Team of the Week

I always enjoy Guscotts ramblings for the BBC in a painful, out of touch, did he even play rugby way.
As there's been so little arguments and the forum is in such good spirits I thought this may bring back the true spirit of rugby I.e. arguing over selections. Jeremy's to kick it off:

1. Vunipola
2. George
3. Furlong
4.Ryan
5.Gilchrist
6. Wilson
7. Tipuric
8. Picamoles
9. Young
10.Farrell
11. Adams
12. Tuilagi
13. Slade
14. May
15. Hogg.

Any selection that has Farrell over Russell on last weeks showing is pure pish

Looks about right to me .....surprisingly. Easy argument could be made for Sinks instead of Furlong. But there will always be close calls in these types of selections.

"Well," thought Jeremy, "I can't really leave the Irish out of it totally, so I had better stick in a couple of forwards. Now, whose name can I remember from the pre-match hype?"

Otherwise, it's a pretty good list. Personally, I thought Sinckler deserved the tighthead slot. He didn't get through Mako's astonishing work rate, but he was very solid against the much vaunted Irish scrum, and his link play was hugely instrumental in adding variety to England's attack.

I would have had AWJ instead of Ryan, for leading his team to their biggest ever Six Nations comeback away from home.

Other than that, it's not a bad list.

There was little in his article on actually selection but he normally caveats them with the team they're playing against. I'm sure that will be back to justify why only 1 Englishman is selected when we play Italy!

Farrell not impress.you TJ?

Evans, McInally, Francis, Toolis, AWJ, Wilson, Tipuric, Moriarty

Laidlaw, Russell, Adams, Johnson, JD2, Kinghorn, Hogg

TJ wrote:Any selection that has Farrell over Russell on last weeks showing is pure pish

Farrell was brilliant in the white hot atmosphere of a proper test match - he isn't my cup of tea but there is no doubt he is a very good player.

Russell was his nonchalant, brilliant best - i think he is probably the most skillful player in the NH - but i'm not sure if you can compare Italy at home v Ireland away.

That was a joke LT.

Oh but it does.  Mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha (maniacal laugh) - hence my original response

To be honest these Teams of the Week are always contentious and heavily based on subjective prejudices. I have looked at a variety of them in the last 24 hours, and while there is a common theme (quite a lot of the England team) in general the selections are all over the place. I have seen 7 different locks named for instance, 3 different SHs, 4 different TH props.

I agree there. There's the natural variation and picking favourites. Guscott is always wide of the mark for me as he seems to not really take anything in e.g. his comment at the weekend that dalybwas commanding in the air. Just no!
Then there's stephen Jones of course who I don't think I've ever seen pick a team properly but purely for the clicks.

It is impossible to compare players from different games - especially with conditions as varied as we had at the weekend.

Should be easier to compare within the same game yet I swear I saw a team with Connor Murray in it (have to try and find it now)

Weather looks better this weekend. Windy in the uk but not minus temperatures and rain.

Should give teams more of a chance to play

1. Vunipola
2. George
3. Sinkler
4. AWJ
5. Itoje
6. Wilson
7. Tipuric
8. Billy
9. Youngs
10.Farrell
11. Nowell
12. Tuilagi
13. Slade
14. May
15. Hogg.

How can any team not have Blair Kinghorn on the wing when he scores a hat-trick and was motm?

Three tries. No errors.

Up against May. 2 errors 1 try. All round game amazing.

May and Kinghorn should be the wingers, though quite a few pundits went North, Kinghorn

LondonTiger wrote:May and Kinghorn should be the wingers, though quite a few pundits went North, Kinghorn

Saw one where they shoehorned North into the centres.

Glad to see theres no dispute about the No.6 spot.

Hope he keeps that level of performance up.

Interesting stats on the other thread GF. 27 tackles from memory but a fair few of them the kind of support tackles which worked brilliantly through the game. 2 turnovers apparently. I'll have to admit I didn't them on 2 viewings of the match. Wilson certainly contributed heavily and it's a good sort of a match to be involved in when fighting for a place.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Glad to see theres no dispute about the No.6 spot.

Hope he keeps that level of performance up.

I actually had Ryan Wilson in at 6, and assumed everyone else meant the same....

Here's the team from Two Cents Rugby. Mark generally doesn't bother distinguishing between tighthead/loosehead or back row/back three specializations

1. Vunipola
2. Ghiraldini
3. Evans
4. AWJ
5.Gilchrist
6. Wilson
7. Navidi
8. Picamoles
9. Young
10.Russell
11. Kinghorn
12. Tuilagi
13. Slade
14. May
15. North

I would have thought there might be more forwards from Wales in and around somewhere. They were apparently going up against the biggest and strongest set of forwards in the entire history of rugby, yet they were well on top of them all of the game.

LordDowlais wrote:I would have thought there might be more forwards from Wales in and around somewhere. They were apparently going up against the biggest and strongest set of forwards in the entire history of rugby, yet they were well on top of them all of the game.

I had 5 Welsh forwards, thank you very much.

Rugby Fan wrote:
Here's the team from Two Cents Rugby. Mark generally doesn't bother distinguishing between tighthead/loosehead or back row/back three specializations

Seems rather pointless calling it a team.

Kinghorn!

I could have scored two of his tries.

TightHEAD wrote:Kinghorn!

I could have scored two of his tries.

I could have scored Chris Harris' try, but I'm not picked for the match day 23

LondonTiger wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:I would have thought there might be more forwards from Wales in and around somewhere. They were apparently going up against the biggest and strongest set of forwards in the entire history of rugby, yet they were well on top of them all of the game.

I had 5 Welsh forwards, thank you very much.

Not enough.

We were up against 8 Hagrids.

I thought Bayfield was a pundit now?
I always think these sorts of things are nothing but a bit of fun for the correspondents as they're highly subjective considering what they saw and who they rate anyway. It's especially annoying when they put someone out of position to get them in. Usually that's a Guscott trait...

No 7&1/2 wrote:Interesting stats on the other thread GF. 27 tackles from memory but a fair few of them the kind of support tackles which worked brilliantly through the game. 2 turnovers apparently. I'll have to admit I didn't them on 2 viewings of the match. Wilson certainly contributed heavily and it's a good sort of a match to be involved in when fighting for a place.

Apparently after another physical exchange, in a player huddle mark can be heard saying.." You've got to be loving this!!" He loves the rough stuff.

North at fullback instead of Hogg?  Has North ever played fullback?

TJ wrote:North at fullback instead of Hogg?  Has North ever played fullback?

Nah. Two Cents Rugby takes a fantasy rugby approach to his team of the week selections. Makes for some oddball choices but, occasionally, he has some interesting leftfield ideas.

So Kinghorn a fb on the wing and north a winger at FB?  weird.

tigertattie wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Kinghorn!

I could have scored two of his tries.

I could have scored Chris Harris' try, but I'm not picked for the match day 23

There are a lot of people wish he wasn't in the match day 23 either!

So some of the different teams of the week across the internet:

https://readrugbyunion.com/2019/02/11/round-2-six-nations-team-of-the-week/

Healy, George, Lee, Lawes, Ryan, Wainwright, Steyn, Navidi, Murray, Farrell, May, Manu, Slade, Stockdale, Kearney



https://www.the42.ie/six-nations-team-week-4487421-Feb2019/

Healy, George, Furlong, Lawes, Ryan, O'Mahony, Steyn, Navidi, Youngs, Farrell, Stockdale, Manu, Slade, May, Kearney



https://www.ruck.co.uk/six-nations-2019-round-2-team-of-the-week/

Smith, Best, Lee, Ryan, Lawes, Wainwright, Steyn, Navidi, Youngs, Farrell, Stockdale, Johnson, Slade, May, Kearney



https://www.ultimaterugby.com/news/six-nations-team-of-the-week-round-two/613798

Healy, George, Lee, Lawes, Ryan, O'Mahony, Stey, Strauss, Murray, Farrell, May, Manu, Slade, Adams, Kearney



https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/rugby-union/round-2-six-nations-team-of-the-week/ss-BBTqUUs#image=1

Healy, George, Lee, Lawes, Ryan, Wainwright, Steyn, Navidi, Murray, Farrell, May, Manu, Slade, Stockdale, Kearney



http://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/25966646/espn-fantasy-rugby-jonny-stars-team-week-2
(Fantasy Rugby so positional issues)

Dell, McInally, Sinckler, Lawes, Grey, O'Mahony, Steyn, Navidi, Murray, Allan, May, Farrell, Penaud, Stockdale, Adams

And Jerry's is....
Dell Dee Furlong
Lawes Gilchrist
Steyn Curry
Navidi
Murray Farrell
May Watkin Davies Stockdale
Kearney.

Apparently we were less impressive than last week hence why there's 4 Englishmen after thrashing France.

Now I have to read that article to understand how some players make that team

McKenna, Breach, Scarratt, Heard, Smith, Daley-Mclean, Riley; Cornborough, Davies, Bern, O'Donnell, Scott, Cleall, Leitch, Hunter (capt).

TightHEAD wrote:McKenna, Breach, Scarratt, Heard, Smith, Daley-Mclean, Riley; Cornborough, Davies, Bern, O'Donnell, Scott, Cleall, Leitch, Hunter (capt).

Cornborough should not be in there due to the silly YC.

The only team this week who could win this.

He has interesting views LT. Expect the England Italy game to result in 2 English players as they were only playing Italy.

I do get where the 'Guscott loves Wales' stuff comes from. Dee was horrible at the lineout for most of the game - not just his fault - but to suggest he had a better game in the loose than Guirado (who played well despite the chaos) is incredible. Not sure if anyone from the Ire/Sco game played better but surely Dee wasn't the best hooker this week...

Watkin and JD2 were solid if unremarkable. Pennaud deserved to be in there, as did Picamoles for me. You could pick any number of English players to make up the bulk of it though.

Is it a classic case of a former international not wanting to big up the people who have replaced him? With all sorts of things like extra money, fame etc. from the game now in the mix? Surely Guscott's not that petty...but then surely he's a better pundit than to produce a team like that?

Or is it all about the clicks and dicussion...

He's also got to cater for all the home nations and not just England, but in truth, the team of the week were England.

Jamie Ritchie was probably the best 7 of the weekend but when you lose your game you'd struggle to win an argument to be in a team of the week!

Ireland were pretty poopie and Wales didn't exactly come out flying either.

But these things are always entirely subjective so...............

tigertattie wrote:He's also got to cater for all the home nations and not just England, but in truth, the team of the week were England.

Jamie Ritchie was probably the best 7 of the weekend but when you lose your game you'd struggle to win an argument to be in a team of the week!

Ireland were pretty poopie and Wales didn't exactly come out flying either.

But these things are always entirely subjective so...............

I thought Richie was exceptional personally, and would have been a reasonable shout for MoM even if he was on the losing side. POM was the most visible of the Irish back row, sometimes for the wrong reasons (Hogg). I thought SOB was mostly very quiet. Conan was not particularly visible either.

Carberry was the Irish player who seemed to spark things to life

Agree, Ritchie was fantastic.

Personally, there's a devil in me that always likes to hear how Schmidt Ireland were (and it ain't a lie...) and yet came away with a three try win away against a pretty tricksy and dangerous Scottish team. Not many sides in the highest levels of
International rugby can have so many below-par days and still win.
Carbery was okay but the only Irish player in team of the week might be Stockdale.

Final one from Guscott. His team of the tournament on the BBC.
Not as crazy as normal.

15. Elliot Daly (England)
Elliot Daly
It is very close between Daly and Wales' full-back Liam Williams, but the England man's attacking game edges it for me. His speed and ability to evade the first man in the chase was superb. That is the type of player I like. Williams dominated everyone in the air, but he was not at his sensational best with ball in hand.

14. Josh Adams (Wales)
Josh Adams
Considering the size of some of the backs in the tournament, he is a relative lightweight, but he has been brilliant. After a couple of early mistakes, he bounced back with that superb leap, juggle and score to seal the win against England and then a lovely side-step past Blair Kinghorn to score against Scotland.

Just 23, but he looks like he has been on the international stage for years.

13. Jonathan Davies (Wales)
Jonathan Davies
Jonathan Davies' defence is probably the best of any outside centre in the world. He locks down that outside channel and that is crucial to Wales' gameplan. If you can get into space inside or outside him, you have cracked a large part of scoring against Wales. But very few can.

12. Hadleigh Parkes (Wales)
Hadleigh Parkes
Parkes is not the usual type of player I would pick, but his consistency makes his case impossible to ignore. He is a seven and a half out of 10 every game at least.

He glues together the Wales backline with all-round ability, front-foot defence and lung-busting effort.

11. Jonny May (England)
Jonny May
The England wing has become a try-scoring machine. He scored six tries in this Six Nations, four in the 2018 tournament. His straight-line pace is devastating, but also his aerial game has improved a lot this year.

10. Finn Russell (Scotland)
Finn Russell
He is entertainment. He is box office. He reminds me of my old British and Irish Lions team-mate and his Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, who could frustrate you one moment and have you jumping up and down with a moment of brilliance the next.

Mistakes are an inevitable consequence of the way he plays, but when he manages to squeeze out some of the errors out of his game, he will be an even better player.

9. Antoine Dupont (France)
Antoine Dupont
He is another exciting player. The 22-year-old was behind Morgan Parra in the France reckoning at the start of the tournament, but he has brought his Toulouse form to the international stage and is now first choice.

He likes a break, a dart and opposition defences have to keep their eye on him all the time.

In an indifferent team, he has been a bright spot. Given a good run, I think he will be in the Test game for a long time. But that is all at the mercy of the French games' unpredictable coaching politics!

8. Louis Picamoles (France)
Louis Picamoles
I want game-changers among my set of forwards. Louis Picamoles is one of those players who racks up big numbers in ball carries and metres made, but also has the ability to pop out of a tackle or deliver a telling offload.

7. Tom Curry (England)
Tom Curry
When you watch Tom Curry playing, you think he is just going to crawl off the field, such is the workload the 20-year-old gets through. He leaves nothing out there, emptying the tank over 80 minutes.

He is the top tackler in the tournament with 86 and joint third in the turnover standings. He has deft hands in the loose and scored a fine opportunist try against Wales.

The only blot on his copybook was when his over-enthusiasm cost him a yellow card against Ireland.

6. Josh Navidi (Wales)
Josh Navidi
Some of Josh Navidi's work in Wales' Grand Slam has gone under the radar, but he will be hugely valued by his team-mates. He is second only to Curry in the tournament's tackle standings and is one of the leaders for Wales in defence.

5. Alun Wyn Jones (Wales)
Alun Wyn
He has 125 Wales caps, stretching over nearly 13 years. He's been there, seen it and done it. And yet he continues to improve. This is sensational.

He is 33 now and when you get to the end of your career the realisation that you have to make the most of a limited amount of time left at the top can inspire you.

In turn, he inspires others in that Wales team.

4. George Kruis (England)
George Kruis
This is a close call between George Kruis and Ireland's James Ryan. Ryan's work-rate is phenomenal, but I think Kruis has more physicality when he carries. Defence is a given at this level. You are looking for something a little extra with ball in hand and that is what Kruis brings to a side.

3. Kyle Sinckler (England)
Kyle Sinckler
Kyle Sinckler is another impact carrier and he also comes with an edge. He is a confrontational, uncompromising character and you need some of those in a squad.

You saw against Scotland on Saturday, as he burst through in the build-up to Joe Launchbury's try, that he has a pace and power that most props cannot bring to the game. Over the course of the tournament, he showed more than Tadhg Furlong did for Ireland, and that is a high bar.

2. Jamie George (England)
Jamie George
With captain Dylan Hartley out of the equation, Jamie George took his chance. His ball-carrying and distribution were excellent, with one miss-pass to set up a try against Italy a particular highlight.

Wales' line-out wobbled during the campaign and hooker Ken Owens, George's prime rival for this slot, has to take some of the blame for that.

1. Cian Healy (Ireland)
Cian Healy
Cian Healy just edges out Wales' Rob Evans at loose-head prop. He challenges the gain-line, with strong, aggressive carries. He has that animal streak as well; if he starts going backwards, it provokes a reaction from him.

Player of the tournament
Jonny May had an outstanding tournament, but it is impossible to look beyond Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones. It would be strange not to give it to someone who has led his side so well and clinched the Grand Slam.

Not a long way from the teams I have seen in other places. Moriarty, Gareth Davies and Rob Evans were favoured by some.

The itv one does. They've thrown penaud in there for their particularly click bait comment whoring!

No Irish posters need bother with this thread. Nothing to see here folks....move along.