones including the ones he possibly jettisoned a bit early...

I'm not saying Jones is a bad guy, but not sure how much we can read into this as players tend not to criticise the coach while he still gets to choose whether or not they get another shot!  Comments tend to come once a coach is gone.

I was referring to guys like Hartley, Haskell and Robshaw who are either retired or playing overseas.

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Post by Sgt_Pooly Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:32 am

Soul Requiem wrote:
Big wrote:
Soul Requiem wrote:
I can't recall any ex England player having a bad word to say about Jones including the ones he possibly jettisoned a bit early...

I'm not saying Jones is a bad guy, but not sure how much we can read into this as players tend not to criticise the coach while he still gets to choose whether or not they get another shot!  Comments tend to come once a coach is gone.

I was referring to guys like Hartley, Haskell and Robshaw who are either retired or playing overseas.

Hasn't Hartley come out recently criticising Jones?

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Post by lostinwales Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:40 am

Sgt_Pooly wrote:
Soul Requiem wrote:
Big wrote:
Soul Requiem wrote:
I can't recall any ex England player having a bad word to say about Jones including the ones he possibly jettisoned a bit early...

I'm not saying Jones is a bad guy, but not sure how much we can read into this as players tend not to criticise the coach while he still gets to choose whether or not they get another shot!  Comments tend to come once a coach is gone.

I was referring to guys like Hartley, Haskell and Robshaw who are either retired or playing overseas.

Hasn't Hartley come out recently criticising Jones?

A quick search produced the following 'mixed' message
Hartley describes Jones as the best coach he ever played for but claimed the Australian was harder on him than anyone else. “I was absolutely f**king bollocksed,” he told the Telegraph. “‘That was f**king Poopie, mate. That’s f**king Poopie … you’re Poopie. You shouldn’t be here.’ Anyone who looked even slightly out of shape had about as much chance of survival as a wildebeest wandering into a herd of lions. You were like a piece of meat, thrown in the bin because it was past its sell-by date. I’d had enough of being governed by Eddie.”

I think he is sore about the way his career ended but that wasn't EJ's fault, he was just the messenger.

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Post by Poorfour Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:03 am

Soul Requiem wrote:I can't recall any ex England player having a bad word to say about Jones including the ones he possibly jettisoned a bit early. It's pretty clear that if you work as hard as he demands in training that he's got a more agreeable side to him, only have to look at the way he treats Marler who let's be honest looks from the outside to be a handful at times in camp.

Mike Brown has been pretty forthright that he disagreed with how he was dropped and why (the altercation with Te'o being used as an excuse, but really because Eddie didn't think he was attacking enough), and Danny Care has been tight lipped but it's pretty clear he feel he was dropped for challenging Eddie.

In general though, the sense I get is that all the players think he's a very clever man-manager as a coach, but brutal as a selector when he thinks your time is done. Before that point, he's very clear about what he wants players to work on, and if they do what he asks of them then they get a chance to be selected, and players respect that.
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Post by Geordie Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:23 am

Does anyone think there'll be many changes to the squad come the 6n...about 12 ish weeks away.

Cant see many more "newbies" and only really changes if the injury crowd start returning in form....

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Post by doctor_grey Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:58 pm

GeordieFalcon wrote:Does anyone think there'll be many changes to the squad come the 6n...about 12 ish weeks away.

Cant see many more "newbies" and only really changes if the injury crowd start returning in form....
Hard to tell, mate, though I agree with you. My guess is we might see only a little tinkering around the edges, if anything at all. One point where Eddie has been consistent is wanting to build experience and caps leading up to a World Cup. And I think most of his experimentation is likely done. We just can't know exactly how he rates some of the fringe players who he has already brought in and played. Or some of the younger players who have been injured.

Unless there is a major problem we don't know about Radwan should be back. Randall/Mitchell as the third 9? I think George Ford is probably still in the mix as well as Mako. No idea how Billy V. is playing but haven't heard anyone singing his praises too loudly, so probably no.

I think Phil Vickery is still available.

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Post by Geordie Thu Nov 25, 2021 1:05 pm

Yeah...from everything i wouldnt be bothered if there wasnt changes....bar one area..
Id really like to see the back row have a proper 8 in the 6n.

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Post by doctor_grey Thu Nov 25, 2021 1:10 pm

GeordieFalcon wrote:Yeah...from everything i wouldnt be bothered if there wasnt changes....bar one area..
Id really like to see the back row have a proper 8 in the 6n.
Agree there too.
So what is there to discuss if we agree?

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Post by dummy_half Thu Nov 25, 2021 1:18 pm

At least for the wider squad, and with Farrell likely to miss the first couple of 6Ns games at least, Ford is almost certain to be back in.

Atkinson to miss out? Got a quarter of a match v Tonga but nothing else, and isn't exactly a young dynamic option. Marchant took his chance against SA, and looks better suited to 13 than the wing, so allows Farrell, Slade and Manu to be the 12 options.

Obviously, injuries are still likely to play a part, but can see Mako being back in at least as 3rd choice loose head with Marler and Genge. Rodd stood up OK, but needs a bit more time to develop physically.
LC-D should be fit, so will be him and George in the match day squad and Blamire.

Would love to see a fit and in form Billy Vunipola back as well - him bashing holes in the fringe defence, with Smith at FH to exploit them could be a good combination. Would likely improve the scrum as well, and release Curry back to the flanks. Otherwise, please can we have Dombrandt or any other specialist 8 in that position...

Otherwise, the position where we look weakest is tight head - no issue with Sinckler, but there's not much quality behind.

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Post by Geordie Thu Nov 25, 2021 1:23 pm

dummy_half wrote:At least for the wider squad, and with Farrell likely to miss the first couple of 6Ns games at least, Ford is almost certain to be back in.

Atkinson to miss out? Got a quarter of a match v Tonga but nothing else, and isn't exactly a young dynamic option.  Marchant took his chance against SA, and looks better suited to 13 than the wing, so allows Farrell, Slade and Manu to be the 12 options.

Obviously, injuries are still likely to play a part, but can see Mako being back in at least as 3rd choice loose head with Marler and Genge. Rodd stood up OK, but needs a bit more time to develop physically.
LC-D should be fit, so will be him and George in the match day squad and Blamire.

Would love to see a fit and in form Billy Vunipola back as well - him bashing holes in the fringe defence, with Smith at FH to exploit them could be a good combination. Would likely improve the scrum as well, and release Curry back to the flanks. Otherwise, please can we have Dombrandt or any other specialist 8 in that position...

Otherwise, the position where we look weakest is tight head - no issue with Sinckler, but there's not much quality behind.

i like the idea of two first up seasoned picks...and then the 3rd choice being the development spot. Rodd is ideal for that...though i still think West at Wasps was really putting his hand up prior to injury. See how he comes back.

Marler, Genge and Rodd...is a nice balance of LHs

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Post by lostinwales Thu Nov 25, 2021 1:42 pm

I believe Billy was playing well then got injured. In all honesty I don't think he'll be back. I do think Dombrandt is being groomed for the no.8 position but we are stuck with trying to fit too many players into not enough slots

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Post by Rugby Fan Thu Nov 25, 2021 2:08 pm

Hard to see the value of this new book on leadership by Eddie Jones, which is being serialized in the Telegraph.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2021/11/25/eddie-jones-exclusive-marcus-smith-england-rugby-leadership-part-two/

It includes appraisals of current England players. For all we like a peek behind the curtain, I'm not sure this is helpful.


Jones on Marcus Smith

I was always going to pick Marcus Smith for England’s summer squad, but I have long felt that all the talk around him has not been helpful – either to England or Marcus himself. Why was he so popular when he first came on the scene with Harlequins? He was a good-looking boy who had been to a big public school where rugby success was part of the culture. He had a Filipino background, so he also offered something a little bit different. There was a lot to like about him.

I actually saw him play as a schoolboy. At the 2015 World Cup, when I was coaching Japan in England, I went to watch him play in a game at Brighton College because everyone said he was going to be the next best thing. I went out of curiosity, as a coach, and not because I had any involvement with England then. I was impressed as he definitely had a great skill set.

But, somewhere down the line, he had lost that. I don’t have to tear down the story of him being the next great England rugby star. Some people in the English media would like him to occupy this role, but my task is to make sure Marcus doesn’t believe in this story, because it’s being written by other people. I want him to believe in his own story. I want him to write his own story.

When the first lockdown hit in 2020, I called him so we could have a proper conversation. I’ve had my eye on him for a while because I think he’s got real potential. But I was not sure whether Marcus had the desire to be the best he can be. I wondered if he might be happy being a nice Harlequins player, talking about England in glowing terms, without really testing the limits of his ability or character.

I had thought this for over a year when I rang him up in April 2020. We had a reasonably blunt conversation about the state of his game. I suggested that he needed to come up with his own identity. I wanted him to outline that identity as a player on a piece of paper for me. He did that and sent it over to me. We’ve been continuing that conversation ever since. He had identified the strengths he had first shown as a schoolboy. How could he utilise those strengths again at elite level? What is his role in the team? What did he need to do, especially as a number 10, to develop? Those were the three areas we tried to explore. I asked him to fill in those answers and I gave him a little feedback.

Marcus is probably only going to be at his best in his late twenties. So we need to help him along this emotional journey and remind him about the journeys taken by some other great number 10s. When was Dan Carter at his best? At his last World Cup in 2015. Is Beauden Barrett a fully mature 10? No. He is a great player, but the best is still to come for him. Number 10s are like quarterbacks. You’ve got to allow them to fail. You’ve got to give them time to mature. The good ones come through. They repay you. They might have two or three years at their very best. But it is a demanding position.

When I selected Marcus for his England debut against the USA in the summer I had been impressed by the way he had improved since I challenged him a year earlier to become the best he could be. Marcus had made real progress and we felt he was in a very good place when he left us for the Lions. But so much will depend on him keeping his feet on the ground. He’s going to be a pin-up boy because that suits the English media mentality. They like the fact he’s slightly different and seen as an X factor type of player. It’s easy to be seduced, but Marcus is from a good family and he’s got a good manner. He just needs to keep working to get the best out of himself.


Jones on Owen Farrell

The onus of responsibility should not just centre on the captain, but I understand why the role is a source of fascination. Owen Farrell is developing well as a leader.

He’s quite an aggressive leader, and captains of this type can find it difficult to adjust to the nuances of the role. They have to develop their softer skills – to empathise with their teammates and bring them together into a cohesive unit and, also, to manage the referee.

We call them ‘soft skills’ but they’re actually bloody hard. Clarity of thinking, communication, composure, diplomacy, empathy, sensitivity and understanding others are sophisticated and often elusive skills. It’s easy to tell your captain to go out and have tough conversations with his teammates, while showing plenty of empathy, but you need to understand the complexity of his task.

We also only have the players for short periods, so it is tricky to maintain continuity. But that does not mean it is impossible to develop the soft skills a great captain needs. We try to give Owen the right advice. Will Carling and Steve Borthwick, as former captains of England, understand the pressures of the role more than most. They have been of real value, and Will is now Owen’s main point of contact. We’ve helped Owen gain access to Cameron Smith, who is one of the great captains and rugby league players in Australia. Owen, with his rugby league background, understands the magnitude of everything Cameron has done as a leader, and so they shared some useful conversations.

Neil Craig, our head of high performance and an expert in communication and leadership, and I also work closely with Owen, and he has people away from the England camp who he trusts and talks to all the time as well. But Neil made a really good point when he said that, as a support group, we’ve made the mistake of having too many people, too many ideas and too many conversations with Owen. He’s got enough information to digest now.

Midway through the 2021 Six Nations Neil reminded Owen that he has to lead himself before anyone else and to concentrate on the advice that made most sense to him. He needed to stay true to how he wanted to lead England – and remember that the captain’s first job is always to be the best player possible.

He said that Owen should talk to just one or two people he really trusts about leadership. If anyone else wanted to share their thoughts about captaincy he should tell them to back off in a respectful manner. He now just needs to practise being a leader as much as he can and stick to his core principles.

We can assist Owen most by developing his lieutenants into better leaders and by using smarter strategies so that, in training, he can practise being a captain under pressure. If training games are calm and perfect rather than full of pressure and chaos, how is Owen going to get better in dealing with difficult situations, whether they involve teammates’ intense emotions or responding to a bad refereeing decision?

Sometimes we design training so that there are fewer players on a particular team being led by Owen. The pressure builds on that team and then we might also make sure that a number of decisions go against him. This allows him to work on his mindset. It obviously can’t be the same as playing in front of 80,000 people, while millions watch on TV, but it allows a debrief as we see how he has done in adverse circumstances. We’ll ask some simple questions. How do you think you handled it? How did you prepare? What do you think you did really well? What didn’t you like? It’s a continuing process and we will constantly review the role of captain and of the leadership group.

Jones on Maro Itoje

When Maro Itoje burst onto the scene you could have come from Mars and still been able to tell that he was going to be a special player. You didn’t need any deep rugby knowledge or foresight to predict an outstanding career for him if he stayed on track.

But these are also the standout players that you have to manage carefully at the outset. He has developed really well since I gave him his debut as a substitute against Italy in 2016. Maro has a good head on his shoulders, and he doesn’t get too far ahead of himself. I think the way we dealt with him early on in his international career helped a little in establishing those good habits. We want these extraordinary players to rise slowly so they end up playing a huge amount of Test matches.

Maro himself needed, more than anyone else, to understand the value of patience. He needed to trust us. I think we helped him do that because he quickly came to understand that we care for him. He’s an important player for us but he’s also got a responsibility to his family and himself. It is vital that he feels he can fulfil all his personal goals while realising that the best way to do this is by applying himself to the cause of the team. If the team are flying, so will Maro Itoje.

There were lots of calls for him to be named as captain of the British and Irish Lions in South Africa in 2021. Alun Wyn Jones rightly got the job instead. That seemed sensible to me. I might be wrong, but I am not sure Maro is a future England captain. He is going to be one of the great players, but Maro is very inward looking.

We’ve sent Maro to acting classes, which is having a beneficial effect. He speaks more influentially now, and I am hopeful he can develop more communication and leadership skills. Acting brings Maro out of himself. We don’t want to quench his inner drive, but we will have made huge progress if we can tap into it in different ways so that it transmits to his teammates. The acting classes are a practical step to helping Maro and others share that internal fire and magic which makes them special. We’re always looking to see if we can develop these traits and find the right mix of leaders.

Jones on Kyle Sinkler and Ellis Genge

I have always backed Kyle Sinckler from the moment I chose him and Ellis Genge for England’s tour of Australia in 2016. The two wild young prop-forwards, were unheralded then, and neither of them had ‘the face’ nor ‘the look’ of a successful rugby player.

They come from the other side of the tracks and, as kids, were outside the English rugby system.

Sincks played the game with more emotion than most players. This makes him vulnerable but it’s part of his allure. We thought he offered something different, even though he was always going to be a bit difficult to harness.

I picked Genge and Sinckler when England were on a high. We had just come through my first Six Nations when we won the Grand Slam. But I felt we needed to add an edge to the team as we headed to Australia. I wanted more aggression in the pack. Genge and Sinckler had that raw aggression from the wrong side of town. So they came on tour and were a handful at training.

Both of them wanted to prove how rough and tough they were and they caused some grievance amongst the established players. Some of their physical impact was inappropriate for a training session. But it’s all part of the learning process of international rugby. They adapted, and by the end of the tour these two wild young bulls had both grown and become part of the squad. They have gone on and represented their country with honour and distinction. But they are always going to have their problems.

There were some serious doubts about Sinckler within the England coaching fraternity. I listened to one voice in particular for I had great respect for his views; he was unsure of Sinckler. His initial perceptions of Kyle were of a self-centred, immature, volatile, emotional and angry young man. He acknowledged Kyle’s obvious talent and liked him as a kid. But he argued forcefully that Kyle could blight the team with his ill-discipline. Could we really trust Sinckler in the heat of battle?

I listened because there was plenty of validity to the view. But my feel for the game, and for individual people, allied to concrete data around his performances, told me to persevere with Sinckler. We could have a special character if, somehow, we could control his emotion.

Jones on Manu Tuilagi

We are always a much better and happier squad when we’ve got Manu Tuilagi in camp and on the field. The players love him because he’s a bright, bubbly, loving guy. He’s very unassuming but on the field he’s so powerful. And in camp he’s the king of the coffee breaks and the chessboard. He beats everyone who takes him on, but the players gravitate towards him. A few years ago, when he was young and silly, he was apparently a disruptive presence. But those days are long gone. Getting married and having a baby teaches you lessons in responsibility and cohesion, and that is why Manu became the kind of player we love having around the place.

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Post by lostinwales Thu Nov 25, 2021 2:27 pm

Very interesting about Itoje. What he says about the other named players is more or less known.

What is also interesting about Sinckler and especially Genge is how much they have come on as leaders since their more 'complicated' first steps

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Post by No 7&1/2 Thu Nov 25, 2021 2:44 pm

Hmm, would love to know which coach considered Sinckler as ill disciplined.

Martin Johnson wouldn't have been a captain under Jones by the sound of it.

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Post by Geordie Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:19 pm

No 7&1/2 wrote:Hmm, would love to know which coach considered Sinckler as ill disciplined.

Martin Johnson wouldn't have been a captain under Jones by the sound of it.

Was that not a reference to his hot headedness, which is valid. When he was younger he would start a fight with his own shadow...very much like Genge.

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Post by No 7&1/2 Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:22 pm

Yeah. Like Jamie George marler every front row going. Just wondered who they were.

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Post by formerly known as Sam Fri Nov 26, 2021 8:31 pm

Marler has mentioned on his YouTube show with Dan Cole that he hadn't really recovered enough from Covid to play Vs SA and was blowing from his backside. He admitted that he did it for the match fee. So hopefully that explains his below par performance and we'll see a more dominant Joe come the 6N.

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Post by formerly known as Sam Fri Nov 26, 2021 8:36 pm

No 7&1/2 wrote:Hmm, would love to know which coach considered Sinckler as ill disciplined.

Martin Johnson wouldn't have been a captain under Jones by the sound of it.

It's often said Johnno wouldn't be able to cope with modern rugby etc etc but Johnno was excellent at adapting to the times he was playing in. For the time he played he was mobile for a lock and he certainly wasn't small. He was good in the lineout and good in the scrum because pitches weren't always great then that was more required than running rugby. Yes he didn't hold off throwing a punch and being generally violent but if you look at the 2003 world cup winning pack none of them had a problem giving it out and neither did the opposition because those were the times they played in.

Johnno was well known for saying no more than he needed to and choosing his words well. I suspect Eddie would have loved him as a captain, Lancaster probably not.

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Post by No 7&1/2 Sat Nov 27, 2021 1:46 pm

Just going by the quotes about Itoje.

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Post by formerly known as Sam Sat Nov 27, 2021 2:18 pm

No 7&1/2 wrote:Just going by the quotes about Itoje.

The bit about him being somewhat introspective? From what I've heard former pros say about Johnno he was never afraid of voicing his opinion he just tended not to do it publicly or at length. Considering how he took over the England captaincy you can understand him being guarded with the media. I suspect he wishes his choice of captain had been as well some years later.

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Post by BigTrevsbigmac Sat Nov 27, 2021 3:19 pm

Interesting comment post match by Lee Blackett talking about Alfie Barbeary who managed a try 6 minutes from appearing from the bench last night.

“He'll be a back-rower,” he said. “We spoke at the end of last season, myself Eddie Jones and him. We were all involved in the discussion and Alfie wants to play back-row. His appetite and his passion is to be there, so he'll be a number eight.”

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Post by Cumbrian Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:52 pm

It seems like a sensible decision to me. Too often do you see other players convert late and spend years battling to perfect the basics. I'm thinking of LCD, he's decent now, but there was a period there that he couldn't hit the proverbial with a banjo. The Barbearian should now focus on his marauding and he can become a Billy V like presence. Cue Eddie playing him at scrum half... Very Happy
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Post by king_carlos Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:14 pm

Interesting. Given the strength England and Wasps have in the back row I thought he'd move back to hooker.

Barbeary has been playing hooker since he was around 15 so not really a late convert. His set-piece work always looked solid at age grade.

He's an incredible ball carrier so has all the talent to succeed at number 8. He'll have to displace Tom Willis to be first choice at Wasps alone though.

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Post by Cumbrian Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:20 pm

I'll bow to your greater knowledge on the subject, all I can remember about his U20s days was him drilling a hole in the pitch with an Irish player's head.
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Post by BigTrevsbigmac Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:59 pm

king_carlos wrote:Interesting. Given the strength England and Wasps have in the back row I thought he'd move back to hooker.

Barbeary has been playing hooker since he was around 15 so not really a late convert. His set-piece work always looked solid at age grade.

He's an incredible ball carrier so has all the talent to succeed at number 8. He'll have to displace Tom Willis to be first choice at Wasps alone though.

Alfie can play anywhere in the back row tbh -he is quick enough even for a unit. Thomas Young leaves at the end of the season to.
Full bore thats some back row with Brad Shields & Jack Willis.

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Post by WELL-PAST-IT Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:37 am

Who is everyone's choice of players of the AIs. One forward one back.

I predictably will take Lawes as a forward, but as he exceeded my expectations by some way and Smith only lived up to what I expected (which was a very high grade) I am going with Steward as the back.
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Post by Soul Requiem Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:19 pm

I'd have to go for Hill and Steward.

He's taken his time but Jonny Hill is finally starting to look like an international player. He's not at the level of Kruis or even Launchbury but progress at least.

In Steward we have a full back who is so secure under the high ball that it feels like inevitable he'll catch every thing. He's shown enough in attack too to look like the long term option.

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Post by No 7&1/2 Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:32 pm

Rodd and Steward for me.

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Post by BigTrevsbigmac Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:38 am

I’d go with Hill and Slade both who both stepped up to show their, as yet unseen, true International potential.
Harsh on Steward but he has just looked International quality from the outset & totally reliable.

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Post by doctor_grey Mon Nov 29, 2021 5:44 pm

This is not easy.  In the backs for me it is between Smith, Slade, and Steward.  Ultimately, I would give it to Steward because he was so solid at the back.  I really don't care too much - at this point - about running, passing, kicking. Just catch the damn ball and take away the the opposing team's garryowen as an attacking weapon.
The forwards are even closer.  Hill certainly played the best I have seen him at the international level.  The front row was OK, but not better.  Itoje is always good.  And the back row was good.  So, like WPI, I give it to Lawes for his overall high level of play, leading the team in arguably the biggest game since the RWC defeat, and for that try-saving tackle.

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Post by king_carlos Mon Nov 29, 2021 5:55 pm

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I’d go with Hill and Slade both who both stepped up to show their, as yet unseen, true International potential.
Harsh on Steward but he has just looked International quality from the outset & totally reliable.

I've been very critical of Slade's inconsistency but to be fair his best performances have been very good before. They were just few and far between. They were also almost all in partnership with Manu which is an issue given Manu's fragility. Performing so well alongside Marchant was a great thing to see.

I think Hill and Steward would be my players of the AIs. Maybe Hill just pipping Steward actually. I rate Steward extremely highly but he did miss a couple of up and unders in a row against the Boks - showing just how hard a skill it is to claim bombs now that refs are hotter on retreating players 'blocking'. (*) I don't remember Hill doing much wrong in 3 starts though.

I'm delighted that refs are being stricter on blockers but wish they would also crack down on kick chasers intentionally overrunning bombs to prevent a defending player getting up to compete. Competing in the air is risky now so sides are staying down, looking to compete on the floor. Part of that tactic is chasers overrunning bombs to a comical extent just to get in the way of an opposition player coming forward from the backfield to collect the ball. It's just as cynical as defenders blocking the chaser and hopefully gets more attention.

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Post by Phil Mon Nov 29, 2021 10:17 pm

Hill and Steward for me, Hill finally putting in the performances needed of our "big" lock and Steward was just a natural.

Honorable mentions to Lawes, Slade and Smith who all excelled as well.

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Post by Geordie Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:20 am

Was Hill really our best forward...or is it that he's improved that he did the bare minimum expected of an international lock forward?

i would say probably Lawes edged the forwards...but did ANY of them really stand out?

Certainly nowhere near how Steward shone in the side.

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Post by lostinwales Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:36 am

Two separate questions really - Most improved/ unexpected against best overall. For the latter category Lawes and Curry were probably best (Curry's lack of carrying at 8 noted - he was otherwise excellent). Honorable mentions to George and Itoje.

Most improved or beating expectations were Hill, Rodd and Blamire. Hill got through a ton of work and really started throwing his weight around. Rodd didn't look out of place despite being a baby in prop terms and being up against some serious experience and ability. Same for Blamire.

Worth pointing out that Dombrandt made 10 tackles against SA in the limited time he was on the pitch. Work in progress but going in the right direction.

Underhill, Sinckler were below the standards of what we'd expect, although they did a ton of work and Sinckler is increasingly becoming a leader which is great to see.

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Post by No 7&1/2 Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:40 am

Sounds like its pie in the sky for Jack Willis to be back playing before the 6 nations. Big blow for him as he'd initially aimed to be playing by Christmas. Given Barbeary is back now I'd say he's pretty certain to be called up and may push Willis further away. The only question I have is at 8 with Curry moved back to 7 with Lawes (dear god) or move him to 6 and have Dombrandt in there. The main question in the forwards for me.

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Post by Geordie Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:44 am

If Sam Simmonds is too small to play international 8...how is Baebary going to play there? Both roughly the same size arent they....

6n
6 Lawes / Martin
7 Curry
8 Dombrandt

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Post by No 7&1/2 Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:47 am

GeordieFalcon wrote:If Sam Simmonds is too small to play international 8...how is Baebary going to play there? Both roughly the same size arent they....

6n
6 Lawes / Martin
7 Curry
8 Dombrandt

I'm not one who has said he's too small for 8 for 1. And Barbeary will be miles better than Simmonds.

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Post by Soul Requiem Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:58 am

GeordieFalcon wrote:If Sam Simmonds is too small to play international 8...how is Baebary going to play there? Both roughly the same size arent they....

6n
6 Lawes / Martin
7 Curry
8 Dombrandt

Barbeary has a couple of stone on Simmonds no? He's taller and bigger built too.

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Post by Geordie Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:16 pm

Well as accurate as stats are....

Simmonds - 6', 16st 2
Barbeary - 6'1, 18st 4

So Alfie has 2 stone difference.

Compared to

Dombrandt - 6'4 and 19st
Tom Willis - 6'4 and 18 stone 6

So does he become Billy V's replacement....

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Post by No 7&1/2 Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:43 pm

Either 6 or 8 for me. Guy is class and it's not as if he avoids carrying in the tight. Jones was involved in the conversation around his conversion from hooker too. I'd be very surprised should he not make the 6ns squad.

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Post by propdavid_london Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:51 pm

So many excellent young back rowers -

Kenningham and Will Evans at Quins
Wasps have Barbeary and the Willis brothers
Martin at Tigers
Lewis Ludlum at Saints
The other Curry at Sale

And ontop of that - Underhill isnt exactly old, and has only been slightly off pace since coming back from injury.
Dombrandt and Simmonds still in the mix...

There are going to be many excellent players that will miss out.  
And just depends on what Eddie wants - be it carrying power and handling (Dommers/Simmonds/Barbeary) or fetchers  (Jack Willis/Will Evans) or all rounders (Martin/Ludlam/Kenningham).  

Nice to have options

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Post by Cumbrian Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:23 pm

propdavid_london wrote:So many excellent young back rowers -

Kenningham and Will Evans at Quins
Wasps have Barbeary and the Willis brothers
Martin at Tigers
Lewis Ludlum at Saints
The other Curry at Sale

And ontop of that - Underhill isnt exactly old, and has only been slightly off pace since coming back from injury.
Dombrandt and Simmonds still in the mix...

There are going to be many excellent players that will miss out.  
And just depends on what Eddie wants - be it carrying power and handling (Dommers/Simmonds/Barbeary) or fetchers  (Jack Willis/Will Evans) or all rounders (Martin/Ludlam/Kenningham).  

Nice to have options

You can throw Ted Hill for Worcester and Miles Reid for Bath into that, they an excellent young players.

A little way behind them are the likes of Jack Clement (Gloucester), Emeka Ilione (Leicester).

In fact, I could have given another half a dozen names that I would be happy to see start for England and be confident of being competitive. I don't think we've ever had this level of depth. Sure the holy trinity were giants, but they didn't have this number of player breathing down their necks. It is a bittersweet fact that some very good players are not going to have the international career they might have had if they had been born ten years earlier.
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Post by propdavid_london Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:34 pm

I knew there would be plenty of great players that I would miss off too.
Ted Hill looked like a real decent prospect, but seems to have dropped down a little in Eddies pecking order! Was that down to injury or something?

Ben Earl is another!

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Post by lostinwales Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:48 pm

Ted Hill - doesn't help playing for Worcester plus being asked to play at lock (and not looking great)

Simmonds seems to have supplanted Earl

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Post by No 7&1/2 Tue Nov 30, 2021 2:05 pm

Somore quotes on the new Jones' new book. Something we obviously don't see is what appetite the players have etc but will be interesting, from what seems is going to be a very open book (v rare when you're still active in the game), to see how players react. Presumably he thinks the players he's mentioning will react in a positive way to the comments.

'magine, for a moment, the England football manager Gareth Southgate has just published a book about leadership. And, within its pages, has revealed that players in England are victims of “the disease of entitlement” and that a high-profile squad member has been sent away for acting lessons because he is too “inward looking” and unlikely to become the national captain.

Then imagine him really picking up the pace: how the media “love to hate” England, how he prefers to work with assistant coaches he doesn’t necessarily like, how a named young international lacks discipline and how he himself needs two steam baths on a matchday to enable him to calm down and think clearly. All this, crucially, while still being paid to do the top job and with a career-shaping World Cup around the corner. Let’s just say the feedback might be lively.

Eddie Jones, though, rarely appears too bothered what other people think. His latest book Leadership, published just in time for Christmas, can be relied upon to earn a few quid and ruffle feathers in roughly equal measure. Neither of those two outcomes has ever been an instinctive turn-off for the 61-year-old and, anyway, who can gainsay honesty? No-one, if Eddie’s printed version of the truth really is gospel.

Eddie Jones with Maro Itoje
Maro Itoje sent for acting classes by Eddie Jones to develop leadership skills
Read more
But has he gone too soon with this particular instructional tome? England finished fifth in last year’s Six Nations and, for all their autumnal promise, have yet to hoist a World Cup under their far-sighted guru. While many of the team building tips sprinkled through the book are shrewd and well argued and Jones’s relentless work ethic comes over loud and clear, his is still an unfinished symphony.

On the flip side, the essence of Eddie and his obsessive coaching nature shine through even more strongly than in his autobiography, written two years ago with the same high-calibre ghostwriter, Donald McRae. To declare an interest I have been fortunate to work alongside the latter at The Guardian for years. To say Eddie has been lucky to have such a brilliant practitioner fusing together his thoughts and words is a Twickenham-sized understatement.

But therein lies the biggest of Jones’s many contradictions. On the one hand he generally loves nothing more – “The more you win in England, it seems, the more they dislike you” – than slagging off the media. On the other he is more than happy for one of (ye olde) Fleet Street’s finest to make him sound good. Then there are his hot and cold relationships with his own coaching staff. In the book he writes thoughtfully about mellowing with age and the importance of empathy and calm judgment. In real life, we read claims of him berating an assistant coach for wanting to spend a day off watching his son play cricket. Sometimes he seems trapped in a world of deliberate self-flagellation. “He understands I am uncomfortable when I start feeling comfortable,” reveals Jones at one point, referring to the unsparingly honest conversations he has with his long-time Australian confidante Neil Craig.

Which perhaps explains why his book manages to be simultaneously instructive, thought-provoking and slightly wince-inducing. Is it a good look, for example, to talk at length about how crucial it is to treat modern players with more individual sensitivity these days and then to publicly castigate Worcester’s Ollie Lawrence for the crime of not training as relentlessly as the great Beauden Barrett and attracting a few headlines as a possible successor to Manu Tuilagi? “He’s still a kid, only 21, but the way that some of the media raves about him you would think he’s already assured of becoming one of the best players in the world. He might do that, one day, but his attitude was not hungry or disciplined enough.”

Eddie Jones was criticised after claiming that Emma Raducanu has been burdened by ‘distractions’ that have affected her tennis form.
Eddie Jones was criticised after claiming that Emma Raducanu has been burdened by ‘distractions’ that have affected her tennis form. Photograph: Tony Obrien/Reuters
There are echoes here of the recent Emma Raducanu comments which generated some blowback for Jones. The latter remains convinced that young players and gushing headlines are a toxic mix, as if public acclaim is a crime against humanity. “I sometimes go harder on the younger players because I want to … make them understand that they are entitled to nothing,” he writes, reflecting on the lessons of England’s uneasy 2021 Six Nations campaign. “England lost their way partly because of a creeping sense of entitlement which ate away at the core values and principles we had established. Complacency corrupts the soul of the team. When that happens, the core of the team cracks open and you have to start again.”

Always a possibility, of course, but perhaps there is also an argument that Jones’s blanket suspicion of youthful prodigies is increasingly dated and counter productive? Is it truly enlightened leadership to cast a gifted playmaker such as Marcus Smith as a potentially spoiled kid or to invest in him unblinkingly? And is there any such creature, more generally, as a lazy modern-day England rugby international? Every single one, in my experience, is acutely conscious of the stiff competition and the need to work his or her socks off. They also play a sport in which half-heartedness, whether for club or country, is not an option. When Jones suggests he has found it tricky to pinpoint “a coherent English identity” it raises another question: is he too swift to stereotype certain types of people – players, colleagues, the media – before he trusts them as individuals?

Maybe none of this ultimately matters. No-one has ever disputed Jones’s deep coaching knowledge. Being a stern, workaholic taskmaster is not illegal and, from England’s perspective, he is vastly experienced and tactically savvy. “We will play some lovely rugby in the next year or so,” he forecasts at one point. “But I know that by the time the World Cup begins in 2023, we will revert to more pragmatic rugby.” Whatever happens, he also knows the defining chapter of his rugby life is yet to be written.'

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Post by Geordie Tue Nov 30, 2021 2:09 pm

Eddie likes his back rowers who realign in defence quickly etc.

I wonder if thats one drawback of Ted Hill. Maybe why George Martin has overtaken him...

Anyway...we're in a strong position.

Some good signs in the AI's that we can be a very good side.

I was fascinated to see that for the most part we were heavier...certainly in the front row than South Africa....made me wonder what our power to weight ratio was per player. Clearly in some players, we're not getting the same power per kg ratio that some of the SA players are getting.

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