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2024 Guinness Six Nations
[2021 Six Nations] England vs France (13/03/21)
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<blockquote data-quote="Vieux Talonneur" data-source="post: 1027403" data-attributes="member: 73144"><p>That's all predicated on the RWC being the only thing that matters. Whether that should be the case or not is another matter, but lets take it as read. </p><p></p><p>The 4 year plan makes a lot of sense in some respects and if the aim is the RWC then that's obviously when you want to be peaking. You can keep set piece moves and so on up your sleeve until quite late, but the personnel and overall style need to be engrained long before that, maybe at least 18 months. The other thing this doesn't factor in is self belief and aura, a key factor in any sport - Eng 03 had it as have various NZ teams - the knowledge that you are the best because you have regularly beaten the other contenders and, just as importantly, they know it. I'm not sure we're heading in that direction (COVID not helping here), but that's a much better place to be than capable of 10 / 10 "on your day". Plus we also still have a clear leadership vacuum to address - comes to something when your captain has a deliberate policy not to talk to the ref - can you imagine McCaw or Fitzpatrick doing likewise? You're never going to get anywhere by screaming at decisions but the quiet word on the way to a line out or scrum can still be influential. </p><p></p><p>I also watched the video, well most of it. Some interesting stuff, but there were a couple of key points early on.</p><p></p><p>Firstly, if Wibble rugby can easily analyse what a team is doing then so can the ABs, the Boks and everyone else. It should not be a case of layering or being secret squirrel - the most important things are (a) players instinctively knowing what they're supposed to be doing at any given time and (b) executing accurately when under pressure. That only comes with practice - not on the training paddock but in the white heat of tests against good opposition. Of course you continually refine, but even if opponents fundamentally know what's coming, its still hard to stop if executed well with conviction. </p><p></p><p>Then there was all the stuff about speed of delivery from the ruck. Well no sh*t Sherlock. Youngs is capable of doing that, but he's also quite capable of being incredibly indecisive. They were talking small fractions of a second mattering - by 2023 Youngs will be 34 and will have lost a fraction more edge, that's inevitable. Who would be best suited to that plan? Randall would be my guess, would have been interesting to see if he'd have got any game time had injury not intervened. </p><p></p><p>Using Japan 2019 vintage to illustrate points was irritating. They played the way they did because that give them the best chance of winning with the players they had, no other reason. They also had an unprecedented and frankly unhealthy amount of time in camp working on both the fitness and style. You can take learnings from that but it would be daft to use that as any form of template. We have other options and our players aren't used to playing that way week in week out although there have been some good league games recently.</p><p></p><p>And then Amor. He basically said that the style he wants means our players are going to have to run a lot. Which is great, but to do that the conditioning must be biased towards running meaning other aspects will suffer. The 2015 campaign had myriad problems, but one was exactly that - our front five was underpowered precisely because too great an emphasis had been put on the aerobic. With the occasional notable exception RWC knock out games aren't free flowing affairs, they're cagey, nervy and tense. We must be able to flex our style to cope with that in precisely the way that we couldn't against the Boks in the last final.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Vieux Talonneur, post: 1027403, member: 73144"] That's all predicated on the RWC being the only thing that matters. Whether that should be the case or not is another matter, but lets take it as read. The 4 year plan makes a lot of sense in some respects and if the aim is the RWC then that's obviously when you want to be peaking. You can keep set piece moves and so on up your sleeve until quite late, but the personnel and overall style need to be engrained long before that, maybe at least 18 months. The other thing this doesn't factor in is self belief and aura, a key factor in any sport - Eng 03 had it as have various NZ teams - the knowledge that you are the best because you have regularly beaten the other contenders and, just as importantly, they know it. I'm not sure we're heading in that direction (COVID not helping here), but that's a much better place to be than capable of 10 / 10 "on your day". Plus we also still have a clear leadership vacuum to address - comes to something when your captain has a deliberate policy not to talk to the ref - can you imagine McCaw or Fitzpatrick doing likewise? You're never going to get anywhere by screaming at decisions but the quiet word on the way to a line out or scrum can still be influential. I also watched the video, well most of it. Some interesting stuff, but there were a couple of key points early on. Firstly, if Wibble rugby can easily analyse what a team is doing then so can the ABs, the Boks and everyone else. It should not be a case of layering or being secret squirrel - the most important things are (a) players instinctively knowing what they're supposed to be doing at any given time and (b) executing accurately when under pressure. That only comes with practice - not on the training paddock but in the white heat of tests against good opposition. Of course you continually refine, but even if opponents fundamentally know what's coming, its still hard to stop if executed well with conviction. Then there was all the stuff about speed of delivery from the ruck. Well no sh*t Sherlock. Youngs is capable of doing that, but he's also quite capable of being incredibly indecisive. They were talking small fractions of a second mattering - by 2023 Youngs will be 34 and will have lost a fraction more edge, that's inevitable. Who would be best suited to that plan? Randall would be my guess, would have been interesting to see if he'd have got any game time had injury not intervened. Using Japan 2019 vintage to illustrate points was irritating. They played the way they did because that give them the best chance of winning with the players they had, no other reason. They also had an unprecedented and frankly unhealthy amount of time in camp working on both the fitness and style. You can take learnings from that but it would be daft to use that as any form of template. We have other options and our players aren't used to playing that way week in week out although there have been some good league games recently. And then Amor. He basically said that the style he wants means our players are going to have to run a lot. Which is great, but to do that the conditioning must be biased towards running meaning other aspects will suffer. The 2015 campaign had myriad problems, but one was exactly that - our front five was underpowered precisely because too great an emphasis had been put on the aerobic. With the occasional notable exception RWC knock out games aren't free flowing affairs, they're cagey, nervy and tense. We must be able to flex our style to cope with that in precisely the way that we couldn't against the Boks in the last final. [/QUOTE]
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2024 Guinness Six Nations
[2021 Six Nations] England vs France (13/03/21)
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