• Help Support The Rugby Forum :

[2023 Six Nations] Wales vs England - 25 February 2023

TBF I wonder how many rugby coaches showed much intelligence as players. English rugby culture as a whole is insanely conservative compared to other nations. How often have we been known for playing attractive rugby?
When have we *ever* been known for that outside of occasional ten minute periods in freak matches

Sucks that we might actually have the backs (and the pack to give them the platform) to do that against a lot of sides but we'll never see it.
 
.
Anyone can have a bad day, but the case against Farrell now is unanswerable really. Unless you're judging fly halves by their tackle count.

But Borthwick clearly doesn't trust Smith and Ford's too early into his return.
 
47% this Six Nations is just unacceptable for a frontline kicker,
Nothing will change though so ho hum
 
47% this Six Nations is just unacceptable for a frontline kicker,
Nothing will change though so ho hum
It's not even like it's just this 6N though, he has been having multiple shockers the past few years. Ford had that one game where he missed maybe 3 and it was forever held against him, just like that one game where Hughes bounced him was forever held against him. Farrell can consistently put in worse performances than those that have been held against others and it doesn't seem to stick.

Seriously, he just need to go. It's not even a case of "he's good but others are better", he is flat out **** at the moment.
 
I'd love to hear what A Farrell says in Ireland training about nullifying O Farrell's threat. "Just give him the ball" perhaps sounds a little harsh, but professionally he absolutely has to major on his son's weaknesses.
 
wow...

Isn't there a clause in Gatland's law that says a player has to be offered a 'reasonable' contract by the Welsh regions and if not, then they can play abroad and still be eligible? Because offering a £250,000 player a £30,000 contract is not reasonable, and those players should be allowed to play elsewhere.
 
Isn't there a clause in Gatland's law that says a player has to be offered a 'reasonable' contract by the Welsh regions and if not, then they can play abroad and still be eligible? Because offering a £250,000 player a £30,000 contract is not reasonable, and those players should be allowed to play elsewhere.
That better be the reason, because if not it's pathetic.
 
TBF I wonder how many rugby coaches showed much intelligence as players. English rugby culture as a whole is insanely conservative compared to other nations. How often have we been known for playing attractive rugby?
About 18 months in 2000-2001.
A brief enough time, that it didn't actually get noticed outside of England
 
47% this Six Nations is just unacceptable for a frontline kicker,
Nothing will change though so ho hum
How are his stats for Sarries? Alex Lowe in the Times suggesting it might be linked to his ankle injuries? Or needs to change his technique.
 
How are his stats for Sarries? Alex Lowe in the Times suggesting it might be linked to his ankle injuries? Or needs to change his technique.
Don't think his stats for Sarries matter. Reality is he's not a reliable kicker anymore at international level. Before you could understand his value as if there was a penalty in the opposition's half you felt it was an almost certain 3 points. Now it's got to the point of lucky dip. Yes he's still capable, he had 100% kicking rate in the first 3 games of the AIs, but have 100% sometimes and 40% at others isn't good enough. Even if his kicking percentages were good enough, I still don't think he justifies his place with his crap kicking and tactical selections. I don't know if he's been so drilled by EJ or what, but he's actively holding back the England attack.
 
Don't think his stats for Sarries matter. Reality is he's not a reliable kicker anymore at international level. Before you could understand his value as if there was a penalty in the opposition's half you felt it was an almost certain 3 points. Now it's got to the point of lucky dip. Yes he's still capable, he had 100% kicking rate in the first 3 games of the AIs, but have 100% sometimes and 40% at others isn't good enough. Even if his kicking percentages were good enough, I still don't think he justifies his place with his crap kicking and tactical selections. I don't know if he's been so drilled by EJ or what, but he's actively holding back the England attack.
I know we aren't coaches but when masses of the fans all seem to be saying the exact same thing in complete contrast to the coaches, it makes you wonder what the hell the coaches see. If you sat Borthwick down and asked him to justify Farrell's place on the team, I would not be surprised if it ended up being entirely based on woolly "intangibles" because everything that can be statistically measured is poor. Considering Borthwick is supposed to be renowned as Mr Stats, it just makes no sense.
 
I know we aren't coaches but when masses of the fans all seem to be saying the exact same thing in complete contrast to the coaches, it makes you wonder what the hell the coaches see. If you sat Borthwick down and asked him to justify Farrell's place on the team, I would not be surprised if it ended up being entirely based on woolly "intangibles" because everything that can be statistically measured is poor. Considering Borthwick is supposed to be renowned as Mr Stats, it just makes no sense.
Either that or Farrell is executing Borthwick's game plan perfectly which is even more worrying.

Tbh I don't think it's either of those. I think it's all about being risk averse. He knows he's got a free shot this world cup and that this group of players will at least get out the group and probably should win a QF. Therefore why risk it all imploding by trying something completely new in a limited time frame. He can start to make bigger changes after the world cup (though I'm not too hopeful).
 
Either that or Farrell is executing Borthwick's game plan perfectly which is even more worrying.

Tbh I don't think it's either of those. I think it's all about being risk averse. He knows he's got a free shot this world cup and that this group of players will at least get out the group and probably should win a QF. Therefore why risk it all imploding by trying something completely new in a limited time frame. He can start to make bigger changes after the world cup (though I'm not too hopeful).
That would be fair if Farrell was a safe option but he's not even that, he's arguably more prone to imploding than Ford or Smith when things go wrong and doesn't have the tools to stop the game sliding away once it has begun. Some of England's biggest implosions / collapses have been with Farrell at the helm and to which he has actively contributed.
 
Doing a bit of digging on statbunker, it seems that Farrell's kicking percentage for Sarries is 75% this season:

18/19: 78.7%
19/20: 77.1%
20/21: 82.3% - Championship
21/22: 85.7% - I guess all this is pre-ankle injury?
22/23: 75%.

Going back further he's pretty much always in the 75% to 80% range, with the exception of 10/11 and 11/12 where he only missed one kick out of 63 in the whole two seasons for Sarries.
 
How are his stats for Sarries? Alex Lowe in the Times suggesting it might be linked to his ankle injuries? Or needs to change his technique.
If I recall, one podcast I was listening to said his all in stats for the season were 77% Apparently in line with his worst kicking stats.
 
Top