Tom Hardwick - 1st Team

[Rugbyflanker]

Farrell? The old Owen possibly maybe, certainly not this one!

[sam16111986]

Ryan Owolofela showed a pretty devastating step in the Twickenham Sevens today. Looked comfortable in defence as well. We should hopefully get him back after his taken his tilt at the Olympics. Be nice to be able to partner him with his brother on the wings at Tigers in a year or two.

Farrell? The old Owen possibly maybe, certainly not this one!

Yeah this new Farrell has off days with the boot.

[BFG]

I don't applaud the Grayson mistake, it was lazy and sloppy. Taking the ball to the line and then panicking and throwing a missile at your inside centre because you don't want to take contact isn't great. Grayson looked rushed far too often at 10, when Hardwick stepped in to playmaker then England ticked a little more and Grayson had more time for his long passes to the wing.

Playing quick is fine if you have the players to do it. Argentina's first choice struggled the players off the bench just couldn't. They dominated in the first half because their defence was excellent, cohesive and better tackle technique.

Given the enforced use of the entire squad at these tournaments the teams always lack a little cohesion and you always have a mix of the real talents, some players with decent prospects and those that won't develop much further. It's not going to directly correlate senior success but if you can spot a half dozen high quality players each year and develop then through it puts you in a good place nationally.

Spot on in all aspects, its a team playing under the England badge but we can't expect senior performances right now, its all about development and Tigers have for me two potential senior internationals in Hardwick and Olowofela. Hardwick could turn into a Jonny Sexton type Fly Half and Olowofela is just a carbon copy of Anthony Watson.

These two contradictory posts were a good giggle.
According to you two it's all about development, teams always lack a bit of cohesion, the Argentina defence was excellent and it was Grayson's mistake quoted as lazy and sloppy, and playing quick is fine if you have the players to do it!
Here is a thing, how about they learn and develop BEFORE they cost a Premiership coach his job!
Perhaps Grayson recognised that the Argentina rush defence was excellent and took it to them rather than going sideways, does that ring any bells!
It was exactly the type of thing that you want to be learned, it's a lesson for both Grayson and Hardwick!

[sam16111986]

I don't applaud the Grayson mistake, it was lazy and sloppy. Taking the ball to the line and then panicking and throwing a missile at your inside centre because you don't want to take contact isn't great. Grayson looked rushed far too often at 10, when Hardwick stepped in to playmaker then England ticked a little more and Grayson had more time for his long passes to the wing.

Playing quick is fine if you have the players to do it. Argentina's first choice struggled the players off the bench just couldn't. They dominated in the first half because their defence was excellent, cohesive and better tackle technique.

Given the enforced use of the entire squad at these tournaments the teams always lack a little cohesion and you always have a mix of the real talents, some players with decent prospects and those that won't develop much further. It's not going to directly correlate senior success but if you can spot a half dozen high quality players each year and develop then through it puts you in a good place nationally.

Spot on in all aspects, its a team playing under the England badge but we can't expect senior performances right now, its all about development and Tigers have for me two potential senior internationals in Hardwick and Olowofela. Hardwick could turn into a Jonny Sexton type Fly Half and Olowofela is just a carbon copy of Anthony Watson.

These two contradictory posts were a good giggle.
According to you two it's all about development, teams always lack a bit of cohesion, the Argentina defence was excellent and it was Grayson's mistake quoted as lazy and sloppy, and playing quick is fine if you have the players to do it!
Here is a thing, how about they learn and develop BEFORE they cost a Premiership coach his job!
Perhaps Grayson recognised that the Argentina rush defence was excellent and took it to them rather than going sideways, does that ring any bells!
It was exactly the type of thing that you want to be learned, it's a lesson for both Grayson and Hardwick!

Running hard to the line and then pulling back a a long pass is an invitation to the defence to keep rushing on up to your unfortunate team mate. Running sideways on a rush to try and get a pass round the corner is optimistic but probably more likely to work.

With a rush defence the key is to take the pace out of the defence. Take the ball to the line and isolate defenders with flat passes and put little chips in behind to turn the defence. You need to be a little braver to keep doing that hence why I was unimpressed with Grayson.

As for costing an AP coach his job he was largely ineffectual in his brief appearances for Mallinder during the last season. Ended well at Worcester mind.

[BFG]

Spot on in all aspects, its a team playing under the England badge but we can't expect senior performances right now, its all about development and Tigers have for me two potential senior internationals in Hardwick and Olowofela. Hardwick could turn into a Jonny Sexton type Fly Half and Olowofela is just a carbon copy of Anthony Watson.

These two contradictory posts were a good giggle.
According to you two it's all about development, teams always lack a bit of cohesion, the Argentina defence was excellent and it was Grayson's mistake quoted as lazy and sloppy, and playing quick is fine if you have the players to do it!
Here is a thing, how about they learn and develop BEFORE they cost a Premiership coach his job!
Perhaps Grayson recognised that the Argentina rush defence was excellent and took it to them rather than going sideways, does that ring any bells!
It was exactly the type of thing that you want to be learned, it's a lesson for both Grayson and Hardwick!

Running hard to the line and then pulling back a a long pass is an invitation to the defence to keep rushing on up to your unfortunate team mate. Running sideways on a rush to try and get a pass round the corner is optimistic but probably more likely to work.

With a rush defence the key is to take the pace out of the defence. Take the ball to the line and isolate defenders with flat passes and put little chips in behind to turn the defence. You need to be a little braver to keep doing that hence why I was unimpressed with Grayson.

As for costing an AP coach his job he was largely ineffectual in his brief appearances for Mallinder during the last season. Ended well at Worcester mind.

I'm afraid that in my opinion you are wrong!
The play is the playmakers prerogative, on this occasion that being Grayson.
There are many ways to deal with a rush defence, a chip is a great idea but what use is a chip if your midfield is being caught on it's heels for a pass!
England had been struggling to beat the Pumas rush whilst the Pumas were still fresh enough so trying to bring his 12 into the mix on the gain line and take an extra phase out of the Pumas was actually a very good idea at the time.
It just wasn't executed very well, the pass itself was inviting and just fine as in my opinion they won't get away with any less in the Premiership which is the case in point, experiment and learn now instead of playing safe now and learning very little and then getting caught out later in the Premiership.