Harry Thacker

[Mark62]

Thought brother Charlie had a decent little cameo too

[BFG]

I really must be watching a different game to most others!
I thought he cost us the game with a shockingly poor pass that gifted Wasps possession that Cole ended up being carded from.

[LE18]

umm, not sure about that, but if Harry had some of Charlies size and weight then he would make a decent hooker, but at present we just cannot afford to play an undersize hooker, the last 2 weeks have shown that we have to match size of the opposition if we want to go forward.

[sapajo]

BBC RL recently tweeted this


AM says they're hopeful of Harry Thacker signing a new contract in the next few weeks.

Hope so. He'll slot into that pressure defence we showed in the second half perfectly. The overload attack with multiple ball carriers running down the same channel at pace is practically built for him.

Was on RL as we struggled to get out of Cov. AM hopeful that Harry will resign in next two weeks - sounded very positive.

Being a pedant I hope Harry will re-sign.

[Mark62]

I really must be watching a different game to most others!
I thought he cost us the game with a shockingly poor pass that gifted Wasps possession that Cole ended up being carded from.

His wasn't the only bad pass, as the old adage goes you don't ship s**t. Other than that he looked useful.
As for Coleys yellow card he knew exactly what he was doing and gambled on the 3 points rather than the potential 7

[BFG]

I really must be watching a different game to most others!
I thought he cost us the game with a shockingly poor pass that gifted Wasps possession that Cole ended up being carded from.

His wasn't the only bad pass, as the old adage goes you don't ship s**t. Other than that he looked useful.
As for Coleys yellow card he knew exactly what he was doing and gambled on the 3 points rather than the potential 7

No there were other bad passes etc but none quite as costly IMO.
He was not alone but not what I'd call a decent cameo, thought he was rolled out by Wade far too easily for a centre, what with the passing error I wasn't impressed.

[sam16111986]

umm, not sure about that, but if Harry had some of Charlies size and weight then he would make a decent hooker, but at present we just cannot afford to play an undersize hooker, the last 2 weeks have shown that we have to match size of the opposition if we want to go forward.

As we controlled the scrum entirely in the last two games it's not like we're struggling in that department. In the loose Wasps brought some serious weight off the bench in the second half and we repeatedly went over the gain line especially with McCaffery who's not what you'd call big for a backrow.

We played with intelligence in that second half and by flooding channels with multiple runners at pace it makes it difficult for the defence to come out of the line and make a hit. Thacker has been able to make yards in the static attack we've had for the last couple of seasons, Thacker will break tackles in the mode of attack all day.

[sam16111986]

I really must be watching a different game to most others!
I thought he cost us the game with a shockingly poor pass that gifted Wasps possession that Cole ended up being carded from.

His wasn't the only bad pass, as the old adage goes you don't ship s**t. Other than that he looked useful.
As for Coleys yellow card he knew exactly what he was doing and gambled on the 3 points rather than the potential 7

No there were other bad passes etc but none quite as costly IMO.
He was not alone but not what I'd call a decent cameo, thought he was rolled out by Wade far too easily for a centre, what with the passing error I wasn't impressed.

The errors by Charlie were those made by a rookie. He'll bank those lessons and move on. Those are the errors you get away with in age grade and A league but not when in the first team. He was solid in defence though.

[BFG]

sam16111986
The errors by Charlie were those made by a rookie. He'll bank those lessons and move on. Those are the errors you get away with in age grade and A league but not when in the first team. He was solid in defence though.

I'm seeing lots of young lads getting opportunities which is great but they have to start doing something more than just making errors.
I can live with errors if they show they are capable of special things but it's been pretty average stuff in the main IMO.

[Cagey Tiger]

sam16111986
The errors by Charlie were those made by a rookie. He'll bank those lessons and move on. Those are the errors you get away with in age grade and A league but not when in the first team. He was solid in defence though.

I'm seeing lots of young lads getting opportunities which is great but they have to start doing something more than just making errors.
I can live with errors if they show they are capable of special things but it's been pretty average stuff in the main IMO.

So, you're chucking Charlie on the scrapheap after a 15-20 minute cameo because he made a (big) error and didn't do anything special. Mr Motivator, come on down.

[RagingBull]

How could you say he cost us the game?

I mean we conceded 3 tries before he even came on, granted the tide was changing but I would say those 3 tries cost us more.

[kornboy130]

I really must be watching a different game to most others!
I thought he cost us the game with a shockingly poor pass that gifted Wasps possession that Cole ended up being carded from.

Not a perfect performance I'd agree but he showed touches of class for someone so young - a good fend, footwork, outside break, generally good handling and bravery and technique in defence.

There was a point yesterday where we had Thacker, Worth and Evans on the field at once and all were doing a creditable job and showing signs of some future class to come - when was the last time the future of the club looked academy driven and so bright? potentially not since Ben Youngs, Cole, Manu and Croft started coming on to the scene - that's a big positive for me strategically moving forward, whilst the result was ultimately disappointing.

[TigerCam]

umm, not sure about that, but if Harry had some of Charlies size and weight then he would make a decent hooker, but at present we just cannot afford to play an undersize hooker, the last 2 weeks have shown that we have to match size of the opposition if we want to go forward.

As we controlled the scrum entirely in the last two games it's not like we're struggling in that department. In the loose Wasps brought some serious weight off the bench in the second half and we repeatedly went over the gain line especially with McCaffery who's not what you'd call big for a backrow.

We played with intelligence in that second half and by flooding channels with multiple runners at pace it makes it difficult for the defence to come out of the line and make a hit. Thacker has been able to make yards in the static attack we've had for the last couple of seasons, Thacker will break tackles in the mode of attack all day.

While in some cases 'size does matter', it is hitting the 'space' that you create that does the damage. With the Tigers running straight lines and holding the defence, gaps appeared. Players like Hughes, Symonds, Young etc could not get on the front foot due to the pace at which the Tigers poured through the gaps. When Betham tried to go around the corners the wasps defence just drifted across from their initial blitz - making it very easy to defend. When he went straight the Wasps defence went backwards including their big units.
A bit more catching practice and not looking where you next hit is coming from and the Tigers would have taken it IMO?

[kornboy130]

umm, not sure about that, but if Harry had some of Charlies size and weight then he would make a decent hooker, but at present we just cannot afford to play an undersize hooker, the last 2 weeks have shown that we have to match size of the opposition if we want to go forward.

As we controlled the scrum entirely in the last two games it's not like we're struggling in that department. In the loose Wasps brought some serious weight off the bench in the second half and we repeatedly went over the gain line especially with McCaffery who's not what you'd call big for a backrow.

We played with intelligence in that second half and by flooding channels with multiple runners at pace it makes it difficult for the defence to come out of the line and make a hit. Thacker has been able to make yards in the static attack we've had for the last couple of seasons, Thacker will break tackles in the mode of attack all day.

While in some cases 'size does matter', it is hitting the 'space' that you create that does the damage. With the Tigers running straight lines and holding the defence, gaps appeared. Players like Hughes, Symonds, Young etc could not get on the front foot due to the pace at which the Tigers poured through the gaps. When Betham tried to go around the corners the wasps defence just drifted across from their initial blitz - making it very easy to defend. When he went straight the Wasps defence went backwards including their big units.
A bit more catching practice and not looking where you next hit is coming from and the Tigers would have taken it IMO?

Agreed - we also had some nice shape especially in the structure our forwards were running which allowed us some yardage - men running hard lines and fixing with a wider angled runner coming through providing an optional 2nd point of attack or a man hitting the resultant breakdown at pace - it looked good and given we are missing players of the calibre of Ayerza, Barrow, Toomua, Tuilagi, Pietersen, Tait and Veainu amongst others.

[BFG]

I really must be watching a different game to most others!
I thought he cost us the game with a shockingly poor pass that gifted Wasps possession that Cole ended up being carded from.

Not a perfect performance I'd agree but he showed touches of class for someone so young - a good fend, footwork, outside break, generally good handling and bravery and technique in defence.

There was a point yesterday where we had Thacker, Worth and Evans on the field at once and all were doing a creditable job and showing signs of some future class to come - when was the last time the future of the club looked academy driven and so bright? potentially not since Ben Youngs, Cole, Manu and Croft started coming on to the scene - that's a big positive for me strategically moving forward, whilst the result was ultimately disappointing.

The young backs don't quite have the gas, an area nothing will change in now.
Their attacking prowess has been very limited so far.
Much of your post is made up, I haven't seen all of those attributes in a successful sense.
Was it brave to toss a wild pass into thin air under pressure, didn't want the responsibility, that was more a sign that the ability wasn't present to deal with the situation as was required!
Evans has a big work rate, I rate him, I had thought that I hadn't really seen a big amount of him ball in hand and he went and dropped it but he is a very good young flanker who could develop nicely, not the biggest but big enough, I'd like to see him in attack more and hopefully as the new low tackle law comes into play more in the future the offload game will come into play and his close support running can be utilised.