So is Burrell easily better?
Whoever said that needs to have a look at the saints v racing game.
Roberts looking v skillful on top of his normal stuff.
Burrell looking flat footed , Imhoff absolutely skinned him earlier.
Farrell and Rowntree in the crowd to see it too, can't see him starting. Only real English ray of light is Corbs looking back to fitness.
JR tryscorer too now
Jeez. Saints have been comprehensively beaten in all areas of the field.
can't see him starting.
He's one of our best defensive (and attacking) centres!
Mylers' been awful.
Treviso Ospreys was a bloody close one eh?
Ospreys had an awful team out.
Not been able to see any games today as on childcare duty.
Can someone please remind me how to watch Sky red button stuff on the Sky website? It would be nice to see Scarlets - Toulon later today
Anyone have any ideas how to watch the Scarlets game on Sky online? Ulster Leicester will probably be more entertaining but nonetheless 😉
Ospreys had an awful team out.
Still.....Treviso?
Burrell wasn't that bad, but the Northants team didn't show up. They can play far better than that! Desperate Dan looked ok, but certainly not stand out (that pickup excepted).
Looking forward to the six nations but suspect I'll be just as disappointed with a crappy English team.
Liverpool v Bolton footie on bt now.
On today's form there's a couple of Bolton players better tacklers than Burrell.
Still.....Treviso?
Its the level they are at.
Has everyone found the new wiziwig?
Adam Jones has retired from international rugby, 3 grand slams, world cup semi final, 5 Lions Tests. Legend.
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Jeez. Saints have been comprehensively beaten in all areas of the field.
can't see him starting.He's one of our best defensive (and attacking) centres!
Mylers' been awful.
He's not though has he? I'm sure I read somewhere that his tackle completion rate in the AP was something like 76%. Even Eastmond with his 'poor' defense was in the 80's. I think it's just a different kind of tackle though. Eastmonds a drag em down tackler (similar to Ford) as opposed to a smash em back. Maybe Lancaster feels it's a risk having two people in the middle three that give away gain line metres in the tackle.
Has everyone found the new wiziwig?
I have now. Thanks. 😉
I'd gone over to cricfree.tv after Wiziwig's demise which worked ok too.
He's not though has he?
Eh? I wasn't criticising his tackling or previous performances. He was plain rubbish in the RM game, that's all.
Ospreys at Trviso, to make some excuses, dead rubber, playing away, none of the Internationals want to get hurt. Yes should of turned Treviso over.
Diolch Adam, a legend and a top bloke as well. 95 caps and the Slams is an incredible achievement.
Aw, Glasgow stuff it at the end. It was there for the taking!!!
What was the score?
Could someone possibly link to the new wiziwig please? Google has thrown up several different ones.
Www.wiziwig.ru
20-15 I think. Glasgow on the bath line at 78 mins.
It was Bath's forwards who won it for them in the end. Carl Fearns and Dave Attwood coming off the bench gave them the impetus. Exciting game though - Glasgow played with real attacking intent and scored a cracking try late on.
Bath win the group after Toulouse were pipped at the death by Montpelier.
Just watching Clermont v Sarries and Farrell was taken off with a knee injury. Didn't look too serious .....but you never know.
Mad set of score this weekend.
Montpellier do Bath a massive favour, and leinster too.
By my reckoning, that's made it a home quarter final for them, when it looked like the draw had blown it. 🙂
Farrell's injured. A shame for any player but I can't help thinking that benefits the England team.
Massive applause for Adam Jones. A legend of the game despite being Welsh*.
*last 3 words purely for AA's benefit.
Yeah , A Jones always came across well, old school.
Sad the way it ended for him, deserved more respect from his manager IMO.
Oh well, 4 English sides qualify for the last 8 but all away from home.
Wasps were let off the hook by Leinster then lost the chance to snatch it at the death. Saints hammered by Racing. Bath fortunate to hang on against Glasgow and Sarries well beaten by Clermont.
Wasps have the un-enviable task of going to Toulon.
Still, at least I saw a good performance from an English back - shame he happens to play for Clermont.
Racing v Sarries
Toulon v Wasps
Clermont v Northampton
Leinster v Bath
loum I agree but this is the cold hearted world of professiona rugby and the game has lost a bit of its heart.
Farrel's injury could make England's RWC
Adam Jones is a legend indeed. I was quite critical of him a while back as he seemed to have slipped from his best and it seems Mr Stubborn agrees. I do think with RWC coming up dropping him from the squad was a mistake and now he's no longer an option. I wonder whether he'll consider a few seasons in warmer climes ?
@loum, being lazy here but what weekend are those games scheduled - normally April post 6 Nations I recall
4/5 april
2 v 4, 3 v 1 semis
Thanks, just checked too and one game might/will be on the Friday.
Any news on injuries? Parling, Wood, Eastmond, Farrel? Burrels pride? Havent heard of any Welsh players. Parling would be a massive loss for England not having him or Wood would really even up the lineouts
I still don't get all the hype about Parling at lineout time. Last time he was in charge internationally (2013 6n's) England had the worst lineout stats of the tournament. Lawes is a much bigger loss imo.
Yeah lawes and launchbury are a very very good pairing good in the lineout and immense work rates. However with Parling out it will be Attwood and Kruiz who dont worry me half as much. Was 2013 when Youngs chucking went haywire?
Yeah Young's didn't help! Pretty sure the biting kiwi was chucking the majority of the first 3 games though at least.
Kruis and Attwood are both very promising players, but together....I'm not sure that there's quite enough grit, especially if Wood isn't there to back them up either.
Injuries are really wrecking our selection choices currently-the way the game is played nowadays I guess that it's just the norm though.
Tom Croft called up. Suspect this is to help shore up the lineout as well (and he works well with Youngs).
I think Youngs currently has better line-out statistics than kiwi biter and the bath hooker.
Anyway, by the end of the tournament we are going to have Burrell and Burgess in the centres with ford popping them into space. I think that'll work OK and even though the back 3 won't get and ball, that's the same as it's been with no penetration from the centres as well.
I think Kruiz has more presence and go forward that he's being given credit for in here, Attwood has a bit of pace about him as well.
So the elephant in the room; Sam Burgess - is he really THAT good? Can a player be so far head an shoulders about the rest in so little time, and will he make a difference to the England set up? Or is this all here worship and media hype? 8)
I've not seen anything of him (in Union) that makes me think he's a wonder player, but that in no way makes me think he won't be in the team by the end of the 6 nations. It's going to happen as sure as the sun will set tonight.
Happy to stand corrected, but he appears to be a bash merchant with reasonable hands? That's not uncommon in Union!
I think Burgess is there simply so Lancaster can have a look at him first hand and get to see how he works. He has masses of potential but still looks very much like someone learning the game. I imagine Lancaster will love him though, according to those in the Bath camp he's honest, incredibly hardworking and has a real willingness to learn. Ex-colleagues in league say he's just a great person to have in camp and to be around as well, which is consistant with Lancaster's philosophy and mantra.
There was a great documentary that Fox Sports did on him, its on youtube, called Slammin' Sam. Obviously it's biased towards him but it gives a pretty good indicator as to the kind of person he is. That, coupled with his freakish athletic ability means he could be a real handful once he gets to grips with the game fully.
At the moment though I think its definitely hype. There are better English qualified centres at almost every club in the AP. But he looks to be catching up fast!
Although currently isn't there only 12T and JJ that are fully fit centres in the EPS after the weekend? So we may be seeing him sooner than we thought!
Watched a bit of the Wales training session last night.
Biggar dropped a high ball, but 1/2p was banging kicks through the posts to Jenks with consumate ease.
Can I ask a random question.. Something that has bugged me for a while..
Given that attacking mauls are so difficult to stop and well drilled teams (including my own, Sale) often use it to such devastating affect why are they almost always allowed to form?
I am no expert obviously but I know that by not engaging the attacking team any players in front of the ball carrier are offside allowing the defending team to run around and tackle if they want to, or gaining a penalty. Why is this tactic seldom used???
Like this
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not engaging![/url]
he's honest, incredibly hardworking and has a real willingness to learn. Ex-colleagues in league say he's just a great person to have in camp and to be around as well
That's pretty much what people said about Andy Farrell when he was vying for the England 12 shirt and he turned out......rubbish.
Farrell and Barritt supposedly out of the Wales game according to the London Evening Standard.
Bad news for Wales.
The good news for Wales is that this "opens the door for Billy Twelvetrees...."
Who will presumably hold the same door open for Jamie Roberts. 😉
Can I ask a random question.. Something that has bugged me for a while..Given that attacking mauls are so difficult to stop and well drilled teams (including my own, Sale) often use it to such devastating affect why are they almost always allowed to form?
I am no expert obviously but I know that by not engaging the attacking team any players in front of the ball carrier are offside allowing the defending team to run around and tackle if they want to, or gaining a penalty. Why is this tactic seldom used???
some refs don't seem to like it, more of a problem IMO is the illegal forming of the maul with players coming in ahead of the ball carrier
A much more recent example
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vs Bath[/url]
