Is Toby Flood actually any good?

[Tiglon]

So basically, you wrote the thread title to provoke people? To provoke people into answering a question you don't want to ask, and one to which you already know the answer to.

Maybe a thread title along the lines of "Is Tobly Flood really world class?" or "How good is Toby Flood?" would be more sensible.

Pointless thread. If you don't understand why, I'm not going to bother repeating myself again.

[biffer]

So basically, you wrote the thread title to provoke people? To provoke people into answering a question you don't want to ask, and one to which you already know the answer to.

Maybe a thread title along the lines of "Is Tobly Flood really world class?" or "How good is Toby Flood?" would be more sensible.

Pointless thread. If you don't understand why, I'm not going to bother repeating myself again.

Smashing, thanks for that.

[Jose]

Yes, he still is very good. Proved it again vs Ulster. In a tense and pressurised game. Any doubters left or are you struggling to find the evidence to suit your argument?

[Downbathway]

No, not really, he's a poor man's Billy Twelvetrees

[mike]

Oh dear - what a very childish comment .In terms of game management Flood was streets ahead of his backline colleagues yesterday and did his share of defending as well .Yes , he did make the odd mistake , but nothing that cost us unlike when Ford was at 10 earlier this Season . The rest of the backline , apart from Alex offered little attacking threat but that is not surprising given our injuries in the centre .Once 12trees and Manu are back the attack will be improved dramatically and I hope that they an defend to the same level as yesterday .After watching the game again I was surprised just how many high balls Geordan missed or didn't get near to - the great man is starting to show his years and I'm not sure who is going to step up - not convinced about Morris or Tait .

[DickyP]

.... After watching the game again I was surprised just how many high balls Geordan missed or didn't get near to....

Exactly which game were you watching and re-watching? He was excellent against the high ball all evening - something we'd been missing all season till he got back.

[mike]

Watch it again and just count .

[Jay C]

Watch it again and just count .

The only uncontested one I remember Tigers dropping was by Morris. After that, Geordie made sure he claimed every one rather than trusting others to do it....

Top man coming right back into form

[mol2]

Flood is a very good player - perhaps his key weakness is kicking from hand which is still below the standard of the rest of his game.

[Skin_and_Muscle]

Perhaps it's under-developed because it's not part of his game that he likes to rely on, preferring to play it through the hands.
I have to say, I think Flood is a fantastic player but has lacked the ability to play pragmatically or have a strong enough contingency plan at times.
His match against Northampton in the semi-final last year showed what a top FH he can be and against Ulster he showed he has the ability to put great kicks in that turn the defence and get the forwards where they want to be.
If he can keep mixing play up as well as he did yesterday and do this consistently then there is no doubt that he should be considered one of the best around.

[drc_007]

Our coach used to say, "the kick is only as good as the chase".

Tigers can be a little unenthusiastic.

[Will S]

I don't see Toby's kicking out of hand as very weak - I remember one absolute beauty at the weekend that any player would be delighted with.

That being said I think he would benefit from someone like Billy inside him. It is very useful to have a kicking 12 with a long boot that he can ship the ball on to if he is running out of space or hasn't got the time or angle.

[Isambard]

Billy who? Oh Billy overrated. That's probably provocative but I think he has much to prove.

[DickyP]

Watch it again and just count .

I did - and counted every catchable high ball to Tigers (including kick-offs and penalties).

GM attempted to go for 7 in the game - he caught 6 and knocked one back to TTTE. He was in the region of 2 others but taken out both times by Ulster players before he could make a real attempt to catch the ball.

Niall Morris and Horacio Agulla each dropped one ball. HA successfully caught 2 others. There were a total of 8 other high kicks all successfully fielded by Louis Deacon (4), Toby Flood (2) and TTTE (2).

The facts just do not bear out your assertion.

[Baggy Trousers]

Pardon me for butting into this one. Yes Flood is good, he was the one man to find a touch of magic in a game where there was barely a spare inch to be found. Without young master Toby we were going home at least with a bonus point despite missing 4 of our very best players.