ENGLAND PLAYER RATINGS | New Zealand v England 2nd Test 2024

ENGLAND PLAYER RATINGS | New Zealand (All Blacks) v England 2nd Test 2024
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Rugby artwork in background courtesy of Blair Skivington www.etsy.com/u...

[@Lesssvav]

Kiwi here, really impressed with the English squad! Future is bright 🙌🏾

[@tangfastic7075]

I have a feeling Steward could have played himself out of the England squad. He's got one talent, and that's the high ball .... and i can't remember him plucking any high balls out of the air today. He can't beat the first man and turns so slowly. For a 23 year old ...... i can't help feeling his England career is over. I'd give him a 3. Some say he should become a centre..... but he still wouldn’t have a side-step or any speed. Big lump who never built on his promising start and added to his skillset. Now just looks so ordinary.

[@joba4848]

I have to agree. Just too slow for a modern fallback or centre. Shame, but there you are. Really missed Furbank today.

[@carbonnieferrous2689]

Harsh but unfortunately true.

[@callum1971]

I have to disagree, he's also a very strong carrier of the ball and has a habit of scoring tries for England. Really tired of the slander he gets sometimes

[@willk1756]

Agreed. Speed and pace is everything in rugby. He doesnt have the explosive pace to play centre either. If you don't have it what future is there for you as an international back?

[@Friedchicken2608]

Furbank had a poor England debut and went away to work on multiple aspects of his game before coming back a much better player. We can only hope Steward does the same under Cheika; he has the potential to be a great asset if he can fix up his weaknesses

[@matthewwardle4261]

Freddie steward is still turning after Beaudie went past him.

[@Yo.-_-.]

Baxter 6 is harsh, he is the exact front row we want going forward. He defo stood out from the other front rows in the game (but not your ratings)

[@adamrussell6442]

persoanlly id keep baxter and gorge at a 6 and take the other 3 down a point each (ignoring dan). I think baxters performance over these 2 tours was a 6 but if i was to rate his potential id say 8/9. If he can start and play the same this upcoming 6N, i think hell claim that 1 jersey for the next 5+ years.

[@nath4nt]

I don’t think 6 is harsh, it’s slightly better than average. When he starts winning scrum penalties and not giving away anything then he’ll obviously score higher. Props are there to scrummage. However, he’s got lots of potential.

[@sachaboxell]

Sometimes we have players who we hype up in England who then don't perform so well away against the best. However this tour Mitchell, M. Smith, Cunningham South and Furbank really proved they can operate at a very high level against the best (apart from a couple of wayward kicks in first test). Itoje, Martin, Feyi Weboso and Ben Earl also key players although unfortunately Earl wasnt quite as good as he has been this season.

[@richardmccann5359]

The IRFU have now banned the province's from bringing in anymore foreign front row players. This has been done as they find themselves in the same position as England. No youngsters coming through. They are to be applauded for this stance imo. Take note the RFU.

[@PhillipAlcock]

Read about this too. Think we have far too many overseas players in premiership teams full stop.

[@WillDugdale-me2ko]

Look at the U20s, England have some props coming through (at least they look good at age grade)

[@baconcheeseburger4504]

england have a lack of front rowers starting for the premiership clubs at the moment but the england u20s have shown that a very capable crop are on the way and will probably be integrated into the national team within the next couple of years. I feel in ireland though there is also an issue with facility disparity between the provinces and their individual ability to raise homegrown talent, particularly in the front 5

[@dulls8475]

We have had a front row problem since the 2019 final. It lost us the game. We then lost the semi final in the 2023 RWC which was again lost because of the front row. We lost this 2 test series again because of the front row.

[@dazeng4633]

Thought M Smith did really well but was too eager to go to the kick when maybe better to keep it up the jumper for a few phases. Butchered good territory for us as last week. Needs better game management but still really enjoy watching him.

[@richcastle6796]

Steward was absolutely dreadful!

[@Markpool]

The simple fact is we (England) cannot beat the top Southern Hemisphere sides until we start producing top notch scrummagers, we'd have won both Tests if it was not for being penalised at the scrum, exactly how the Springoks beat us a couple of years ago, the bright side is we've made huge improvements in the last 12 months.

[@mattnicholls5084]

Freeman at 13, Sleighthome on the wing, and our backline is significantly more dangerous. We would still have two ball players in Smith and Furbank.

[@joba4848]

Itoje was a nine until the last 20mins.

[@davebetts]

Really good ratings and great job covering this summer tour. Appreciate your videos! IMO, I think George was worthy of a 7, at least. His workrate was high, his lineout work was strong, and to put in a full 80 (almost) is very impressive. Not to mention how much credit he brings the team in the way he handles himself as captain on and off the field. I also would rate Mitchell a bit higher, too. We know how good he is as an attacking scrum-half, but I really loved his work in defence today. Made several crucial tackles and didn't really put a foot wrong. And once again, played the full 80. I LOVE Slade and Lawrence, and on paper should be dominating, but for some reason they've had a pretty quiet tournament. Slade's organized the defence well but I'd love more of an attacking threat from both. Lastly, I feel for Steward as I massively rate him, but Furbank has really made the shirt his own this season. I like Goode's suggestion that Steward looks to play centre in the future. Question: if Furbank and Steward were unavailable, who would you pick at fullback this autumn?

[@stuartwatkins7766]

@@davebetts Tyrone Green

[@joefuller1587]

Gotta be carpenter surely or Hendy although how long till Tyrone green is available ??

[@MrNmitch17]

Freeman, like at Saints when Furbank is unavailable.

[@alexandervanderpluym5400]

Honestly I think freeman could be our 15 in a pinch and prob should have been today, then roebuck or sleights at 11, then the other in the bench, but other than him we don’t have many options

[@Tiigercole]

Freeman with Sleighthome staring on wing?

[@joemartin4751]

Your mark for Steward is fair, and what a shame to think his England career could be on the wane now that Borthwick is looking to play a faster counter attacking game. To think that only months ago v South Africa at the RWC, Steward put in a performance that was arguably one of the top 5 individual performances by an Englishman in international rugby during the professional era.

[@Jjaaccoobb..]

Not sure if it’s just me but I prefer a link up 12 with a ball carrying 13. Not a fan of the Slade/Lawrence partnership. Think Lawrence at 13 with a Dingwall at 12 being that link between midfield and the wide channels is far better

[@ianeveratt7273]

Three 7+ wingers do England need to find a way to play them all? The prop situation is worrying there are some potential good ones playing tomorrow for the U20s vs Ireland.

[@adamgibbons210]

Yeah by putting one of them at full back when Furbank is injured IMO

[@peterp9918]

Thought you were a bit harsh on Baxter and Itoje but can't argue too much with the rest. I think CCS has huge potential but should be on the bench at the moment for an explosive 20 minutes or so at the end. Think Borthwick missed a trick by not bringing Ted Hill on this tour.

[@joba4848]

Itoje was a nine until the last 20mins, then really struggled with fatigue and gave away a couple of crucial pens. Seven fair for me.

[@Gilan4983]

Most teams sub their front five, why do we sub the back row. CCS didn’t need to come off. Freeman to 12 and start Sleightholm

[@nath4nt]

Freeman isn’t a 12.

[@diggersdingo4282]

All I want is for Sleightholme to get more minutes

[@adamgibbons210]

Would you put freeman to FB?

[@Zavala1]

If looking to WC 2025: Baxter/Genge could be fine. Cole will be gone and Stuart just hasn't ever lived up to his physique. The props in the u20s look promising but there's no saying whether they'll be ready. Borthwick probably needs to pick up the best-scrummaging youngish 3 and persevere. Itoje and Martin is good enough. Again, there's talent in the u20s if they can come through in time, especially Kpoku if he's eligible. They'll always be a decent back-row but CC-S is very important now. Carnduff from the u20s looks a good lock/6 option. With more dominance up front, the backs again should be fine and young enough. Still not sure about Lawrence at 12 but he'll continue to grow. Maybe Freeman will drift in-field to 13 and Sleightholme starts. Furbank offers the ball-playing lost if we move on from Slade by then. Depth will sort itself out if progress continues at this rate. Mostly positive despite the 2-0 loss.

[@nickrad6966]

Itoje and Martin are world class

[@simonhague2674]

Based on their performances - who would you pick for England if there was a 3rd test..? Also, if he could pick the squad again, who do you think Borthwick would add and who would he remove..?

[@davidridersmith5434]

Itoje surely a 9 , best player on the pitch

[@Al-Berg]

Cole, Stuart and Steward shouldnt be near this ENglish squad! Over the hill or just not good enough! Earl and Underhill are class, but didnt have a great tour. Curry also doesnt bring anything from the bench. Itoje, Smith, CCS, Furbank and Feyi Waboso had a great tour on the other hand and I think Freeman would be better at fullback than on the wing. If England can find some good props this team can be great :)

[@murraysmith595]

Amazing how close Rugby is at the top. If you go back to SA v Ireland at the World Cup, Every game between England, France, Ireland, South Africa and NZ has finished with a Margin of 7 or less. The only exception is Ireland lost to France.

[@pjcbelter23]

For goodness sake get Trevor Davison in there at 3 and fast track AOF and Fasogbon next season. Backrow unbalanced and no impact from T Curry. Steward hasn’t upped his game since last year.

[@user-lc2nq2vu1m]

I dont know how we fit Slightholme into the starting 15 . I suppose by playing Freeman in the centre but then we lose Slade who marshals the rush defence . Anyway good to have options

[@mikegale9555]

These are nearly all harsh scores imho…if we had won I wonder if the average scores would have been higher!! And we weren’t far off frankly. I do agree though, that Itoje, Earl, Curry and Underhill were a bit below par as the match went on. Surprising to see Earl make quite a few small handling errors for eg. Still, aside from props 😢 we have a great side developing!!

[@petercoles373]

Baxter - 6? In only his 2nd game, harsh!!!!

[@henrybennet5667]

Steward is painful to watch. Defence is so poor just shooting into holes not marking any defenders. Can’t tackle properly, high balls have become meh. 0 speed and 0 skills in attack

[@Brucemcleod2345]

Very fair rankings. You would be a tough school teacher but very realistic

[@richardmccann5359]

Can someone please explain to me what Steward brings to the party. Sure he can take a high ball but that is it. We would have been better with Sleightholme at 15. At least the Kiwis would have been wary of his attack.

[@stephencourt5784]

I feel like Englands style doesn’t suit steward anymore Can Obano play tighthead or is that me making things up

[@tomhall3143]

For once a fair score for Marcus Smith but I’d rate him at 6 overall, first game in England kit that he’s stepped up to international level above his club performances

[@Bpt8825]

However good Itoje can be in some games, the amount of penalties he gives away with his experience costs us at crucial moments and this game was no different

[@charlielodge91]

Hey Rich, I feel you can be quite harsh on the England team in general....we have made such great improvements over the past year but you seem to score the team as just "average". Yes we lost both tests but both games were very close against the second best team in the world!

[@tonyhalliday3188]

I felt the same. There are a lot of 'average' marks in a game where two good teams went toe to toe for 80mins. Overall, Eng have improved immeasurably since the early 6N games and can now be considered very competitive against most teams. If this performance followed the Scotland one, the scores would have been higher. Yes, there were mistakes, but the pack in particular could have been scored higher given the pace of the contacts throughout. Scores for the backs seem a little more realistic but again, if there were that many sub par performances from the team today, then the difference (in NZ) would surely be more than one score? Our expectation levels are clearly much higher than they were 6 months ago.

[@RalphBrooker-gn9iv]

Not the worst week ever for NH sides. Well done Wales and especially Ireland.

[@michaelrooks4030]

Wales lost

[@CMWargames]

Good game need to start seeing us be more clinical with chances and my concern would be props and centre. Maybe get a world class scrummaging coach in and get that sorted. However, there have been more positives this tour than negatives. I can’t see us seeing bevan rodd for a while but that’s not surprising send him back to club and get we parking on the basics of acrummaging

[@bradleycooper1609]

Well England did better than I thought they would Marcus Smith did well with his new kicking tee. But it's the same old story we lost. All Blacks find a way to win new coaches the same result.if ever going to win cup a world cup again like Woodward 2003 side there one of team's you have to beat. You get nothing for coming second. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🧐🏉🏉

[@5jacksonsjourney179]

Ollie will become a legend.

[@nojosm]

Spot on Rich, but Mario too many needless penalties ( 6 ) Max

[@sisyphusonlunch5541]

I think I'd give Etoji an 8 despite the penalties. Underhill is a very good player but limited. If he doesn't make dominant hits, then you forget he's there half of the time.

[@andreemurray7039]

England have improved yes we losted but we are in a better place now and hopefully can improve

[@peterweston189]

Perhaps Steward can work on speed and agility. Get yourself to a sprint coach and his speed will improve. And then perhaps play I. The centers, because he is too exposed in the back three

[@dupex2]

You were a point too low across most of those players, England are a good side. Rate the All Blacks as well?

[@davidridersmith5434]

Whereas Sleightholme gets 8? Or freeman who scored an excellent try and made a few good yards. Hard to understand the scoring logic

[@LongliveIsraelandUkraine]

Pretty fair assessment for me. I don’t think Lawrence/Slade can or should be the settled long-term pairing in the centres. At the risk of making the back line too Saints-centric, I think Dingwall offers so much more at 12 than Lawrence in attack and is as good or better in defence.

[@mjgclutch]

Dingwall didnt do much when given the chance. I’d be ok playing with him at 12 and Lawrence 13. Slade isn’t really international quality. Centre combo a real issue.

[@nickc4033]

Generous marks for both Stuart & Steward - neither up to Test level (nor Rodd, when he replaced Baxter) - need to take a long, hard & long-term look at props, since Genge isn't the strongest scrummager either and Cole has played well beyond his natural life Itoje clearly declined once he'd emptied the tank, but fantastic until last 15-20mins - perhaps not taking Ted Hill as 5/6 cover came back to bite us... M.Smith needs to be trusted to close out a game - his game mgmt gets criticised, but if he'd not given the chance (esp. when we need his x-factor on the field), when will he learn to - also changing the 10 unnecessarily disrupts the wider team too much. Glad that this time SB didn't pull Mitchell off too, at least.

[@mjgclutch]

Don’t get the Spencer comments. Emergency only? Mitchell should play the full 80. Scrum halfs shouldn’t be playing the full 80 unless you are DuPont. Not like Mitchell is particularly good at a world level, and Spencer was arguably best 9 in prem last year. Mitchell was poor last 15 and should have been replaced.

[@marcdaniels9079]

Man you are tough to please. Cunningham South …6 😮😮😮

[@burtonaka-drizz8028]

England lost but they look good going forward ab actually not that great errors and bad tactical kicking but found a way to win

[@user-ee1zb1fn3y]

We need Jack Willis

[@cosmojames7710]

Baxter 7 George 6 Stuart 6 Martin 6 Itoje 7 CCS 6 Underhill 7 Earl 6 Mitchell 7 M Smith 8 Freeman 7 Lawrence 6 Slade 6 MFW 7 Steward 5

[@ph5849]

Let’s rate the coaches. SB 3 Wigglesworth 0 SB picks a few youth though default, Earl plays an 8 for England as SB picked 1 old 8 in Billy V, then desperately had to find another 8, though his bad selection. SB only changes though default,, he’s not pro active, The team really needs moving on, SB isn’t the fresh face guy to take England.further.

[@hafidkouloun6405]

Man you rate like a school teacher! Very harsh rates.

[@Edgycoo]

To be fair the abs scrum is the best in the world. They will trounce the boks

[@user-ls6dz4bc2j]

You are so bias against Tiger players. How can you score a 4 for Steward. The whole team should have scored a 3.

[@cybertrophic]

Earl has proved this series that he needs to play 7 - too predictable and far too selfish with the ball to be a Test 8. 30-odd caps and his only good games have been against weak teams because he can run through them. Dombrandt to 8, Earl to 7, CCS at 6, Underhill on the bench and drop Curry, as he's an empty shirt at best and a penalty magnet at worst.

[@mjgclutch]

Curry first name on team sheet when match fit. Earl was v good against SA in the semi I recall. Dombrandt suddenly starting doesn’t make much sense as he’s been out of his depth previously.

[@aha3411]

Cole was there 4 😂

[@stuarth43]

weird, the Brits were the better side yet the team scores low

[@finlayD853]

Not the brits, the English, Britain is 3 countries

[@leewalker9460]

So your scores indicates that Steward's performance was the worst of the starting 15? I just don't see that. I've noticed from watching your videos over the last year year that you habitually underscore Tigers players (and over score Harlequins players); I can only conclude that some Tigers players p*ssed on your chips at some point and you've held a grudge ever since.

[@mjgclutch]

The try was embarrassing. That’s not an international with that kind of pace. Cost us a try and the game effectively.

[@davidwalker2402]

I really like respect your unbiased opinions , lots of great things some sloppy stuff but steady as she goes . Smith too many bad grubber kicks..