SAINTS AT HOME 24TH APRIL 2021

[LE18]

Look at Care and Smith playing with total freedom versus Youngs and Ford, ingrained into kicking. Which works occasionally. But Care and Smith are more successful at Premiership level. By a street mile.
In Eddie Jones book, he said he banned his Japanese team from ever kicking, just run,pass, run, pass....
So why do our England half backs , keep bogging it up ??

That may have been in Eddies Japan days, with small players you cant compete with ball in the air, you have to keep hold of it, now he's territory mad, not just with Ford but also with Farrell, its their first instinct and its stale and got us nowhere this 6N.

[Ian Cant]

George Ford is a class act so just needs to be told to play more freely: I don’t seem the point of bringing back Freddie if we are going to play some heads up rugby.
Maybe the problem lies in not playing the same combinations each week: so Ford and Youngs with JVP and McPhillips together either starting or on the bench.
Nadalo , Potter on the wings with Moroni and could Kini Murimurivalu play centre?
Top 6 is possible but we need to get the attacking play tried out before next season. We aren’t far off being a very good squad.

[wormus]

Green isn't good enough since he came back I am yet to see a game where I thought he was anything better than Average, play Lavanini whilst he is here, if not him then it must be Henderson or Martin.

Another game where we lost close and no one is looking at the international 10 that left more than enough points to win the match on the field yet jumped all over the other 10s in games we won for missing kicks.

Wallace was in effective, biggest change after HT was the fact we actually competed at the breakdown instead of hoping for Saints to mess up.

Van Wyk yet to stand up and be counted either.

Kelly going off was a big loss too

Agree on Van Wyk - not sure what he offers TBH - not quick, not physically dominant, not great under the high ball, not disciplined in defence and no great footwork.

Hopefully just a case of needing time to settle and we’ll see the true player in time to come

Before he arrived, I questioned his signing and was lambasted on here. Apart from one outstanding finish, his tries in NZ were largely walk ins and his appetite for defence was more than slightly questionable. And there was the ban for the incident with the scrum half. Sadly, I’ve been proved to be right and I’m afraid we are seeing the true player.
I’m sure some French teams would take him off our hands. Might be the best option all round. Wish I could locate that original post!

My initial post simply questioned the previous one which said that all South Africans give 100% every game, which I partly based upon Sale’s inconsistent performances. Some of you have strangely taken that to mean that I’m anti South African, which is way off the mark.
I stand by my assertion that players with their heart and soul in the club are less likely to go missing on a filthy winter night, especially if we’re under the cosh, whilst taking on board that hasn’t always happened in recent years. But now the culture has very much changed.
In terms of the recent imports who are still with us, I think we’ve recruited very well, apart from Bonilla and Van Wyk. On here, amid the euphoria, I questioned the signing of the ‘try machine’, pointing out that apart from one excellent finish (carbon copy of Zammit’s v Ireland), almost all his tries were walk ins and also he’s not overly blessed with great pace. And then there was the nonsense with the scrum half that got him banned. I’ve genuinely seen little to change my mind, in terms of performance and intelligence. And that’s my opinion.
I know you’ll totally disagree Oakham but you do make me smile the way you wet yourself with excitement every time we sign someone, whoever they are!

[Dokie]

Agree on Van Wyk - not sure what he offers TBH - not quick, not physically dominant, not great under the high ball, not disciplined in defence and no great footwork.

Hopefully just a case of needing time to settle and we’ll see the true player in time to come

Before he arrived, I questioned his signing and was lambasted on here. Apart from one outstanding finish, his tries in NZ were largely walk ins and his appetite for defence was more than slightly questionable. And there was the ban for the incident with the scrum half. Sadly, I’ve been proved to be right and I’m afraid we are seeing the true player.
I’m sure some French teams would take him off our hands. Might be the best option all round. Wish I could locate that original post!

My initial post simply questioned the previous one which said that all South Africans give 100% every game, which I partly based upon Sale’s inconsistent performances. Some of you have strangely taken that to mean that I’m anti South African, which is way off the mark.
I stand by my assertion that players with their heart and soul in the club are less likely to go missing on a filthy winter night, especially if we’re under the cosh, whilst taking on board that hasn’t always happened in recent years. But now the culture has very much changed.
In terms of the recent imports who are still with us, I think we’ve recruited very well, apart from Bonilla and Van Wyk. On here, amid the euphoria, I questioned the signing of the ‘try machine’, pointing out that apart from one excellent finish (carbon copy of Zammit’s v Ireland), almost all his tries were walk ins and also he’s not overly blessed with great pace. And then there was the nonsense with the scrum half that got him banned. I’ve genuinely seen little to change my mind, in terms of performance and intelligence. And that’s my opinion.
I know you’ll totally disagree Oakham but you do make me smile the way you wet yourself with excitement every time we sign someone, whoever they are!

Thanks for making the effort to find this. It wasn’t actually the post I was referring to; that one was before he’d played a game for us. But the sentiments are exactly the same.

[sam16111986]

Look at Care and Smith playing with total freedom versus Youngs and Ford, ingrained into kicking. Which works occasionally. But Care and Smith are more successful at Premiership level. By a street mile.
In Eddie Jones book, he said he banned his Japanese team from ever kicking, just run,pass, run, pass....
So why do our England half backs , keep bogging it up ??

It is worth noting that the kicking game employed by Tigers meant we had great territory and possession. The problem was not the kicking game the problem was I think the 8 turnovers in their 22.

Care and Smith are successful at Prem level? They've won nothing as a combination. The highlights reel looks good but they are an upper mid table side.

[JP14]

Be surprised if Harlequins will win anything other than their best league finish since 2013/14, unless they suffer from the same loss in momentum that they did in 2018/19.

[sapajo]

For me Saints are blessed with a number of pacy players that propel their attack. Since the departure of May, its something we now lack.

[tigerburnie]

Top 6 is possible but we need to get the attacking play tried out before next season. We aren’t far off being a very good squad.

Actually I think we already are a very good squad, what we are not yet is a very good team and that takes time and playing together as a squad. It should be glaringly obvious to all where Borth's is taking us, building a squad of players, any of whom can can slot in if needed, sound a familiar tactic? Only let's hope we keep an eye on the accounts better than his old side did.

[Crofty]

Top 6 is possible but we need to get the attacking play tried out before next season. We aren’t far off being a very good squad.

Actually I think we already are a very good squad, what we are not yet is a very good team and that takes time and playing together as a squad. It should be glaringly obvious to all where Borth's is taking us, building a squad of players, any of whom can can slot in if needed, sound a familiar tactic? Only let's hope we keep an eye on the accounts better than his old side did.

Yup, that about sums it up!

[ourla]

For me Saints are blessed with a number of pacy players that propel their attack. Since the departure of May, its something we now lack.

I think there is something in this.

It doesn't have to be everywhere but it needs to be somewhere.

Although there may also be a bit of, it's there, we just haven't seen it fully yet. There have been glimpses.

[Pellsey]

Dickson was poor but not exactly biased. Tigees were poor. I would have just loved to have watched the game with a competent ref.

I would have just loved to have watched the game with a competent Tigers team.

Completly agree with that!!!

[SthrnTiger]

For me Saints are blessed with a number of pacy players that propel their attack. Since the departure of May, its something we now lack.

I think there is something in this.

It doesn't have to be everywhere but it needs to be somewhere.

Although there may also be a bit of, it's there, we just haven't seen it fully yet. There have been glimpses.

Agree this is a weakness at the moment and does make scoring tries from distance (as Saints and Bristol often do) hard to do.

In Moroni and Potter have decent pace but probably not quite lightning quick. Simmons does fall into that bracket but hasn’t had too many opportunities and also a certain pacy winger ripping it up down under at the moment.