The Best 15 From the Touring Teams
Wales, England and Ireland are heading home after some formidable performances against their southern rivals. Lee Calvert puts together a form 15 from the touring teams.
England have an historic 3-0 win over Australia under their belts, Ireland’s seriously depleted squad nearly managed to beat the mighty Boks and Wales were predictably mauled alive by the All Blacks. Here is a composite team of the tour from the Northern Hemisphere visitors.
15. Liam Williams (Wales) – Outstanding the opening test in his preferred fifteen shirt, he was then shifted over to wing and continued to be a bow-legged golden nugget twinkling in the river of effluent that Wales gradually became.
14. Andrew Trimble (Ireland) – The Ulsterman has taken some time to embed himself in the Ireland team, often due to being behind Tommy Bowe, but it’s difficult to figure out why as his time in SA has demonstrated again his positive attributes of intelligent play and solid defence.
13. Jonathan Joseph (England) – Still to discover the try natural scoring touch that accompanied his early caps, but is reborn as a defensive colossus in Paul “Wolfpack” Gustard’s defence.
12. Owen Farrell (England) – The best fly-half in Europe did a very good impression of the best 12 in Europe for most of this tour. Eddie Jones’s decision to whip off Luther Burrell after just 20 minutes of the first test and move Farrell into midfield was the key moment that set the platform for the historic series victory. Tackled like a demon, some calm and classy play with the ball and his place kicking is so outstanding he would probably slot a kick from the touchline in the middle of an earthquake
11. George North (Wales) – Only played one game, but in that time reminded us that he is one of the best in the world when fit and confident. His magnificent sitting down of Julian Savea typified Wales’ new found confidence. This didn’t last, and neither unfortunately did North’s fitness. Anthony Watson was consistent without being amazing for England, but he was very close to getting in.
10. George Ford (England) – In both the 2016 Six Nations and Bath’s run to the end of the season, George Ford’s play was absolute bobbins: shorn of confidence his decision making and execution were on a par with a drunk trying to have sex with a doorknob. The Ford of this tour is unrecognisable from that which finished the season and England a very thankful. He took the ball to the line, displayed his full and impressive range of passing, threw in some excellent and intelligent territorial kicking and perhaps the most impressive thing, his defence was immense, especially in the second test.
9. Conor Murray (Ireland) – The Munster scrum half was a leader on the so-very-nearly-victorious Ireland tour. He didn’t have much choice about this, of course, as Ireland’s injury list was so long the next person on the standby list was probably Bono, but he took the mantle on and led from the front in attack and defence. Ben Youngs is perhaps unlucky not to get the nod, but Murray showed a little more.
1. Mako Vunipola (England) – A coming-of-age set of performances from the Saracens prop. Scrummaged hard, tackled like a lion and brought that additional element of impact and offloading in the loose.
2. Dylan Hartley (England) – The England pack demonstrated that no matter how much rugby moves on, the old adage that forwards win games remains as true as ever and the England captain led his pack and his team magnificently; often in the face of a great deal of Aussie provocation. In times gone by this would have led him to do something very, very silly. He was also calm, level headed and statesmanlike in post-match interviews. In fact, we’re not even sure if this guy is actually the same Dylan Hartley such is his change of attitude. Maybe Eddie lets him have some special time alone in a room where he sticks his thumbs in the eyes of small animals to get it out of his system.
3. Dan Cole (England) – Face like he had a paper round in Chernobyl, Cole was one of the players, along with Chris Robshaw, who took a great deal of stick after the defeat to Australia in the Rugby World Cup. No-one is giving him stick anymore.
4. Maro Itoje (England) – The young man’s performances are becoming almost unbelievable. 21 years old, he only really broke into the first team at his club this season and since that time he has started 26 games, won all of them and collected a Grand Slam, Premiership, European Champions Cup and now the first ever Australia whitewash. English media can often get far too excited about young players (See Cipriani, Dan for evidence) but this time it looks like they have every right to lose their shit over this one.
5. Iain Henderson (Ireland) – A great, modern lock, Henderson had a great tour playing both at second row and one game at six. Dynamic. England’s George Kruis did nothing wrong, but Henderson showed a bit more, especially with ball in hand.
6. Chris Robshaw (England) – Was shellacked from all angles after the Rugby World Cup and throughout it remained what he is: a decent human being and a hardworking and (lest we forget) very good player. Deserves every accolade coming his way
7. James Haskell (England) – It is perhaps the greatest testament to Eddie Jones’s abilities that he has made this giant lump into what looked like a world beater. Interesting to see whether it lasts.
8. Billy Vunipola (England) – The form 8 in Europe carried his dominance into this tour, but even so he may not have made this team, as Taulupe Faletau was truly astonishing for Wales in two test, but then had a bit of disappearing act in the third while Billy continued to do what he has done all season, carry like a runaway locomotive for a full 80.
Comments on RugbyPass
Should'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.
19 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.
19 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?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to comments