1. Northampton desperately need tries
On the face of it, a draw against Racing 92 is a great result but at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday night Northampton demonstrated yet again why they are struggling to break teams down with ease as they have done in previous seasons.
The cut and thrust in the midfield has dissipated and with early season calls for Ben Foden to be including in Eddie Jones’ first squad subsiding due to his lack of penetration from full back, Saints need to be careful that this lack of confidence doesn’t start to manifest in the squad.
They have only scored one try in four matches now and that was an early, gift wrapped Christmas present from George Ford to his old England mate Luther Burrell rather than attacking ingenuity.
The personnel from previous seasons haven’t changed but the coaching staff is just about to with Alex King’s imminent departure to the England set-up. A fresh start for all may just be what the doctor ordered.
2. Welsh hearts warmed by return to form of midfield maestro
He may have been out injured for seven months but when Jonathan Davies returned to the fray at the weekend he looked as though he hadn’t had a break at all.
Davies is an incredibly dangerous attacking force – and that was evident as always – but what has to be more notable is how he added ballast to the Clermont defensive line. In short, he completely bossed it. Whether it was a rush or drift defence, Davies and his inside defenders were all on the same page due to his communication and hard-tackling edge.
In the second half, when the game opened up, we truly saw Davies at his best. An O’Driscoll-esque break from a standstill – think 1st Lions Test 2001 – left the Chiefs defence scrambling and then to be on the end of a looping cross field ball to dot over in the corner put the shine on a truly polished and pleasing performance for the Welshman.
3. The contrasting fortunes of the number 10 jersey
It was another topsy-turvy weekend for the current crop of incumbent international fly halves with some staking claims whilst others are singlehandedly trying to remove the shirts from their own backs.
Johnny Sexton and George Ford were both on the end of demoralising losses for differing reasons. Sexton started well for Leinster as he controlled the game and rediscovered his kicking boots but in the second half, as the defence around him dwindled, he was unable to control the ballor see the game out from a winning position. The responsibility does not of course lie with Sexton alone but from a personal perspective, back-foot ball and numerous losses will not be doing his self-confidence much good.
His mood won’t have been helped by the form of Paddy Jackson for Ulster. As Jackson gets older so his maturity grows on a rugby field. He looks much more astute as a ten now and with the experienced Ruan Pienaar guiding him through big games the Ulsterman looks to be more settled and assured than ever at ten.
Ford had an even more torrid day. Trying to tackle Nathan Hughes was just the first mistake. After he was almost bounced into the River Avon the Bath ten continued to tackle too high, slip off tackles and offer very little in attack. A poor day at the office and an even poorer campaign so far.
You could argue that Ford wasn’t the favourite to be Eddie Jones’ first choice anyway but Owen Farrell has added a few more dimensions to his game in attack this season that will see him safely grab the England fly half jersey with both hands in February. Another exciting display against Oyonnax at the weekend demonstrating variation in his kicking and passing game helped Saracens yet again romp to victory.
4. Ospreys shoot themselves in foot… again!
For the second time this season the Welsh outfit have travelled to France, scored four tries and not won the match and for the second time they have been the masters of their own downfall.
There is no doubting that they have a fearsome counter attack that scores length of the field tries but all too often a loose kick, pass or tackle costs them so dearly during the crunch periods of matches.
After handing out tries to Bordeaux like Santa on Christmas, they battled their way back into the game after half time and even had a one man advantage as they closed in on their hosts. Then a poor decision led to a breakaway try that looked to have put Bordeaux out of site but again the Ospreys didn’t give in.
Two more tries put them within three points only to give away a kickable penalty that put the final nail in their coffin. For a team that has international class players all over the field, they have to shore up these silly mistakes if they are to be a consistent force in Europe.
5. Hartley not be the best player in his position
If the rumours are true that Dylan Hartley is to be announced as the new England captain, naturally this will bring with it controversy due to his disciplinary record. But more to the point, is he the best hooker available?
Jamie George yet again proved why he is considered one of the most exciting talents in English rugby with an exhilarating display for Saracens. Coming on as an early substitute, George slotted in perfectly. His lineout throwing and understanding with Maro Itoje is something that needs to be taken into consideration for international selection along with the danger that he poses in the loose.
After out-pacing Kyle Eastmond in the Premiership Final last season the Sarries hooker took a flat ball off Charlie Hodgson 40 metres out and with smoke coming from his boots scored a try of which Ma’a Nonu would have proud. He can also be confrontational when the going gets tough.
Richard Cockerill, the Leicester DOR has also come out and backed his Tigers hooker Tom Youngs and even touted him as a potential captain. This is now a debate that will linger on for the foreseeable future.
6. Eddie Jones’ job just got harder
Off the field, the circus that has been the RFU recruitment process reared its ugly head yet again with Northampton now claiming that the governing body’s approach to hire Alex King, their attacking coach, has been far from smooth. Jim Mallinder claims that they have been kept in the dark and may consider making an official complaint.
As far as Jones is concerned, he is trying to build a positive relationship with the coaches so that there is some cohesion between the clubs and the national team as to where players are being played, and the condition that they are in. How is he supposed to do this when his employers are using bully boy tactics to get what they want and in turn alienating the very people that Jones is trying to get close to?
Welcome to English rugby, Eddie.
By Andy Daniel (@scrum5ive)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
Totally agree with point 5. Hartley is not currently anywhere near certain of a place as a player. George and Youngs are both playing well and Hartley has been out for some time. Even if he proved himself fit and in the sort of form he hasn´t shown for at least two years I still wouldn´t pick him. His suspensions for gouging, biting, punching, elbowing, butting and abusing the ref are indicative of a man who is dirty and unreliable rather than hard and abrasive. He was lucky to only get yellow when stamping on a player against South Africa last year, missed the Lions tour and the World Cup through his own stupidity and let Northampton down in a major final by getting sent off. At 29, in my book he should have run out of chances some time ago.
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“He was lucky to only get yellow when stamping on a player against South Africa last year”
absolute rubbish. That Saffa deserved it and more. I also have some sympathy for the “biting” incident with Ferris – Ferris was clearly fish hooking him and deserved what he got. Ferris immediately went further down in my esteem when he went whining to the ref. The one true blot was the gouging, but that was very early in his career and he has never done anything close to as appalling as that again. Agree on the main point that he is not in form to be given the arm band, but I would probably still have him above Youngs.
No mention of the signing of Ben Te’o from Leinster by Worcester. Now SL barred Strettle because he was joining a French club, could we invert that precedent and select Te’o because he has signed for an English club. With Slade and Manu out the 12 cupboard is a bit bare – could we finally see the “exceptional circumstances” clause used? I admit it is a stretch, but Barritt, 12t, Burrell et all have been tried many, many times and failed.
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Completely agree on all you say about Hartley. His disciplinary record is greatly exaggerated in my opinion. George is in great form so it makes it more complicated, but outside of him I’d have Hartley way ahead of any other hooker.
On Ben Te’o, I was chatting about this to someone yesterday. Not sure how the rule works but i certainly think we should pick him now considering he will be in England in a few months. Or certainly be seriously considering him. Looks to be a good player, not necessarily amazing, but as you say the 12 cupboard is pretty bare right now.
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I certainly agree that Vermeulen (I think it was him if I remember rightly) deserved a good shoeing for lying on the wrong side. Twenty years ago he would have been rucked out of there with a route map of pain studded on his back. However, it was stupid and immature of Hartley to stick the boot into him right in front of the ref when we had the penalty coming anyway. We lost by three points, and playing with fourteen due to an unnecessary foul was not helpful. I´ve only seen the Ferris incident once so you may well be right.
I take it the Te´o comment is tongue in cheek. We aren´t some middle eastern sheikdom which desperately needs to hire foreign athletes to boost their national team as the Quataris do with Kenyan runners. We have more players than any other country and put more money into it. If we can´t produce a decent national team with those advantages that is an indictment of the RFU, the clubs and the coaching structure. Picking overseas players who have no real loyalty to England, are often not good enough for their own countries, and will buzz off back to their homelands when their careers end is emphatically not the long term solution as has been proved too many times.
Happy Christmas All. Really looking forward to an interesting 2016.
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Yes those Ospreys…..so utterly useless to get 2 x 2 bonus points away in France over the 4 games we’ve seen to date.
Remind us how well other sides have done away in France??
And well done for ignoring Biggar in your comments on international No10s.
Nice to see fair reporting for all sides as ever on rugby blog.
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You don’t have to read it Enoch. If you don’t like it go read something else.
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I hate to say it as a long term Foden fan, but I do suspect he may have lost half a yard of pace since his latest come back. He was burnt off quite showingly the week before last and as mentioned here isn’t causing any problems in attack. That said he deserves longer to prove himself before being written off.
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Does anyone else think it is becoming a bit silly with the amount of players deciding they want to be English in order to play international rugby? I can’t see how this helps develop ‘English’ players when we just parachute in anyone who has a 3rd cousin that holidayed in England for a month as a child. Surely Te’o would just be preventing a chance for Hill or Devoto for instance?
This doesn’t apply to Nathan Hughes though, he can stay!
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Stu,
Does this actually mean that an England fan has finally realised what has been going on in English rugby for years????
The footie premiership has not served English international football at all well and the English rugby prem does not serve the interests of the rugby national team in so similar a vein.
I have, on more than one occasion, pointed out how many cheap and pointless international caps the RFU have dished out to supposed ‘Englishmen’ whose careers last 12 months at best before they are dropped. In many cases they don’t see out a single international season (Vunicola, the great England wing solution c2008 is classic example We even have another ‘got 1 cap only, in the case of the Fijian condom, or as it is known in my part of the World as a DUNKEY|)
So so often we’ve been told over and again that Mr X (usually SH born but English qualified somehow) is going to be ‘the greatest player who could play for England’. However Mr X usually turns out to be Blackadder’s ‘greatest turd in the water pipe’ and then he inevitably shows himself to be yet another utterly appalling disappointment at international level for England until another foreign-born mercenary is picked to fail in the white shirt
Pick Englishmen who want to play rugby for England because that is all they have ever wanted to do.
Anything else is just pointless and boy oh boy don’t you think you’ve seen enough of Russian émigré ‘princes’ name Oblenski to former NZ rugby league players like Henry Awful.
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Enoch
I think most people are aware that the majority of countries do this and have done for years, I just think we need to be careful that we are not ignoring the opportunity to blood younger English players instead of a mediocre import. I agree with you that England may have bypassed this opportunity in the past and I would hope it doesn’t continue to happen un-necessarily.
As for the premiership, I suppose the higher salary cap means teams will continue to follow the football model of bringing in the best imports although there do seem to be a lot of young English players getting opportunities and playing regularly which can only be a good thing.
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