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'Whether that is a mistake, that is not for me to say': Bristol on lack of England game time for Earl and Malins
Pat Lam has accepted that Bristol will have a big challenge on their hands in the business end of their Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champion Cup campaigns with Ben Earl and Max Malins likely to return from England duty starved of game time, as will uncapped Harry Randall who is already back at the Bears and facing an eight-week layoff following Six Nations training ground injury.
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Whereas Lam has been able to welcome Wales penalty kick hero Callum Sheedy back into the fold ahead of next Saturday’s Premiership game at Worcester due to World Rugby’s regulation nine governing Test player release, Earl and Malins are unavailable due to England deciding that their 28-man squad for the Six Nations would not be released back to their clubs at any stage during the tournament for fear any of them would contract Covid.
It’s an awkward situation, especially as Bristol have been one of the best clubs anywhere in dealing with the pandemic as they have only ever had one positive case for the virus in the last twelve months.
For example, Sheedy missed some kicks when appearing off the bench for Wales at Scotland. However, he was able to play for Bristol at London Irish on the Six Nations week and that opportunity to get his eye back in during a live match situation was invaluable as he stepped off the bench last Saturday to boot the Welsh to their smashing win over England.
In contrast, Earl and Malins were restricted in February to fleeting appearances off the England bench and were not released back to Bristol. The inactivity regarding Randall was even worse, the scrum-half not making the England matchday 23s and then getting a training ground injury that will sideline him for quite some time.
Real pity for the England youngster #SixNations #PremRugby
https://t.co/XnOyRurcJ0— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 3, 2021
It’s an issue that Wasps have already spoken about given that Paolo Odogwu could come back to them in late March having not played since January 8. Analysing this situation concerning his Bristol players, Lam said: “We have got Callum Sheedy back this week after his exploits. He was back for the London Irish game and straight back in, and he was in yesterday [Tuesday].
“He had real energy, he was well celebrated for his efforts but he is getting consistent rugby. The biggest challenge we are going to face certainly is Harry Randall has played no rugby since January 9. By the time he gets back it is going to be twelve weeks, three months of no rugby at all, so that is going to be our challenge to get him back.
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“Max Malins has played 27 minutes in ten weeks and Ben Earl has played 45 minutes of rugby in eight weeks and by the time they get back (from England) it’s going to be twelve weeks. Hopefully, they are going to get some game time but if not that will be our biggest challenge. That is the longest break.
“Harry got to where he is playing nearly every week of rugby and now he is going through a challenge in his career of twelve weeks of no rugby, three months. It’s a good pre-season I suppose. We will work with our staff and ensure they get back. Because we are going into the home stretch by the time they get back and it is big games, Europe, Premiership games, people will expect them to be at their best.
“That is always going to be difficult when they haven’t had much game time. We’ll deal with it. The good thing is we understand it. Now we have got to get the work done to try and deal with that challenge.”
Asked if this inactivity for the non-starters in Jones’ England squad was an oversight that should been identified by the RFU when plans for the Six Nations were initially being put in place, Lam added: “Everyone looks at it differently and the most important thing was the priority for England because normally that [player release to clubs] happens without Covid.
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“The main decision that was made and we knew that at the beginning 28 players were going to be selected and would stay. The concern was the Covid and so whether that is a mistake, that is not for me to say. The priority was they wanted to keep their bubble safe.
“Obviously, Ireland is different. They are protected but they wanted their players to go back and play (PRO14 rugby) so that is a different philosophy. And Wales and Scotland with regulation nine, they can’t hold the players on those (non-Test match) weeks so they came back.
“But again, we take all the precautions. We are all using the same testing so those guys, Callum was tested before he comes back and in our environment, we have had one positive for the whole testing since it started for a year now and we haven’t had an issue. But as far as the reasons behind it [with England], I understand every team is different and the priority was safety in that sense but it has worked out fine elsewhere.
“It is what it is. We knew that was going to be. It would be great for them to have rugby time but it’s not a problem, it’s a challenge and we have already put plans in place how we manage these guys when they get back because we can’t just expect them to go back with the lack of game time and expect them to play 80 minutes, start playing full-on rugby at a crucial stage of the year so we will work with the England team and our staff and ensure we get that balance right. Kyle (Sinckler) is fine obviously, he’s getting a lot of rugby.”
Former All Blacks star Charles Piutau is reportedly in line to play for Tonga this year.https://t.co/u30QwTPdft
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 2, 2021
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