Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Dec 28, 2020 6:06 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Absolutely agree but the facts remain that Havard was smashing numbers out. I looked at the first three game of his I could find either side of lockdown and he’d
made 120, 128 and 145 metres in those three games. We need more from more experienced guys like Burgess, Clubb, Clark etc but ultimately it’s unlikely we’ll get it but we’re very fortunate to have a kid like that. I’d look to manage his minutes and give him the odd week off but there’s no two ways about it, when he does play if we need a guy to bang 100+ metres out then he’s got form for it.

My reason for caution with our younger props is that it is a real challenge to bring 2 junior props through at the same time.

This is especially the case if you are relying on 2 of them to play big minutes which with the current issues we have at prop we may well be required to do.

This is the reason I believe we need to add some experience in that area.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Dec 28, 2020 6:26 pm  

jonh wrote:

My reason for caution with our younger props is that it is a real challenge to bring 2 junior props through at the same time.

This is especially the case if you are relying on 2 of them to play big minutes which with the current issues we have at prop we may well be required to do.

This is the reason I believe we need to add some experience in that area.

To get Burgess fit (ish) or if he were to retire and replaced with an experienced head would be ideal. A four prop rotation of Bullock, Singleton, Havard and Burgess/new player would be ideal and then you could drop Byrne in for Havard as and when. You may even get more out of Clubb if he were forced to play for his place and his future.

Sadly the Burgess situation leaves all of that looking unlikely and we may be forced to rely a bit too much on Havard and Byrne. Things do have a way of working out for the best in bad situations sometimes. It’s always risky over burdening a young player but Havard is pretty special IMO and the sort of kid who can handle it.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:24 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

To get Burgess fit (ish) or if he were to retire and replaced with an experienced head would be ideal. A four prop rotation of Bullock, Singleton, Havard and Burgess/new player would be ideal and then you could drop Byrne in for Havard as and when. You may even get more out of Clubb if he were forced to play for his place and his future.

Sadly the Burgess situation leaves all of that looking unlikely and we may be forced to rely a bit too much on Havard and Byrne. Things do have a way of working out for the best in bad situations sometimes. It’s always risky over burdening a young player but Havard is pretty special IMO and the sort of kid who can handle it.

Partington?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:50 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Partington?

He’d probably my choice to continue at loose forward. I thought he was excellent there at the back end of the season and by giving him that role you take a lot of the pressure off him when it comes to making 80+ metres a game (something I think any prop should be aiming to achieve really). I look at Partington and Morgan Knowles at Saints and I see no reason why Partington can’t play a similar role on a full time basis for us. Knowles probably makes less impact with the ball if anything (edit-just checked and Knowles averaged 6.33m per carry to Partington’s 6.64m over the season) but he’s all energy and aggression in defence. I think Partington has a decent skill set as well with the ball and is pretty accurate when getting the ball out to his halves. I’d go with a back row of 11-Bateman, 12-Farrell and 13-Partington with Isa covering all those spots from the bench.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Dec 28, 2020 8:28 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

He’d probably my choice to continue at loose forward. I thought he was excellent there at the back end of the season and by giving him that role you take a lot of the pressure off him when it comes to making 80+ metres a game (something I think any prop should be aiming to achieve really). I look at Partington and Morgan Knowles at Saints and I see no reason why Partington can’t play a similar role on a full time basis for us. Knowles probably makes less impact with the ball if anything (edit-just checked and Knowles averaged 6.33m per carry to Partington’s 6.64m over the season) but he’s all energy and aggression in defence. I think Partington has a decent skill set as well with the ball and is pretty accurate when getting the ball out to his halves. I’d go with a back row of 11-Bateman, 12-Farrell and 13-Partington with Isa covering all those spots from the bench.

Fair enough. I'd br happy with that.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Dec 28, 2020 8:38 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

He’d probably my choice to continue at loose forward. I thought he was excellent there at the back end of the season and by giving him that role you take a lot of the pressure off him when it comes to making 80+ metres a game (something I think any prop should be aiming to achieve really). I look at Partington and Morgan Knowles at Saints and I see no reason why Partington can’t play a similar role on a full time basis for us. Knowles probably makes less impact with the ball if anything (edit-just checked and Knowles averaged 6.33m per carry to Partington’s 6.64m over the season) but he’s all energy and aggression in defence. I think Partington has a decent skill set as well with the ball and is pretty accurate when getting the ball out to his halves. I’d go with a back row of 11-Bateman, 12-Farrell and 13-Partington with Isa covering all those spots from the bench.

I agree with that albeit I’d rather have more size in the backrow but Isa will start for sure.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Dec 28, 2020 9:05 pm  

Itchy Arsenal wrote:

I agree with that albeit I’d rather have more size in the backrow but Isa will start for sure.

I’m starting to think we will go with Faz, Isa in the secondrow and Bateman at 13 as per the numbers.

Smithies & Partington both off the bench.

That again comes back to us having some lads who can put us on the the front foot up front.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:16 pm  

jonh wrote:

I’m starting to think we will go with Faz, Isa in the secondrow and Bateman at 13 as per the numbers.

Smithies & Partington both off the bench.

That again comes back to us having some lads who can put us on the the front foot up front.

That causes some interesting problems. Two small middles would suggest that we need a couple of big guys on the bench. Assuming Powell, Lulu and Hastings then we will be juggling Smith and Field with neither possibly on the bench unless Field does want a crack at the wing. We could of course try to avoid players playing too many games in a row by spelling them during the season or perhaps sending someone out on loan. strangely it is not a bad problem to have.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:54 pm  

jonh wrote:

I’m starting to think we will go with Faz, Isa in the secondrow and Bateman at 13 as per the numbers.

Smithies & Partington both off the bench.

That again comes back to us having some lads who can put us on the the front foot up front.

The bench will be 4 props wherever possible because of our lack of go forward hence Lam will fill the squad with 15 minute performers to try and heek out some go forward like he did the gf. We are fit and well drilled so we’ll hard to beat but won’t dish out many good hidings and will be susceptible to any team that will dig in and match our commitment.

Clubb Bullock Partington & Byrne I suspect will be the standard 4 subs. I’m very confident on 3 being right barring injuries with Byrne being selected if he is fully fit.

Clubb will get a place irrespective of form or fitness

Hopefully this will change in 2022 when we can have further changes when Clubb and TL will retire and in all probability Hastings will depart.

Not being negative. We will there or thereabouts but I fear we will fall short in the the playoffs and yet again in the cc where we have been pretty woeful when it’s been hey lads hey for a few seasons now.
Would never discount us but an ill balanced squad I think means we won’t deliver the main prize for a year or two.

Looking forward to Harvard in particular next year and hopefully French will continue to improve his game. I think 2021 could be a very competitive competition with several teams recruiting well albeit on paper at this point.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Dec 29, 2020 8:45 am  

I think our starting pack next year will be interesting.

Bullock and Singleton start at props with powell starting at 9.

Faz and Bateman will start in 2nd row with Partington at 13.

The bench is the dilema Any 4 from the combinations below:

Clubb / Havard / Byrne / Burgess / Clarke / Kilner

ISA / Smithies / Shorrocks / Pierce-Paul

Smith / Field