1
Harlequins' take on 'unique' Dombrandt now thriving with England
Harlequins have had their say on seeing Alex Dombrandt thriving as the first-choice England No8 for the 2023 Guinness Six Nations a year after he rotated the jersey with Sam Simmonds. The Harlequins back-rower started just twice in the 2022 tournament, coming off the bench in the other three matches for Simmonds.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, he enjoyed three consecutive starts last month versus Scotland, Italy and Wales, exposure in stark contrast to how the rest of his 2022 played out. An injury cost him his Australian tour selection, paving the way for the then-out-of-favour Billy Vunipola to be recalled. The Saracens player went on to start six of the last seven matches England played before Eddie Jones was dismissed.
The naming of Steve Borthwick as England head coach, though, led to a selection rethink and Dombrandt has been a beneficiary, retaking the No8 jersey and so far making it his own despite some errors in the opening-round defeat to Scotland.
He carried the ball for a total of 190 metres off 36 carries across his three appearances, and his handling skills were especially to the fore last weekend in Wales when making nine passes – including the assist for the opening Anthony Watson try.
It’s an all-action impact that has pleased Tabai Matson. “It’s really what the coach [Borthwick] sees in you,” said the Harlequins coach about the England Test selection now falling in favour of Dombrandt.
“For us with our Quins lens on, he is unique I think. His skill set is phenomenal and so at the international level, having a loose forward that is super skilled is a point of difference in that loose forward trio because they are often big bangers up here. Week in and week out, he is offering try assists or scoring himself so he helps your scoreboard tick over.”
Some Welsh fans took issue with the score Dombrandt created at Principality Stadium for Anthony Watson, claiming that the try-assist pass was forward, but Test centurion referee Nigel Owens shot down those allegations.
ADVERTISEMENT
Speaking on his Whistle Watch programme, Owens said: “Some people asking was there a forward pass in the first try for England in Cardiff. No, it wasn’t. The pass wasn’t forward no matter how proud a Welshman you are. If you are trying to think that pass was forward let me tell you now it wasn’t. The pass was at the worst flat. I even think the pass was backwards and the pass is fine, so no forward pass.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 Go to comments