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MarkyH said:
Every team will be playing their strongest in the knockouts, and in at least two group games. We won't be any different.
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Not so sure about that and the timing of games is clearly against us....

Pool A: Ire and Sco will be at full strength vs each other but they, esp Ire, should be able to mix it up against Jap, Rus and Sam.

Japan shouldn't be taken lightly on home soil, but the crunch match will almost certainly be Ire v Sco on 22nd Sept allowing both sides to rest, at least some, top players until the QF weekend 19 / 20 Oct.


Pool B: NZ and RSA won't need full strength teams to dispose of Ita, Nam or Can.

Crunch match: NZ vs RSA is on 21st Sept, and there is absolutely no need for either side's top boys to appear again until the QFs a month later.


Pool C: Eng's group.

We have Arg on 5th Oct and France on 12th Oct. Likely full strength sides for both with no opportunity for rest or to get over minor knocks before the QF the following weekend.


Pool D: Aus and Wal will be at full strength against each other, but will be able to mix it up against Geo, Fiji and Uru

Crunch match: Aus v Wal is 29th Sept, so again that's 3 clear weeks before the top guys need to be wheeled out for the QFs.


The coaches of Wal, Ire, RSA, NZ and Aus may not want their top players inactive for 3 weeks or a month, but they have the choice and can manage their workload and recovery from injuries before the knockout stages start. We're just going to have to cross fingers.
 
If we had 5 walkovers I would play our strongest team in at least 2 games, there is a balance between resting and making sure we're not under-cooked for the knockout games,

Maybe it would be better if our fixtures were more mixed, but I don't mind the gradual increase in difficulty. And I want my players mentally and physically ready. I really am not worried about fatigue in such a short space of time at this time of the season. I want my best players sharp and ready.

If I will be quite arrogant, I think we can mix it up against Argentina and maybe France too. If we don't need to risk existing knocks in those games we don't have to. I'm sure that while other teams can maybe mix it up a bit more, they will still want to work on there first XV enough. I doubt SA or NZ will rest there top players for basically a month till the knockout phases as that would be mad, they might well change around a bit more, but players need games, some players more so :)
 
@Old Hooker

What would you suggest? What's an ideal scenario for game ready or under-cooked? You seem to want to rest big players in all games that we should win, and only play them in the big games?

And you're suggesting 2 games is too much out of 4 over the space of a month.. ?
 
MarkyH said:
@Old Hooker

What would you suggest? What's an ideal scenario for game ready or under-cooked? You seem to want to rest big players in all games that we should win, and only play them in the big games?

And you're suggesting 2 games is too much out of 4 over the space of a month.. ?
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If we harbour realistic ambitions of rehoming Bill, Jones is going to have to be very smart in the way he uses his resources and possibly take a few risks in selection and timing of substitutions.

5 tier 1 teams in consecutive weeks is more than any 6N, AI or tour and more than any other contender will be facing in this RWC. Full on internationals are intense and if we field fundamentally the same team, that workload will take a toll whether its mental or physical tiredness or injury.

The other main contenders have the luxury of being able to rest players against inferior oppo or rehab them so that they should be in pretty good shape for the start of the knockout stages. It's quite conceivable that NZ will only start Barrett will vs RSA and not again until the QFs a month later, with perhaps the odd cameo off the bench in between to keep his hand in. Faz will almost certainly start, and be in the thick of, every game from Arg onwards. Being at the top of your game in pressure matches for 3 consecutive weeks is one thing, for 5 quite another.

It's the luck of the draw, nothing we can do about that. But to be in with a shout Jones will need a fully fit squad and may need to show more faith in some of the fringe players than he'd wish.

And you're right about under cooking. The A team will all want some form of hit out even if just from the bench, pre Arg.
 
Especially when different 10s defend at different positions - Ford is out on the wing a lot of the time (by design, not because he's hiding).

scotty507 said:
No wonder we are stuck for SHs, in the running for prem 9 of the season of the 5 options are 3 SA 1 Aussie and 1 NZ (Heinz who is an England player...just.) (Do not start a residency argument on this thread).

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Can't watch the video at work but Spencer had a much better season than Faf
 
TobyBeastTeague said:
Ford made 31 tackles in the warm-up games and missed 2. His defence is not an issue.
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Its great that people aren’t trampling over him, but that’s an over bullish conclusion. There’s more to it than that.....as there is for any player.

On how many of those 31 did he concede significant ground and what happened in the ensuing phases?

On how many of those 31 did the carrier get an offload away?

On how many of those 31 were other players needed to complete the tackle?

How many of those 31 either sent the carrier backwards or created a turnover opportunity?

Etc.

I don’t know the answers, and I’m not arguing against Ford, but you can’t use bald stats like that to QED an issue.
 
ragerancher said:
A single idiotic penalty or missed tackle is more harmful than a whole game of conceding a few meters in completed tackles yet how often do we talk about the amount of ground we conceded because itoje repeatedly did really stupid ****?
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He’s, rightly, taken a fair bit of flak for those.
 
Old Hooker said:
Its great that people aren’t trampling over him, but that’s an over bullish conclusion. There’s more to it than that.....as there is for any player.

On how many of those 31 did he concede significant ground and what happened in the ensuing phases?

On how many of those 31 did the carrier get an offload away?

On how many of those 31 were other players needed to complete the tackle?

How many of those 31 either sent the carrier backwards or created a turnover opportunity?

Etc.

I don’t know the answers, and I’m not arguing against Ford, but you can’t use bald stats like that to QED an issue.
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I can see that this view is not universally popular but it does ring true with my observations of Ford. He's certainly not a coward and he's not technically incompetent in the tackle but he does concede ground in the 10 channel. When your game plan revolves around not doing that (which normally is the case if Farrell plays there) it's surely not a huge surprise that this point of difference gets picked up. Stopping people dead is valuable, it's as at least as valuable as looking a bit flash and making a few metres doing so. Despite Farrell's tendency to achieve this with questionable technique (and yes he does miss a few) he's significantly more abrasive than Ford and much more likely to dominate a collision. He's also far less likely to need the assistance of another player to complete the job.

As for this

"A single idiotic penalty or missed tackle is more harmful than a whole game of conceding a few meters in completed tackles"

Those tend to come on top of the "few metres conceded in completed tackles" if Ford is playing. At the very top it's about marginal gains. A judgement is required as to whether Ford's attacking prowess outweighs the impact on the overall performance of the team. I think EJ understands this and will give Ford the job when he knows that defence won't be definitively critical. However, in games where it is and where carriers will clearly target him if he plays then Farrell is a better option if adequately supported by players outside him. It's definitely more predictable but I suspect Eddie as do I thinks it's the percentage play.

It's not just Ford by the way and the tarring of St Jonny as the instigator of certain expectations is entirely fair. A certain Danny Cipriani at one point would have had awesome tackle stats. He never missed as he performed some kind of rodeo push down tackle that relied on a back rower completing the tackle. However, this came at a cost of lost ground and another player out of the defensive line. Eventually somebody must have had a word and told him that's not good enough..............
 
Well according to the WRU website Heineken are one of their sponsors......maybe they’re just too embarrassed to admit it.

https://www.wru.wales/legal/partners-and-sponsors/

Anyway, what are they doing hijacking our thread??


TobyBeastTeague said:
Everyone but Mako and Nowell reportedly available for the Tonga game. Nowell's been sprinting and Mako's done live scrummaging.
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That’s great news if everyone’s properly fit. There’s no point in risking anyone who’s borderline.
 

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