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US sharpshooter MacGinty rates England's rising No.10s and picks his heir to the flyhalf throne
USA Eagles outside half AJ MacGinty is enjoying an outstanding season with Sale Sharks and is uniquely qualified to run the rule over the No10s Eddie Jones could be selecting rather than sticking with George Ford and Owen Farrell to pull the tactical strings for England against Italy tomorrow.
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MacGinty has become integral to Sale’s title challenge with Alex Sanderson’s side at home to struggling Bath tonight at the AJ Bell Stadium where revenge is the main motivation after the West Country team recorded a crucial away win last season that allowed them to claim a play-off spot ahead of the Sharks.
As he completed his preparations for tonight’s clash MacGinty gave RugbyPass his verdict on the outside half talent that Jones could be using to kick start England’s stalled attacking play that was exposed in the 11-6 defeat by Scotland at Twickenham.
Top of MacGinty’s list of candidates is Harlequins Marcus Smith who has signed a long-term deal to keep him at the Twickenham Stoop and available for England. Having initially interested Jones, Smith has seen his stock slide with Wasps Jacob Umaga now installed as the No10 option in the England shadow squad along with club mate Charlies Atkinson who is just 19-year-old and is being given the chance to experience working with Jones The shadow squad is following the same COVID protocols as the Six Nations players.
MacGinty said: “There are some extremely talented players that bring something different to England and Farrell and Ford have been on the big stage for a long time and are very consistent performers. In the Premiership, Marcus Smith is a class act and so deadly with the ball having great footwork and skills set. He is the sort of guy you can build a team around and he wants to be knocking on the door for that England spot. He creates a lot of opportunities for those around him and when it comes to his goal kicking he has also been brilliant at that aspect. For a young guy he has a really bright future.
“You would also have to mention Joe Simmonds at Exeter with they way he runs the shape of their attack. He does it all and has a great passing game and while they don’t kick as much it is something he is excellent at. The kicking is game is something England use to put you under pressure because of the strength of defences and if you attack from anywhere then the defence can cripple you.
“Then at Wasps you have Jacob Umaga and also Charlie Atkinson who is only 19 and played well against us and is very talented. When I was 19-years-old there was no way you could have put me in a Premiership team because I wouldn’t have had the physicality for it at all.“
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MacGinty believes that having got England into a World Cup final – where they lost to South Africa in 2019 – Jones is comfortable backing the Ford and Farrell axis at 10-12. “ George Ford is a class act and Owen Farrell has led the most dominant team in the Northern Hemisphere and it is going to take a lot to push those guys off the top,” added MacGinty.
“You have to earn the right to challenge those guys and Marcus Smith has aspirations to play for England and you need to be playing in the Premiership to do that and his new deal with Harlequins is important. He did get into the England camp but hasn’t been in recently and so he has had to deal with the disappointment of knowing Jones is looking at someone else at the moment.
“Marcus has still performed really well and put his hand up ( for selection) and that is what you need because nothing is going to come easy and you will be a better player for it.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments