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#Post#: 43040--------------------------------------------------
Inside Line: England's six options to succeed George Ford and
Owen Farrell at fly-half
DIR By: deadlyfrom5yardsout
Date: May 13, 2020, 2:38 am
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Good section on Marcus Smith..
We assess James Grayson, Callum Sheedy, Joe Simmonds, Marcus
Smith, Jacob Umaga and Manu Vunipola with a rival Premiership
fly-half
By
Charlie Morgan, (Telegraph)
England have played exactly 100 Test matches since the start of
Stuart Lancaster’s tenure as head coach in January 2012. In 87
of those, either George Ford or Owen Farrell have started at
fly-half.
To reinforce the strength of that duo’s grip on the position, 34
year-old Toby Flood is third on the list of men to have worn 10
over the past eight years. Freddie Burns, who confirmed a move
to Japan this month, is next:
Five players have started at fly-half for England in 10
non-capped fixtures. Here is that tally. Barring an injury
crisis or a drastic selection re-think, only Marcus Smith is
likely to assume the role for a future international:
Eddie Jones recently told the BBC that his current team would
not last until Rugby World Cup 2023 and that “an influx of new
members” would occur before the next global tournament. That
should not come as a surprise and there is no real rush.
The last World Cup cycle demonstrated that winning combinations
can come together quickly. Rassie Erasmus galvanised South
Africa, the eventual champions, in the year leading up to Japan.
Even in their pivotal positions, Tom Curry and Sam Underhill
were not unleashed in tandem for England until the August
warm-up game against Ireland.
At 27 and 28, respectively, both Ford and Farrell are
influential leaders under Jones and could easily make 2023 with
over 100 caps to their names. They cannot go on forever, though,
and, a group of talented fly-halves has gathered below them in
the pecking order.
Collecting Premiership game-time steadily, six promising
playmakers are providing Jones with intriguing options. We spoke
to Sale Sharks fly-half Robert du Preez, who has faced all of
them this season, to assess their strengths.
James Grayson
Northampton Saints
Age: 21
Each week, when Saints attack coach Sam Vesty oversees a meeting
to discuss the “menu” of set-piece strike-moves that Northampton
will focus on ahead of their next game, Grayson often proposes
ideas in the planning process.
His assertive and articulate manner is reminiscent of his
father, Paul – part of England’s World Cup-winning squad in 2003
and now one of rugby union’s most eloquent pundits as well as a
kicking coach – and comes through in intelligent, organised
performances the field.
“Often, the biggest struggle for a young 10 to be able to come
in and demand,” says Du Preez.
“You have to be really good at communication, because it can be
quite tough to tell really experienced players what... not quite
what to do, but what you want. Grayson seems to have that down.
“He’s an elusive runner with a decent kicking game and reminds
me of [Dan] Biggar in the way he passes, which might be because
Biggar is there with him.”
Grayson’s snappy, unselfish distribution was a big factor in
Northampton’s domestic form during the World Cup. Opposite
George Ford, he guided Saints to a 36-13 win over Leicester last
November:
Six weeks previously, his late penalty had sunk Saracens:
Interestingly, he is the only member of this sextet to hit a
Premiership drop-goal in 2019-20. It came in a 40-22 thumping of
Harlequins:
Speaking of Biggar, Grayson’s senior partner at Franklin’s
Gardens, the Wales veteran is a big fan. In an interview with
the Northampton Chronicle this month, Biggar praised Grayson’s
hunger and highlighted how he takes the ball flat and launches
runners.
“James has a huge, huge career in front of him,” he said. “I’m
just trying to get as many games as I can under my belt before
they ship me out and bring him in.”
Given how he has looked revitalised since joining Northampton,
Biggar’s claim that he is learning just as much from Grayson as
the junior fly-half is taking from him does hold water.
Saints and Grayson endured a difficult period with Biggar away
on Six Nations duty. A 57-7 loss in Exeter was particularly
chastening, A tackle completion rate of 66.7 percent, with over
three missed tackles per 80 minutes in the Premiership, is the
lowest among this group of fly-halves and hints that there may
be some physical development to come.
Still, Grayson’s goal-kicking carved out an important win at
Sixways to stop a concerning run of three straight losses.
Callum Sheedy
Bristol Bears
Age: 24
Despite also qualifying to represent Ireland and Wales, and
doing so at age-group level, Sheedy made an appearance for
England as a replacement in last summer’s 51-43 victory over the
Barbarians.
From there, he has pushed on and was enjoying an impressive
campaign with Bristol Bears before the coronavirus pandemic
halted proceedings.
Sheedy came off the bench at Twickenham in June Credit: REX
“To displace someone like Ian Madigan is quite a big feat in the
first place,” says Du Preez, touching on how Sheedy has risen to
become first-choice at Ashton Gate.
“He always seems to slip through half-gaps – sometimes I don’t
really know how he does it. He’s very deceptive and obviously
really quick.
“With the way Bristol play, often looking to pass rather than
kick, he gives his outside backs a lot of time on the ball.”
Sure enough, Sheedy averages almost 26 passes and just over six
kicks per match . That blend illustrates how he runs the Bears’
flowing 1-3-2-2 patterns but also shows that he takes
responsibility with the boot.
Manu Vunipola and Joe Simmonds, for instance, kick less because
of their teams’ reliance on contestable box-kicking from their
respective scrum-halves.
Sheedy’s ambition has been rewarded in moments such as Nic
White’s yellow card last November…
…which foreshadowed Exeter’s collapse and a fine away win for
Bristol.
Then this ghosting break from second-receiver between Bath
forwards Lewis Boyce and Taulupe Faletau, before a pinpoint chip
to try-scorer Alapati Leiua set up a first win at The Rec in 14
years:
Sheedy racked up 16 tackles that game and boasts an admirable
completion rate of 81 per cent this Premiership season. He
credits the tough love of Pat Lam for his progress.
Back in 2017, Bristol’s director of rugby was not convinced that
Sheedy would make the grade. He said as much. Even now, Lam
remains on Sheedy’s case. At Sandy Park last year, a message was
sent down to the kicker following the Dan Thomas try that put
Bristol ahead.
As Lam was keen to point out, even if it added a modicum of
pressure, the conversion was needed to send the Bears to the top
of the table. Sheedy promptly landed it, rising to the challenge
set by his director of rugby.
Joe Simmonds
Exeter Chiefs
Age: 23
Du Preez believes that Rob Baxter has a gem on his hands. He
refers to Simmonds’ record of 35 successful kicks at goal from
38 attempts, which defies the often blustery conditions in
Devon.
“Of all the 10s we’ll speak about, I think Joe is the most
well-rounded,” explains the one-cap Springbok.
“I think he’s probably one of the best in England on form and
the best kicker in the league. His kicking percentage is crazy.
Defensively, I would say he is the strongest as well.”
A remarkable try-saver at Sandy Park in January, which halted
Saracens hooker Jamie George, justifies that suggestion:
Two tries in nine Premiership appearances, beating an average of
2.35 defenders per league match, reflects his darting running
threat and eye-catching acceleration.
Both of those finishes punctuated a 25-point haul against
Harlequins in February:
But, as Du Preez states, Chiefs’ deliberate gameplans require
“strong-minded” leadership. Two losses to Saracens in Twickenham
finals will have provided difficult yet beneficial lessons.
“When I was at Western Province I played in the 2015 Currie Cup
final against the Lions. I was 22 and I honestly had one of the
worst games of my life. We lost that game [32-24] and it became
a turning point from me.
“You learn a lot from senior players you play under or from
mistakes you make yourself – like the ones I might have made in
that final.
“With that, as age comes, you grow more confident. And the
scrum-halves can have a lot to do with it. With us, our
game-management doesn’t revolve solely around myself and AJ
[MacGinty].
“We have Sam James on the outside with his left boot and we also
have Faf [de Klerk] and Cliffy [Will Cliff] at nine.
“It depends what personnel you have around you and Joe has Nic
White with him at Exeter, who is a brilliant game-manager.”
Joe Simmonds has missed three place-kicks in the Premiership
this season Credit: Getty Images Sport
White’s box-kicking, as well as Baxter’s preference for sweeping
phase-play, explain why Simmonds has only recorded 1.85 kicks
from hand every 80 minutes of Premiership action in 2019-20.
At international level, especially with England, that number
would need to be far higher. It is a shame that Chiefs’
Champions Cup run has been curtailed, because Simmonds could
have used the knockout stages to underline his Test credentials.
Marcus Smith
Harlequins
Age: 21
Lively in last summer’s win over the Barbarians and called up
briefly to England’s World Cup training squad, Smith was not
included in Jones’ Six Nations preparations earlier this year.
The original apprentice admits himself that the past two years
have not been entirely straightforward. Jones has told him so.
His talents remain obvious, though.
“He’s rapid and has excellent footwork,” says Du Preez. “I don’t
know whether he might try to take the line on himself first, but
that is not necessarily a bad thing at all. Someone like Damian
Willemse will do that. He and Marcus are very similar.
“At Sale, we try to base our preparation around a ‘90-10 rule’,
spending 90 per cent of the week on us and 10 per cent on
opponents. If you play someone like Bristol, for example, you
can’t not speak about a player such as Charles Piutau
beforehand.
“When we play Harlequins, we will know to be wary of both Marcus
and Alex Dombrandt – they would probably be the two players we’d
pick out.”
One of Smith’s chief strengths is the ability to scan defensive
lines before taking on slower tacklers. He is quick enough to
cause damage in broken-field situations too.
Of four Premiership tries this season so far, the slickest has
been this long-range link-up with Gabriel Ibitoye at The Rec:
Working with Sean Long, a mentor of Danny Cipriani, should hone
Smith’s passing on the gain-line. There is already a good amount
of patience in his kicking game and his success rate of 84 per
cent from the tee, underpinning 126 domestic points since
October, has been borne out of hard graft and technical
tinkering behind the scenes.
In a virtuoso display against beleaguered Saracens, three
different kicks – a cross-field kick-pass and two sliding
grubbers – led to tries. A dancing run from the back-field laid
one another:
You sense Jones will have another look at some stage.
Jacob Umaga
Wasps
Age: 21
A contemporary of Grayson and Smith, and another former protégé
of John Fletcher, Russell Earnshaw and Peter Walton, Umaga has
already spent time in markedly different environments.
Previously part of the Leicester Tigers academy, he moved to
Wasps at 18 and played for Hinckley in National Two North. He
has also represented Yorkshire Carnegie as well as Auckland’s
Mitre 10 Cup side on their title-winning run in 2019. Graham
Henry was among his coaches on that trip, during which he
shifted around the backline.
The son of Samoa international Mike and the nephew of iconic
ex-All Blacks skipper Tana, Umaga is comfortable at centre and
full-back.
Jones recognised those qualities with a call-up to England’s Six
Nations training camps, a stunning achievement given the
youngster was only used by Wasps because of injuries to Billy
Searle and Jimmy Gopperth.
It opened Umaga’s eyes to a new level detail and to the nuances
of tactical kicking at the highest level. Du Preez faced him in
the pre-season Premiership Rugby Cup.
“He is really attack-minded and gives his outside backs a lot of
time and space. He had Juan de Jongh and Zach Kibirige outside
him that day and, generally, those players get a lot of ball.
And he’s a running threat himself. He scored a brilliant try
recently.
“If you look at the Mitre Cup in New Zealand, there are a lot of
big scores. Back in South Africa, we would watch a lot of it
because of how exciting it was and because of the amount of
tries that are scored. I don’t think you could play in that
league and not be a very good attacker.”
It is difficult to know exactly which try Du Preez is talking
about. He threw a dummy and sliced through Bristol Bears in
December:
More recently, you can hear him calling “free ball” to
scrum-half Dan Robson prior to this score against London Irish:
Watch how he and full-back Lima Sopoaga react to a Gloucester
turnover in March. With Sopoaga stepping up at first-receiver,
Umaga backs away towards space and picks up a scoring pass from
Marcus Watson thanks to a trailing support line:
In the 60-10 thrashing of Saracens at the Ricoh Arena on
February 21, the variety of Umaga’s kicking – quite possibly
sharpened by training with Ford and Farrell – teased the
visitors’ defence apart:
Even more impressively, as head coach Lee Blackett has
subsequently revealed, is that Umaga had stood up in a team
meeting after an abject, 18-9 defeat in Leicester the previous
weekend and told the squad that they had lost their way.
Another point Blackett made in an insightful Magic Academy
webinar with Earnshaw and Fletcher was that he has never seen a
player hit the five-metre line with touch-finders from penalties
more regularly. Wasps’ tries from driving mauls have soared as a
result of their fly-half’s conviction.
Manu Vunipola
Saracens
Age: 20
Vunipola’s development has completely vindicated Mark McCall’s
early-season suggestion that the salary cap scandal – and
Saracens’ consequent selections – would allow stars to emerge.
“He’s shown early on that he has some big ‘BMT’ – big-match
temperament. In the Sarries set-up, you clearly have to be quite
mature in the way you go about things and there is a lot of that
in the way he plays. His match-winning kick against London Irish
comes to mind.”
“He’s quite big and, partly because of that, I think he looks
confident when he takes the ball to the line and when he’s in
defence.
“Because Owen’s been away and Max Malins has been injured, he’s
played a lot and has not looked out of place at all. In fact, in
some games he’s looked comfortable.”
Malins will be one to watch at Bristol from August, whether at
full-back or fly-half. In his absence, though, Vunipola has
seized opportunities.
Assured games in atmospheres at Kingsholm and Thomond Park – as
well as at the Liberty Stadium after Saracens were reduced to 14
men due to Rhys Carre’s red card – will only have accelerated
his education. There was plenty to build on anyway.
A record of almost seven tackles per Premiership outing speaks
to his toughness and defensive technique.
Like Simmonds at Exeter, he does not put boot to ball as much as
peers because of his team’s box-kicking. When he does, though,
Vunipola often finds space and manages territory well.
“We played them away in a storm and got battered,” adds Du
Preez, remembering Sale’s 36-22 loss at Allianz Park on February
15.
“They used the wind quite well and played into it well, which
obviously has a lot to do with their half-backs.”
Vunipola has a slightly underwhelming overall Premiership
success-rate of 66.67 per cent in front of the posts but is the
only player from this group of six to land a kick at goal from
over 50 metres.
Staying at Saracens as they drop into the Championship, he
should have more scope next season to take on the line. Vunipola
certainly possesses the skills, as his midfield interplay
alongside Max Ojomoh for England Under-20 three months ago
demonstrated.
His first steps into senior rugby have been convincing, all the
more impressive when you consider that he only left his teens
last week.
Of course, the long-term successors to Ford and Farrell could
well come from a younger crop. Du Preez has had a good view of
Tom Curtis at Sale. There is Orlando Bailey at Bath and Tom
Hardwick at Leicester as well.
As well as Malins, Cameron Redpath is a vastly gifted playmaker
who is probably yet to determine his most effective position in
senior rugby. He has plenty of time, as does Eddie Jones.
All statistics from Opta
#Post#: 50657--------------------------------------------------
Re: Inside Line: England's six options to succeed George Ford
and Owen Farrell at fly-half
DIR By: Saintquin
Date: September 29, 2020, 3:54 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Think Smith showed he's a long way ahead of Umaga. On last
nights performance anyway and without any decent set piece to
put him on the front foot
I'm not calling him a bad player but I hardly noticed Umaga was
on the pitch.
#Post#: 50659--------------------------------------------------
Re: Inside Line: England's six options to succeed George Ford
and Owen Farrell at fly-half
DIR By: poorfour
Date: September 29, 2020, 4:17 am
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--- Quote from: Saintquin link ---
>
> Think Smith showed he's a long way ahead of Umaga. On last
nights performance anyway and without any decent set piece to
put him on the front foot
> I'm not calling him a bad player but I hardly noticed Umaga
was on the pitch.
>
--- End Quote ---
I think that's a tad harsh on Umaga, but Smith certainly worked
a couple of miracles with only scraps to live off. Including
burning his opposite number for his try.
#Post#: 50662--------------------------------------------------
Re: Inside Line: England's six options to succeed George Ford
and Owen Farrell at fly-half
DIR By: A222Quin
Date: September 29, 2020, 4:36 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Umaga benefits greatly from having Gopperth outside him IMO.
Wasps are a much better side with Gopperth in than without.
#Post#: 50664--------------------------------------------------
Re: Inside Line: England's six options to succeed George Ford
and Owen Farrell at fly-half
DIR By: poorfour
Date: September 29, 2020, 4:37 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: A222Quin link ---
>
> Umage benefits greatly from having Gopperth outside him IMO.
Wasps are a much better side with Gopperth in than without.
>
--- End Quote ---
That's been true for a very long time. They'll miss him when he
retires.
#Post#: 50665--------------------------------------------------
Re: Inside Line: England's six options to succeed George Ford
and Owen Farrell at fly-half
DIR By: A222Quin
Date: September 29, 2020, 4:38 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Indeed, he's going to be incredibly difficult to replace. Not
many second 5/8th like him about.
#Post#: 50669--------------------------------------------------
Re: Inside Line: England's six options to succeed George Ford
and Owen Farrell at fly-half
DIR By: poorfour
Date: September 29, 2020, 4:47 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: A222Quin link ---
>
> Indeed, he's going to be incredibly difficult to replace. Not
many second 5/8th like him about.
>
--- End Quote ---
Well, there's Owen Farrell...
#Post#: 50849--------------------------------------------------
Re: Inside Line: England's six options to succeed George Ford
and Owen Farrell at fly-half
DIR By: tigerburnie
Date: October 1, 2020, 7:15 am
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Young Grayson was a duel registered player at Leicester Lions in
National 2 North 2 seasons back when he came out of the Saints
academy, he showed then skills and strength beyond his years,
sure he will do well. His replacement last year was another
academy lad this time from the Tigers, Jack van Poortvliet is
another who has a lot of class and played off the bench at Briz
yesterday, another useful 9 in the pipeline. I just hope that
the National leagues as well as the Championship are properly
supported to maintain this vital part of a rugby players
journey.
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