sapajo wrote:What has happened to Matera? The reason I ask is that we signed him as an injury dispensation until the end of the season. The inferrence being that we needed to do so to replace an injured player in the squad.
Since his arrival post the Rugby Championship he has only made 2 first XV appearances? Namely one start against Sarries and an appearance off the bench (game escapes me). I know he is not registered for the HC but given the fact that he is a world class player good enough to start for Argentina and we have chronic injury problems, why have we not seen more of him in action? Does he have injury issues?
I worry that we will struggle to retain him come the end of the season as he is not getting enough game time and he will no doubt be swamped with offers?
He arrived, then was immediately away with Argentina, then came back in for the Sarries match - but whilst he played well he wasn't good enough to raise questions about Salvi's spot in the team in the critical period of games we find ourselves in now. Injuries have been bad - but Julian is still soldiering on.
I agree he'll need game time to stay and I sincerely hope he does -
but that should come after these next 2 fixtures.
kornboy130 wrote:
He arrived, then was immediately away with Argentina, then came back in for the Sarries match - but whilst he played well he wasn't good enough to raise questions about Salvi's spot in the team in the critical period of games we find ourselves in now. Injuries have been bad - but Julian is still soldiering on.
I agree he'll need game time to stay and I sincerely hope he does -
but that should come after these next 2 fixtures.
Agree with this completely. Pablo is undoubtedly a world class prospect. I'm sure he'll get 2 starts in the LV, presuming he's fit, and he should take his chance. I can then see him taking the back row spot on the bench for the 6 nations games, hopefully that will be enough to convince him to stay at Tigers for the long term. I do think if it wasn't for the injuries in the back-line that led to one of the two changes in HC squad being made (the other change is reserved for the front row) he would have been introduced after the AIs but given the nature of the schedule the focus has been on getting enough points out of the prem games to peak in Europe- Pablo has been unlucky in that regard.
I just hope we will be able to afford to retain him, but with Brett retiring and Louis Deacon re-signing, what I imagine will be a reduced contract, then, fingers crossed, there will be enough in the pot! Also from Pablo's point of view I'd be surprised if he signed here with the intention of staying for only one year.
