TRU's Position Watch - Full-Backs

We wrap up our ‘Position Watch’ series this week, by taking a look at the Aviva Premiership’s best full-backs.

The Premiership’s stock of full-backs is as healthy as it has ever been right now and at times the counter-attacking play from the men in the deep has been reminiscent of their skilful Super Rugby colleagues. From Stuart Lancaster’s perspective, the amount of English full-backs excelling will be particularly encouraging and for the first time in these rankings, no foreign players make it into the top eight.

8. Simon Hammersley, Newcastle Falcons
Hammersley has been a revelation for the Falcons this season, making an impressive debut in their opening game against Leicester and not looking back since. A graduate of Durham University, where he won a BUCS National final, the full-back is showing with his class and guile that the route into the game of a student-athlete is still well and truly alive. His ability to counter-attack has been a big fillip for Newcastle this season and he has contributed significantly to a more cohesive and effective Falcons’ back line than the ones we have seen in recent years.

7. Mike Haley, Sale Sharks
Sale have had to contend with annual player exoduses over the last few years, but with talents like Haley being churned out by their academy, they have been able to stay competitive in the Premiership. Haley fits the archetype of the modern full-back – he’s tall, powerful, assured in the air and has the step and acceleration to exploit holes in defensive lines. At just 20 years of age and displaying a skill set that ever so slightly resembles the one of Israel Folau, the sky really is the limit for Haley.

6. Rob Miller, Wasps
The man who the aforementioned Haley replaced in the Sale XV, Miller’s move south to Wasps has been a success for the Cumbrian native. He has excelled alongside dangerous attacking threats such as Christian Wade, Tom Varndell and Alapati Leiua, something which was missing at times during his tenure with Sale. As a result of his talented colleagues, his role with Wasps has been less of a try scorer, more of a facilitator, but he remains one of the more dangerous full-backs in the league to kick to in open space.

5. Mathew Tait, Leicester Tigers
Whilst most of the attention has fallen on Geoff Parling’s decision to leave Welford Road this summer, Tait’s departure to Bayonne is potentially far more detrimental to the Tigers, as he has become one of the most consistent and reliable performers over recent seasons. Tait still displays the pace and incision which once made him the youngest England player of the modern era, whilst his move to Leicester has helped him accompany those skills with good defensive awareness and solid aerial ability. Leicester have the strength in the engine room to replace Parling, but how they deal with the loss of Tait could be one of the biggest factors which decides how successful they are in 2015/16.

4. Alex Goode, Saracens
Like teammate Chris Ashton, Alex Goode is an acquired taste for many. At club level, he is an excellent full-back and passable fly-half, but at international level questions have been raised over his ability. Goode has a tendency to run laterally in a bid to find space against defensive lines and whilst this is usually a safe tactic for a player of his ability at club level, at international level it can see him lose ground and even possession if the defensive team is quick to react at the breakdown. His tactical kicking is a good as any full-back not named ‘le Roux’ or ‘Smith’ however, and he is also one of the better offloading 15s in the game, making his spot this high in these rankings an easy decision.

3. Anthony Watson, Bath Rugby
Watson is already a frighteningly good player and given that he doesn’t even turn 21 until the end of February, he has all the prerequisites to become the man England have been looking for since both Jason Robinson and Josh Lewsey retired. England’s desire to find and cement into place their two preferred wings ahead of the Rugby World Cup has seen Watson used internationally as a winger, but at full-back is where he really excels. The former London Irish man has the acceleration and searing pace to create chances out of nothing, particularly against broken field, and has shown repeatedly with Bath this season that he is no soft touch defensively. A post-RWC switch for Watson to his favoured full-back position could be the right long-term move for England.

2. Ben Foden, Northampton Saints
A relatively quiet 2013/14 campaign has seen Foden drop down the England pecking order and a knee injury threatens to derail his RWC ambitions, but a case can certainly be made that he is the most talented player England have at the position (assuming Watson is considered a winger as things stand). Regardless of the back line he plays with, Foden always seems to have chemistry with the players both inside and outside him, popping up on their shoulders with regularity, as well as always being aware of their support lines whenever he makes a break of his own. The former Sale man runs with a grace and guile that is extremely enjoyable to watch and unmatched in the Premiership.

1. Mike Brown, Harlequins
England’s current incumbent, Brown has had a solid season, but certainly not the spectacular one he enjoyed last season. He’s struggled to get his hands on the ball in an underperforming Quins side, whilst he fluffed his lines at times for England over the summer and in the autumn. Form is temporary however, and Brown now has the perfect opportunity to reach those heights again with the Six Nations looming. The directness he runs with is often more effective at international level than the lateral or looping runs of Goode and Foden and it is these punching runs which have likely kept him in favour with Stuart Lancaster. There are no glaring weaknesses to Brown’s game and rather fittingly, given his place at the summit of these rankings, he is probably the most well-balanced full-back currently playing in the Premiership.