Excellent piece!

[Rugbyflanker]

http://lastwordonrugby.com/2018/01/03/l ... truggling/

[Dr H Flashman MBE]

It appears the author has been reading this very board! The last part is quite damming. What happens if we don't get into Europe? My thoughts are that MOC will be gone.
I don't think sacking him now would make any sense, far to Wendyball.
Very good read though and quite insightful.

[WhitecapTiger]

It appears the author has been reading this very board!

Or posting on it.....

[Rugbyflanker]

I dont want it to be like wendyball either but out of the top 6 should be immediate sacking! Top 6,one more season with new coaching team on board. Thats very fair.

[G.K]

It appears the author has been reading this very board! The last part is quite damming. What happens if we don't get into Europe? My thoughts are that MOC will be gone.
I don't think sacking him now would make any sense, far to Wendyball.
Very good read though and quite insightful.

Of course Tigers will be in Europe, playing in the Challenge Cup.

[mightymouse]

Whoever it was, just for the record, Defence is spelt with C not an S in this country

But I think it is an interesting read and seems to represent a lot of what many people seem to agree with on here.

[BFG]

Talk about stating the obvious, "the best Premiership teams score more than anyone else".
Coaches have been trying to pick up the pieces since after Howard moved on!
The disruption was briefly halted by (as said elsewhere) the high quality players who remained and Cockers who held it together for a while, they are all gone now!
The impressive (team player ) Mauger caused more disruption in my opinion!
MOC (trying) to pick up the pieces!

[Leicestertinytiger]

MOC is definitely trying to sort out the mess he inherited still. Going to take more than one summer of transfers to get the squad he wants.

The coaching team itself, bar Stanko, isn’t good enough. Wasps are bringing in Cardiff’s head coach as their forwards coach alone. We need a complete overhaul of the coaching team with a proper skills, defence and forwards coaches with MOC at the top with the squad he wants. Only then can he properly be judged.

In his defence the locks did okay last season, so he focused on the backrow to strengthen which we all agreed with at the time. Unfortunately the lack of a proper forwards coach has meant that the front 8 as a unit hasn’t worked. Look at Exeter, not many big names in their forwards, man for man they are no better than ours. So obviously it’s the coaching that is significantly better than ours currently.

[TigerCam]

Hits the nail right on the head IMO.

[JP14]

Well I don’t want Murphy to go since he won us the AWC last season but I feel if the rumours are right about Cardiff then he should go, broaden his career options and can get experience in a different coaching environment.

Keep Stanko, move Deacon to defence coach where I thought we were very good towards the back end of last season and bring in a really good forwards coach.

[drc_007]

Perhaps I am missing something but isn't all this blindingly obvious?

[johnthegriff]

Without commenting on the points made about where things could be improved in the Tigers team I would question the praise for Aaron Mauger, his record after Cocker was sacked was played 7 lost 4, including his final match win against Saints. I have ignored Anglo/Welsh results as that was achieved under Murphy, Deacon and Allen. Following the appointment of MOC ignoring Bath at Twickenham as being before he was actively coaching we played four won three including the semi final loss by one point in the last minute. The performances in the Premiership before Cocker was sacked were statistically slightly better than when Mage took over but in Europe we were awful in Glasgow, Limerick and Paris ok at home to Racing and Munster but pathetic versus Glasgow at home.
Injuries played a part but all clubs have to cope with them, Tigers have made some changes, players on contracts cannot be easily rid of if the head coach does not rate them and replacements are not available until their contracts expire except in rare circumstances therefore a new coach/system needs more than a season to really improve. I do believe however that with the players we have, to finish outside the top four would raise questions and not to make top six is unthinkable. After a tough run of matches the coming Premiership fixtures are crucial, personally I think we are not far from becoming the team we would all like to see but only positive results will provide evidence that I am right.

[ourla]

There is a certain amount of the chickens coming home to roost here. With weaknesses in the coaching and playing team being exposed at the heaviest part of the season.

The question is what can be done to salvage the season and what can only be fixed in the off season. Worryingly, I can't see lots that can be done short term. That said the likes of Irish and Newcastle will be a lot easier than the likes of Exeter and Munster. We need to rebuild some confidence and get back to parity in the go forward and give our backline an opportunity to sparkle.

I don't think sacking MOC is the answer at all at this point.

[RagingBull]

NOT really that good a article completely misses GG and SC two people Hoen have very much been involved in our decline in recent times.

Places the entire blame at MOC who has gotten things wrong hardly inherited a team on the up. Is he out of his depth in this situation? Maybe but Mauger was hardly setting the world alight and didn’t seem to grasp the difference NH Rugby is meant to be played.

[jgriffin]

Have posted elsewhere about systemic issues. I do not rate MOC (as I have made tediously obvious for years) but I can see no point whatsoever in sacking him before the summer and without a decent replacement. We can't really assess the situation without a decent forwards coach, and the rest of the coaches we need!!! For me the buck stops with the BoD.