1
Remarkable stat suggests Elliot Daly is Eddie's real golden boy at the back
By Josh Raisey
Although England are heading into a Rugby World Cup semi-final against the All Blacks this Saturday, there are still calls from fans for Eddie Jones to move Elliot Daly from fullback and switch him with Anthony Watson on the wing.
This has been a consistent demand from fans since Watson’s return, as the Saracens-bound back is yet to win over all fans. While many will agree that he needs to be on the field, fullback does not necessarily seem to be the most popular option.
However, a stat from OptaJonny suggests that Jones does not have the same opinion of the utility back, as the 27-year-old has only missed 80 minutes of rugby since the summer tour of South Africa in 2018.
Excluding the RWC warm-up match against Italy, Daly has started at fullback every match, and has played every minute since June 2018.
Although he was primarily deployed as a winger during the start of his England career, an Achilles injury to Anthony Watson in the final game of the 2018 Six Nations forced Jones to turn to Daly in the 15 shirt. There were other options at fullback, with Mike Brown still in the squad, as well as Jack Nowell, who can also play there, however, Jones stuck by Daly, and even opted to play Brown on the wing against the Springboks.
Watson made his return to international rugby this August, and while he did start at fullback in the sole game that Daly missed against Italy, he has been used on the wing.
What is clear is that Jones has had plenty of opportunities over the past 18 months to try out a different fullback, or even revert to his former system with Daly on the wing, but he has not. It would be an absolute aberration if he made this change on the eve of the biggest match of his tenure.
RugbyPass went off the beaten track to an iconic Maid Cafe in Akihabara, Tokyo.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
Go to comments