James Haskell

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Also said that while he can see Eddies plan he thinks that at the moment it is the players not being able to carry it out that is the issue.

That's quite a damning statement.

If the players aren't good enough for they are being asked to do find some who are and if there aren't any come up with a different plan. What's the point of sending players out with instructions they can't implement?

[Skippy]

I find Haskell's comments astoundingly arrogant. We are the customers. If we don't like what is served up in front of us, then we have every right to complain, especially if we've been stiffed the thick end of £200 to watch a World Cup training run at HQ. 

Keep taking the mick for long enough, and more and more people will take their business elsewhere. They might not go to other matches, but they'll do something more useful with the money (like fill up the car or pay the heating bill).

As for the comment that no-one else could do a better job, that too is grade A fertiliser. There's a coach out there with a proved track record at the highest level, including building competitive Lions teams from scratch in a matter of weeks. That coach is Gatland. And there's plenty of pundits that say the same and not just know-nothing fans like me.

[wasps]

Typical Haskell bullshit.

Eddie undoubtedly has far more experience than any of us at coaching international rugby teams.

But there will be a lot of people on this forum and social media in general who will know far more than an elite rugby coach about man management......
And typical he doesn't score particularly well in that area

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Skippy,

I find Haskell's comments astoundingly arrogant. We are the customers. If we don't like what is served up in front of us, then we have every right to complain, especially if we've been stiffed the thick end of £200 to watch a World Cup training run at HQ. 

Good point. In the amateur days (yeah, I know) players had a right to tell us to sod off if we didn’t like the product, they were playing for their own enjoyment.

[InBetweenWasp]

I find Haskell's comments astoundingly arrogant. We are the customers. If we don't like what is served up in front of us, then we have every right to complain, especially if we've been stiffed the thick end of £200 to watch a World Cup training run at HQ. 

Two things can be true at once. 

Undoubtedly, we're entitled to our opinions/views as to what we're seeing in front of us and/or paying to watch.  Whether we're entitled to continually air them on all channels to players, pundits, ex-players etc etc... via social media is a different matter.  It's become very toxic for many involved.  Just because it's possible to do so, doesn't necessarily mean we should.  But that last bit is up for debate and will vary from person to person.

Haskell has also said recently that he finds it easy to point out what's going wrong when watching from the stands, but it's incredibly difficult to see the same and correct things on the pitch - even with advice from Water Boys, sideline staff.  So even he, as an ex-Pro, who's still close to the game has a disconnect between what's actually happening on the pitch and what he sees from the stands.

Similarly, Goodey on this weeks Rugby Pod spoke about how he also feels out of touch at with some of the tactics and strategies in the modern game as someone who also retired relatively recently.

So it's possible that Haskell can see what Eddie is trying to do and believes it to be a strategy that could win.  Personally, I think Eddie whilst telling us he's playing the long game and building for something is actually sh*tting himself a bit and making knee-jerk reactions game-by-game.

I would have happily accepted us losing to both France and Ireland (Yes, even at HQ) if we'd seen some decent attacking intent over the other games and hadn't just sought to try and kick teams into submission.

[Shugs]

Let’s be honest Jones’ latest tactic was to give it to a prop and let him trundle into people. You don’t have to be a tactics Svengali to understand that. Nor do you need to be Nostradamus to work out that against a French pack the size of brick outhouses it was never going to work.

[WonkyWasp]

         

[Skippy]

"Let’s be honest Jones’ latest tactic was to give it to a prop and let him trundle into people."

Hardly revolutionary stuff. We used that tactic to great effect when I was at prep school in the 1980s.

[baldpaul101]

Let’s be honest Jones’ latest tactic was to give it to a prop and let him trundle into people. You don’t have to be a tactics Svengali to understand that. Nor do you need to be Nostradamus to work out that against a French pack the size of brick outhouses it was never going to work.

And yet Genge made more metres than anyone on either side.... so maybe it worked after all?

[Shugs]

No it didn’t. Metres made should never be confused with points scored and games won.

[Trevs Big Tackle]

It's easy to defend metres. A few yards here or there around the halfway line is no bother to a decent defence if they can still disrupt the ruck and prevent quick ball, which the French did every time. I don't think Genge managed an offload after an initial half break or anything else that would potentially stretch a decent defence.

[InBetweenWasp]

Let’s be honest Jones’ latest tactic was to give it to a prop and let him trundle into people. You don’t have to be a tactics Svengali to understand that. Nor do you need to be Nostradamus to work out that against a French pack the size of brick outhouses it was never going to work.

And yet Genge made more metres than anyone on either side.... so maybe it worked after all?

With these stats there should really be a way to differentiate between opposed and unopposed metres made (or similar).  Most of Genge's metres made were running the ball back in clear air.  Most of the time, he was crunched by the French defence as soon as he hit their line.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Let’s be honest Jones’ latest tactic was to give it to a prop and let him trundle into people. You don’t have to be a tactics Svengali to understand that. Nor do you need to be Nostradamus to work out that against a French pack the size of brick outhouses it was never going to work.

And yet Genge made more metres than anyone on either side.... so maybe it worked after all?

With these stats there should really be a way to differentiate between opposed and unopposed metres made (or similar).  Most of Genge's metres made were running the ball back in clear air.  Most of the time, he was crunched by the French defence as soon as he hit their line.

An in the meantime tiring himself out sprinting those 25m Genge is an extraordinary athlete but is it really the best use of a prop's energy reserves?

Let the backs bring it forward, that's what their fitness and training is designed around.

[Rossm]

Let’s be honest Jones’ latest tactic was to give it to a prop and let him trundle into people. You don’t have to be a tactics Svengali to understand that. Nor do you need to be Nostradamus to work out that against a French pack the size of brick outhouses it was never going to work.

And yet Genge made more metres than anyone on either side.... so maybe it worked after all?

With these stats there should really be a way to differentiate between opposed and unopposed metres made (or similar).  Most of Genge's metres made were running the ball back in clear air.  Most of the time, he was crunched by the French defence as soon as he hit their line.

An in the meantime tiring himself out sprinting those 25m Genge is an extraordinary athlete but is it really the best use of a prop's energy reserves?

Let the backs bring it forward, that's what their fitness and training is designed around.

IMO. Goes to show that Jones doesn't reckon Sam Simmonds as someone who can truck it up.

[DGP Wasp]

Big plus for me was that Genge's metres made served my fantasy team very well.  But as mentioned, most of those metres were from deep, running into the space before he hit a blue wall.  Measured from where he received the ball, not from where the ball was passed to him which would be a very different story.