Month: April 2023

Top 5: Inside Centres

Top 5: Inside Centres

Welcome back to my “Top 5” rugby series. This 13-article series has been inspired by countless conversations among friends or other fans over the years and will see me selecting my top 5 men’s rugby players who are currently playing at each position.

With all of these lists, I am picking who I feel are the best 5 at each position, so there may be some surprises in there as I select the players who I feel are most appropriate to the position despite there being multiple ways to play many positions. I try to watch rugby from a broad range of leagues as well as plenty (or too much, depending how you ask) of Test matches, but I appreciate that I still have some blind spots, while a list like this is subjective; so while the majority of each article will be my list, I also set my good friend and occasional collaborator Phil the challenge to select his top 5, which I will include below. I’d also love to hear your picks, so go ahead and post them in the comments!

And so, having made it through the halves, let’s continue down the back line and look at the inside centres.

Top 5

Manu Tuilagi

One of the stars of English rugby over the past dozen years, and yet it feels like injuries have stopped the youngest of the Tuilagi brothers from reaching the heights that he should have. The name Tuilagi speaks for itself, as he is an absolute wrecking ball in midfield, and still appears to have a positive impact whenever he enters the Test arena. Unfortunately recent years have seen injuries really hamper his attempts to earn more Test caps, but England have never really managed to find someone who can replace him in his absence.

Samu Kerevi

Another player whose Test career has been limited in recent years (due to a move abroad affecting his eligibility in this case), Kerevi is another whose presence on the pitch seems to immediately make the national team look so much stronger. Has followed the Ma’a Nonu route of rugby by starting of as an incredible crash ball 12 and then expanding his game in his late 20s to also include an impressive passing and kicking game. Let’s hope that playing outside of Australia doesn’t see him being left out of the World Cup squad.

Damian de Allende

A player who seems to get a lot of stick from fans, de Allende is a highly impressive player. He may not have the wider game that some on this list do and sometimes makes the wrong decision with ball in hand, but what he does well, he does very well. A highly impressive crash ball runner, de Allende is also an impressive defensive 12, solid and reliable, but also a threat at the breakdown if and when the opportunity arises.

Jonathan Danty

What a few years it has been for Danty. Got a chance to continue his Test career as France tested their depth and forced his way into the squad, before becoming the clear replacement in midfield when Virimi Vakatawa was forced to retire and is now a key part of the XV. Runs hard but smart in attack, while in defence he is able to use his physicality to halt the opposition and is a constant threat at the breakdown.

Jordie Barrett

The youngest of New Zealand’s trio of Barrett brothers, if I could only have one on my team it would likely be him. A utility back who appeared to have found his home at fullback, injuries in the All Blacks midfield saw him tried at secnd five-eighth and he hasn’t looked back. Has the strength to hit the line as a crash ball or defend at such a key position, but is also a natural playmaker in a way that nobody else on this list is, with a range of passes and kicks that any fly half or fullback would be happy with, while he is also super accurate off the tee and able to nail a kick from his own half.

Toppng-No-Background

Phil’s top 5: Damian de Allende, André Esterhuizen, Manu Tuilagi, Samu Kerevi, Levani Botia

Who makes your top 5?

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You can find all the details on my announcement.

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Top 5: Fly Halves

Top 5: Fly Halves

Welcome back to my “Top 5” rugby series. This 13-article series has been inspired by countless conversations among friends or other fans over the years and will see me selecting my top 5 men’s rugby players who are currently playing at each position.

With all of these lists, I am picking who I feel are the best 5 at each position, so there may be some surprises in there as I select the players who I feel are most appropriate to the position despite there being multiple ways to play many positions. I try to watch rugby from a broad range of leagues as well as plenty (or too much, depending how you ask) of Test matches, but I appreciate that I still have some blind spots, while a list like this is subjective; so while the majority of each article will be my list, I also set my good friend and occasional collaborator Phil the challenge to select his top 5, which I will include below. I’d also love to hear your picks, so go ahead and post them in the comments!

And so, having made it to the halves, let’s look at the fly halves.

Top 5

Owen Farrell

This may be a controversial place to start, but it feels like Owen Farrell is one of those players who will only really get the recognition he deserves once he retires. Memed for a few no-arms tackles, Farrell is in fact probably one of the best defensive 10s in the game, so much so that he is a legitimate option at centre too. Meanwhile in attack, he calmly controls the game with a range of passes and kicks, generally relying on doing the basics well and then just occasionally adding a moment of flair when the situation is right.

Beauden Barrett

The man many would probably consider the best player in the world, and the kind of player many England fans are hoping Marcus Smith can become. His range of passes and kicks is incredible (though his goal kicking is not always the most consistent) and his eye for an opportunity has undone many defences. Controversially, while I agree that he is a top 5 flyhalf, I actually think that he is better used at fullback (though he just misses out on the top 5 at that position!), where he can work as a second playmaker but also read the game from slightly further away from the defence.

Richie Mo’unga

As great as Barrett may be, Mo’unga would be my pick at 10 were I selecting the All Blacks XV. He’s never really been given the full control of a decent All Blacks XV, so we have rarely seen the best of him at Test level, but for the Crusaders he is clearly the key man, solid in defence and with incredible footwork in attack to match his range of passes and kicks. This guy almost wins games on his own! Could the 2023 Rugby World Cup finally be the stage on which he manages to shine for the All Blacks?

Finn Russell

An absolute magician with ball in hand. Has been called a maverick for much of his career due to the mesmeric attacking variation that very few playmakers would even dream of, but he has in fact matured to control a game first and foremost, while he is also super reliable off the tee. But what is truly impressive is his self-belief. Some attempts at something special may not pay off, but he just smirks them off and carries on with the game. With this guy on the pitch, Scotland are a much more dangerous animal.

Romain Ntamack

Perhaps goes unnoticed at times with the quality of players around him in the current French team, but Romain has quality enough to be much more than just the son of French legend Émile. Controls the game well and generally seems to pick the right pass or kick for the situation, but also has the pace and footwork to go himself. He has that French rugby flair in his blood that leave him calm and confident enough to start an attack in his own in-goal (just remember that break against New Zealand) but balances this well with the restraint and knowledge of when to pick his moments.

Toppng-No-Background

Phil’s top 5: Richie Mo’unga, Dan Biggar, Finn Russell, Beauden Barrett, Romain Ntamack

Who makes your top 5?

Movember_Partner Badges_Proud Mo Grower_BlackThis year, I’m doing Movember a little different with my Movember Marathon.

You can find all the details on my announcement.

Visit my JustGiving page for updates or if you would like to donate.

Help me to change the face of men’s health!

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Ted Lasso (season 2)

Ted Lasso (season 2)

Welcome to Sport on the Silver Screen. In this series, I will be looking back over sports movies and series that I have recently watched/re-watched and giving my thoughts on them. Getting into the Schmoedown and starting to follow a number of the personalities from the show has given me a much greater appreciation of movies and seen me starting to watch more, while a resolution for 2022 has also seen me making a resolution to watch more series.

Being a fan of both movies and sports, I have taken the chance to start highlighting the sheer volume of sports movies out there, while also now throwing in the occasional series. In each article I will be giving some details about the movie/series and then a quick review, including a section giving a sports fan’s perspective of the action’s realism.

This series has been heavily influenced by Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai of Action Industries, but I will not be looking at the traditional “Fist-pump moment” and “Favourite line” sections due to just how much more content a series provides compared to a movie, instead talking about the prospects for the future of the show. Be aware, there will be spoilers, but I will try to keep them to a minimum.

After beng interested ever since hearing good reviews upon it’s initial release, and with a new series releasing very soon, I finally opened the wallet to pay for yet another streaming service, and after bingeing through season 1, I’m now here with a review of season 2 of Ted Lasso.

sport screen ted lasso season 2 poster

Key facts

Episodes 12

Released in 2021

Distribution (UK) Apple TV+

Starring Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Phil Dunster, Nick Mohammed, Juno Temple

Synopsis After last year’s relegation, it’s up to Ted Lasso to find a way to get AFC Richmond promoted back to the Premier League while also managing his own personal demons following his divorce. Meanwhile, Roy Kent adjusts to life after retiring from football, Jamie Tartt must pick up the pieces after a poor career decision. Can Richmond end a season full of personal trials with a return to the top flight?

Review

So I absolutely loved season 1, and I think that season 2 was even better. With the vast majority of characters now established, and with 2 extra episodes, the show can now focus even more on the situations to put the characters in, and on how the players are going to grow. And we see that with most of the main characters. We see Roy trying to find his place following his retirement and Keeley’s growth as a businesswoman, while also navigating their relationship and Roy’s close relationship with his niece. Rebecca is moving on with her life (with some interesting consequences), while a series of bad career decisions sees Jamie reach a low that helps put him on the path to becoming a much better person. Meanwhile, Sam Obisanya becomes integral to so much of this season as we see his own personal development, but also his impact on others. The big character growth here is from Nate, who finds his higher position going to his head. I understand that a lot of people didn’t like the way that his character went this season, but I personally appreciated the reminder that power can change people, while we did also see factors that would push him down this route, such as a father who was not satisfied with what he had done. The most notable of season 2’s new characters is Sarah Niles as Dr. Sharon Fieldstone, a sports psychologist hired after a hilarious opening to the season, and while I never really vibed with the character, she provided a straight-talking foil to Ted’s bubbly personality, and eventually this helps us get to know more about Ted’s life.

While the comedy was as great as ever, I would argue that the emotional moments his me even more this season. And they come in so many different ways that at least a couple are bound to affect you. We have the loss of loved ones, panic attacks, Nate’s fall to the dark side, abusive family members and also just some moments of good old fashioned romance of the sport. But there was never anything that ever felt too contrived; I could easily imagine many of these storylines playing out at professional clubs at some point or other.

As for the sporting side of things, it all feels like a good level for the show, but the quality of the football that we actually see is understandably limited by many of the key Richmond players being actors rather than professional footballers, and sadly this is most obvious in the goalkeeping, which honestly wouldn’t even cut it in the National League (the highest semi-pro level in the English football pyramid). But much like last season, the show continues to throw in enough terms for us football fans while giving them a decent enough level of explanation that someone new to the sport can keep up.

A few final thoughts on the series:

  • [Spoilers for the end of season 2 episode 8] The end of the Man City episode may be the moment that sticks with me the most from this season. Having just suffered a demoralising loss, Jamie’s drunk father comes in and bullies him in front of the team, until Jamie snaps and (understandably) lashes out. And while Beard throws the dad out, of all people it is Roy Kent who makes the move to go over to embrace Jamie and give him a shoulder to cry on in the moment, despite their mutual dislike. I’m not sure if it’s having been in a similar position to Jamie in the past with (in my case an abusive stepfather) meant it affected me more, but seeing Roy put aside his own history with Jamie in that moment to give Jamie the support he needed was beautiful
  • I’d love to know the thoughts behind episode 9 following Coach Beard for one crazy night. I initially thought that it meant we would find out more about him, but we didn’t really, and it was an episode that could have easily been removed without impacting the season. Was he number of episodes increased late in production? Or were they worried that an episode may need to be cut? While I don’t hate the episode, I’d have much rather spent some time getting to know the team a little better.

The Future

As I’m so late to the show, season 3 has already began airing, but at time of writing, I am yet to watch. Obviously we have now set Nate up as the main antagonist for nxt season, something we’ve not really had in the show until this point (other than Rupert’s shadow over everything and the occasional timely appearance).

Season 2 left us in an interesting position with some characters’ relationships, so it will be interesting to see how they continue this season, especially considering that the word on the street is that the show will only be running for 3 seasons. And from the sporting point, what does this mean for Richmond? Are we going to see a fairytale title for Richmond in the season after their promotion purely so that the show can finish on a high? Or will they miss out, with the morale of the story instead being about the positive impact Ted has had on everyone in these 3 seasons?

Personally, while I will be gutted if the show ends after 3 seasons, I will always prefer a show that gives itself a set number of series and looks to stick to it, rather than just going on until its eventual cancellation. Having the plan and sticking to it helps to keep the story on track and means that we don’t get any sudden character changes as writers start running out of ideas 6 seasons in.

What did you think of this series? Let me know in the comments. Until next time!

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You can find all the details on my announcement.

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A Global Rugby Calendar: My Plan

A Global Rugby Calendar: My Plan

With the news that Joe Hawkins had signed for Exeter Chiefs for next season, I found myself lamenting the loss of another talented player from Test rugby for the foreseeable future—and let’s be honest, Wales need him right now—as he has not earned enough caps to allow him to be eligible to play for the national team while playing or a club outside Wales. As a result, one of the biggest silver linings to a difficult last year for Wales is now highly unlikely to feature at the Rugby World Cup later this year. Meanwhile, England may have eligibility questions of their own as Jack Willis (a regular starter for England so far under Steve Borthwick) has signed for Toulouse after having initially moved there on a short-term contract following the collapse of Wasps.

You can understand both sides of the argument. Players’ careers are short and dangerous, so they need to make whatever money they can, which can’t be provided in Wales, where the WRU are failing to support the regions, or in England, where almost 100 Premiership players found themselves cut after last season due to reductions in the salary cap, while the Premiership is now 2 clubs down following the loss of Worcester and Wasps. Meanwhile from the union’s point of view, they want players playing at home to guarantee access to players whenever the national team wants them, rather than just during World Rugby’s Test windows.

Now I’m not going to consider myself even close to an expert, but I can’t help feel that both situations would be helped by something that has been suggested for a long time now: a global rugby calendar. There have been so many suggestions over the years but none have ever got the backing needed to be trialled. But as rugby finds itself coming to a vital point in its existence, where some of the established countries are struggling financially but the game also grows in other lower-tier countries, I have a suggestion for how the global season could look for professional rugby.

So my idea is loosely based on the format of New Zealand Rugby, where players are contracted to a Super Rugby franchise, but also a club in the NPC (National Provincial Championship, formerly the Mitre 10 Cup/ITM Cup). The NPC runs from July/August through to October, while Super Rugby runs from February to June. As a result, Test windows generally coincide with the NPC, but as each club will usually only have a couple of internationals contracted, they can work around this.

So my idea would be to split the season into 3 parts:

  • A “domestic” window, for competitions like the NPC, Premiership, MLR. I would also include the URC in this, though it may be that unions would prefer to replace this with individual domestic competitions. Due to this directly following the “Test” window (more on that in a moment), internationals would likely miss the opening month or so of the competition and find their minutes limited in order to avoid burnout.
  • This would be followed by a “continental” window, for competitions like Super Rugby, the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. Each continent would have their own competitions, though the Americas could be considered as 1 continent rather than 2. While the current Super Rugby format probably wouldn’t need much change, European competition would need a complete rebuild, to likely create a number of levels of a round-robin tournament with semis and a final in the final weeks of the season. I may get some grief for this, but I would have the South African franchises heading an African continental tournament, as I feel that Europe needs to focus on the growth of emerging nations like Georgia, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Romania, while it could also allow for teams from Italy’s domestic competition should the URC remain, while similarly African rugby needs a boost.
  • Finally a “Test” window, which is itself in 2 parts:
      • The first half of the window would be a series of matches similar to the current Summer/Autumn Tests. To allow a fair balance, fixtures played one season will be reversed in the next (eg England v Fiji in Year 1 leads to Fiji v England in Year 2). Personally, I would argue a balance between other Tier 1 opponents and Tier 2/3 opponents to continue growth of the game
      • The second half of the window would be the usual regional Test Tournament, or if there isn’t one, then one would be created. Obvious examples here would be the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship. Every 4 years, these regional tournaments would be replaced by the World Cup
    • Every 4 years (2 after the World Cup), the 2 halves would be swapped so that the regional tournaments happen first, then the British & Irish Lions tour would take place alongside the other Test matches to complete the season.

Do I think it’s perfect? Definitely not, especially as I’m sure that there would be questions over the financial implicaions. But I think that it would allow players greater freedom of movement by having all Test rugby played at the same time, while this would also see a gradual increase in intensity as the season goes on. Similarly with no overlap (the only potential overlap being between the Test and Domestic windows, which would allow Academy and fringe players a chance to gain experience and state their case to have a larger role as the season goes on.

What do you think of my suggestion for a global season? Do you have any recommendations of your own?

Thanks for reading. Until next time!.

Movember_Partner Badges_Proud Mo Grower_BlackThis year, I’m doing Movember a little different with my Movember Marathon.

You can find all the details on my announcement.

Visit my JustGiving page for updates or if you would like to donate.

Help me to change the face of men’s health!

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