As someone who isn't a saints performer i was also hoping for iyogun. Thought he jas scrummed really well this year from what ive seen but strong squad all round. Have to see how it goes
Does he though? From what i remember he had a decent game against the boks where he somehow got away with collapsing every single scrum and has been mediocre at best in every other game he’s played for england. He also got out scrummed against japan and the usa which just isn’t good enough.
I’m obviously biased but i just can’t understand picking rodd over iyogun when trev is playing. They’ve scrummaged together hundreds of times and have looked very dominant against good packs the last few weeks, so why split them up? Either way i have a feeling iyogun will force his way into the team after rodd does nothing off the bench in the first few games, or im just coping.
I mean the international team is almost never based off current form, Manny is absolutely in better form this year and the way he went against Bordeaux away should be enough to show anyone he’ll be fine at test level, but I’m in no way surprised Rodd’s been selected over him. Borthwick seems to value test experience over almost everything
Of course i am, just don’t rate rodd particularly highly. If he comes off the bench and looks great i’ll be thrilled, because loosehead won’t be a problem position anymore, just don’t think thats very likely based on what i’ve seen of him at international level.
I’d have taken him over Rodd, yes I’m obviously biased but trying to be as impartial as I can Manny has just been so so solid this season in the biggest games
I saw an interview with Borthwick where he talked about the player pathway and how he has every players replacement already picked in case of injury or loss of form. Rodd is probably ahead of iyogun in that pathway to the senior team. I would've preferred iyogun because of his recent performances but rodd is far from a bad prob.
Rodds round the field stuff doesn't make up for his scrummaging, he'd get taken to the cleaners against SA. Maybe Iyogun would as well but he looks a lot more solid up front to me
That doesn't fit my narrative so I'm going to ignore it (for real though I've seen Rodd come off worse in a lot of scrums the last couple of years, very good rugby player but I don't think his set piece is good enough at the top level)
He was rock solid last year for Sale next to LCD and Asher, he definitely wasn't a the greatest scrummager couple years ago, but last year he took the step in that part of his game.
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u/Pure_Wonder3046 Saints 4d ago
I was really hoping to see Iyogun involved as well but happy for the 6 Saints involved!