St pete wrote:
It doesn't help having lance hohaia at stand off with him, he's utter rubbish and we can't keep going with him.
NEITHER player is helped by their positions and roles within the team. One sure-fire way to destroy any player's confidence is to give him the role of primary tactical kicker (and co-playmaker) despite the fact that he has no recent experience of such, doesn't know his team-mates fully and with a perfectly good stand-off sat on the bench who can kick the leather off the ball.
Hohaia is a decent second kicker, but never more than that. We know from experience that you need talent to be a good kicker. Yes, training can get you pretty far. But Leon Pryce had all the training in the world (more than Hohaia will have received) and two years later he was still kicking up-and-unders behind his own head.
That said, Hohaia
does have very fast hands. He might not be a genuine ball handler but he doesn't half put some zip on it. He's ideally suited to hooker (especially with his prodigious workrate and tackling) and he could also be a useful scrum half. Provided his responsibility is to give Gaskell all the ball he needs and quickly I reckon he'd prove far more valuable than current worth.
