I would agree with that. Having said earlier that it seemed like a Bothways horses-for-courses selection specifically for France, I'm very much hoping that it's not. If MSmith was established as a fullback and FSmith established as an international fly-half, then it might be okay to be chopping and changing between games, but neither of them are proven and we won't really get a body of evidence unless they're given the rest of the 6N, or at the bare minimum the Scotland match as well.Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 8:21 am I’m tempted to say we stick with Marcus at fullback for the 6 nations, assuming that’s what is happening for France, so we can at least shine a light on whether this is a tactic worth pursuing.
Freeman’s days at 15 appear to be over (and Daly’s at this level) and while I do think Steward has grown as a player, we know his strengths and weaknesses.
I don’t like the chopping and changing there, particularly while 8 and centre still seem more immediate issues, but I could live with that selection.
Freeman hasn't played 15 for more than 2 years and even that was only 2 games for Saints. You have to go all the way back to 20/21 to find a season where 50% of his games were at 15, so I think the dream might definitely be dead on that one.
I am feeling significantly better and did consider doing the Ireland m-b-m, but was just too sad at losing yet another tight game to launch into it straight away, which is needed when there's only a week's turnaround. As long as we don't get utterly pelted by France (cause I'm interested in looking at England, not France having an exhibition match), then I'll look to do a m-b-m this week.Scrumhead wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:15 am I would love the M-B-M’s back to show who did what when rather than relying on our recollections.
I rate Fin Smith but shifting Marcus to 15 is a shabby way to treat him. Not really sure he can win here? He plays badly and gets criticised when people forget he’s not a 15. He plays well and there’s a higher change he gets stuck there until someone exposes him for not being a 15 and then gets dropped. If Fin has a bad game, I guarantee we’ll hear ‘France is a tough debut start. He needs another go to be sure’, ‘the pack let him down’ etc. The kind of excuses Marcus doesn’t get.
I really do think 15 is Smith's international position long-term, in a similar vein to Beauden Barrett. He's got such good pace, stepping, and eye for a gap, that it seems wasted in the tighter confines of 10 at international level, where he's not going to be afforded the same space. I think we'll see the best of him attacking the 13 channel and popping up in broken play. I'm not concerned about him being "exposed for not being a 15" because he has played there successfully before and, while experience matters, he's more than capable of doing it. He might make mistakes, but then so do Steward and Furbank who do it every week.
On "The kind of excuses Marcus doesn't get", he has now played 42 games for England, of which 31 were starts and 29 were starts at fly-half. He's also started the last 8 games for England at 10 (coincidentally, the same 8 that we've lost every game except the two against Japan). He's not some youngster who's barely had a chance to get his feet under the table before getting the shepherd's crook - he's got more caps than Freddie Steward, Jack van Poortvliet, Ben Earl, Alex Dombrandt, Ollie Chessum, Ollie Lawrence, and there's no fan/pundit campaign for "Let him have a proper run of games, you coward!" for any of them.
I do get the difficulties in those 8 games and the arguments that he's been hamstrung by this or by that or by being taken off. But it's not like we're being unfair and not giving him a proper chance to see what he can do - he's had 29 starts and the last 8 games. He has definitely had a go.
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