Oldstager wrote:Patience is a virtue. Some of these young tyros think they can just demand, and walk into, a top position. Who in their right mind would choose Ford over the established, proficient, England fly half?
I think a little more patience and humility would not go amiss. I always thought Ford would leave anyway, but to go to the backwater of Bath is not a good move, even if his father is a coach there.
I may be wrong, (lol) but if he went to Bath, and in some way improved his playing/career, would he not be the first ex - Tiger to do so? Am thinking of Moody/Vesty/Hipkiss.
I could agree with you...but then we'd both be wrong.
George F has put in some good performances for us (primarily A team stuff - the LV cup was largely down to him last year) and Floody has put in a few poor games for us - it depends on the day. (Thank heavens Floody improved his kicking for the Toulouse game)
However going to Bath may not be agood thing for George F He may get game time but Bath appear to be a squad of very talented individuals but do not perform as a team.
conspiracy theory - Cockers retires some of our lads to Bath to disrupt the team i.e Hipkiss, Moody, Vesty (anyone else ?) a couple of good games then no game time due to injuries.
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Patience is a virtue. Some of these young tyros think they can just demand, and walk into, a top position. Who in their right mind would choose Ford over the established, proficient, England fly half?
That is a typical academy player attitude unfortunately! They swan around for years as big boys in their little bubble detatched from reality constantly believing that they are and will always be the best. The majority of them don't like it when a proper battle is on. I'm not saying it is the case with Ford and he doesn't seem the type to me. If anything he seems more shy and retiring than most others but maybe that is a part of the problem. Perhaps he should listen to experience and continue to grow and learn! Like 36 it will take time to know if they were too big for their boots or the boots were too big for them?
Rory Clegg at Quins would make for a good replacement. He's suffered from being parked behind Evans for a couple of seasons, and in terms of squad rotation O'Shea makes Cockerill look positively revolutionary (the Quins XV picks itself, and substitutions are rare).
The Quins fans turned against Clegg because he has missed some kicks occasionally, but he's very Flood-esque in style. He's a tall, rangy lad who likes to get on the gainline and pop the ball short to runners, or step and go half-way through gaps before offloading. Even games he's been criticised for, he's actually played well with ball in hand. The issue has been lack of game time, but at Tigers he'd have a lot more opportunity and would - no doubt - be happier to be playing Premiership rather than Championship rugby next season.
What about signing rob miller from sale, out of contract at the end of the season. Cam come and challenge mat tait for the 15 shirt but he used to be a 10 so can kick goals be a second receiver and also step up to 10 if needed. With him in the back three you could have Bowden at 10 a lot more comfortably
fortysix wrote:As it is Tigers will probably regret this big time, because it only needs Flood to get injured....
I do not believe Tigers will have any regrets, we did everything we could to keep him. It would seem that the only other thing we could have done is to guarantee him first choice 10 spot ..... and for me, we would have regretted doing that!
If you do everything you can possibly do, there can be no regrets.
Tiger Chris wrote:What about signing rob miller from sale, out of contract at the end of the season. Cam come and challenge mat tait for the 15 shirt but he used to be a 10 so can kick goals be a second receiver and also step up to 10 if needed. With him in the back three you could have Bowden at 10 a lot more comfortably
Why would Tigers choose to spend money on someone to challenge Matt Tait especially as he is performing admirably? Fact is Tait was signed as the long term replacement for GM
Without hope we are nothing, keep the faith, a Tiger for eternity
What about signing rob miller from sale, out of contract at the end of the season. Cam come and challenge mat tait for the 15 shirt but he used to be a 10 so can kick goals be a second receiver and also step up to 10 if needed. With him in the back three you could have Bowden at 10 a lot more comfortably
Why would Tigers choose to spend money on someone to challenge Matt Tait especially as he is performing admirably? Fact is Tait was signed as the long term replacement for GM
Tait will not fill G.M's shoes, just wait and see! He wiil fall off tackles and drop balls the longer he is exposed. He has a history of it and good attacking talent that he is, he will cost us points! Miller is a good shout!
What about signing rob miller from sale, out of contract at the end of the season. Cam come and challenge mat tait for the 15 shirt but he used to be a 10 so can kick goals be a second receiver and also step up to 10 if needed. With him in the back three you could have Bowden at 10 a lot more comfortably
Why would Tigers choose to spend money on someone to challenge Matt Tait especially as he is performing admirably? Fact is Tait was signed as the long term replacement for GM
Tait will not fill G.M's shoes, just wait and see! He wiil fall off tackles and drop balls the longer he is exposed. He has a history of it and good attacking talent that he is, he will cost us points!
I beg to differ
Without hope we are nothing, keep the faith, a Tiger for eternity
The whole Ford to Bath thing also doesn't make sense since it is unlikely that Bath will even qualify for the HC next season.
Their last three games are Quins (A), Tigers (H) and Saracens (A) - can't see then getting many points from those three games.
They are 8 points adrift of the HC qualification places (unless and English team wins it this season?) with 9 games left and they also have to go to Kingsholm and host Saints.
But if gm does retire you need to sign at least someone else to cover tait if nothing else and put some pressure on him, I'm not saying miller is a better player or not but I think he would be worth a look at. In my option he would be more like a gm at full back because he is more of a footballer. Having said that both him and tait have played on the wing before so what's to say they couldn't play in the same back three.
On a slightly different point if ford is going why are we signing mele as a back fly half why not just sign a back up ten or is mele coming infor young in which case fair enough
Well I thought that his dad said he was staying at Tigers. Anyway if he cannot behave like a grown up then we are well rid of him. No one is above the club. Fly halves need class, guts and a multitude of skills to be able to manage the game at Tigers' level.
Has he got these, no not yet, will we ever see them? Who knows but some maturity on and off the field seems necessary? Are young backs more tempted these days by football agents I wonder? If they are they might try playing naffball and become an even small straw in the tidal race of life.