Yes we know Crane has not played for a few weeks but tonight he had a terrible game, held up through greed going for a try when there was space outside, a double movement going for a try, many times dropping the ball or just getting in the way.
Many in the Crumbie were shouting to replace him with the better Pearce but tonight ex Tiger Robert Barberieri was a better No.8 than Crane, why did we not send Crane to Treviso as we would surely have scored even more tries.
Sorry Crane time to go back to washing Cars & Coaches despite your chapped hands.
Next week we need McCaffrey and Pearce on the bench.
wormus wrote:Yes we know Crane has not played for a few weeks but tonight he had a terrible game, held up through greed going for a try when there was space outside, a double movement going for a try, many times dropping the ball or just getting in the way.
Many in the Crumbie were shouting to replace him with the better Pearce but tonight ex Tiger Robert Barberieri was a better No.8 than Crane, why did we not send Crane to Treviso as we would surely have scored even more tries.
Sorry Crane time to go back to washing Cars & Coaches despite your chapped hands.
Next week we need McCaffrey and Pearce on the bench.
Some of what you say may be correct but a lot about the penalty try was down to Crane. The scrum was static, he shifted to between the 6 and lock and that have our push more momentum. I can't imagine Pearce would have had the nous to do that.
Is next week now a dead rubber so no need to risk any important players (McCaffrey)
Please get off Crane's back and encourage the team whoever plays.
Points about Crane yesterday:
Gives 100% every game.
Control at the back of the scrum excellent-hence penalty try.
Brilliant organisation of defence-always pointing where the threat was and wasn't to blame for their try.
Dropped the ball twice when held back illegally.
More grunt in our scrum than we have seen for the last few weeks due to correct binding and pushing technique.
Well done Craney and ignore your doubters who despite a fine win against a team we have struggled against in the past still moan! Still that's their right as it is mine to praise all the team last night.
Crane is the best at the club (imo) at control at the base of the scrum. And in a tight game when ball retention is important he is also excellent at that, what was the game when he replaced Fonua and made an immediate difference?
Those of us who went to the World Cup matches will recall he was classified by the organisers as a "legend", albeit I went a match in Cardiff where Camacho was likewise classified.
I thought he had a very poor game. This was confirmed by my friends in the bar afterwards. He just doesn't suit our new style of play. Sorry, but we've moved on.
I don't understand this post? Crane has given years of service to the club and does give that control and grunt at the rear . OK, if yesterday wasn't his finest hour, that's just one game in many.
Barbieri? One season with us, the only highlight of which was his hitch-kick try, and leaves one of Europe's leading teams to join a basement team that's lost umpteen games on the trot.
Even if Old Father Time and new arrivals are catching up with Crane, I hope the club will use him in another capacity , perhaps showing the newbies how to control the ball at the base of the scrum.
And of course showing how to kick in a penalty shoot-out!
Ian Cant and StuF's opinions sum up Crane for me. Hard working, great technique and never gives up. He is a real Tiger, and to say he doesn't fit, Mr.Steve56, is to fail to understand how a team works.
I'm mystified. Thought he looked slimmed down, more mobile, less 1/2 drop and a deft touch. Tigers tried to play inventively and he seemed to be in there OK. The penalty try was 100% him, as was Pearce's 33% him.
Leicester Tigers 1995-
Nottingham 1995-2000
Swansea (Whites) 1988-95
A game played on grass in the open air by teams of XV.
He may no longer be our best 8 but he never gives anything less than 100%, is a good clubman and squad player and does not deserve being singled out for criticism.
I see no merit in getting on Crane's back at this point in time, especially after he has given many years of service to the club. Sure there are good and bad aspects to his game but that could be said of all players.
Nowadays referees decide matches, players by how much.
Terrible OP!
Crane possibly a little rusty but he is the type of player who plays better the harder the game is, big game type player.
Treviso weren't great and sometimes players can be lured into doing things away from their natural game and basics that they wouldn't normally do.
Also it was b!**)? cold.
Consider being in the way and looking out of place against Treviso might translate into being in the right place at the right time and doing the right things against a team like Sarries.
Have to agree with the O P he was woeful last night. Don't doubt he gives 100% but surely he must have seen last night as a chance to get up the pecking order and just didn't take it
I thought he had a good game seeing as how he had been sidelined for so long. He did nothing others won't have done at 8; seems to me there's a group of disenfranchised voices here who just need a moan.
