Pace in the backs this season?

[Richard]

I think you may have been sucked into stereotype there. Tuillagi has a really deft touch, his offloading skills are sublime, and he can spin pass well off both hands. I dont see any area of weakness in his handling, and his kickings pretty good too

I don't think it is a stereotype....when he gets confident his handling can be excellent, but he takes 3 or 4 games to be able to control his passing and time it right..and he does tend to lose the ball in the tackle more than he should..

[Goffer3404]

There have also been occasions when AT has struggled to catch the ball. Losing in the tackle has been higher than most, but maybe with the return of the maul he'll not quite get those passes with a twinkling blue light on top!

[mol2]

I wonder if we will see Ellis regain his speed?

Youngs (his understudy) certainly appeared to have serious pace when he got game time last season.

[Will S]

I don't think that blistering pace is as important as it once was. Pure speed use to get you trys, and still does in lower leagues and younger age group rugby, but in the GP the defenses are so well organised and marshalled that you are simply not given the room. We need players who:

1) Can make room from nothing (e.g. flood, ellis, mauger, hamilton, murphy, Tuilagi)
and
2) Once having broken the line at least have the pace not to get caught (looking across our backs we don't have a TV type speedster but most of our backline could run in a try if they broke the defensive line and had a yard or two headstart)

[drc_007]

I think you may have been sucked into stereotype there. Tuillagi has a really deft touch, his offloading skills are sublime, and he can spin pass well off both hands. I dont see any area of weakness in his handling, and his kickings pretty good too

I don't think it is a stereotype....when he gets confident his handling can be excellent, but he takes 3 or 4 games to be able to control his passing and time it right..and he does tend to lose the ball in the tackle more than he should..

I wonder if sometimes the support is not there, they assume he will smash through tackles?
I thought his inside off-load to Hipkiss against Bath (?) for a try was out-standing.

[gooders060981]

you tend to run out of room on the pitch if you try to go round them and the modern defence are not going to wave you through. Alex has the pace and strength, and skill...just his ball handling needs to improve as this seems to be his main weakness.

I wouldn't disagree at all. That's why I think Hipkiss is underated by some on this forum.

He doesn't have the obvious "wrecking ball" impact of a Tuilagi or a Rabeni, but he does make lots of yards right through the middle of defences, frequently in line with the posts, such that any foul committed on him is more or less 3 points in the bag.

And he's a hard un to turn over.

I agree with regards to Hipkiss, he seems to go some distance with players hanging off him. Therefore, he takes defenders out of position which leaves gaps for M Smith, the Murphies, Alex T, A Mauger etc to take full advantage of.

I think we will see a lot more of Hipkiss sucking in defenders as Allen was always very good at spotting the purpose gap

[Outlander]

I'd just like to add a small point.

As has been pointed out, speed needs space.

And, if I am to believe what they always say on TV, Tigers' pitch is a comparatively small one with less room.

So, more than half the time, the impact of speed is reduced by the dimensions of the pitch that Tigers play on.

When in any sport a team's home ground has certain peculiarities, the team generally takes on characteristics that adjust to those peculiarities. It would seem to me that, playing on a smallish pitch, Tigers would be smart not to base their team on speed.

By the way, an observation from a guy who grew up on American football.

I have always been amazed at how hard it is to break away in rugby. This is something I have noticed at every level I have watched, from my son's HS team to internationals.

I often see a rugger break into the clear and my American football instincts say, "he's gone." In football, he would be.

And then the defense reels him in. It is remarkably difficult to break completely free in rugby.

Well, my 2 cents from the wilds of Minny.

[Kinoulton]

Well from Minny to Kinny, I reckon you're right.

I know nowt about American Football, but oop here we see loads of highlights of Rugby League games, where the majority of tries are constructed by clever passing moves which result in an individual taking the final pass and slicing through the opposition straight to the line.

None of the crash-bang-wallop or heave-ho-heave-ho that is the prelude to most Rugby Union tries.

I'm not complaining. It's just an obseravtion.

[Bill W]

the majority of tries are constructed by clever passing moves which result in an individual taking the final pass and slicing through the opposition straight to the line.

.

You mean running through an enormous gap (13 players just are not enough to patrol the park) after several tedious "play the ball" episodes?

[Darc Tiger]

We may have lost our real speedster, but what team in the GP has a really pacey backline?

Wasps will be quick, but apart from that, there arent many I would regard as a speedster. Strettle, Ojo, Benjamin, Varndell, Lemi, err, err... Im struggling.

[Kinoulton]

the majority of tries are constructed by clever passing moves which result in an individual taking the final pass and slicing through the opposition straight to the line.

.

You mean running through an enormous gap (13 players just are not enough to patrol the park) after several tedious "play the ball" episodes?

I have to be careful what I say Bill. There are Hull KR fans who know where I live.

But genuinely, rugby league teams do construct decent tries out of necessity. Though they are not averse to a chipped kick over the top when they've run out of phases.

[Hull Fan]

It's the Hull FC fans you need to worry about kinny, your safe with the pride of east hull!

[Kinoulton]

It's the Hull FC fans you need to worry about kinny, your safe with the pride of east hull!

The local bylaws state that if a Hull FC fan crosses the river after sunset, I can shoot him.

It's a tough game, is RL.

[Longshanks]

Tuillagi has a really deft touch, his offloading skills are sublime.....

Hear hear! I remember one particular offload against Irish at the Madjeski.....