tigertot wrote:
I picked out Lilley as he or, more correctly, his position, be that 7 or 9, is IMO the reason you are struggling. With Falloon & McGuire in you will be fine, but Lilley will never be good enough for either. I hope I'm wrong, we desperately need a WC HB for England. If you consider a few conversions & a grubber near the line more of a contribution than Sutcliffe's 80 minutes that's fine by me. The others were crap but they aren't key to the game (possible exception of Hardaker) over its entirety.
I do consider Lilley's overall contribution to be greater than Sutcliffe's over the 80 minutes. Apart from his try, which he took well, Sutcliffe did nothing of note. The reason we are struggling is that we have a serious injury list including some key players which in addition to losing our two most influential players at the end of last season is something of a handicap. At the end of the day we won the game on Lilley's kicking skills and coolness under pressure..
Sutcliffe has just returned from a long term injury and as a 'work in progress' bench player has to play in the pivotal position with a youngster with only a few hours of SL experience in a team that has out of form senior players well below their best.
Lilley has confidence and a good attitude and possesses some very good rugby skills. He lacks experience and time in a settled winning side to progress further. My only worry is a lack of pace something he shares with Sutcliffe. I was one of just a few that expressed concerns pre-season regarding our deficiencies at half back. But we are where we are with recruitment and if we are going with the youngsters then they must be allowed to make mistakes and the time to develop into their roles or be replaced for next season.