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#Post#: 71834--------------------------------------------------
Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: poorfour
Date: July 9, 2021, 6:26 am
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Huw Jones
HTML https://www.thexv.rugby/2021/07/09/huw-jones-harlequins-harmony/
Huw Jones had it all planned out. Finish his last season as a
Glasgow Warrior strongly, rediscover himself on the
international stage and then flit to the beautiful south of
France where a contract with Bayonne and a couple of years in
the Top 14 beckoned.
The first part went pretty well. Jones began to dazzle again for
Glasgow, although from full-back rather than his preferred
outside-centre berth. He won back his place in the Scotland
squad and performed admirably during the Six Nations. Then
things unravelled at a rate of knots. Jones badly damaged his
foot during a tetchy Challenge Cup last-16 loss to Montpellier
in early April. His season – and his Warriors career – was over.
Worse was to come. Bayonne, flailing at the foot of the league,
were relegated in stunning fashion by Biarritz, their ferocious
Basque rivals and Jones’ future was flung into chaos.
His agent had been shrewd enough to include a relegation break
clause in the Bayonne agreement, but there followed a fraught
period of doubt and angst. Jones was club-less and injured at a
time where many budgets are set, recruitment complete and salary
caps policed more rigorously than ever before.
“I’d agreed to go to Bayonne earlier in the season but luckily
had that relegation clause,” he tells The XV. “After they got
relegated, I sent an email to the coach and president saying
that I was going to look for something else and they were really
understanding, although gutted about how the season had gone.
There was a bit of anxiety and nervousness but Harlequins came
to the rescue.”
What a turn. What salvation. While the quartered buccaneers
roared their way to the Premiership title, a deal was being
negotiated to add Jones to their ranks next term. It is an
intoxicating prospect.
These past few seasons have strained the 27-year-old, his
attitude questioned and his defensive game savaged. Why couldn’t
he deliver for Glasgow as mesmerically as he did on Scotland
duty? Didn’t he care about the Pro14? Why was his running play
so deadly but his tackling so dismal? It was unfair and it
burned.
In his first three seasons at Scotstoun, Jones struggled to
build a relationship with then-coach Dave Rennie. Injuries
struck at inopportune moments. Only last term, when Danny Wilson
took charge, did he command a regular starting slot.
“I was thinking about it the other day,” he says. “A few years
ago, when I was having those… people always say, ‘Oh, I wish you
would get back to form, reignite your Scotland form’.
“But I’m a better player than I was then. I just needed to be
injury-free and playing a run of games to prove it. I came off
the bench in most of the Six Nations games and I still did
pretty well, which gives me a lot of confidence.
“I’m definitely a more complete player. These last couple of
years have been frustrating for my career but they’ve forced me
to really work on everything, turning strengths into
super-strengths and perceived weaknesses into something I’m
actually good at. Although it has been frustrating, I genuinely
think I’m better. I just want a load of games to try to prove
that.”
The criticism and turmoil chiselled away at Jones’ confidence,
but it also wounded those around him.
“I can see that it definitely affected my dad, probably more
than me. He gets more nervous, more frustrated than anyone,
because there’s nothing he can do about it but he cares so
much,” he says.
“We have a rule now that when I visit my parents, they’re
allowed three questions about rugby and then we talk about other
things. They have to pick their questions carefully. It’s
disrespectful to my brothers and sisters as well, when I go
home, if all we talk about is rugby.
“I do understand his frustrations, he reads it, he knows better
than anyone that a lot of it is not true. It can be upsetting
but all I can really do is try to prove people wrong.”
You can but imagine the anticipation felt by Clan Jones at what
lies ahead for their boy. Seldom can a player and club have
seemed so beautifully suited to each other. It feels like a
match made in rugby heaven; the scintillating centre and the
swashbuckling English champions.
Jones has always transfixed and terrorised with his attacking
weaponry. After those painful years, he clawed his way back into
the Six Nations reckoning and delivered for Gregor Townsend. He
dazzled off the bench against Ireland, scoring a try that hauled
Scotland into the contest. He weaved his magic from the start as
the beleaguered Italians were filleted at Murrayfield. He played
his part in colossal victories at Twickenham and in Paris that
bookended the campaign.
It was probably the most exciting move I could have wished for.
They seem the perfect club for me. One thing that everyone said
was how good for me it’s going to be and how they suit me so
much.
Harlequins have acquired a simmering talent who can come to the
boil in their system.
“It was probably the most exciting move I could have wished
for,” says Jones. “They seem the perfect club for me. Since it
was announced, I got a bombardment of messages from team-mates,
old schoolmates in London who want to catch up, but one thing
that everyone said was how good for me it’s going to be and how
they suit me so much.”
Quins, of course, have gone through something of a voyage
themselves. DoR-less and foundering six months ago, they were
pilloried for their flakiness, grave questions asked of their
culture and mentality. How they revived their identity, and how
they came up with emphatic answers.
It will be fiendishly tough to usurp those in a championship
backline. Andre Esterhuizen, the colossal Springbok, has forged
a phenomenal midfield pairing with Joe Marchant, one of the form
players in England. Jones faced Esterhuizen on Currie Cup duty
for Western Province against the Sharks in South Africa.
The similarly monstrous American Paul Lasike is recovering from
injury and, at full-back, Tyrone Green has come blistering from
the periphery to the epicentre of Quins’ brilliance.
“I’d like to play 13, I still think that’s my best position,”
says Jones. “I’m pretty comfortable at either 12 or 13. A lot of
that depends on who you’re partnered with, so you get that
balance.
“Last season, I played a lot at full-back. I’d always been
considered an option there to cover by coaches and proved to of
coaches that I can play there and it’s gone pretty well.
“I played against Andre Esterhuizen a couple of times in South
Africa. He’s a quality player and, for an attacking 13, a dream
to play outside. He not only makes big, powerful carries, he’s
also skilful, he can distribute well and kick well.”
Quins have hired Tabai Matson, the former All Black centre and
much-travelled coach, to take charge next season. They would be
mad to do away with the four young maestros – Nick Evans, Jerry
Flannery, Adam Jones and Charlie Mulchrone – who drove them to
glory. Matson’s role will be to tie together that talented
coaching quartet, instil a wider strategy and add his own value.
“How [general manager] Billy Millard described it to me was this
past six months has been so good for the club, really focusing
on their identity and how they want to play, and when they were
deciding who to bring in they wanted a guy to facilitate that,”
says Jones.
“They’ve got four quality coaches already. The coach coming in
is prepared to adapt to the identity of the club. That’s
exciting because the way they’ve been playing should continue
now.”
Three months on from surgery to correct the damage to his foot,
Jones reckons he is no more than six weeks away from full
fitness. He longs to play again and to immerse himself in the
Quins set-up as soon as he can.
“I do feel in a positive place. It’s frustrating that I’m
injured at the moment, this last season was probably my best for
Glasgow with the amount I was able to play and my performances,”
says Jones.
“But on the whole, I’m excited about this, playing for an
exciting team who play such good rugby.”
Above all, he is happy with his lot. The detractors and
dissenters have been quietened and the future is looking up..
----
On speeding up the scrum
HTML https://www.thexv.rugby/2021/07/08/adding-blitz-to-rugbys-last-bastion-of-slow-ball/
I won't post the text of this one as it relies on some gifs to
explain what they're talking about. I'm not sure I agree with
their argument, though. I thought Marler and Louw's destruction
of the Exeter scrum in the final was a thing of beauty and when
a team has that much scrum dominance they deserve to be rewarded
for it.
The alternative they propose is Japan's use of Channel 1 to get
quick ball off the scrum - but to me that's a tactic born of
necessity because Japan have a small (if technically sound)
scrum and need to get the ball away before they get overwhelmed.
There's room for both in the game. What I can't stand is Gatland
style scrums that are designed to milk penalties by forcing
collapses. (Ironically, one of the most famous examples being
Bomb vs Marler in 2013, where Jones's bind was on the hem of
Marler's sleeve every time but it was Steve Walsh reffing)
(1stXV, by the way, is the paid-for side of RugbyPass. It's a
bit SH dominated but I find that it has some of the most
consistently good rugby writing of all the sites, from a variety
of pundits and players.)
#Post#: 71837--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: July 9, 2021, 6:55 am
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Thanks for posting. Jones sounds like a good signing, but has a
lot of competition at 13, so hopefully he can play 12 pretty
well as well. Possibly a good bench option too
#Post#: 71838--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: poorfour
Date: July 9, 2021, 7:03 am
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--- Quote from: T-Bone link ---
>
> Thanks for posting. Jones sounds like a good signing, but has
a lot of competition at 13, so hopefully he can play 12 pretty
well as well. Possibly a good bench option too
>
--- End Quote ---
He says in the article that he's comfortable at 12, 13 and 15 -
which means between him, Marchant and Green we can cover any
position from 10 up. If everyone's fully fit and not banned,
he'll have plenty of competition in all those positions, but the
nature of the season means he's likely to have plenty of game
time.
Sounds like he's got more to do on tackling... but if there's
one side in rugby that doesn't really care about that, it's
Quins.
#Post#: 71841--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: July 9, 2021, 7:12 am
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Yeah, from the Scottish fans I know it seems like he's not quite
at his best these days but he's a clear and obvious improvement
over Lang and a real asset to the squad, who could be a high
quality alternative in multiple positions. It's a great signing
on the face of it. Seems like a good guy too.
re: Japan channel 1 ball, true enough about their scrum but it
definitely feeds into their overall high-tempo gameplan to
stress defences. Japan never stop coming at you and I think
we've shown that's a great approach for us to take.
#Post#: 71856--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: RhubarbAndGustard
Date: July 9, 2021, 9:57 am
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--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
> he's a clear and obvious improvement over Lang
>
--- End Quote ---
I’ve never really understood why so many don’t really rate James
Lang - I’ve always thought he was one of our top players and
would be a starter for a lot of other prem teams. A very solid
back up ten 10 or 12, and a class 13 with a great boot from hand
or the tee. His versatility probably didn’t do his starting
ambitions any favours, did but he was always one of my
favourites to have on the bench (though I was always very happy
to see him get a rare start)
#Post#: 71863--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: July 9, 2021, 10:54 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: RhubarbAndGustard link ---
>
> I’ve never really understood why so many don’t really rate
James Lang - I’ve always thought he was one of our top players
and would be a starter for a lot of other prem teams. A very
solid back up ten 10 or 12, and a class 13 with a great boot
from hand or the tee. His versatility probably didn’t do his
starting ambitions any favours (nor did but he was always one of
my favourites to have on the bench (though I was always very
happy to see him get a rare start)
>
--- End Quote ---
He was a poor defender and a patchy attacker. He made a lot of
errors. Looked lost at 10. Didn't help us much at 12. Better at
13, but Northmore's arrival showed what we were missing.
Given how poorly he played this season when he did play, I'm
surprised you're surprised!
Regardless, a guy of Jones' quality and international history is
a class above Lang no matter whether you take my view or yours
on Lang. Jones was a star at international level for a while
there.
#Post#: 71866--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: RhubarbAndGustard
Date: July 9, 2021, 11:26 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
> He was a poor defender and a patchy attacker. He made a lot of
errors. Looked lost at 10. Didn't help us much at 12. Better at
13, but Northmore's arrival showed what we were missing.
>
> Given how poorly he played this season when he did play, I'm
surprised you're surprised!
>
> Regardless, a guy of Jones' quality and international history
is a class above Lang no matter whether you take my view or
yours on Lang. Jones was a star at international level for a
while there.
>
--- End Quote ---
We must have watched different games. You don't get capped
internationally for being a poor defender and a patchy attacker.
For a player who gets limited minutes he always steps up and
does a job - give him a run of games and he'll be class, but
he's stuck behind the best 10/12/13 combo we've had in a long
while.
Jones also isn't the best defender, no better or worse than Lang
I'd say, but least we can agree that he is a world class
attacker who could flourish at Quins if he gets the game time.
#Post#: 71869--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: MadMax
Date: July 9, 2021, 11:59 am
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This won't end quietly :)
#Post#: 71870--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: July 9, 2021, 12:24 pm
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And yet Lang was a clear distant 3rd/4th choice 12, 3rd choice
13, nth choice 15, and 3rd choice 10. There's a reason why we
ended up with Tapuai carrying us through to the final. There's a
reason why, when we sent out a dregs team to play Sale, Lang was
picked to play.
Here's the sum total of his Premiership work this season
according to the stats:
Saints (sub, 23mins played): 7m from 2 carries. 3 passes. 1
tackle, 1 missed (50%). 1 turnover conceded.
Irish (start, 46mins): 22m from 7 carries. 2 passes. 8 tackles,
3 missed (72%)
Wasps (Sub, 5mins): 54m(!) from 1 carry. 1 pass. 1 tackle, 0
missed (100%).
Bath (sub, 60mins): 1m from 3 carries. 9 passes. 6 tackles, 4
missed (60%). 2 turnovers conceded. This was him playing
flyhalf.
Wasps (sub, 66mins): 25m from 7 carries. 4 passes. 13 tackles, 4
missed (76%)
Tigers (start, 41mins): 10m from 6 carries. 2 passes. 2 tackles,
1 missed (66%)
Bath (start, 69mins): 23m from 6 carries. 3 passes. 6 tackles, 1
missed (85%). 1 turnover conceded.
Bristol (sub, 32mins): 7m from 4 carries. 2 passes. 4 tackles, 0
missed (100%) (this was the semi-final when we were running
Bristol ragged. Lang's main contribution was to not throw a pass
to put a winger in).
No assists in any of these. 2 tries in 9 appearances this season
(12 in 79 in his career at Quins).
So that's 149m from 36 carries - 4m per carry. Take away the
outlier and it's 95 from 35, 2.7m per carry. And 41 tackles made
/ 14 missed, for 75% tackle success rate. Really not good at
all.
He wasn't very good, sorry.
Jones did things like this at his best:
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S39kGkOQIzo
(also he made 13
tackles and missed one, against a high quality England
attack...). There's a gulf in class between them.
#Post#: 71871--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two good Quins related articles on 1stXV
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: July 9, 2021, 12:24 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: RhubarbAndGustard link ---
>
> We must have watched different games. You don't get capped
internationally for being a poor defender and a patchy attacker.
For a player who gets limited minutes he always steps up and
does a job - give him a run of games and he'll be class, but
he's stuck behind the best 10/12/13 combo we've had in a long
while.
>
> Jones also isn't the best defender, no better or worse than
Lang I'd say, but least we can agree that he is a world class
attacker who could flourish at Quins if he gets the game time.
>
--- End Quote ---
I agree. Thought he was fairly underrated. The problem was that
when Estherhuizen got banned again, Lang was brought in and was
having to do quite a bit of carrying. That's simply not his
strong point. He's more of a playmaker than someone you wants
smashing into defenders. Tapuai then came in and was better
suited to that role. Lang really needs someone bigger inside or
outside him.
He was decent 10 cover for a while but then more or less stopped
playing there. Of course he was a massive step down from Smith -
most players are
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