Comments on: 6 things we learned from the weekend’s rugby

By: Stu

Stu — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 10:46:55 +0000

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.

By: Prophet Enoch

Prophet Enoch — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 20:19:24 +0000

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.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 16:42:26 +0000

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.

By: Stu

Stu — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 11:25:42 +0000

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!

By: twelvestocks

twelvestocks — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 10:34:28 +0000

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.

By: Pablito

Pablito — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 22:18:32 +0000

You don’t have to read it Enoch. If you don’t like it go read something else.

By: Prophet Enoch

Prophet Enoch — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 20:43:19 +0000

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.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 14:41:46 +0000

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.

By: Benjit

Benjit — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 14:06:20 +0000

“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.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 10:28:26 +0000

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.