Pivots and tactics : Mon Feb 15, 2016 8:53 pm
There have been a few mentions about us playing with 3 pivots - Dobson, Lui and O'Brien but watching the saints game back and thinking back to Hull too there are significant chunks we play with at least 4 and arguably 6For a spell in each half we had Dobson, Lee, O'Brien, Lee, Tomkins and Evalds on the pitch. Evalds appears to be playing mostly as a centre so I guess you can discount him but he can act as a half back or pivot. Tomkins is playing as a conventional hooker but his decision making seems to be improving
At the end of the 1st half against saints - the passing move for Evalds 1st try was Tomkins - Lee - Lui before the others finished it off. Then O'Brien (who was in support for the Evalds try) pops up on the same side to give the flick pass to Evalds that ended in Lui's 2nd try. Lui had passed the ball to GO'B. Then Lee at second receiver puts George Griffin through a gap leading to the chance for his brother off Dobbo's kick and Johnsons knock back.
Start of the 2nd half Griffin drives it in from the scrum, then tackle 2 Dobson is 1st receiver, tackle 3 Lee is 1st receiver, tackle 4 Lui is 1st receiver - all drop off to a runner, tackle 5 Tomkins has a mini-scoot before handing onto Walne who scores.
After Walnes try we see o'Brien working on the left side with a move that goes Tomkins-Lui-Dobson-o'brien-Griffin-Johnson. O'Brien then goes to dummy half and Dobson 1st receiver, Lee at 2nd onto G Griffin. Then Dobbo at 1st receiver takes the line on. There are plenty of other examples of this variety of 1st and 2nd receivers and interchanges at dummy half
We used 4 regular kickers in both games so far this season. As far as I can work out the forwards rotation includes moving Jones into the pack (with Evalds coming on at centre) and Lee moving to LF. Jones then switches side as BMM is our right sided second rower
All this must make it v hard for opponents to know where the attacks and kicks are going to come from. It explains why it felt like such a team performance against saints. It might also explain why we struggled so much against hull when we didn't have much ball. We don't have much size and can't utilise the variations in play without the ball (obviously!) so will struggle to contain big packs.
All makes for a potentially interesting set up for the season with lots of attacking options. Watson and Sheens will have to keep them well drilled to make sure everyone knows the plays and can read all the playmakers plans. Even at this early stage though you can see that ultimately Dobson is pulling all the strings and moving us round the park, deciding when to get involved and who to bring into play. Let's hope we can keep it up
