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'You can't coach 6 ft 5 and 19 st': Jenkins on heir to 'GOAT' Faletau
By Josh Raisey
Cardiff flanker Ellis Jenkins has tipped his teammate, 20-year-old Mackenzie Martin, to be one of the leading long-term contenders to take the No8 jersey from Taulupe Faletau for both club and country.
Martin made his Wales debut this year in the Guinness Six Nations, a campaign his Cardiff teammate Faletau missed as he recovered from a broken arm suffered at the World Cup and a calf injury.
With the No8 now at the age of 33, Jenkins said on the Sportin Wales podcast recently that Faletau is not getting any younger, and players need to step up to replace him, listing Martin as one of the players to do so.
"He's a big, physical athlete," he said.
"You don't realise how big he is until you're stood next to him. He played his first game and Toby Faletau presented him his jersey, and he was stood next to Toby, who is a big man, and he's dwarfing him.
"If Toby can have some influence on Macca that would be great, because Toby, in my opinion, is the GOAT. But he's not getting any younger and he needs boys to step in and I think Macca is definitely going to be one of the ones in the mix to do that.
"He's big, he's fast, he's physical, he likes to think he's tough. He's impressed me this season, I'll be honest, he's still got some work to do in terms of learning the game and softer skills, but what is it Gats says, 'you can't coach six foot five and 19 stone.' So he's an exciting prospect."
Jenkins also lavished praise on another Cardiff back row, Alex Mann, who similarly made his Wales debut during the Six Nations. The 15-cap Wales international said that Mann and Cameron Winnett have established themselves as the first names on the teamsheet this season at Cardiff Arms Park.
Meanwhile, Faletau is yet to make his first appearance since injuring his arm against Georgia at the World Cup, but is nearing a return.
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Latest Comments
Yeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
Go to commentsDan Carter is the leading points scorer and leading points per game person for a player with significant tests. 2s RWC winner and member of the games greatest ever team. It's not even close. The only question of GOAT for rugby is whether McCaw deserves it given Carter's numbers.
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