Top 10 Fullbacks

[goodNumber10]

he was one of our most consistent players in 6N. Wasn't found wanting, never got exposed. Consistency in an inconsistent side does stand out. He is known as Mr Reliable in Castres if you didn't know.

i agree he's the best Fullback in the top 14, he had a good six nations - but so did all the other 15's, but he's not top 10 in the world right now in my opinion.

 

[goodNumber10]

well where else would Dulin go? he's already in the best league. He might look at the big 3 here or they might start giving him the eye. I'd like to see his stats from the 6N on number of defenders beaten, i'd be surprised if they're not high. He is by far our best player of the championship with Huget. Any stats out there?

go to the RBSSIXNATIONS website and check the match stats, that will give pretty comprehensive attack and defence stats per player.

 

[Peat]

well where else would Dulin go? he's already in the best league. He might look at the big 3 here or they might start giving him the eye. I'd like to see his stats from the 6N on number of defenders beaten, i'd be surprised if they're not high. He is by far our best player of the championship with Huget. Any stats out there?

ESPN bro. They put him on 16 defenders beaten - only 2 clean breaks though.

Can't be bothered to go count the others for comparison's sake, but in terms of the day they played each other, only Hogg beat more defenders than Dulin - he and Kearney both 2 in the Fra-Ire match; more than Brown, Halfpenny and McLean.

 

[goodNumber10]

ESPN bro. They put him on 16 defenders beaten - only 2 clean breaks though.

Can't be bothered to go count the others for comparison's sake, but in terms of the day they played each other, only Hogg beat more defenders than Dulin - he and Kearney both 2 in the Fra-Ire match; more than Brown, Halfpenny and McLean.

France were the best counter attacking side in the torunament, so that's not too surprising... but there is a lot more to being a good 15 then just beating defenders.

 

[Darwin]

IWow people on this forum really don't rate dagg do they... Playing for a badly coached/managed, unimaginative attacking club shouldn't count against him too much i reckon. It was pretty much the same last year wasn't it? Average for Crusaders and then boom... dominates for NZ.

The fact Dagg is playing for the Crusaders doesn't count against him. They have been poor on attack this season, but they scored plenty of tries last season (2nd only to the Chiefs). The problem is Dagg is playing poorly for them. Over the last few seasons he has been very error prone, his defense has got progressively worse, and he has almost become a liability with ball in hand. He is so predictable whenever he gets the ball - he crabs across the field then slows down and tries to sidestep from a static start. This makes him a easy target for the defense, and he gets driven back behind the advantage line. Sometimes he likes to mix it up and throws a no-look pass. To no-one. He is still capable of the odd moment of brilliance when he backs himself, but these are becoming increasingly rare.

The bigger problem is that this poor form isn't just restricted to the Crusaders. He was very average for the All Blacks last season. As I mentioned before his massive punt and work under the high ball still make him useful at test level, but the rest of his game was below par last year. He offered next to nothing with ball in hand, and his defense was very hit and miss. He finished the season with a complete shocker against Ireland. I think he was incredibly lucky to still be starting for the AB's by the end of last season, and if the first AB's squad of the season was picked on form he wouldn't be near it.....

 

[kenny_bee180]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H90jh5AM4c&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Here's the world's best fullback

 

[FrenchFan]

I love Dulin, he should have won player of the tournament in the 6N.

If anyone has forgotten what he brings to a side then check out this clip:

he is not at fault on that try. He does pick up the ball ahead of North but Doussain collides into him and the ball pops out as a result of the collision.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Six nations stats say the following for the whole tournament:

Defenders Beaten (only the top player for each side):

Mike Brown: 25
George North: 16
Mathieu Bastareud: 16
Rob Kearney: 13
Stuart Hogg: 13
leonard Sarto: 13

Clean Breaks:
Mike Brown: 10
Yoann Huget: 6
George North: 7
Tommy Seymour: 3
Andrew Trimble: 6
Leonardo Sarto: 5

Dulin is a quality quality player, possibly(definitely) disadvantaged by the team he was playing in. However, you can't really argue Dulin not being player of the tournament with stats such as these - you can extrapolate that he beat 16 or fewer defenders, and 6 or fewer clean breaks.

Ewis what you say about the time taken for the international community to notice french players is somewhat ironic seeing as I'm sure you'll be the first to admit(I hope) that you don't know the first thing about Non internationally-capped English players, for example! No offence intended there!

Regardless, for my money Dulin is a top 5 world full back and potentially more than that.

 

[TheSaffycen]

All my stats are from http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/france/france_team_statistics.php
It only shows the largest for each category so I don't know how many defenders Dulin beat because Basteraud got more.
Basteraud beat more defenders with 16
Brice Dulin made 373 meters from 59 carries so an average of 6.3m per carry Also conceded 10 turnovers
Brown made 543 meters from 64 carries average 8.5m he beat 25 defenders and scored 4 tries, 10 clean breaks
Looking at those stats I can't see how anyone can make a case for Dulin being the best fullback in the world.

WelshGlory I can't really agree that Taylor, Buttin and Piutau who have not been truly exposed to international rugby can be ranked higher than
Brown, Halfpenny and Kearney. I would also put Kearney in the elite fullback category, two lions tours and ERC Player of the Year for 2012.
EDITHenry got there before me

 

[Peat]

All my stats are from http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/france/france_team_statistics.php
It only shows the largest for each category so I don't know how many defenders Dulin beat because Basteraud got more.

You'd know if you went to the stats for individual matches from the Fixtures & Results page ^_^

No point though, its 16. He and Basta evidently tied.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Dulin looked class - and moreover, seemed to eschew the (seemingly engrained) typical French malaise that occurs when playing in a team that isn't performing.
He just got on with it and kept trying - exactly the sort of character that you need as a professional sports-person.

 

[TheSaffycen]

You'd know if you went to the stats for individual matches from the Fixtures & Results page

 

[kenny_bee180]

Give benji marshal time and he will be in that list. That is if plays FB and not 10

 

[The_Wol]

Give benji marshal time and he will be in that list. That is if plays FB and not 10

Except for the fact Benji is several hundred years old already and will have to retire soon. I doubt he'll have the time to make that list.

 

[Big Ewis]

meh, it always has to come down to that francophobic attitude doesn't it?

You've dialed the wrong number. Nobody (but you) has talked about francophobic anything. What I said was the English-speaking world has a certain connivance and easiness of coming together, knowing about each other that it doesn't have for the non-English-speaking world. And it's the same in sports, and Rugby is no exception.

he is not at fault on that try. He does pick up the ball ahead of North but Doussain collides into him and the ball pops out as a result of the collision.

don't answer those man, he's just trying to wind you up.

Ewis what you say about the time taken for the international community to notice french players is somewhat ironic seeing as I'm sure you'll be the first to admit(I hope) that you don't know the first thing about Non internationally-capped English players, for example! No offence intended there!

A ridiculous post. Irony has as much to do with this as it does...ants. Or pizza.

Saying the int'l community takes a while to recognize French players, and personally not watching for whatever reason the Aviva Premiership often are two entirely distinct, isolated facts; one that pertains to a larger reality, the other just a minuscule element of my personal individual life.
I don't *take a while to recognize English players*, I just don't watch Prem. No relation whatsoever.

By your fallacious logic, I'd have to force myself to watch Prem or other leagues just to be able to make the observational comment that the Rugby world (basically the English-speaking community) takes a while to recognize, say, French (or Italian, Argentinian...) players.

Irony in this context would be something like: I say the int'l community doesn't know French players, and I don't myself.
And loving the ultra-passive aggressive "No offence intended there!" that comes out of nowhere. ^_^


ehhhh...aaaanyways. Dulin definitely a Top 10 FB in my book.

 

[goodNumber10]

You've dialed the wrong number. Nobody (but you) has talked about francophobic anything. What I said was the English-speaking world has a certain connivance and easiness of coming together, knowing about each other that it doesn't have for the non-English-speaking world. And it's the same in sports, and Rugby is no exception.

Essentially what your saying boils down to two things, "if you don't speak fluent french you don't understand our players" or "if you dont' speak french you can't possibly watch the top 14, and if you do you don't understand our players"

Which is just garbage.

I'm not having a pop here but you seem to think no one outside of the french speaking community watches french club rugby/top14, ESPN in the UK showed a game every week (not sure if they still do *just checked two this weekend) that's free for anyone with BT, and most people in France get canal+ with their subscription and some of us who live here even go along to the games - and not just top 14 games. (why I watched David Attoub refereee St Denis vs Courbevoie only last week).

 

[SimonG]

You should probably stick to football then

I was a massive fan of Wilson too, but he was far better on the wing than at fullback.

Why who is exciting at FB? Most of em are defensive...catch...kick. Zzzz. Brown six nations player of the year..dear god.

Yes I'm a moaning Minnie and for good reason too...the free flowing game of Rugby of brilliant attacking play that I was brought up watching no longer exists. The Aus of Campese, NZ of Lomu, South Africa of Van der Westhuizen, France of Sella, England of Guscott..besides the individual brilliance of O'Driscoll only Wales has got me remotely excited in recent years. The increased emphasis on physicality over flair is to blame. The worst case is France who are unrecognisable.

 

[FrenchFan]

Why who is exciting at FB? Most of em are defensive...catch...kick. Zzzz. Brown six nations player of the year..dear god.

Yes I'm a moaning Minnie and for good reason too...the free flowing game of Rugby of brilliant attacking play that I was brought up watching no longer exists. The Aus of Campese, NZ of Lomu, South Africa of Van der Westhuizen, France of Sella, England of Guscott..besides the individual brilliance of O'Driscoll only Wales has got me remotely excited in recent years. The increased emphasis on physicality over flair is to blame. The worst case is France who are unrecognisable.

here we go again..the game of rugby has changed so have the rules, players, coaches, training methodes, fitness levels etc etc. Everything in the game has changed even the refs! you can't ask Bastareaud to play like Sella : its not the same game. Its great to hear that we are not recognizable from the 70's 80's because if we did that would mean the french team has not evolved at all.

 

[SimonG]

Correct it's not the same game. And France have never been worse. Complete culture shock for O'Gara when he went to France not realising they had evolved into garbage. The modern rugby fan; "Flair?, subtlety?..what are these you speak of?".

Sella, Saint Andre, Blanco..none would withstand the bulked up limited brutes of todays game.

 

[FrenchFan]

Correct it's not the same game. And France have never been worse. Complete culture shock for O'Gara when he went to France not realising they had evolved into garbage. The modern rugby fan; "Flair?, subtlety?..what are these you speak of?".

Sella, Saint Andre, Blanco..none would withstand the bulked up limited brutes of todays game.

Well if O'Gara thinks the rugby here is rubbish, whats he doing in Top14?? he should go home and cultivate flair in Munster. Mind you, judging by his club's performance in the league and the spring cleaning that might come as a result, he could be going home a lot sooner. O'Gara has 6 months of coaching under his belt, not very credible.

And Huget Dulin Medard Fofana are of course all bulked up limited brutes ?! what are you smoking