PRC Round 4 - Tigers vs Saints

[Jimmy Skitz]

I like what I have seen from Reid, I think a 10/12 axis of Ford and Reid will be our prefered pair with Hardwick playing when either is unavailable, Eastmond coming off the bench with his pace and skill set will be of benefit too

[Leicestertinytiger]

Being a bit harsh on the centres, Manu, Reid, Taute and Viljoen are all good players. Eastmond is probably fifth choice when all are fit.

With the cap you can’t have internationals in every position. The money needed spending on the forwards as last season showed. With quick ball and the right platform, Ford Reid Manu will do just fine.

[KevinR]

There seems to be a lot of (IMO) knee-jerk criticism of Eastmond on here. Look at the highlights and you will see that none of the Saints breaks were his responsibility: the two in the first half were both between Gigena and Wells (I think) and the final try was down to Forsyth (who missed another tackle shortly afterwards and was replaced). That being said, they were good plays by Saints and hard to defend: as others have pointed out, our defence was much improved in general.

[Grimlish]

Just looked at the highlight clips - Eastmond only implicated in one try - the last one which, as said elsewhere, had a clear forward pass, and in which it was the man outside him who missed the tackle, as did two others. It was fans' favourite Thompson who gave the ball up through an impossible offload for one try, and an assortment of others who reverted to last season's 'defensive' style for the first two. Overall our defence looked stronger than last season, particularly against the attacking maul. I've been dubious about Eastmond's defence before now but this game wasn't an example in that mould.

[JP14]

Just looked at the highlight clips - Eastmond only implicated in one try - the last one which, as said elsewhere, had a clear forward pass, and in which it was the man outside him who missed the tackle, as did two others. It was fans' favourite Thompson who gave the ball up through an impossible offload for one try, and an assortment of others who reverted to last season's 'defensive' style for the first two. Overall our defence looked stronger than last season, particularly against the attacking maul. I've been dubious about Eastmond's defence before now but this game wasn't an example in that mould.

Thank you!

[Mark62]

Having just seen the tries on YouTube the first 2 Saints tries were poor defending from the Guards, certainly Gigena responsible for the 1st and at least partly for the 2nd. Their third try was a 50/50 back of the hand pass by Thompson, if it had gone to a tigers hand we would have score. Their 4th try was the centre running at Forsyths weak shoulder and he got no where near him. I don’t see how blame can be levelled at Eastmond for any of them.

For Tigers tries, can see why Reid must play at 10, 2 great assists for Holmes tries and a great support line for his own. Even the push over maul showed lots of power even if they were too high