34 replies to this topic

[Marv Woodburn]

nobody seems to have touched on the (relativley) modern aspect of playing a large 13 or 3/4 who defends well playing in the 6 position often done to negate the other sides attacking options.

Edited by Marv Woodburn, 07 June 2010 - 07:59 AM.

[Orfordviking]

Wish my lot could clone Tony Myler.

I think there in a montage clip of him on the video site we all know

Poetry in motion when ever Stand off gets mentioned i think of Tony Myler

Or his nickname in Widnes GOD

[Cofi]

no pro teams play 7 and 6 as first receiver second receiver anymore. rather left pivot and right pivot. Basically the stand off and scrum half are exactly the same in the modern game

I understand and the more I watch games the more this is coming obvious to me. However, when you have an attacking scrum, similar to the one we saw in the Wigan/Saints game when Pryce, I think, attacked immediately on the first play and scored, the defending 6 would normally defend against the first receiver and his position on the field would reflect that, right?

nobody seems to have touched on the (relativley) modern aspect of playing a large 13 or 3/4 who defends well playing in the 6 position often done to negate the other sides attacking options.

Is defence, therefore, an overlooked aspect of the 6's game? Although the 6 and the 7 are, to all intents and purposes, very similar-type players, when it comes to defending from a scrum, the 6's defensive attributes would have to come to the fore surely. If there is a difference between these two almost-exact-type players, would it be fair to say that the 6 is usually a better defender? Or is this wrong and unfair to scrum-halfs! It's just that I've noticed that the scrum-half tends to tackle less than the stand-off during a game. Is this a general trend or have I got it wrong?

[FlattenedbyWard]

Great post/ topic/ discussion point.

Many teams play a Left+Right policy whereby 6 and 7 hold either the left or right side of the field and and hence are first or second reciever dependent upon the side of the field the ball is being moved from. It also means that they are nearer their "home" in the defensive line.

Its made for the traditional 6/7 roles to become a tad diluted.

The post about Briers is a good one- he's as near to an old school 6 as we've got- in that he floats across the field, looking for an opening or a tired/ out of position opposition player to exploit with a good attacking option.

Lockyer plays in a similar way as a 6. Andy Farrell did it too from 13/6 and Prop! Stay Jones played in a similar way as 7- which complicates matters.

The thinker/ schemer/ plotter should be accomodated regardless of whether he is 6/7/13 and allowed to hold the reins as the main man IMO. The players in the team will recognise that too and allow them to.

[Dave T]

no pro teams play 7 and 6 as first receiver second receiver anymore. rather left pivot and right pivot. Basically the stand off and scrum half are exactly the same in the modern game

Whilst there is a lot of interchange (mainly IMHO due to the pace of the game and the size of pitches simply not making it practical for halves to have to keep swapping sides when you are moving the ball from one side of the pitch to another), I do believe the 7 is first receiver for quite a few clubs.

Certainly at Warrington Myler will control the short passing game close to the ruck, and Briers will generally come in at 2nd receiver on the wide plays.

At Wigan, you often see Tomkins (or O'Loughlin) as the 2nd receiver out wide.

During the England game when Tomkins was playing 7, it was much more obvious that he was taking the ball first up and he was more involved in controlling the play than he sometimes is at Wigan.

[Cofi]

Watched recently Jamie Soward stand out as stand-off (Dragons v. Tigers). Took the ball as second receiver pretty deep as if he was pretending to take a field goal and then as the line attacked him, he ran with blistering pace around the side of them and, then, from the 20 metre line backed himself and sprinted past four defenders to score. "Fastest man on the planet over 40m" according to the commentator.

Pace, speed - as well as the guile. What a stand-off! Backing himself to run with the ball on the last play.

[Outwoodtiger]

Dean Widders has been pretty stand out for Cas recently, this has been due to his try scoring abilities but also because he is quite a chubby fella (is that allowed or will i get a £40,000 fine from the RFL?)

[Outwoodtiger]

John Joyner.........now their was a stand off!!

[hindle xiii]

Watched recently Jamie Soward stand out as stand-off (Dragons v. Tigers). Took the ball as second receiver pretty deep as if he was pretending to take a field goal and then as the line attacked him, he ran with blistering pace around the side of them and, then, from the 20 metre line backed himself and sprinted past four defenders to score. "Fastest man on the planet over 40m" according to the commentator.

Pace, speed - as well as the guile. What a stand-off! Backing himself to run with the ball on the last play.

And yet, all we want him to do is kick goals!

[terrywebbisgod]

And yet, all we want him to do is kick goals!

It's a nifty little routine he's got, 5,6,7,8 and kick

[1976PMJwires]

It's a nifty little routine he's got, 5,6,7,8 and kick

and you are from Steps.

which one are you Lee or H

[Cofi]

It's a nifty little routine he's got, 5,6,7,8 and kick

[terrywebbisgod]

and you are from Steps.

which one are you Lee or H

neither, dancers always start off with, 5,6,7,8 and not 1,2,3,4.

[Wolford6]

As any fool, or at least Steve McNamra knows, Ben Jefferies was a better standoff than Iestyn Harris.

[AndyCapp]

The best Standoffs in recent times
Wally Lewis
Brett Kenny.


In the modern game
Darren Lockyer