LEICESTER TIGERS 2020/21 SQUAD/TRANSFERS/CONTRACT THREAD Episode 3 The revenge of the Contracts.

[Mark62]

Look at the dross he has had to play with! Hes still a world class player,you only have to look at him in an England shirt to realise that. Our attack for the most part has been dreadful for a good while.

Obviously your opinion is valid, but the same could be said of Ford, May Vieanu, he looks very good in a team surrounded by international class players, in a team where his quality should have stood out, more often than not it didn’t. All imo of course.

Ford looks good because of the amount of ball he gets. May looks good because he's got genuine unbeatable pace to make something out of nothing. Vieanu hasn't looked great reliably if we're honest, it's his moments of magic in a broken field that stand out which you don't get from centre. The rest of the backs have looked pretty terrible due to the lack of structure/game plan

That’s your view, but you’ve just said that 2 players rely on individual ability to make the most out of very little, which is exactly my point that Tuilagi hasn’t. Anyway we could debate this forever, he’s gone and imo he won’t be greatly missed, others will no doubt disagree

[Mark62]

I don't think Manu ability could really be questioned.
His availability on the other hand.

He has all the ability in the world, the number of times he has used that in a Tigers shirt over the last 3 seasons, you could count on the fingers of 1 hand. IMO of course

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Did England not just get to a world cup final and beat (stuff) the (then) current world champions with Tuilagi playing at 13??

He's one of the best centres in the world and would get into any team. He hasn't been value for money for Tigers for the last few years but he's still a worldy. If he can keep the injuries at bay he'll be worth what ever anyone wants to pay him.

[BFG]

Hilarious the salty views on Manu just because he has left!

It is hilarious.
The comparison with Slade is odd as in the last meeting with Exeter Slade had to off injured about half an hour into the match after tackling Manu.
Also in that match Exeter tried to rush one trick pony Manu who intelligently read and left alone the pass to go wide for Veainu to break into the space that created the first try for May via Thompstone.
Later Manu draws in two Exeter men to put May in enough space who finished brilliantly for the third try.
In between those two tries Tuafua planted Hogg wide right, Manu had been clearing the ruck wide left, Exeter stayed overloaded on the left of the next ruck to mark Manu.
Exeter scored four tries, all forwards carrying over, none of which involved Manu.
As for the line out that gave possession away for Exeter's fourth try, somehow someone (lifter or jumper) in green calamitously ends up in the floor.

[Cardiff Tig]

That’s your view, but you’ve just said that 2 players rely on individual ability to make the most out of very little, which is exactly my point that Tuilagi hasn’t. Anyway we could debate this forever, he’s gone and imo he won’t be greatly missed, others will no doubt disagree

Yes but it's much harder to do that at centre. 10s make the decisions on the plays and wings/fullbacks have space.

I actually agree that he won't be missed but that's because of where we are as a team. Players like Manu are what makes a team great e.g. winning knock out games for trophies. When we're at that stage again he'll be missed but I'm not sure that will be in the next few seasons for this club...

[DeadlyDunc]

Hilarious the salty views on Manu just because he has left!

It is hilarious.
The comparison with Slade is odd as in the last meeting with Exeter Slade had to off injured about half an hour into the match after tackling Manu.
Also in that match Exeter tried to rush one trick pony Manu who intelligently read and left alone the pass to go wide for Veainu to break into the space that created the first try for May via Thompstone.
Later Manu draws in two Exeter men to put May in enough space who finished brilliantly for the third try.
In between those two tries Tuafua planted Hogg wide right, Manu had been clearing the ruck wide left, Exeter stayed overloaded on the left of the next ruck to mark Manu.
Exeter scored four tries, all forwards carrying over, none of which involved Manu.
As for the line out that gave possession away for Exeter's fourth try, somehow someone (lifter or jumper) in green calamitously ends up in the floor.

Shhhh - “facts“ will get you nowhere on an Internet forum

[Mark62]

Hilarious the salty views on Manu just because he has left!

It is hilarious.
The comparison with Slade is odd as in the last meeting with Exeter Slade had to off injured about half an hour into the match after tackling Manu.
Also in that match Exeter tried to rush one trick pony Manu who intelligently read and left alone the pass to go wide for Veainu to break into the space that created the first try for May via Thompstone.
Later Manu draws in two Exeter men to put May in enough space who finished brilliantly for the third try.
In between those two tries Tuafua planted Hogg wide right, Manu had been clearing the ruck wide left, Exeter stayed overloaded on the left of the next ruck to mark Manu.
Exeter scored four tries, all forwards carrying over, none of which involved Manu

Previous game at Sandy Park, Slade defended Tuilagi out of the game and the trick pony did nothing.
My point being that you can point at different games and get different impressions, and to the best of my knowledge a understrength Exeter team still won at Welford road.
As previously stated I don’t know why we’re still debating him he’s gone, maybe we can resurrect it, if and when he stars for Sale beating Tigers.

[Mark62]

That’s your view, but you’ve just said that 2 players rely on individual ability to make the most out of very little, which is exactly my point that Tuilagi hasn’t. Anyway we could debate this forever, he’s gone and imo he won’t be greatly missed, others will no doubt disagree

Yes but it's much harder to do that at centre. 10s make the decisions on the plays and wings/fullbacks have space.

I actually agree that he won't be missed but that's because of where we are as a team. Players like Manu are what makes a team great e.g. winning knock out games for trophies. When we're at that stage again he'll be missed but I'm not sure that will be in the next few seasons for this club...

I really don’t want to keep this going, but that isn’t what I see when I watch Goodhue, Ione and Lennett Brown in New Zealand and what Tompkins was doing for Sarries. I honestly don’t think you can generalise that much, different players at different times in different teams.

[Cardiff Tig]

Put any of those in this team though for the last two seasons and I doubt they would look anywhere near as good.

But like you say, let's agree to disagree and move on

[BFG]

Hilarious the salty views on Manu just because he has left!

It is hilarious.
The comparison with Slade is odd as in the last meeting with Exeter Slade had to off injured about half an hour into the match after tackling Manu.
Also in that match Exeter tried to rush one trick pony Manu who intelligently read and left alone the pass to go wide for Veainu to break into the space that created the first try for May via Thompstone.
Later Manu draws in two Exeter men to put May in enough space who finished brilliantly for the third try.
In between those two tries Tuafua planted Hogg wide right, Manu had been clearing the ruck wide left, Exeter stayed overloaded on the left of the next ruck to mark Manu.
Exeter scored four tries, all forwards carrying over, none of which involved Manu

Previous game at Sandy Park, Slade defended Tuilagi out of the game and the trick pony did nothing.
My point being that you can point at different games and get different impressions, and to the best of my knowledge a understrength Exeter team still won at Welford road.
As previously stated I don’t know why we’re still debating him he’s gone, maybe we can resurrect it, if and when he stars for Sale beating Tigers.

Previous Prem game at Sandy park would be September 2018.
MOC's one and only game in charge that season.
If I remember correctly that might be the match with the claimed stat where Exeter's 22 was breached once in 80 minutes.

[Tiglon]

It is hilarious.
The comparison with Slade is odd as in the last meeting with Exeter Slade had to off injured about half an hour into the match after tackling Manu.
Also in that match Exeter tried to rush one trick pony Manu who intelligently read and left alone the pass to go wide for Veainu to break into the space that created the first try for May via Thompstone.
Later Manu draws in two Exeter men to put May in enough space who finished brilliantly for the third try.
In between those two tries Tuafua planted Hogg wide right, Manu had been clearing the ruck wide left, Exeter stayed overloaded on the left of the next ruck to mark Manu.
Exeter scored four tries, all forwards carrying over, none of which involved Manu

Previous game at Sandy Park, Slade defended Tuilagi out of the game and the trick pony did nothing.
My point being that you can point at different games and get different impressions, and to the best of my knowledge a understrength Exeter team still won at Welford road.
As previously stated I don’t know why we’re still debating him he’s gone, maybe we can resurrect it, if and when he stars for Sale beating Tigers.

Previous Prem game at Sandy park would be September 2018.
MOC's one and only game in charge that season.
If I remember correctly that might be the match with the claimed stat where Exeter's 22 was breached once in 80 minutes.

That's the game in which Tigers barely won half their own lineouts, 34% territory and 40% possession. We were awful across the park and I think it would be very harsh to judge most of those players on that game.

Manu is a world class player because he has something special that few others do. He creates genuine fear in opposition defences. I will miss watching him in a Tigers shirt.

Will Tigers as a club be weaker without him? Probably not much. Like CardiffTig said, players like Manu are around to win you the big games - if as a team you aren't capable of getting to the big games, there's no point having a Manu (or a May for that matter).

[Mark62]

It is hilarious.
The comparison with Slade is odd as in the last meeting with Exeter Slade had to off injured about half an hour into the match after tackling Manu.
Also in that match Exeter tried to rush one trick pony Manu who intelligently read and left alone the pass to go wide for Veainu to break into the space that created the first try for May via Thompstone.
Later Manu draws in two Exeter men to put May in enough space who finished brilliantly for the third try.
In between those two tries Tuafua planted Hogg wide right, Manu had been clearing the ruck wide left, Exeter stayed overloaded on the left of the next ruck to mark Manu.
Exeter scored four tries, all forwards carrying over, none of which involved Manu

Previous game at Sandy Park, Slade defended Tuilagi out of the game and the trick pony did nothing.
My point being that you can point at different games and get different impressions, and to the best of my knowledge a understrength Exeter team still won at Welford road.
As previously stated I don’t know why we’re still debating him he’s gone, maybe we can resurrect it, if and when he stars for Sale beating Tigers.

Previous Prem game at Sandy park would be September 2018.
MOC's one and only game in charge that season.
If I remember correctly that might be the match with the claimed stat where Exeter's 22 was breached once in 80 minutes.

The point I’m making BFG. as I think you’re aware is that you can look at any game in isolation, I’m saying that imo Manu, has not performed to his undoubted ability in a Tigers shirt, regularly for a number of seasons now. There are undoubtedly a number of reasons for this, and whether or not he would have flourished under the new regime we will never know, as he has chosen to move on.