Planet Rugby Forum

Boris

A few stats on England's first half vs second half performances. Have taken these from the 2018 and 2019 games against sides other than Italy and Japan. 14 games in total. 1. W / D / L ratio at full time is 6 / 1 / 7 2. W / D / L ratio at half time is 7 / 2 / 5 3. Average H1 score is 14.2 4. Average...

Boris

Was attempting mild irony. Misplaced contribution to the England Wales build up.

Boris

Thanks for that. Great to watch especially old school rucking. And nice to see Taffy Howarth bringing his Valleys-honed skills to the SH.

Boris

Last 10 Wales / England fixtures aggregate score: Wales 186-184 England.

Current world rankings: Wales 87.55-88.02 England

Current form (last 10 games) Wales 10/10; England 6/10 (but improving)

Wales at home.

Looks like another close game - Wales slight favourites for my money. By one score.

Boris

Penalty: The kick must be taken within 60 seconds (playing time) from the time the team indicated their intention to do so, even if the ball rolls over and has to be placed again. Conversion: The kicker takes the kick within 90 seconds (playing time) from the time the try was awarded, even if the ba...

Boris

In the other big game of the weekend the Dail & Seanad XV have beaten the Commons & Lords RUFC. Seriously? I'd be fascinated to know who was playing? Are they actual politicians or just staff? Some real politicians. Mostly staff. All-party thing for the Westminster lot. Lord Addington usually turns...

Boris

seen a lot of this over the last month or so: 1. tackled player not immediately releasing the ball but instead squirming and rolling forward to allow his team mates time to arrive. 2. players being taken out beyond the tackle ruck 3. the tackled player's team mates taking up shielding positions bey...

Boris

England have got some great options going forward. Right now can see a 'squad' consisting of : Burns, Jennings (/a.n.other), Bairstow, Root, Buttler, Stokes, Foakes, Curran, Moeen, Anderson, Woakes, Leach, Broad, Stones, Roland Jones, Afra. Someone's going to have to come up with a way to get Curra...

Boris

Wasps are losing a lot of English talent and replacing with overseas players. Cipriani, Haskell, Wade, Daly gone or (maybe) going - all English, all came through the Wasps system. Replaced by Sopoaga, Shields, Fekitoa (rumoured) ... don't know who for Daly. Good quality incoming, but it is changing ...

Boris

What's happened to Yorkshire Carnegie? Just looked at the Championship table - bottom with only 1 win!

Boris

This may be true of recent years, but wasn't Dan Cole rotated with Castro in many of his early years at Leicester? Up until 2015?[/quote]

Yes, but Castro left in 2013. Got the hump when Cole usurped him as first choice IIRC.

Boris

Maybe its just a fluke occurrence as I don't watch a huge amount of Leicester, but literally every single time I've seen him play over the last couple of years Coles has been an abysmal penalty machine. And really really stupid lazy penalties at that. He has the look of someone that has lost intere...

Boris

Dan Cole is a great example of what is wrong with English rugby. When he emerged as a young player, he was a good scrummager but also outstanding round the park. Played like an extra back row. Since then, he has been played into the ground. He's only 31, but has played well over 300 games of senior ...

Boris

Brazil wrote:So, from what I've been told, I should only watch this as an act of penitence for a particularly profound moral failing?

Sale's defence was admirable. Other than that, not much to enjoy.

Boris

Nice to see Burns in the runs in this game.

Boris

fatcat wrote:Where are you getting his later seasons stats from?

I posted this a couple of pages back. https://twitter.com/SARugbymag/status/1 ... 05/photo/1

Shows him at 77% over the last couple of years, below the long-term average of 80% ish.

Boris

Given the personnel we have available at 9 and 12, I think there is a good case for playing Farrell at 10 and also a good one for playing Ford there alongside Farrell at 12. I think EJ's judgement in this area is sound enough. If we had better options in those two positions, then Ford's strengths mi...

Boris

Just to counterbalance some of the crazy OTT posts re Farrell - here's a quote from Alex Goode in an interview recently “I don’t think I have ever come across someone who, without question, improves with his goalkicking when the pressure gets even more intense. “That final kick against South Africa...

Boris

I agree with most of that, has ford ever had a run with a 12 say teo outside him? How good is Farrell kicking percentage now? Genuine questions :) Best I can find on recent success rate is here: https://twitter.com/SARugbymag/status/1048470411510472705/photo/1 This shows him at 77% over the last co...

Boris

Hartley is massively underrated. So much this. I do really enjoy the extra pace and physicality that George brings to proceedings but all too often the set-piece turns to shit and England lack direction. Disappointing that JG hasn't yet quite performed to the level we hoped for England. He's an exc...

Boris

Thing about the lineouts is, even if Kay has a point, it was up to England to see the problem and work around it, not keep on with failing tactics. A big concern for EJ should be England's inability to sustain form after a good start. We got away with it against Wales in the 6N, didn't against SA in...

Boris

This seems as good a place as any to mention - do England fans rate Nathan Hughes? I think he is only barely adequate and would be only delighted to see him play against Ireland. English thoughts? Looked good in his first season at Wasps. Since then, we have done our usual job of coaching the flair...

Boris

That article was posted 4th Feb, so it doesn't include Farrell's poor 6 Nations in his stats. Up to that point he was a mere 4% ahead of Ford. Given the way they're often spoken of you'd think Farrell were in the 90s and Ford down in the 50s. Yes, there isn't much in it. We don't have a lot of evid...

Boris

I'd go Farrell, Loz, Manu when all available. Until then Ford, Farrell Manu will do. Farrell has his limitations, some of them huge, but until another 80+% kicker comes along he's going nowhere. There's barely anything between Ford and Farrell's kicking percentages. I'll admit to not seeing Leicest...

Boris

I hope Turducken tastes better than it sounds.

Boris

Were the family assets not mainly in Mrs Green's name? I wonder whether she is taking advice from a divorce lawyer.

Boris

I think if you look back through the past decade of U20 teams, most of the Number 8s have been more in the mould of a Simmonds or a Jack Clifford than Billy In fact I'm struggling to think of the last big, slow lump our age grade sides produced at Number 8 - maybe Jordan Crane all the way back in t...

Boris

Farrell has played 13 at times for England, would you argue to the death that he was an outside centre? Greenwood is the greatest 12 we've ever produced, and literal minutes spent playing 13 does not change the fact that he was a career 12. He's played more than a few minutes. And I'm not arguing t...

Boris

Farrell has played 13 at times for England, would you argue to the death that he was an outside centre? Greenwood is the greatest 12 we've ever produced, and literal minutes spent playing 13 does not change the fact that he was a career 12. He's played more than a few minutes. And I'm not arguing t...

Boris

Match seemed to turn on the performance of the wild card selections. Europe's 4 selections turned in 9 wins, 4 losses and a half. The US picks managed 2 wins and 9 losses. Finau got both US wins, justifying his selection. Woods, Mickelson and Dechambeau were whitewashed. Dechambeau was a sensible p...

Boris

Match seemed to turn on the performance of the wild card selections. Europe's 4 selections turned in 9 wins, 4 losses and a half. The US picks managed 2 wins and 9 losses. Finau got both US wins, justifying his selection. Woods, Mickelson and Dechambeau were whitewashed. Dechambeau was a sensible p...

Boris

Match seemed to turn on the performance of the wild card selections. Europe's 4 selections turned in 9 wins, 4 losses and a half. The US picks managed 2 wins and 9 losses. Finau got both US wins, justifying his selection. Woods, Mickelson and Dechambeau were whitewashed. Dechambeau was a sensible pi...

Boris

Only in Australia... alas. And Northern Ireland At least the perpetrator in that case saw the error of his ways and went on to live a blameless life. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/ulster-rugby-players-wear-black-makeup-in-ethiopian-photo-paddy-jackson-dressed-as-slave-304...

Boris

Cricinfo suggesting that Broad might not go on the SL leg (partly due to his broken rib) and that they will take a young pace merchant - either Ollie Stone or Jamie Overton. Thoughts ?? Overton has a career average of 33 and has taken 23 FC wickets in Div 1 this season at 23. Looks underwhelming. S...

Boris

He has improved dramatically over his career: Pre 2008: 62 wickets; average 39.2; strike rate 62.7 2008-2013: 278 wickets; average 28.7; strike rate 58.4 2014 onwards: 224 wickets; average 21.1; strike rate 50.7 Over the last few years, he has been among the best quick bowlers in the world. Steyn a...

Boris

He has improved dramatically over his career: Pre 2008: 62 wickets; average 39.2; strike rate 62.7 2008-2013: 278 wickets; average 28.7; strike rate 58.4 2014 onwards: 224 wickets; average 21.1; strike rate 50.7 Over the last few years, he has been among the best quick bowlers in the world. Steyn an...

Boris

Jennings averages 34.0 in first class cricket. Not clear to me why the selectors think he is likely to do better in test cricket. Evidence is he can't - test average is c. 23 and falling. The only current or recent batsman who does better in tests than overall first class is Joe Root (51.3 vs 49.2)....

Boris

I would argue that rugby union is a great amateur sport, where eccentric refereeing is annoying but not worth getting worked up about as it's only a game, but is still struggling to comes to terms with professionalism, where the stakes are higher and emotions (including those of moaning fans) run ho...

Boris

No need for full panic stations yet. With some minor tweaks England could be right back up there, looking at the penalty count for example: SA 4 vs 12 England. Obviously not all penalties are a straight conversion to 3 points, but if you imagine that at least 4 of those 8 penalties were kickable, t...

Boris

Spurling is 24 and has appeared 12 times for the club. Has been with them since 2011, bar a spell with Bedford in 2012-14. He is promising but not established. With George likely to be away a lot and Tolofua needing to work on his line-out, there is a decent opportunity for an up and coming hooker.

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