Wasn't he voted player of the year last season?In other news, Ollie Chessum is out for the w/end.
We'll find out later but the strong rumours from training are that there will be 3 changes for England with Tuilagi and Ribbans coming in for injuries to Lawrence and Chessum and the only other change being Farrell back in for Smith who might not even make the bench.In my view when you take a hammering like we did, and at a time so close to a world cup, you can either look back and try to recreate something that has worked in the past or you gamble a little and plan for the future. For me a coach who is going to be judged more on 2027 than 2023 should be looking forward so I'll be very upset if this is the way things go.
Quote from: paul_e on March 16, 2023, 12:52:57 PMWe'll find out later but the strong rumours from training are that there will be 3 changes for England with Tuilagi and Ribbans coming in for injuries to Lawrence and Chessum and the only other change being Farrell back in for Smith who might not even make the bench.In my view when you take a hammering like we did, and at a time so close to a world cup, you can either look back and try to recreate something that has worked in the past or you gamble a little and plan for the future. For me a coach who is going to be judged more on 2027 than 2023 should be looking forward so I'll be very upset if this is the way things go.Smith benched, Farrell starts. Pointless change.
Quote from: Jon Crofts on March 16, 2023, 05:56:01 PMQuote from: paul_e on March 16, 2023, 12:52:57 PMWe'll find out later but the strong rumours from training are that there will be 3 changes for England with Tuilagi and Ribbans coming in for injuries to Lawrence and Chessum and the only other change being Farrell back in for Smith who might not even make the bench.In my view when you take a hammering like we did, and at a time so close to a world cup, you can either look back and try to recreate something that has worked in the past or you gamble a little and plan for the future. For me a coach who is going to be judged more on 2027 than 2023 should be looking forward so I'll be very upset if this is the way things go.Smith benched, Farrell starts. Pointless change.Not a shock though, I figured as soon as he dropped Farrell that it wouldn't take much to bring him back. My biggest problem with it is that Smith has been singled out, he was nowhere near the biggest problem but people like Van Poorfliet, Dombrandt and Malins keep their places and he doesn't. JVP I'd keep around because I rate him but he had a shocker, the other 2 are nowhere near good enough and cannot be realistically considered the the best player in that position in England, I'd struggle to putdombrandt top 3 and I reckon I could find 7-8 wingers to put ahead of Malins pretty easily.
Quote from: paul_e on March 16, 2023, 06:10:54 PMQuote from: Jon Crofts on March 16, 2023, 05:56:01 PMQuote from: paul_e on March 16, 2023, 12:52:57 PMWe'll find out later but the strong rumours from training are that there will be 3 changes for England with Tuilagi and Ribbans coming in for injuries to Lawrence and Chessum and the only other change being Farrell back in for Smith who might not even make the bench.In my view when you take a hammering like we did, and at a time so close to a world cup, you can either look back and try to recreate something that has worked in the past or you gamble a little and plan for the future. For me a coach who is going to be judged more on 2027 than 2023 should be looking forward so I'll be very upset if this is the way things go.Smith benched, Farrell starts. Pointless change.Not a shock though, I figured as soon as he dropped Farrell that it wouldn't take much to bring him back. My biggest problem with it is that Smith has been singled out, he was nowhere near the biggest problem but people like Van Poorfliet, Dombrandt and Malins keep their places and he doesn't. JVP I'd keep around because I rate him but he had a shocker, the other 2 are nowhere near good enough and cannot be realistically considered the the best player in that position in England, I'd struggle to putdombrandt top 3 and I reckon I could find 7-8 wingers to put ahead of Malins pretty easily.Malins is out
I’m not sure Smith has been singled out as such. After last week I do understand why you’d want Farrell on from the start. In the short-term they need as much leadership on the pitch as they can get. There’s every chance that even if England play ok they’ll get pumped, I’m not sure that helps Smith at this stage.