Position Profile - Fly Half

Is it possible for there to be more change than we have had at 10 this season?  First it was announced that Joe Carlisle was leaving for Wasps.  Obviously expecting to get out from under the shadow of 1st choice fly-half Andy Goode, who a month or so later announced that he was also leaving at the end of the 2012/13 season and that his new pastures were also in Buckinghamshire!  Good(e) luck Joey!

Is it possible this was the double deal clincher?

So what is the role of a fly-half?

This is an extremely important position within the match day XV and arguably, regardless of who is named captain, the man that runs the match day tactics.  It is therefore extremely important that the #10 understands and implements the tactics derived by the coaching staff (something Richard Hill stated was not being done by Andy Goode).
Set piece movements are directed through and by the fly-half, passing, kicking, tackling and positional play are essential.  Open-side flankers like to eat 10's for breakfast and if you have a fly-half considered weak then they quickly become an attacking target for the opposition, with the "10 channel" becoming a favoured attacking direction.

What do you want in a fly-half?

In 2 words "Johnny Wilkinson" but more detailed - tactical awareness, passing ability, kicking ability from hand and place kicking, great vision, a certain level of physicality and strong leadership skills.

What have we had in the past?

Some would say it is a who's who of journeymen, former internationals and potential talent that never quite made it.

What do we have at #10 for 2013/14?

With 1st and 2nd choice 10's leaving, then head coach Richard Hill signed up the services of Ignacio Mieres and Paul Warwick.  Two less similar characters and players would be hard to find.

We have already looked at Paul Warwick in detail Paul Warwick #23 though I would not consider him a fly half.  As the title of my article on him suggests, I would see him as more of a specialist 23 than a first choice 10.

Lets not forget Danny Gray!

To be fair to Danny, he had time out last season and fell behind Joe for the supporting role as Warriors 10, but when he did come on the pitch he looked great!  His first proper start was away to Bath, when Andy Goode, having just announced he was leaving Sixways, fell ill as he warmed up for kick off.  Though the game ended in our tears, Danny played very well and in my opinion deserved more game time as the season drew to a close.

The major signing at 10 has been that of Ignacio Mieres, who will be reviewed in detail by AJ Bails in the coming days.  To be fair he is arriving at Sixways under a bit of a cloud.  An 'unknown' issue at his now former club Exeter has meant he missed the 2012/13 season, but hopefully he arrives having served his time and more importantly learning what you do not do in and around other team members!

The future of the 10 shirt

Something we have missed in recent years is competition at the academy level for fly half. We hear about the Ford brothers and Burns brothers and we are now starting to see the fruits of their age group battles at Tigers (Bath), Leeds (Sale) and Gloucester, but we have not really had that... until now. 

Last season our lack of young 10's was so apparent that on more than one occasion our Cavalier side fielded Dr. Who - it turns out he is a lad that lives near former head coach Richard Hill.

The 'real' Tom Baker

The lad did OK but it was quite embarrassing that a top flight rugby club had to resort to such a level to field a specialist fly half.

In Elliot Davies and Tiff Eden we have two very talented future 10's, both still teenagers and both on the books for the 2013/14 academy season.  I will be watching these guys closely to see how they progress!

Which Warriors could have been Lions?

Having seen the underwhelming response to the Lions squad I decided to look at the Warrior Lions.

Euan Murray

The obvious first choice potential Lion.  At 32 Euan is considered to be at his peak, though some may argue he is past his best, his Worcester performances this season certainly would not suggest this.
Murray made his Scotland debut back in 2005 and has since gone on to play 53 games for his country.
His 10 premiership and 3 cup appearances for Worcester predominately as the starting tight head.

Murray has missed out to Matt Stevens.  Stevens is younger and heavier than Murray but he is also less experienced, shorter and has a history of drug taking.  Stevens is considered to be able to play loose and tight head and therefore seen as more of a squad player than Murray.

You could argue that if Mullan & Murray had been picked, if only for non test games, you would have a front row pairing that know how to scrum together.

Matt Mullan

Though he only has 1 full international cap the soon to be former Warrior loose head has had another great season.  Matt has fallen foul of injury many times over his career but having put in 20 appearances this season and only suffering a training day "freak accident" injury, hopefully that is all behind him.  As a Worcester prop he has been amazing and I am sure he will do the same for Wasps from next season.

Unfortunately for Matt there are many players in front of him for England duty, let alone Lions duty.  All you have to say is Cian Healy and you can see why Mullan would not be selected.  Their stats are pretty close; only a year in age, an inch in height and they weigh in the same, but the big difference is Mullan has 1 England cap vs Healy with 39 Ireland caps.

Maybe a couple of injury free rugby at Wasps will give Mullan his chance to play for England.  He will still be less than 30 years old for the next Lions tour!

Ed Shervington

Is Dylan Hartley really playing better than Ed?

The facts are that Hartley is younger, taller, heavier and vastly more experienced than Ed but does that matter?  I guess it does.  Ed does not seem to have had a sniff at international rugby and with 35 premiership caps vs Hartley's 90 it would appear he is some way behind.

It is very rare that Mr. Hill would let Ed or Aleki play a full 80 minutes of rugby. 2011/12 season Ed only played a full 80 minutes once and this season it has only happened twice.  Though our former head coach must value Ed to have given him a new contract and planned to start next season with just him and Ollie Hayes as first team choices until November.

Unfortunately for Ed I think international rugby has passed him by but fortunately for us Worcester Warriors are where he remains.

James Percival

I hardly need to write a justification for this selection.  The man has been fantastic for Worcester again this season.  He has already picked up the only prize that maters - Fans Player of Season 2012/13 but should he have also picked up some tickets to join the lions tour?

Comparing the giant lock to Geoff Parling - Percy is 6'5"weighs 257ib is 29 and 81 premiership caps but no international test caps.  Parling is 6'6" weighs 251lb is 29 and has 131 premiership caps with 17 international caps.  As a Warrior though they cannot be compared.  In every sense Percy wears his heart on his sleeve and plays every game as if it is his last.  He has played 25 games for us this season and up until the Sarries game he had played every single minute of premiership rugby this season! 

I'm not sure how serious it was, but there was even talk of him qualifying for Wales.  Judging by the Lions squad this may well have been a tactic to aid his progress into the touring side?!

For me the Warriors captain is head and shoulders above any other player in the premiership and should been on the plane to Australia.

Andy Goode

If only he had maintained his fitness.  There could be so many arguments for taking him.  Though there are many that say he is a great 10 at club level but never made the step up to international rugby.

In all honesty though, to get in the team he would have to do better than another legendary 10 that missed the cut - Johnny Wilkinson.  The numbers just do not add up.

England

Andy Goode - 17 Caps 107 points

Johnny Wilkinson - 91 Caps 1179 points

As a club player Goode has been outstanding though

Premiership

Andy Goode - 188 Caps 1834 points

Johnny Wilkinson - 138 Caps 1489 points

Goode is the second highest all time scorer in the premiership and currently holds the accolade of highest points scorer ever for both Tigers and Warriors.

As I said above, if only he kept his fitness going this season.  It may be coincidence but ever since it was announced that he was signing for Wasps he seems to have got slower, less interested and less committed.  Understandable maybe, but tarnishes the end of his Warriors career and any chance of becoming the 3rd 10 on the tour to Australia.

Chris Pennell

I covered Chris' career in some detail back in January 2013 and since then he seems to have only got better!

There are no premiership based full backs in the touring squad.  Halfpenny, Hogg and Kearney take the places.  Brown didn't make it as a "utility back".  So far England seemed to have looked past Pennell for home nation caps, so why should he play for the Lions?  This season Chris has made it to the landmark of 100 points in 100 games for Worcester having played 23 of those games this season.  His performance at the last home game of the season summed up his season.  Great running with ball in hand, great defence, performed well under high ball and added some real attacking flair.  Maybe a few more performances like that would get the international selectors looking more closely at him.  Maybe, Worcester playing a more consistent and attacking game will help also!

In his way for the Lions is Halfpenny, player of the championship in this years Six Nations and a target for every premiership and French team playing in the Heineken Cup, so to be fair Chris would struggle to keep him out of the Lions tour,  but as no other premiership player or England player made the tour, maybe there is nothing stopping him being called up for England or at least the Saxons next season.

Reality

Do I really think that any of the Worcester players should have been named in the Lions touring squad - maybe not.  Do I think any of them could have been called up - no chance.  Until we work our way out of the bottom 4 premiership sides and give our players chance to shine they have no real chance of selection.  Not through poor performance or not being good enough, purely through not being in the spot light for the right reasons.  It is hard enough to get into their home nations team let alone the Lions team! 

The Actual Lions

Full-backs: L Halfpenny, S Hogg, R Kearney
Wings: G North, A Cuthbert, T Bowe, S Maitland
Centres: B O'Driscoll, M Tuilagi, J Roberts, J Davies
Fly-halves: J Sexton, O Farrell
Scrum-halves: C Murray, M Phillips, B Youngs
Props: G Jenkins, C Healy, M Vunipola, A Jones, D Cole, M Stevens
Hookers: D Hartley, R Hibbard, T Youngs
Locks: I Evans, R Gray, AW Jones, P O'Connell, G Parling
Back row: T Croft, T Faletau, J Heaslip, D Lydiate, S O'Brien, J Tipuric, S Warburton (capt).