606 Aviva Premiership Dream Team - Stand Off

We have a pack. We are well on our way to rubberstamping Danny Care as our Scrum Half, so now we look at who will partner him at half back.

Charlie Hodgson 15 starts (6 rep); 212pts (3t, 22c, 51p)
Having announced his international retirement at the start of the season, Hodgson has been in the form of his life. Saracens look a much more attacking team when he plays, as he offers an all round attackingthreat. He can run the ball, he has excellent tactical kicking, but most of all he has a range of passing unmatched in the premiership. His goal kicking has been uniformly excellent and his much derided tackling (at times unfair) has improved. Yes he has missed 30 tackles to sit high up on the stat list, but at the same time he has made 119 for an 80% success rate. Not brilliant, but not the revolving door we have been told about. Moving away from his northen comfort zone has done him good. Shame he did not move earlier maybe straight after destroying tigers at Twickenham (or from a Tigers viewpoint just before).

Toby Flood 14 starts (1 rep); 163pts (2t, 27c, 33p)
Not his best season, but not terrible either. His form in the AP has actually been pretty good though he has developed a worrying tendency to stand both very flat and about 25yds away from his scrum half.As with the past few season a slightly frail body has let him down at key moments (ankle injury causing him to miss the AB test for example). Not really a contender for this, but has played a lot better than given credit for and better across the whole season than some who will be in contention. (84% tackle success rate)

Nick Evans 19 starts; 247pts (5t, 33c, 55p, 1dg)
Another who has not had his best season. As he slowly moves towards retirement to be expected I guess. Next season we will expect to see a little more of Botica in the 10 shirt. Of course even not at his best, he is a fantastic player. Occasional off days with the boot, but usually excellent, good runner and great passer. Not sure much more needs to be written about the Kiwi (except as I will be doing it for all of them - 25 missed tackls, tackle rate 74%)

Stephen Myler 17starts (4rep); 168pts (1t, 23c, 39p)
Well he has seen off yet another contender at FG and earnt a call up to the England sqaud. Unheralded, much derided yet he keeps on doing what he does. I have to say though, looking at the stats does not really make me change my mind on what I see. He does not offer a running threat, his goal kicking can be awful at times and his tackle rate is not great (28 missed tackles, 75% success). In his favour he has comfortably the most try assists - though many are pop passes to forwards (or burrell) rumbling over.

Freddie Burns 17starts (1rep); 250pts (2t, 24c, 63p, 1dg)
Freddie Burns would and should have won this hands down if we had done the poll at the half way point. In the first half of the season he was excellent and showing the sort of form that would have made him a Lions contender. An untimely injury just before the 6Ns was followed by a major dip in form. at the end of last season, when Glaws were struggling, Burns had developed this tendency to start running towards the man he was passing to. This pretty much removes his running threat (and he is the best 10 in the league running the ball) and his kicking option. Life becomes easier for defences and much harder for his outside backs. On return from injury I noticed this had crept back - perhaps something he does when things just are not clicking? Perhaps too, we forget that he is rather young and only in his second AP season in the 10 shirt. Great attcking 10, but as with most some suspicions about his defence - he tops the missed tackle list (31 missed, 72% success rate).

Gareth Steenson 17starts (5rep); 244pts (1t, 28c, 61p)
Another solid season for the Irishman. Certainly I had the view that he was mainly a kicker, yet he has made more metres running (686) and more clean breaks (10) than any of his stand off compatriots. Exeter have scored a lot of tries, Steenson deserves some credit for this as the cornerstone of the back line. Does he spend a lot of time covering the FB position when the opposition are in defence? This could explain his running stats - and his tackling ones where he has made less than half (and sometimes only a quarter) of the tackles made by his compatriots - just 31 tackles made with a 69% success rate.

Stephen Donald was Bath's main man in this position - but for the sake of the Bath fans sanity I will not include him in the poll.
Stephen Jones was Wasps best stand off, but did not play enough to feature.


Ian Humphreys 19starts (1rep); 97pts (11c, 24p, 1dg)
The former tigers and Ulster man had a decent first season in a misfiring London Irish side. When he was good, he was very good, but when he was not he was anonymous. He has always been a decent runner of the ball, though you sometimes fear he may break when goining into contact. Defensively he is anothe 10 who is right up there on the missed tackle list. Teams do love sending big forwards at the opposition stand off. any way 71% tackle success, with 28 missed.

Sale alternated between McLeod, Cipriani and Miller.


Andy Goode 20starts; 229pts (2t, 21c, 57p, 2dg)
Well he keeps on rolling on, and rolls into yet another club next season. One of the few English players to play super rugby, he was both the reason why Worcester stayed up, but perhaps also the reason why they have made little progress. At times they depend on him far too much. He kicks the ball far more than other 10s, yest he also can surprise people by being an effective runner - 3rd in the stand off metres made list. 81% tackle success rate.

Gordon Ross 15starts (2rep); 173pts (13c, 49p)
There was a lot of talk about Henso joining, but It was Ross who was there whenever LW won a match. The Scottish veteran was clever and effective and always kept LW in with a chance. Does he retire now? If so I reckon he would make a very good coach.




Intersting/dull sidenote - while looking up tackle stats I found it interesting how we have certain perceptions. George Ford is known as a small guy and weak in the tackle, teams send their big forwards at him, yet thi sseason he has made 71 tackles and missed just 3 for a 96% success rate.

OK sorted now.

For me it was between Hodgson for his form across the season and Burns who was exceptional for half the year, but perhaps only poor to OK after coming back from the injury. In the end I went with the older man.

LT, Steenson doesn't cover his fullback, so his running stats genuinely reflect that he has been taking the ball to the line aggressively on harder grounds. As to his absence of tackling stats, he tends to get hidden on the short-side wing or at OC when defending in our half as he's not the biggest lad (altho not fearful of throwing his body in the way either). Not that any of that matters as he'll just be another 'average' Exeter player in a team that is 'greater than the sum of its parts' - yawn

Not a vintage year at fly half this season. Hodgson has been consistent but uninspiring this year, although it is notable that Sarries scored more tries with him at 10 than Farrell. Evans had a season to forget, by his standards which are normally mercurial. Ross was another who had a solid season and did the best he could at Welsh.

For me the choice is between Steenson and Burns. Steenson has probably been the most consistent FH this season; he's not flashy but he gets Chiefs moving. Burns was sensational in the early part of the season and kicked everything going and set up numerous tries and scored some corkers too. Due to the injury to Tim Taylor he was brought back too soon from his injury, which affected his form, but he did start to recapture it with great games against Sarries and Exeter (where he scored 1 try and set up 3). My voting so far should so my inherent bias is stilted, but Burns deserves to win this. He hit heights no other FH did and despite his slump in form he still finished as top points scorer. For his 2nd season as a starter that's no mean feat.

HKC Hodgson was inspiring. Just not in the eyes of a gloucester fan. You will champion the cause of your team's player as I do with mine.


I agree with LondonTiger. If this poll was done in the first half of the season Burns would have won easily.

Burns form dropped - Sale's spanking of Gloucester was a particular black mark.


Charlie Hodgson masterminded Saracens 5 bonus point wins. His tackle stats as shown by LondonTiger are better than most other fly halves. He really puts his body on the line.

The other contenders except for Flood have not yet mastered the ability to defend.

Not sure how many of Gloucester's tries conceded can be attributed to Burns but 42 conceded is not good is it?

Hodgson went off early against Saints and didn't start vs Toulon. I think this in hindsight had an impact on both matches.

Evans for me, their start to the season was great and he's been pretty consistent for them and they play the best rugby in the league in my opinion.

beshocked wrote:HKC Hodgson was inspiring. Just not in the eyes of a gloucester fan. You will champion the cause of your team's player as I do with mine.

That's a tad unfair. I've only voted for Kalamafoni, rather than every player nominated from my side

I will champion my team's players when they deserve to be and I'm well aware of our short comings. Hodgson has had a consistent season, but if he'd had a better season than Burns I'd say as much. Burns has certainly had worse games than Hodgson this season that is very fair to say, but he's all had better than Hodgson. His defence isn't a bad as the stats suggest and it is worth noting that whilst he has the highest missed tackles, he doesn't have the lowest tackle completion. Interestingly, Steenson has a lower completion record than Burns and I feel had a better season than Hodgson too. I don't think any FH has covered themselves with glory throughout the course of the season, but for someone who uses stats as a primary way to judge people, surely you can't look past the fact a 22 year old has topped the points scoring chart?

Hodgson just for me, followed by Steenson & Burns. Agree with others though, certainly not a vintage season for 10's.

Hodgson all the way. Steenson second.

Hodgson for me. He has been the best EQ 10 in the league for a while I think, which is slightly worrying in itself.

Second for me is Gordon Ross, he has been quality in Welsh's wins and has more points than either of the 2 10's starting in the final. I feel like he might have had a player/coach role already, so presumeably he will slip into more of the coaching role next season. He also lives just around the corner from me, as an aside.

HongKongCherry wrote:

beshocked wrote:HKC Hodgson was inspiring. Just not in the eyes of a gloucester fan. You will champion the cause of your team's player as I do with mine.

That's a tad unfair. I've only voted for Kalamafoni, rather than every player nominated from my side

I will champion my team's players when they deserve to be and I'm well aware of our short comings. Hodgson has had a consistent season, but if he'd had a better season than Burns I'd say as much. Burns has certainly had worse games than Hodgson this season that is very fair to say, but he's all had better than Hodgson. His defence isn't a bad as the stats suggest and it is worth noting that whilst he has the highest missed tackles, he doesn't have the lowest tackle completion. Interestingly, Steenson has a lower completion record than Burns and I feel had a better season than Hodgson too. I don't think any FH has covered themselves with glory throughout the course of the season, but for someone who uses stats as a primary way to judge people, surely you can't look past the fact a 22 year old has topped the points scoring chart?

HKC my point is that as you are a Gloucester fan you are bound to be more favourable to Burns. As a Saracens fan I am bound to be more favourable to Hodgson. I expect you have watched Burns more as I have watched Hodgson more.

You just need to look at the amount of tries Saracens have scored with Hodgson at fly half.

I absolutely understand your decision to pick Burns. I just don't personally think Burns was the best fly half throughout the season.

If it was just the first half then Burns was the best. As a whole - not in my opinion.

I think Burns, because of how important his form has been to Gloucester and because Hodgson has had to share duties with Farrell

beshocked wrote:

HongKongCherry wrote:

beshocked wrote:HKC Hodgson was inspiring. Just not in the eyes of a gloucester fan. You will champion the cause of your team's player as I do with mine.

That's a tad unfair. I've only voted for Kalamafoni, rather than every player nominated from my side

I will champion my team's players when they deserve to be and I'm well aware of our short comings. Hodgson has had a consistent season, but if he'd had a better season than Burns I'd say as much. Burns has certainly had worse games than Hodgson this season that is very fair to say, but he's all had better than Hodgson. His defence isn't a bad as the stats suggest and it is worth noting that whilst he has the highest missed tackles, he doesn't have the lowest tackle completion. Interestingly, Steenson has a lower completion record than Burns and I feel had a better season than Hodgson too. I don't think any FH has covered themselves with glory throughout the course of the season, but for someone who uses stats as a primary way to judge people, surely you can't look past the fact a 22 year old has topped the points scoring chart?

HKC my point is that as you are a Gloucester fan you are bound to be more favourable to Burns. As a Saracens fan I am bound to be more favourable to Hodgson. I expect you have watched Burns more as I have watched Hodgson more.

You just need to look at the amount of tries Saracens have scored with Hodgson at fly half.

I absolutely understand your decision to pick Burns. I just don't personally think Burns was the best fly half throughout the season.

If it was just the first half then Burns was the best. As a whole - not in my opinion.

I do understand your point. I've acknowledged how consistent he has been this year and that he has made your attack more effective. My point is that I think he's had better years, hence the uninspiring comment. We've both watched the respective players more, so there is always going to be an element of basing the judgement on what you know, but I just don't feel Hodgson has changed/won games like Burns did against the likes of Leicester for example.

I think the main reason I ended up voting Hodgson is that Sarries looked a much more attacking team with him at the helm and he got the very best out of his backs.

Burns had moments of brilliance but for me far too often failed to get some outstanding backs into the game. I would have expected far more tries from such a promising group.

But in the end remember, I am an old forward and i prefer consistency to lapses of brilliance

All were much of a muchness really, Evans had some brilliant spells, so did Hodgeson,Burns was sublime but then pants. In fact the best performances were from the Exeter fly half, I remember him being instrumental in a fair few demolition jobs in the latter stages of the season ( including one at the Stoop )

Tough shout this one as people have said because a lot of inconsistency & cases could be made for most.
Surprised by Andy Goodes stats! But should be a solid signing for Wasps.

I've gone for Nick Evans just, not his greatest season but when on song still one of the best to watch.

Burns time will come.