He started against Scarlets and did well in the scrum against an international loosehead. About the only area we did well that day. Heyes has generally been good off the bench there's some work to do but considering he's only 19 I'd say he's doing ok. At that age Dan Cole was not as accomplished at the dark arts of the scrum.
I am sorry, you think dropping Heyes to start over Cole is a good idea. Part of the reason Cole is so good is he played behind White and Castro for so long developing and learning off them then getting the od 10-15 minutes off the bench. To early to soon in the prem more than happy with his development.
Where and when did advocate dropping Dan? Cole is the first choice. Next season with Leitagaga and Heyes as additional options then we can afford to rotate and sub Dan earlier in games so he is fresher for longer but come the big games there's only one man we all want in the 3 shirt.
JP14 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 6:48 pm
Sorry to disgree but I see Quins winning the league under Gustard, not next season but definitely the season after.
I don't know if Quins will challenge by then but I think you are right to suggest that Quins will go in the right direction under Gustard.
If he is given time to build I can see them eventually challenging Sarries.
Agreed can't see Quins winning the title in the short term but can see them regularly in the top 4/6 under Gustard. If young Smith takes a big development leap over the next couple of seasons maybe a title shot could come to pass.
Gibson plus either of Booth or Borthwick would go a long way to correcting things in my opinion. Add two of those to Murphy, Ford and Boris, big difference.
However, with Howard also back in the mix (part time), I think that’ll probably mean we stay as we are.
Murphy, Ford, Bakewell and Boris.
I reckon that after Coghlan, Liebenberg and Viljoen, that’ll be our lot for now. Maybe room for a couple of cheap project options post RWC.
FrontRowUnionMember wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2019 7:38 pm
Gibson plus either of Booth or Borthwick would go a long way to correcting things in my opinion. Add two of those to Murphy, Ford and Boris, big difference.
However, with Howard also back in the mix (part time), I think that’ll probably mean we stay as we are.
Murphy, Ford, Bakewell and Boris.
See, I read it differently. I see Pat mentoring Geordan as a DoR, especially with there being no head of operations anymore. He has the vision, has the man management skills, but it's getting the results on the pitch, and coaching ability that lets him down, so a similar role to what Deano has. Bring in Borthwick as Head Coach plus a backs coach (say that is Gibson) and suddenly you have an effective, quality coaching set up.
strawclearer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:26 pm
Chris Jones saying Mike Ford will be covering Attack. (Not sure whether that's overall or backs...)
Hopefully overall. The main upturn in Bath during his time there was the attacking patterns. Working the forwards round the corner and offering multiple carrying options for the halfbacks made them very difficult to defend against and forced the opposition to defend quite narrow allowing the backs space. With our signings this summer we could bring this in to good effect.
Chris Jones replies "My understanding is Murphy as DOR/HC, with Ford (attack), Bakewell (forwards), Blake (defence) plus Deacon & Stankovich, with Pat Howard playing the Brendan Venter role... hope that clears it up"
So...Blake and Bakewell remain - contrary to many hopes and, indeed, expectations.
Happy days clearing straw from the pitch before the Baa-Baas games! KBO
Wear a Mask>Protect The NHS>Save Lives
strawclearer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:44 pm
Update:
Chris Jones replies "My understanding is Murphy as DOR/HC, with Ford (attack), Bakewell (forwards), Blake (defence) plus Deacon & Stankovich, with Pat Howard playing the Brendan Venter role... hope that clears it up"
So...Blake and Bakewell remain - contrary to many hopes and, indeed, expectations.
I would be shocked if Bakewell was retained, especially with Booth available and possibly others. Blake is 50/50
strawclearer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:44 pm
Update:
Chris Jones replies "My understanding is Murphy as DOR/HC, with Ford (attack), Bakewell (forwards), Blake (defence) plus Deacon & Stankovich, with Pat Howard playing the Brendan Venter role... hope that clears it up"
So...Blake and Bakewell remain - contrary to many hopes and, indeed, expectations.
I'm delighted that Pat is back in the picture and McGinity looks to have the credentials too.
Dismayed if Jones is right about Bakewell and Blake though. I don't see any green shoots whatsoever there and cannot see any logic in retaining those two. Let's hope that Pat can work his magic and mould Geordan into a decent head coach, hopefully alongside a new forwards coach and new defence coach.
strawclearer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:44 pm
Update:
Chris Jones replies "My understanding is Murphy as DOR/HC, with Ford (attack), Bakewell (forwards), Blake (defence) plus Deacon & Stankovich, with Pat Howard playing the Brendan Venter role... hope that clears it up"
So...Blake and Bakewell remain - contrary to many hopes and, indeed, expectations.
I'm delighted that Pat is back in the picture and McGinity looks to have the credentials too.
Dismayed if Jones is right about Bakewell and Blake though. I don't see any green shoots whatsoever there and cannot see any logic in retaining those two. Let's hope that Pat can work his magic and mould Geordan into a decent head coach, hopefully alongside a new forwards coach and new defence coach.
I was rather hoping that Pat would mould Smurf into a decent DoR and that we'd bring in a strong Head Coach.
Happy days clearing straw from the pitch before the Baa-Baas games! KBO
Wear a Mask>Protect The NHS>Save Lives
I may be in a minority but I think that if the coaching team is as it is today it will be a solid team next season. Last season I felt they were getting the tactics right but just didn't have the right sort of players to implement to the full. Time and again we were knocked back when trying to attack, or at the least had no forward momentum; it is difficult to launch any kind of meaningful attack with that as a basis. With the additions to the playing staff coming in next season (confirmed and rumoured) I think we will see a different picture all around and I am optimistic about a much better showing. I don't expect instant results in one season due to bonding/familiarity etc, but I do think we will see a material step up in performance from last season.... and yes it does feel good to be able to refer to it in the past !!!!
I can almost accept Blake, as he joined midway when it was probably too late to start changing systems about. Plus, he did have us very effective defensively during his last stint.
However, Bakewell I just don’t get. We’ve seen nothing positive during his tenure. As others have said, with some respected forward coaches available, are we set to miss an opportunity.
Ford, I can see the appeal, he allegedly doesn’t want the top job, but has vast experience to bring and apparently gets on well with Murphy, plus many players talked of the clarity he bought to sessions late in the season.
I see the theory with Howard, but my reservation is how long he has been out of the game.
I’d hoped we could have lured Gibson in as attack/head coach, with Booth as Forwards coach (more likely to accept that role than Borthwick who may want a Head Coach or DoR role). Allowing Ford to run defence and Boris to run the scrum. Murphy overseeing as DoR.
I wonder how long Pat Howard will be working with us? Could it be that Geordan the Head Coach may, in the longer term, be serving under a DoR (and giving Howard’s role, that person not being available until post World Cup)?
Scott1 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25, 2019 5:33 am
Popcorn Tuesday?
Given the importance of the players getting to know each other and given the fact that pre-season training has just started, you would like to think that new players will be announced very soon!
