European XV Of The Season

remus808

Opinions on a side of the best players across the ML, GP, T14 and HEC this year folks?

remus808

Will have to have a think about this myself but definite contenders:

Ollie Le Roux, Ryan Lamb, Bernard Jackman, Bob Casey, James-Simpson Daniel, Akapusi Qera, Mike Blair, O'Gara, Matt Banahan, Tom Varndell, Lifemi Mafi, Heymans, Cipriani, Vincent Clerc, James Hook, Leo Cullen, Shane Williams, Francois Trinh-Duch, Keith Gleeson, Mario Ledesma, Doug Howlett, Martin Castogiovanni, Filo Tiatia, Andy Goode

remus808

Hmm this topic clearly hasnt captured peoples imaginations.. but anyhow, heres my take.. (made a few subjective decisions, just dont like shane willams or clerc for a start, and also a big fan of jackmans )

1. Ollie Le Roux
2. Bernard Jackman
3. Matt Stevens
4. Simon Shaw
5. Leo Cullen
6. Alan Quinlan
7. Akapusi Qera
8. Sergio Parisse
9. Mike Blair
10. Danny Cipriani
11. Matt Banahan
12. Lifemi Mafi
13. James Simpson-Daniel
14. Paul Sackey
15. Rob Kearney

thehighground

karmabass wrote: »

Hmm this topic clearly hasnt captured peoples imaginations.. but anyhow, heres my take.. (made a few subjective decisions, just dont like shane willams or clerc for a start, and also a big fan of jackmans )

1. Ollie Le Roux
2. Bernard Jackman
3. Matt Stevens
4. Simon Shaw
5. Leo Cullen
6. Alan Quinlan
7. Akapusi Qera
8. Sergio Parisse
9. Mike Blair
10. Danny Cipriani
11. Matt Banahan
12. Lifemi Mafi
13. James Simpson-Daniel
14. Paul Sackey
15. Rob Kearney

Are you basing this selection on Magners & GP form only?

remus808

thehighground wrote: »

Are you basing this selection on Magners & GP form only?

Nope, HC and T14 aswell (Though I only get to see the odd T14 match). Plus was influenced by the great 6N form of Parisse, Cipriani and Kearney..

Fizman

One of the first names i'd have on that list would be Vincent Clerc. He is the best winger by some distance in the northern hemisphere imo! Has had a fantastic season with club and country.

Steffano2002

Fizman wrote: »

One of the first names i'd have on that list would be Vincent Clerc. He is the best winger by some distance in the northern hemisphere imo! Has had a fantastic season with club and country.

Even with a broken knee he's the best! lol

Seriously though, gutted about the Toulouse injuries... Haven't got a hope on Saturday...

remus808

Fizman wrote: »

One of the first names i'd have on that list would be Vincent Clerc. He is the best winger by some distance in the northern hemisphere imo! Has had a fantastic season with club and country.

I'm not so sure about Clerc, he scores alot of great tries but I think the Tolouse and French backline really give him an armchair ride. He does have pace to burn though.. I don't find him a joy to watch like I do Banahan, Varndell or Sackey though

Stealdo

karmabass wrote: »

I'm not so sure about Clerc, he scores alot of great tries but I think the Tolouse and French backline really give him an armchair ride. He does have pace to burn though.. I don't find him a joy to watch like I do Banahan, Varndell or Sackey though

I think you forgot the sarcastic smiley there Karmabass it's this one -->:rolleyes:

Beanmachine

Have to disagree i think Clerc is a far better player than Banahan or Varndell.Sackey is a top winger and is up there with Clerc but i would need to give Banahan another season to be able to judge him correctly,He isn't the easiest on the eye either playing wise.Varndell's fundamental flaws are his inability to kick well his concentration levels,No doubt about his pace and finishing though he is lethal in space.

I think Clerc is a far more well rounded winger than Varndell and Banahan and is a lot stronger than he looks overall he's a smarter player than the two others,He'd be my pick out of the four players listed.

toomevara

Beanmachine wrote: »

I think Clerc is a far more well rounded winger than Varndell and Banahan and

Would agree re: Clerc...but the form winger in the GP at the moment is LI's Topsy Ojo...

remus808

I'm probably being a little harsh on him (I'm no expert on wing-play)

Coming away from the Wings, who elses form do people rate this year?

tughfc

your man mapusua has been good along with kennedy for london irish. the toulouse winger(sori 4 bringin wings back up) medard has done very well iv been impressed had never heard of him until this year. the back up some of these french teams have is very good, i know toulouse have been hit hard enough with injuries but if they had there whole squad the back up would be far better then some of the irish provencies

remus808

tughfc wrote: »

your man mapusua has been good along with kennedy for london irish. the toulouse winger(sori 4 bringin wings back up) medard has done very well iv been impressed had never heard of him until this year. the back up some of these french teams have is very good, i know toulouse have been hit hard enough with injuries but if they had there whole squad the back up would be far better then some of the irish provencies

Yeah, Medard seems an awesome prospect. Can you believe he's only 21! Yeah the likes of Clermont and Toulouse especially have amazing squad depth, really blow us out of the water in that regard. Imagine the luxury of having an athlete of Nyangas quality on the bench in a HEC final! Mind you, I think it's because they're resting him in case he's needed on the wing, as they're short cover.

toomevara

karmabass wrote: »

Yeah the likes of Clermont and Toulouse especially have amazing squad depth, really blow us out of the water in that regard.

Thus always has it been in Irish rugby I guess. The Munster first XV will give Toulouse a run for their money though, so I wouldn't be overly pessimistic on that front. Re: Nyanga, and I'm no expert on Toulouse or French rugby, I'm told he's ring rusty, and a HC final is no place to try and find your feet/form after an absence...

Paradoxically I reckon Munster are one of the few teams in the HC who genuinely worry Toulouse, purely from a , and forgive me here for coming on a bit JP Sartre, philosophical, point of view.

If Munster can contain Toulouse for the first forty, absorb the inevitable Russian front style human wave tactics of attack, after attack after attack...and maybe get off the ropes and land a blow or two, I think we can rock Toulouse.

We'll need complete control at half back, TOL's box kicking will have to improve markedly(assuming he's starting) because if you kick rubbish ball to the toulouse backline the way we did in he SF, we'll pay. ROG's got to play good, tactical perecntage rugby initially, Frustrate Toulouse and kick on from there...and hey who knows?

Stev_o

Ben Foden is a great prospect for England he is Robinson v2 and thats no joke the problem is that he wants to play SH when he's arguably one of the best FB's in Europe

Beanmachine

Stev_o wrote: »

Ben Foden is a great prospect for England he is Robinson v2 and thats no joke the problem is that he wants to play SH when he's arguably one of the best FB's in Europe

Yeah ive watched Foden a few times for Sale during the season.He posseses some pace and is such a threat with ball in hand running from deep.His positioning is terrible though and is weak under box/high kicks his kicking is also not the best but it is his first season playing at full back so he might just need time. Don't think he's quite good enough to get a call up for England yet although they do seem to be lacking in that department ie.Lewsey,Balshaw.