paddyor wrote: ↑March 16th, 2023, 12:54 am
Listening to the Molecast, I think they’re wrong about the decision of the RFU to fire Jones. I think it had to be done mostly to keep the players in line. Which is in keeping with why he was let go by Japan(players threatened to quit if he stayed on) and Queensland to AIUI. Main criticism for me is he should never have been kept on as long as he was. The context was they started losing players to France(simmonds, marchant, Willis-signed for another yr with Toulouse) and they’d massive budget cuts at the clubs(biggar to Toulon mid season, Faf & de Jäger from sale, Exeter exodus). Then 2 clubs go bang within weeks of each other with rumours of 3rd swirling. 80 players is a lot of downward pressure on wages. There salary cap is .5m more than the Welsh one(marquee signing is irrelevant to them) If the prize for hanging around is getting treated like sh!t by Eddie Jones or who knows even having your career ended in a judo training exercise would you be that sure you’d take it? And he completely degraded the value of caps outside the RWC. The stories of steak & sausages or the after match texts are jarring funny but behind it is massive staff turnover.
I’m not here to defend Sweeney and his obscene pay rise(not remotely connected to having Ben Ryan do a hatchet job on the youth coaching structures dontxha know), he really should have done it sooner IMO. Another criticism is having gone to the trouble of replacing Jones he hampered his successor with the terms of the EPS agreement which only allowed him to change 5 non injured players. Madness.
Could France tonking England be the spark that turns rugby union structures around in England the way England tonking France did 4 or 5 years ago?
England aren't hosting a rwc tho. Still, they must recognise the issues aren't all coach-led.
I defo think Borthwich will jettison a good few of the current EPS in the summer when the GP season ends and I suspect a few of them know it(willis). I don't expect any kind of revolution because things are so peachy for the RFU they've handed out a massive pay bonus to the CEO . And from a certain perspective, the RFU gets what it wants from PRL for the most part.
Ruddock's tackle stats consistently too low for me to be taken seriously as a Six Nations blindside..... Ruddock's defensive stats don't stack up. - All Blacks Nil, Jan 15th, 2014
England A 8 - 14 Ireland A, 25th Jan 2014 Ruddock(c) 19/2 Tackles
One small advantage he has is that he was around the England setup when Jones went on that mad run trying every player in England at a every position. He's seen a fair few guys close up.
trevezel wrote: ↑March 17th, 2023, 10:56 am
and what about aldritt, danty ?
[/quote
I thought of Danty myself; but he's only played 1 match. Aldritt wouldn't get in a head of Doris who could arguably have been MOTM in all games he started in. Aldritt if I recall was taken off at 60? vs Ireland. I'd say you could pick the team of the tournament from the Ireland and French teams alone. So far both teams are well ahead of the other 4. One game to go though! With games played to date I''d go with.
15: Ramos (hard on Keenan though)
14: Penaud
13: Fickou
12: Tuipolotu
11: Lowe
10: Sexton
9: DuPont
1: Baille
2: Marchand
3: Bealham
4: Flament
5: Ryan
6: O'Mahony
7: Van Der Flier
8: Doris
16:Sheehan
17:Shoemann
18:Ferrari
19: Chessum
20: Lamaro
21: White
22: Russell
23: Aki
trevezel wrote: ↑March 17th, 2023, 10:52 am
dont be ridiculous, ramos is much better than keenan, and he can also score...
Ridiculous? Ramos is certainly not much better. Six nations so far Ramos has 3 tries (from memory 1 was an easy intercept, another an easy run in v England). Keenan has 2 both difficult finishes. Keenan has more carries, more metres made. What Ramos does have is his kicking from the tee.
. And from a certain perspective, the RFU gets what it wants from PRL for the most part.
