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England 'Pool of Death' rival has insider knowlege on Mitchell's defensive system - MacGinty
US Eagles outside half AJ MacGinty believes their inside information on England defence coach John Mitchell will help unlock England’s defence at the Rugby World Cup where the nations clash in one of the toughest pools in the tournament.
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Former US Eagles coach Mitchell is now in charge of England’s defence and MacGinty, the Sale Sharks outside half, recognises the system and knows its strengths and weaknesses. However, MacGinty is also keenly aware that Mitchell guided the Eagles to World Cup qualification and will try to negate their knowledge of his working practices with considerable background on the American players.
It provides a fascinating back-drop for the clash in Kobe on September 26 and the Eagles will go into the contest desperate to prove that rugby union really is making an impact in the USA where a professional league plus the feel-good-factor of the US Sevens team’s second-place finish in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series is supplementing the experience being gained on foreign soil by key players such as MacGinty.
The outside half, who has fought back from a serious shoulder injury, helped Sale qualify for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup alongside Springbok No9 Faf de Klerk and his goal kicking will be crucial in a World Cup pool also involving England, France, Argentina and Tonga.
MacGinty, who has amassed 250 points in 21 tests, said: “We know the way that Mitch likes to defend and that should help us in Japan. He is really big about getting off the line as quick as you can and it is a really aggressive defence. It is a high risk, high reward strategy but if teams get over the gain line it can cause you trouble and so you have to operate in the right areas. You cannot cough up ball inside your half because you are under immediate pressure.
“There are a few things we will bring into our game over the summer to cope with that aggressive defence. The squad was pretty consistent under Mitch and over four years he gave a lot of the guys their first caps and so he knows them really well. While our ball carrying and running threats are not household names around the World, Mitch will know how good they are. We have a made a ton of progress over the last four years since the last World Cup and while we have improved, I realise that other countries have also stepped up their game.
“We are in an incredibly tough pool with England, France, Argentina and Tonga and this is a really important time for rugby in the US. We are looking to get wins in this pool and we will have some of the sevens players coming into our squad for the Cup after qualifying for the Olympic Games. The growth of the MLR means that players in the US are in professional outfits and this is huge for the development of the sport. That game with Tonga is a massive one for us and their squad will be as strong as it has been for the last four years.
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“We are going to go into camp and will fly to Fiji to compete in the Pacific Nations Cup in the lead up to the World Cup, taking on Canada (July 27), Samoa (Aug 3) and Japan (Aug 10).”
It seems certain that Sale wings Chris Ashton and Denny Solomona – the joint top try scorer in the Gallagher Premiership – will be ignored by England head coach Eddie Jones for the World Cup and MacGinty admits not facing those two threats will be a help although he recognises the strength in depth available to the 2003 Cup winners. “Ashy is a great player and Denny’s ability to get the ball down is amazing and I remember in his first season he had a yard of space and two tacklers hitting him but still got the try,” added MacGinty. “He is incredibly talented at that kind of score.
“We have a lot of strike runners including Byron McGuigan and Marland Yarde who was out for so long injured and we have now been joined by Simon Hammersley from Newcastle. It is going to be a really competitive back three next season. Hammers is very similar to Mike Haley who left us to join Munster with that rangy running style.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments