The Rugby Union Thread

Gassage

sev112 said:

Really feel for AWJ (blimey), even more for Tipuric 
Any news on Cowan Dickie?

Mark Stevens (Exe Comms Dir) sent a note out last night saying he's fine.

Gulliver

As a Quins fan, obviously I loved the result - if the game had gone the other way I'd have been just as happy with how we played.

It's absolute madness that Marcus Smith, Alex Dombrandt and Sam Simmons aren't in England squads... (Although this season I'm pretty glad we had our full squad in the spring)  

TJT1979

Gulliver said:

As a Quins fan, obviously I loved the result - if the game had gone the other way I'd have been just as happy with how we played.

It's absolute madness that Marcus Smith, Alex Dombrandt and Sam Simmons aren't in England squads... (Although this season I'm pretty glad we had our full squad in the spring)  

100% agree. To be honest I'd put EITHER flyhalf or no 8 from the Quins/Exeter match above the 10 and 8s who've played for England for the last year. 

Billy V can be fantastic when he's not injured but has been disappointing for England for about a year.

Ford has had good games but is still iffy defensively. When on the front foot he's good at pulling the strings but in tighter games he disappears. Farrell is a great player when playing well, but in my opinion he's not creative enough for a 10. Good leadership and experience at 12, especially with somebody more creative/destructive outside him, such as Slade (or Tuilagi if he ever gets back to good health).

Marcus Smith, Dombrandt, Sam Simmonds were huge in that final. I thought Joe Simmons also played well but was probably overshadowed a bit by Marcus Smith who has a touch more magic about him.

Gassage

TJT1979 said:

100% agree. To be honest I'd put EITHER flyhalf or no 8 from the Quins/Exeter match above the 10 and 8s who've played for England for the last year. 

Billy V can be fantastic when he's not injured but has been disappointing for England for about a year.

When was Billy ever even international quality as an 8 for England? He's a tighthead pretending to be a back row

I honestly think he's the most over rated player I've ever seen. Limited, thick, predictable, arrogant and also not a particularly nice person.

scrumhalf

Wasps sign Vaea Fifita. This could be very interesting. 

Gassage

Expert Witness: Lions excite Bok legend André Joubert | PlanetRugby

Absolute honour to get to chat to an all time great of the game, Andre Joubert.

TJT1979

Gassage said:

TJT1979 said:

100% agree. To be honest I'd put EITHER flyhalf or no 8 from the Quins/Exeter match above the 10 and 8s who've played for England for the last year. 

Billy V can be fantastic when he's not injured but has been disappointing for England for about a year.

When was Billy ever even international quality as an 8 for England? He's a tighthead pretending to be a back row

I honestly think he's the most over rated player I've ever seen. Limited, thick, predictable, arrogant and also not a particularly nice person.

A few years back when he would break through the first 2 defenders on almost every carry. I agree that he can be one-dimensional, and also agree about his personality but when he was playing at his best he broke ground on almost every touch of the ball.

TJT1979

Anybody watch Lions vs Lions?

Some rust as expected but a few players put their hands up for selection. The Welsh boys played well across the board, apart from Faletau who was pretty anonymous. Hamish Watson was good, as were Price and Hogg. Apart from a couple of mistakes I though Lawes was good. Daly in 20 mins did more than he has for England in a full year. I was disappointed with Russell... lovely kick for the try but otherwise he missed a couple of key tackles, kicked away possession a couple of times, kicked out on the full, etc.

sev112

Very good summary.  Everyone remember I have been championing Adams for a very long t8me now

I thought Lawes neck roll and Simmonds’ take out and flip were both lucky to only be penalties .  I thought both of those could have been yellow, and Simmonds was very close to red if i
his head had touched the ground first and it was close

some very good things
but too many breaks from the LionKings that got through and were away 

I did however think the 3 nations were very cohesive,  what did the Irish chaps do to not get a game ?

TJT1979

Agreed on the penalties, particularly Simmonds. Other than that I thought Simmonds injected a bit of energy which was sorely lacking from Faletau.

Also agreed that there were too many clean breaks from the South Africans. I'd put that down to lack of time together for the B&I Lions. 

Gassage

https://www.planetrugby.com/five-takeaways-from-sigma-lions-v-british-and-irish-lions/?fbclid=IwAR0UJ2AdAZEdXh_etgJZu5-brv_6hRDvvcUPlrS3qznXCutfngSVnI4KR7Y

My report

Gassage

TJT1979 said:

Gassage said:

TJT1979 said:

100% agree. To be honest I'd put EITHER flyhalf or no 8 from the Quins/Exeter match above the 10 and 8s who've played for England for the last year. 

Billy V can be fantastic when he's not injured but has been disappointing for England for about a year.

When was Billy ever even international quality as an 8 for England? He's a tighthead pretending to be a back row

I honestly think he's the most over rated player I've ever seen. Limited, thick, predictable, arrogant and also not a particularly nice person.

A few years back when he would break through the first 2 defenders on almost every carry. I agree that he can be one-dimensional, and also agree about his personality but when he was playing at his best he broke ground on almost every touch of the ball.

At test level?!

Mark Wilson did more from 8 in three tests in 2018 than Billy managed in his entire career. Sure, he could do it v Italy but v SA or ABs he was so far away from DV and Kieran it was ridiculous.

sev112

Nice report James, even if your superlative meter is running high tonight

thought it was a bit harsh to say of Adams that “he can’t finish without others putting him in those positions”.  Maybe that’s the way it’s written and read, but it seems harsh on a player who has been extremely good at test level for a few years now.  Maybe you mean, any player needs the other players in the team, in which case that’s ok, but it just reads a bit harsh on hi,, esp after 4 tries (albeit 3 were very good run ins)

good start in the main. Love Watson hope he gets more games

koneguitarist

TJT1979 said:

Anybody watch Lions vs Lions?

Some rust as expected but a few players put their hands up for selection. The Welsh boys played well across the board, apart from Faletau who was pretty anonymous. Hamish Watson was good, as were Price and Hogg. Apart from a couple of mistakes I though Lawes was good. Daly in 20 mins did more than he has for England in a full year. I was disappointed with Russell... lovely kick for the try but otherwise he missed a couple of key tackles, kicked away possession a couple of times, kicked out on the full, etc.

Faletau made most yards and tackles apart from Watson, lot of unseen work. 

VimFuego

Just caught the highlights, always difficult to judge the backs when up against such poor opponents as there's always loads of time and space for them, but you get a good idea of how the pack are functioning, and they looked sharp. Price looked good, but again difficult to judge when the pack is so dominant, there's won't be such an armchair ride against the Boks. 

koneguitarist

What is Hamish Watson height, most places have him at 1.85 which has him roughly about 6ft fairly close in size to Richie McCaw, yet continually told he’s too small? 

sev112

5 10 I read today

koneguitarist

sev112 said:

5 10 I read today

Where?

sev112

The Rugby Paper I think

koneguitarist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamish_Watson_(rugby_union)

https://www.scottishrugby.org/squads/scotland-men/hamish-watson

https://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/national/19078534.hamish-watson-justin-tipuric-compare-ahead-scotland-v-wales/

Two seem to put him at 1.85, one at 1.83, certainly not 1.77m