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'Really nice tasty training session... Gengey punched me 4 times'

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Joe Marler has reported there was an added edge to England training on Tuesday morning at Pennyhill Park that wasn’t evident in the build-up to their round three Guinness Six Nations match versus Wales on February 26. Eddie Jones’ squad is counting down the days to their must-win game this Saturday versus Ireland at Twickenham and sub prop Marler explained that the level of tension was such that he even steered clear of trying to make a trademark gag every now and again.    

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“The mood is good. Sun’s out. Great training session. A really nice tasty one, actually. And boys are really looking forward to another game at Twickenham,” said Marler before elaborating on what ‘really tasty’ meant in an England training sense. 

“I’d say it was a bit more of a step up. There is definitely a bigger sense of ‘okay, Ireland are very good’. England-Wales games are always big and you know that come kick-off it is going to be tasty there. 

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“But with the greatest respect Wales were missing a fair few names and there was probably a bit more expectation on us to win that game whereas Ireland are full bore, they have been together for some time now and it was definitely noticeable in training where boys were like ‘okay, serious game this Saturday’. 

“Not saying that last Saturday wasn’t serious because I know how the media sometimes can twist things. That is a generalisation I know – I’m just double-checking and covering my own arse.”

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Asked to further explain this training ground tastiness, Marler quipped tongue-in-cheek that he had been on the receiving end of some attention from Ellis Genge, his loosehead rival. “Yeah, Gengey punched me four times and he put my nose this way and then he put it that way and then the other two were like rib shots.

“No, the hits tend to be a little more stickier and there is a little bit more sharpness. Whenever I try and make a gag sometimes I get a couple of laughs out of it but today they were not having any of it. It was almost they were looking at me like ‘shut up’ and I was like ‘okay, right, you lot are serious today’.”

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It was later put to Marler that Eddie O’Sullivan, the ex-Ireland coach in the noughties, reckoned this upcoming fixture with England would be a bar-room brawl-type encounter. “Jesus, I’m trying to think of the last bar-room brawl I was in. Is it going to be like that? It’s going to be tasty,” replied the front-rower. 

“They are very, very aggressive at the breakdown. They love chucking numbers in there. Off the top of my head, you get 40-plus attempts at attacking our breakdown from Ireland so it is going to be a ding dong. 

“Did you say that was Eddie O’Sullivan that said that? It’s probably a fair assumption. I quite like that. A nice, clean bar brawl, though. None of the dirt stuff. No gouging or glass throwing. Just the clean stuff.”

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AM 38 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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