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http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/jo...players-will-competing-replace-james-haskell/

Jones has said that Robshaw while remain at 6 while (Sam) Jones and Williams will battle it out for the 7 shirt. He's stated that he wants a "Destructive, defensive player at 7" which makes me wonder why, if that's the kind of 7 he's looking for, why Evans is in the 45-Man Squad. Jones and Williams are both only 24 and fit that mould much better than Evans who is far more of a traditional 7. Hopefully though the battle between Jones And Williams will finally reveal who our long term option at 7 is.
 
Must admit, I'm surprised to see Ben Morgan in the squad - he's had an alright start to the season but way short of his best form.

Maybe I'm biased (Glocs fan and former openside) but I also think Jones' comments regarding flankers must be something of a kick in the nuts to Kvesic - he's been oustanding for the last year and a half, plays as a classic 7 and yet....
He might lack a yard of pace but he has that happy knack of being in the right place at the right time and I just can't believe he is not in the top 6-8 English qualified flankers.
 
I guess Jones wants a big hitter at 6 and 7 who attack every ruck.

A classic 7 tends to pick and choose his rucks and stay out with the backs in defence to get more chance of turning the ball over.
 
Tigs Man said:
I guess Jones wants a big hitter at 6 and 7 who attack every ruck.

A classic 7 tends to pick and choose his rucks and stay out with the backs in defence to get more chance of turning the ball over.
Click to expand...

I can see that and fair enough if that's the approach he wants (obviously).

But this is what he said:
"We're not looking for your traditional seven [open-side flanker] because at the moment we don't have that in England,"

Just seems a bit harsh if you're a traditional 7 playing in England.
 
TRF_Peat said:
The squad for anyone who missed it - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/37517668

If Jones is a destructive flanker, I missed it happening in South Africa. People say good things this season about Wasps mind.

Surprised and pleased to see big Ben Morgan in there. Comments on Cips are interesting.
Click to expand...

Sam hits very hard in defence, and often, think he's yet to miss a tackle this season and tends to make the highest in the squad, made more than double our other backrow in the Saints game. He's a unit and he puts in a very big shift, also got plenty of pace and is a decent lineout option. Occasionally has tits for hands, but no worse than Hask. He isn't afraid to stick his head into dark places either, which is why he spent so long on the sidelines in previous seasons, kept picking up concussions.
 
Aye, Jones is class - always rated him.
Little surprised to see him in the EPS, thought he might be one of those guys who performs consistently for his club never really gets the chance to step up, but delighted for him.
Really rate Williams as well.

Having said that I'd still prefer an old school 7, I'm stuck in my ways like that.
Also really shows Jones' moaning about the England backrow in the world cup as nothing but a wind up, as he's essentially doing the same but with different personnel (or the same personal, as he has up until recently!).
 
TRF_Olyy said:
Aye, Jones is class - always rated him.
Little surprised to see him in the EPS, thought he might be one of those guys who performs consistently for his club never really gets the chance to step up, but delighted for him.
Really rate Williams as well.

Having said that I'd still prefer an old school 7, I'm stuck in my ways like that.
Also really shows Jones' moaning about the England backrow in the world cup as nothing but a wind up, as he's essentially doing the same but with different personnel (or the same personal, as he has up until recently!).
Click to expand...

I think when he made the comments about the World Cup and us needing a real fetching 7, he did mean it. He just didn't quite realise how dire our 7 situation is. I know people will argue that Kvesic is a real 7, but if both Lancaster and Jones have both completely snubbed him there must be something wrong with him.

Now that Jones has realised we have no capable fetchers, he's adopted the current tactic of being as physical as possible while maintaining a high work rate. And he's showing us with Hask, Jones, Williams, Harrison (to an extent) that we have an abundance of players capable of doing that.
 
Raggs said:
Sam hits very hard in defence, and often, think he's yet to miss a tackle this season and tends to make the highest in the squad, made more than double our other backrow in the Saints game. He's a unit and he puts in a very big shift, also got plenty of pace and is a decent lineout option. Occasionally has tits for hands, but no worse than Hask. He isn't afraid to stick his head into dark places either, which is why he spent so long on the sidelines in previous seasons, kept picking up concussions.
Click to expand...

According to mr Tyler's stats he is on 95% this season which is a better rate than everyone else bar Williams. Jones weakest thing seems to be his ball carrying.

But he is a clever player and as said a destructive flanker IMO.

Williams
Jones
Vunipola
Is a pretty big back row unit with a nice mix.

Alot of his world cup comments revolve around how England was trying to play with the players we had in place Eddie wants a mean pack to boss opposition and players to hit everything, Lancaster was more determined to have a NZ setup but he did this by wrongly playing 2 6.5's (If that at times) instead of a 6 and a 7.
 
Last edited:
TobyBeastTeague said:
I think when he made the comments about the World Cup and us needing a real fetching 7, he did mean it. He just didn't quite realise how dire our 7 situation is. I know people will argue that Kvesic is a real 7, but if both Lancaster and Jones have both completely snubbed him there must be something wrong with him.

Now that Jones has realised we have no capable fetchers, he's adopted the current tactic of being as physical as possible while maintaining a high work rate. And he's showing us with Hask, Jones, Williams, Harrison (to an extent) that we have an abundance of players capable of doing that.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say Kvesic, Wallace and Fraser are not 'capable fetchers', but I agree that we have better 6.5 types. As Tigs Man said, Lancaster just deployed them in the wrong way. We don't have great jackalling capabilities, so we're better off counter-rucking and blasting teams off the ball.
 
I can't see Jones starting 2 uncapped flankers vs a team like South Africa. It is the in form pairing ATM, but Robshaw has to be in for the experience. I wouldn't be against Williams-Jones vs Fiji though, would be a good time to break them in and see how it goes. Them paired with Beaumont at 8 vs Fiji tickles my fancy.
 
Which Tyler said:
And let Fiji have Hughes
Click to expand...

TBF, Hughes has lived here for 3 years. He obviously has some allegiance to our country because he could walk into the Fiji starting team, but likely won't get into the 23 here, so to persist with us shows that he does actually have a desire to play for England. If he can work his way into the 23, then I'm fine with him being there.
 
Yeah, he likes our money.

I'd far rather see a qualification period that is longer than a single contract, and preferably longer than a single RWC rotation. I've long advocated 5 year residency, and see no reason to change now.
 
Chiefs vs Saints:

LCD - His dropping to the bench and exclusion from the 37-Man England Squad seems to have really knocked his confidence. Line outs were poor and didn't make up for it in the loose.

Slade - One of the few Chiefs players who did alright today. Always takes it to the opposition line and was solid in defence as well as some good distribution.

Devoto - Similar to Slade, performed well but wasn't helped out by a weak pack and half backs. Kicked and carried well though.

Nowell - First game back, came off the bench. Put in a good defensive shift and a decent work rate but didn't offer much in attack. Good for his first 30 minutes of rugby since Oz though.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> UPDATE<br>Wasps' Sam Jones has sustained an ankle injury during an England training session and will return to his club this afternoon. <a href="https://t.co/fJh8ELffBS">pic.twitter.com/fJh8ELffBS</a></p>&mdash; England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) <a href="https://twitter.com/EnglandRugby/status/783257203159490561">October 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 

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