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International

The Tight Five: Stories From The World Of Rugby

tightfive

First ACT Brumbies coach Rod Macqueen hopes Canberra has a Super Rugby future. Read story.

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Leicester Tigers leave Aaron Mauger ‘devastated’ after sacking head coach hours after Anglo-Welsh Cup triumph. Read story.

England clash reportedly off table for All Blacks. Read story.

Lions will pick Owen Farrell as a No 10 and Ben Te’o could be a bolter. Read story.

But for one England try the Six Nations would have been a five-way tie. Read story.

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Latest Long Reads

LONG READ

Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith and George Furbank offer a tantalisng East Midlands blend Steve Borrthwick may find hard to resist.

21
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Comments on RugbyPass

P
PMcD 17 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

It’s an interesting thought and a bit early but once Calouri comes through, you have some exceptional wingers that will not make this team.

I just wonder if they would stick with Freeman/Calouri on the wings and move IFW to fullback (his kicking isn’t great), or if they longer term see Calouri as the option at 15, as his kicking skills are very good and he’s probably the more natural footballer compared to freeman & IFW.



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21 Go to comments
P
PMcD 20 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

Steward contested a remarkable number of the kicks during the Autumn Internationals (more than I expected) and whilst I don’t have a distribution pattern to confirm, they do appear to be kicking in straight lines in front of the forwards, so it’s a shuttle race for the 3x7’s, which is why Steward was contesting more of the catches than you would normally expect.

I think the other point is that when you consider the quality of the wingers coming through, it does suggest the tactical kicking will be here for the foreseeable future. If anything, it may bet stronger once Caluori comes through.



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21 Go to comments
P
PMcD 25 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

This is going to sound awful but I saw the brilliance of Fin Smith playing at Worcester behind that well beaten pack each week and it developed that game plan to move the ball outside the rush defence as quickly as possible to give them a chance.

There is an argument to say that Marcus is currently playing behind the equivalent pack, so doesn’t have the time and space to play his normal game, so will need to evolve his distribution game.



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21 Go to comments
P
PMcD 30 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

That’s a fair shout, as we saw with Sexton, these players can make it to later years but they need more and more management the closer it gets to the big tournaments, which is hard to do in the PREM with pretty much non-stop games each week.

21 Go to comments
P
PMcD 35 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

ENG is nuts at the moment, we have literally gone from struggling for options in 2023 to an abundance of riches by 2026.

10 - Ford, F Smith, M Smith & Farrell (is a bonkers depth at 10)



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21 Go to comments
N
NB 45 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

Fin Smith is the future, and it is about time someone somewhere showed Marcus how to play within shape like Fin does! He has the talent and the brain so there is no reason he cannot learn, still only 26 years old after all…

21 Go to comments
N
NB 47 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

It’s a natural development and I’m pretty sure George would be happy to show Fin some tricks of the trade!

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N
NB 48 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

Right now I think I’d have to hang my hat on the George/Fin peg. George is 18 months younger than Faz and has shown fewer signs of wear and tear. Faz likes to play very physically for a 10 [a bit like Butch James] but he’s not a big bloke.

So my ranking would have Ford/Fin above Faz as starters and Marcus preferred on the bech for his versatility.



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21 Go to comments
f
fl 51 minutes ago
Sela given big chance as Bath make statement selection

OK, if we grant the frankly absurd suggestion that AOF only weighed 115kg at the end of last season that would really undermine your whole argument, given that that is less than Sela weighs and yet AOF was capped last season. Clearly Borthwick will select the best players regardless of weight.

Sela has been held back by injuries, but he’s fit now. If he gets injured before the start of the 6N then obviously that will change things, but if he doesn’t then he’ll have a solid run of fixtures to show what he can do.



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N
NB 51 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

Much as I applaud the improvements he’s made to his game, I’m still struggling to see Freddie as a better alternative to Furbank or Daly at FB. With Daly able to cover 13 and both wings, and Furbank 10, they are also far more likely to stay in a 6/2 split!

21 Go to comments
N
NB 53 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

Goerge has the most varied kicking game of the three but most of the chase work will be done by the wings. Why not when you have the likes of Roebuck, Caluori and Freeman to pick from?😁

21 Go to comments
N
NB 55 minutes ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

I’m sure Daly will get his fair share of chances, not so sure about Tom de Glanville, he may not be first team if they see Santi Carreras as the manin 15. PMD will know more about that!

21 Go to comments
P
PMcD 1 hour ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

I think if you commit to a game plan of tactical kicking to contest, George Ford is the best tactical kicker of the lot, so you select tall wingers, who are strong aerially to contest, which would then make sense to have Freddie Stewart selected at 15 to lead the central kick chase from behind George Ford (which he did in the AI’s).

I think ENG are finally moving to a pick the best players for the system, rather than the sum of the best XV individual players in each position, hence why we are having so many debates regarding tactics & selection as they are becoming one and the same thing with ENG.



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P
PMcD 1 hour ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

I think FS is in a great place, he’s probably got the two most exciting attack coaches working with him, Vesty at Saints & Blackett with England and he’s going to become a much better player over the next decade than he is today.

The reality is that Finn Russell, Owen Farrell & George Ford were all better players at 30 than they were at 23 and the same should also apply to Finn Smith.



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J
JJ 1 hour ago
'A lot of people had written us off before the game'

It was total domination by Leinster, with Leicester getting a 90-metre breakaway try and another against the run of play. Leinster finishing was very poor, and I think they’ll rue that dropped bonus point by the time the semi-finals come around. Leicester for the Challenge Cup? Maybe. they’ll get a full house against Bayonne, but the DHL Stormers away will be a different story.

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E
Ed the Duck 1 hour ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

It looks more and more like Steward will find himself deployed as a specialist option for specific teams/conditions or injury back up. With the way England are playing, and likely to develop their attack under LB, Furbank (and indeed HA, although MS utility value is strong on a 6/2 split) is a far more likely pick to hold the full back spot.

21 Go to comments
P
PMcD 1 hour ago
Sela given big chance as Bath make statement selection

It’s that 21-22 age where they really gain bulk (naturally) and they really start to push them on the S&C side once they have stopped growing.

Fasogbon was 115KG at ENG U20, 125KG last season and 135KG this season, so you can see how he has changed and why he will likely get a short term advantage whilst the others catch up. Scrummaging wise, he is probably the pick of the bunch, which is why I expect he will be the beneficiary of Stuarts injury come the 6N’s.



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Ed the Duck 1 hour ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

Wouldn’t it be interesting see how well FS could learn from Ford and the extent to which he can develop his kicking game? As nb says, GF can run the smart lines too so surely it makes sense to have them both firing on all cylinders across all game plans if at all possible?

21 Go to comments
f
fl 1 hour ago
Sela given big chance as Bath make statement selection

Yes we’ve had this conversation several times.

Who did Nathan Catt select as first choice tighthead in 2024? The player with the better scrummaging physics (Fasogbon) or the anorexia patient (Sela)?



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f
fl 1 hour ago
Will the Northampton playmaking axis return for England at the Six Nations?

There are other options at 15. I’m a big fan of de Glanville but it now seems unlikely he’ll get a shot. Elliot Daly though will feel hard done by if he doesn’t get a few more opportunities in the starting XV.

Daly might perhaps be a fairly similar profile of player to Furbank, but both he and de Glanville would offer compromise options between Furbank and Steward.



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