Seru and Aaron - the best centre combo?

POSTIGER · Post by **POSTIGER** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:09 pm

I've not renewed my season ticket this season due to work commitments so i'm asking for the opinions of the regulars!

I thought before the season started that a Mauger / Rabeni partnership could be a potentially brilliant combination - possibly for the big games. How did they look today?

Don't get me wrong, i'm a huge fan of both Olly and Dan but in terms of skill and experience I think these two could be awesome.

dailywaffle · Post by **dailywaffle** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:16 pm

Despite looking out of sorts today (he was breathing very hard, very early, and was replaced early in the 2nd half), Mauger is undoubtedly a wonderful distributor.

OC is a very nice problem. I thought that Rabeni had his best game of the season today, and I remain convinced that 13 is, by some margin, his best position. Which really throws the gauntlet down to Dan and Ollie.

Bill W · Post by **Bill W** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:19 pm

It does appear to take rather a lot of players to stop him!!

Rizzo · Post by **Rizzo** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:20 pm

Mauger came off in some discomfort during the second half holding his hand quite carefully, and was holding a huge ice pack on it for the rest of the game. It looked rather painful and swollen. Let's hope we've not lost him to injury just as he's showing his style.

Bill W · Post by **Bill W** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:25 pm

Guess it will have been Xrayed by now. Let us hope just bruising.

Tigerbeat · Post by **Tigerbeat** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:42 pm

From where I was stood, he was bleeding quite badly and had got a bad cut on one of his fingers.

Probably out for a couple of weeks.

TigerCam · Post by **TigerCam** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:00 am

I thought Rambeni and Erinle were a pretty good combo too.

Trout 63 · Post by **Trout 63** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:45 am

I do believe that Mauger is our only 'genuine' 12. He has the ability with the boot required as well as distribution skills etc.
He also seems to have a good effect on Goode, whose performances have grown almost beyond recognition over the last month or so.

Agree that 13 is now interesting.
Dan Hipkiss form seemed to me to take a dip after RWC, and isn't really close to his best.

Ollie Smith has had a better start to the season than he has for a few years. Has suffered of late with illness/injury and form seems to have gone off the boil.

Seru Rabeni was certainly out of position last year on the wing. Played quite well at RWC - mostly at 13 from what I saw. Of late has shown that a line-breaking, hard tackling 13 is just great for us supporters to watch, and not so great for opposition teams to play against. I've also loved the Pacific Islanders attitude to tackling. And they all do it with a big grin on their faces.

WE're lucky to have so many options, but if there were a Cup Final next week - I'd go with a Mauger / Rabeni partnership

Bunchy · Post by **Bunchy** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:36 am

For me, Seru is very effective in defence as a centre which he demonstrated admirably today - but less so on the attack in "normal" phases of play. He always steps inside and always attacks from a standing start.That said - another top game from him today giving ML some selection headaches which is just what we need at this stage of the season.

HerbertJ · Post by **HerbertJ** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 12:29 pm

Just think though, Seru to batter them offensively and defensively from the outside centre for the first 60 minutes, and then bring on some silky running and outside arcs from Olly when they're all tired in the last twenty... And thats without a RWC finalist even in the squad!!!

Ben the Tiger · Post by **Ben the Tiger** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:50 pm

Seru is a great 13 but his main and most concerning problem is the fact that he very rarely passes.

down the brickies · Post by **down the brickies** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:11 am

Forgive me if this has been covered before, but as we're talking about centres, where has Matt Cornwell been? It wasn't that long ago he was captain of the England under 19's and he was very highly thought of.

Rizzo · Post by **Rizzo** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:53 am

down the brickies wrote:Forgive me if this has been covered before, but as we're talking about centres, where has Matt Cornwell been? It wasn't that long ago he was captain of the England under 19's and he was very highly thought of.

He's had a back injury.

brooksey101 · Post by **brooksey101** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:47 am

Did he not play for the A's the other week?