Scott1 wrote: ↑Fri May 13, 2022 10:42 am
Squads shaping up beautifully! The only position that worries me is LH,Cronin is very good and Whitcombe is coming along great but they are no Genge,he’s been outstanding lately and proved during the 6N that he’s world class. Took arguably the worlds best TH apart and had 2 fantastic performances v Wales and Ireland ,although both differed slightly with one in the loose and one at set piece,but when he puts it all together consistently and keeps improving there’s a chance he could become the worlds premier LH. Whitcombes the one to watch now!
I still think we need at least 1 enforcer in the second row, I think this was shown in the Leinster match
Completely agree. Another MJ or Lavinini, but with a few less penalties and cards!!
From the joiners, my concern would be Watson. He is a great player WHEN fit.
The enforcer concept is pretty irrelevant in the era of TMOs and citings.
We need a powerful second row to put grunt in the scrum and a bit of rumbling in the loose.
What’s Gopperth’s role? Player coach possibly but not sure he would start if Kelly is fit. Back up kicker when Pollard is away with SA but Burns is a decent kicker.
mol2 wrote: ↑Fri May 13, 2022 11:37 am
The enforcer concept is pretty irrelevant in the era of TMOs and citings.
We need a powerful second row to put grunt in the scrum and a bit of rumbling in the loose.
What’s Gopperth’s role? Player coach possibly but not sure he would start if Kelly is fit. Back up kicker when Pollard is away with SA but Burns is a decent kicker.
Kelly is likely to be in the England mix too.
Personally I'd like to see Kini more at 15 when Steward with England, that means fly half cover from elsewhere instead of Hegarty.
Allows Scott & Porter to focus on 13 (especially if Moroni leaves)
Used to run around with an 11, 14 or 15 on my back.
If Moroni were to leave then we would have Cocanasinga capable of filling it at 13 as well as Porter and Scott.
Gopperth brings a host of things to the table not least of which is that 2nd play maker role if required and he showed against Edinburgh at the weekend he is still capable of playing at this level.
Just don’t get the Murimurivalu to fullback calls. Yes I know he has played there for Fiji, but they do play a very different style to Tigers at present, and I’ve seen too much revolving door defence from him. Wonderful broken field runner devastating finisher put him on the wing, where defensively he has his channel to defend and offensively he can pop up anywhere including close to rucks.
Re Hegarty no idea how long his initial contract was for. Seen nothing to suggest he is off but feel he has received some really unfair criticism, mainly on the back of the first half at Bath, in really windy conditions in a game we ended up winning. For me he is the type of solid back up player that championship challenging teams require.
Rugbygramps wrote: ↑Fri May 13, 2022 12:02 pm
If Moroni were to leave then we would have Cocanasinga capable of filling it at 13 as well as Porter and Scott.
Gopperth brings a host of things to the table not least of which is that 2nd play maker role if required and he showed against Edinburgh at the weekend he is still capable of playing at this level.
Just don’t get the Murimurivalu to fullback calls. Yes I know he has played there for Fiji, but they do play a very different style to Tigers at present, and I’ve seen too much revolving door defence from him. Wonderful broken field runner devastating finisher put him on the wing, where defensively he has his channel to defend and offensively he can pop up anywhere including close to rucks.
Re Hegarty no idea how long his initial contract was for. Seen nothing to suggest he is off but feel he has received some really unfair criticism, mainly on the back of the first half at Bath, in really windy conditions in a game we ended up winning. For me he is the type of solid back up player that championship challenging teams require.
Not just Fiji, played over 100 games at 15 for with Fiji, Clermont and La Rochelle
Rugbygramps wrote: ↑Fri May 13, 2022 12:02 pm
If Moroni were to leave then we would have Cocanasinga capable of filling it at 13 as well as Porter and Scott.
Gopperth brings a host of things to the table not least of which is that 2nd play maker role if required and he showed against Edinburgh at the weekend he is still capable of playing at this level.
Just don’t get the Murimurivalu to fullback calls. Yes I know he has played there for Fiji, but they do play a very different style to Tigers at present, and I’ve seen too much revolving door defence from him. Wonderful broken field runner devastating finisher put him on the wing, where defensively he has his channel to defend and offensively he can pop up anywhere including close to rucks.
Re Hegarty no idea how long his initial contract was for. Seen nothing to suggest he is off but feel he has received some really unfair criticism, mainly on the back of the first half at Bath, in really windy conditions in a game we ended up winning. For me he is the type of solid back up player that championship challenging teams require.
It's not just Fiji he's started there for, all-rugby has 71% of his starts there.
I actually think defensively he's pretty good as a fullback, plus his jackling ability has saved us on more than one occasion.
If you say have Pollard and Gopperth on the team you don't need quite such a kicking fullback, and then having Kini at 15 is a point of difference in attack. Having it so the opposition is both scared of the counter attack and having to prep for a kick is the ideal scenario.
I actually like Hegarty as a player I just think that for me Murimurivalu shades it as the better player. Having them both gives us options which should be good to see
Used to run around with an 11, 14 or 15 on my back.
Thanks guys was unaware of those stats. Doesn’t change my opinion that he is a better winger than full back and would still receive plenty of ball back in space to run back at the opposition. That’s just me of course.
As for his jacking ability we have another Fijian winger who is pretty good at that too along with Kelly and Scott
I don't mind Hegarty playing 15 ahead of Kini it's more putting Burns in at 15 over Kini.
I'm a big fan of Burns but starting a game he shouldn't be at 15, maybe covering it off the bench.
RagingBull wrote: ↑Fri May 13, 2022 12:29 pm
I don't mind Hegarty playing 15 ahead of Kini it's more putting Burns in at 15 over Kini.
I'm a big fan of Burns but starting a game he shouldn't be at 15, maybe covering it off the bench.
I completely agree. Although I was surprised to see Simmons being re-signed, I am happy with it. I always rated him, especially as a scrum half, and was upset when he got injured "in his prime" I hope he develops as well as I thought he would.
He is a versatile player in the Austin Healy mould. Whether he will ever be as good as Austin was... not sure. At least he won't have Austin's mouth!
Agreed, always used to rate Simmons above White. However, in his last few games for Tigers White was really good, his kicking had improved immeasurably. Not surprised he’s now smashing it with LI and Scotland.
Simmons though is probably perfect 3/4th choice and will get plenty of minutes in PRC next season. Edwards has got backs of potential too.
Hopefully some more announcements will be made later today.
The other thing about Simmons is that we will potentially be without Steward Watson and Youngs at the same time. One player can cover 3 positions
I think that is pushing resources - I prefer to play with 15 on the field not 13.
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