Jones makes three changes to his squad for South Africa

Stormers sink Sharks with late Jean-Luc du Plessis try

GrahamVF 30 minutes ago

Not all though.

Stormers sink Sharks with late Jean-Luc du Plessis try

GrahamVF 31 minutes ago

Same coach won one URC and runner up in another over the past 3 years. Not the basketball/touch rugby of the Southern Comp. Second toughest comp globally. And bearing in mind most of the top home grown players are playing overseas. I'd say better coaches than most SH club teams.

Ulster end losing run by beating Connacht

RedWarrior 45 minutes ago

Disastrous result for conaught almost an impossible task to make top 8 now

The fixture may have been overly friendly recently, and connaught appeared to be a bit unstuck by the venom and vitriol from Ulster. Doak had an amzing game shooting out with perfect timing to disrupt onnaught on every attacking phase. On paper connaught should have had this. Well done to Ulster. connaught were suckered a bit.

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HU 49 minutes ago

Stormers sink Sharks with late Jean-Luc du Plessis try

seems like the best SA-coaches (apart Rassie of course) are rather working for better £ in Bath, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Leinster .....

Leicester leave it late to maintain remarkable 'Big Game' record

BE 55 minutes ago

Battle of the flyhalves here, Smith precocious talent, Pollard ever steady. Imagine a flyhalf that has their best attributes (could that be Fynn Russel)

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NB 1 hour ago

I work in the game and write articles on it too, so the second is shaped by the first.

All England coaches face intense media scutiny and Borthwick is no exception. The media pressure is a reflection of the fact ppl don't want to pay 150 quid for a Twickers ticket to watch the ball being booted up in the air all day.

Incidentally, England had two decent performances in the WC [and throughout 2023 as a whole] playing the way you favour and one was in the semi-final and the other v Argy in the pool.

For the rest of 2023, they were somewhere between dire and uninspired. So how do you work out SB abandoned a 'winning method' on that basis?

NB 1 hour ago

That remains a case for you to prove then doesn't it?

NB 1 hour ago

Waht England team do you want exactly? It sounds like you want Steward at 15 and prefer one of JVP and Spencer at 9. Hence Ford at 10.

So basically you want to start again from the WC semi-final side?

Leinster player ratings vs Munster | 2024/25 URC

Rob 2 hours ago

hardly the first ten to do it, O'Gara was awful for hurling abuse at players his enforcers already had by the collar

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fl 2 hours ago

"the game has been heading recently it's the only way to break down a defence"

what is?

"he highly organized Irish attack was also another that didn't require much from the 10"

no, it required a lot from the 10, hence why they thrived with a George Ford style organiser in Johnny Sexton.

"it is in fact your two which would require even more change to make the most of than Marcus Smith"

my two being Ford and Fin? That's just demonstrably false. England have looked far superior with Ford at 10 than they have with Marcus.

fl 2 hours ago

I'd be very interested to see stats showing how much ball they actually get from Marcus. I suspect its relatively little, and they get a greater share of their ball from the 9, from ball-playing forwards, and from turnovers.

fl 2 hours ago

I do remember that pressure, and I remember saying at the time that it was ridiculous and that Borthwick should ignore it and prioritise wins. The fact that he caved to pressure isn't "to his credit" IMO.

Given that you work in the media I don't think you should be simply pointing to the existence of detrimental media pressure, you should be doing what you can to shape the narrative. Do you think Borthwick should have faced the sack if he didn't produce an entertaining product? do you think it is right or wrong that building a team around Marcus Smith is seen as a test case for England playing better rugby?

In terms of who has the most growth left in them, its Fin. I think we can say that with certainty now that Marcus has been England's main man for almost 4 years (since summer 2021 Smith has started 26 tests at fly-half; Ford has started 10; and Farrell 18 at fly-half or inside centre) and performances have got consistently worse throughout that time.

fl 3 hours ago

I don't imply that England should go back to Steward: "Steward was groomed for the 15 shirt since 2020. I actually don't understand why this matters, but given you put stock in things like this..."

Fin runs it a lot more than Ford (although so did Ford when he was younger!) but in terms of his connectivity to his forwards pods he's a lot closer to Ford than to Marcus. Dan Biggar agrees with me, if that's worth anything.

Every country in the world where you can be paid to play rugby

Icefarrow 5 hours ago

Ehh... idk. He's well past his prime at 38, and has played for Poverty Bay in the Heartland Championship before in 2014.

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NB 6 hours ago

Borthers already has enough media pressure on him without inviting more by jogging back to George!

NB 6 hours ago

I suspect FL wants England to go back to set piece + kicking + D JW.

NB 6 hours ago

IYRC, Borthwick was under a lot of pressure to produce a more entertaining product after a drab if relatively successful WC based on D and kicking and an awful WC warm-up series.

So in the first instance you are underestimating the impact of media pressure on his tenure. He had to do a lot more with the players at his disposal or he would have been out. To his credit he has tried to do that.

Building a team around Marcus Smith is seen as a test-case [rightly or wrongly] in that view, esp as he has been prepared for the role for about 4 years now after being anointed the wunderkind of English rugby by Eddie.

I'd agree that going back to Ford still has merit as he can prob play the position in more ways than Marcus, but he was also a part of the three underwhelming results with which the 24 6N started. So I doubt he will be see as part of the solution now.

It will come down to Marcus v Fin and that is more interesting. One plays in a turnover-based attack, the other in a Leinster-style possession offence. Who has the most growth left in them?

NB 6 hours ago

I've never heard Quins' backs complaining about the lack of ball they get from Marcus! 🤣

NB 6 hours ago

Sounds like you're contradicting yourself there.

You praise England for their performance v Ire and Fra, then imply they should go back to Freddie Steward 15 when George Furbank made most of the diff to those performances.

Anf Fin Smith is far closer to Marcus than he is to George Ford, that is why he plays for Saints not Sale.