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<blockquote data-quote="Crapspray" data-source="post: 550961" data-attributes="member: 58918"><p>Did you watch the England versus Scotland game? Robshaw spent half of it mopping up and securing possession. Link play is what he does day-in day-out at 'Quins. He's also considered one of the fittest players in the England team, spending time doing extra training with Tom Wood (the fittest). Not to mention he gets through more work than anyone else during matches; tackles and carrying.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Except for the last few years he's played at 7 for club and country...</p><p></p><p>The desperation for an 'genuine' or 'out-and-out' open-side really is a straw man. Most of the people listed as one have inferior stats to the peasant 6.5s. James Haskell got four turnovers in 35 minutes against Scotland as a blind-side playing blind-side. Heck, Wales put two 'genuine' open-sides on the pitch against Ireland, it didn't make them unstoppable or even stop them getting turned over. The idea, as well, that suddenly fielding 'genuine' open-sides makes teams much better at securing possession is fairly fatuous. England were destroyed at the breakdown against Australia because the Wallaby pack was far better, not simply because of Robshaw versus Hooper. Similarly, few would argue that Robshaw is a better open-side than McCaw, yet England certainly won the breakdown against the All Blacks two weeks later. If we want the Lions to win the breakdown it will take the whole pack performing, not just one forward playing with the sobriquet of 'genuine'. Robshaw has proven, time and time again, that he can consistently perform and get through a huge amount of work. That's what we want, isn't it?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Crapspray, post: 550961, member: 58918"] Did you watch the England versus Scotland game? Robshaw spent half of it mopping up and securing possession. Link play is what he does day-in day-out at 'Quins. He's also considered one of the fittest players in the England team, spending time doing extra training with Tom Wood (the fittest). Not to mention he gets through more work than anyone else during matches; tackles and carrying. Except for the last few years he's played at 7 for club and country... The desperation for an 'genuine' or 'out-and-out' open-side really is a straw man. Most of the people listed as one have inferior stats to the peasant 6.5s. James Haskell got four turnovers in 35 minutes against Scotland as a blind-side playing blind-side. Heck, Wales put two 'genuine' open-sides on the pitch against Ireland, it didn't make them unstoppable or even stop them getting turned over. The idea, as well, that suddenly fielding 'genuine' open-sides makes teams much better at securing possession is fairly fatuous. England were destroyed at the breakdown against Australia because the Wallaby pack was far better, not simply because of Robshaw versus Hooper. Similarly, few would argue that Robshaw is a better open-side than McCaw, yet England certainly won the breakdown against the All Blacks two weeks later. If we want the Lions to win the breakdown it will take the whole pack performing, not just one forward playing with the sobriquet of 'genuine'. Robshaw has proven, time and time again, that he can consistently perform and get through a huge amount of work. That's what we want, isn't it? [/QUOTE]
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