Season 2016/17

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Season 2016/17

Postby The Feral Goat on Fri Aug 12, 2016 9:29 am

The new season is nearly upon us so what are the hopes/expectations and what would constitute a successful season?

Plenty of positives in the off season - some good signings most notably Weir and Bryce (G), we have some quality players back after long term injury and a new home to look forward to.

Top 6 has to be our number one aim again, not that this will be easy in an increasingly competitive league I think there are 8/9 teams fighting for those top 6 places, but if there has been any improvement from us in the closed season we should be right in the mix.

Key to getting top 6 for me will be consistency of performance from the team, through each 80mins and the season in general, too often last season we played well for only 40ish mins and either dropped off second half or played well for the second 40 when the game was beyond us. Some cutting edge in taking chances and getting over the try line along with composure and good decision making in the oppo 22 which I hope Weir brings to the backs with Gilchrist and Manu leading up front.

Challenge cup – a tough group and while a another cup run would be good I would not want it at the expense of a top 6 finish but would like to see us win our home games and compete well away with Quins and SF.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing big seasons from Manu and Gilchrist. I really hope Hoyland kicks on from last season and, as others have said, I think Glen Bryce could be our best addition and make a big impact. Would also like to see Bradbury and Fraser McKenzie get a good bit of game time.

Got a feeling Tofilau could be a real star as well, he looked good at the sevens and with a pro pre-season behind him and playing off Weir and Burleigh I think he could be a real handful for the opposition.
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby germain on Fri Aug 12, 2016 12:04 pm

Top 6 would be a huge improvement.
I can't say I see us in it, but it's clearly the target. Murrayfield for the final of the challenge cup would be great too.
If we do both, it would be a very satisfying season.
That's what I hope. But I think we won't make the top 6. If we can escape of a tough group in the challenge cup, the final is achievable.

Training game to come with team announcements:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CppfpK1UIAAQpX1.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CppfpK4UEAA8OOZ.jpg

We can see we're already short of wingers and of 6. Nevermind, I quite like the black team.
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby The Feral Goat on Fri Aug 12, 2016 1:27 pm

Hardie, DuPreez, Bressler, Dickinson, Northam, Allen all not listed, possibly more, so we have a bit more depth.

Interesting to see how the two centre pairings go especially Burleigh and Tofilau playing off Weir.
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby Rico on Fri Aug 12, 2016 1:32 pm

The Feral Goat wrote:Hardie, DuPreez, Bressler, Dickinson, Northam, Allen all not listed, possibly more, so we have a bit more depth.

Interesting to see how the two centre pairings go especially Burleigh and Tofilau playing off Weir.


Hoyland and the Bryce brothers missing too so squad definitely not looking too bad. Just try not to injure each other eh lads ?!
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby Tichtheid on Fri Aug 12, 2016 1:48 pm

As someone who has supported Solly I think this is it now, top 6 is bare minimum, only a catastrophic series of injuries is an acceptable excuse for not achieving that.
A home Challenge Cup final would be nice, but not that important,however if we want to get out of a Champions Cup group next season we should be looking at doing well in the lesser competition.

Other than that, we need our top players to play their best rugby and I'm looking for a breakthrough from Big Berg, Bradbury also.
Northam intrigues me, he has ridiculous gas, having him on one flank and Brown on the other at some point should make for interesting viewing.

Also looking forward to Viliame Mata showing up after Fiji's majestic performance last night.
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby germain on Fri Aug 12, 2016 2:53 pm

Being ninth las term, we have to outclass three teams to get in the top 6.
Who will we outclass (let's be optimistic)? Really hard to predict. Probably we will (in the best case) battle with Munster, Cardiff and a third one:
-Scarlets who struugled in the end of last's season?
-Connacht who could have a let down after a fanatstic year?

I can't see the Ospreys being as bad as last year. They should compete for the top 4, as well as Glasgow and Leinster, and probably Ulster too (though if I had to pick one big team to fail, it would be them).
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby doedin on Fri Aug 12, 2016 5:04 pm

Last season we did ok up front and in most of our games either dominated or at least held our own and provided decent ball. I suspect this year we will do the same at the set piece and get our rolling maul going again. Nel, Ford, Dickinson, Gilchrist have all had a bit of a rest and should go well again.Richie and Bradbury will be stronger and bigger and we will hopefully have Manu back for the whole season. As other have said we have a bit more depth this season up front and at least we don't have the penalty machine at TH!

Last season we had no pace and no cutting edge in attack in the backs and a dodgy defensive set up too. Having a proper 10 in place is a big bonus compared to previous years and it should give us direction and more control from 10. I also think that Weir has more about him with ball in hand than folk give him credit for so we should see more pace from 9 and 10. It might also take the pressure off of SHC and let him play a bit more from 9, last season he didn’t really show his pace and break from base of breakdown. I am not sure though that our other 9s and 10s are of the standard required and we lack depth in these key positions.

However as with last year our midfield is the potential problem. Burleigh at centre should help and if he gets a run of games in his best position then he will come onto a game, however who partners him? We now have lots of options but I am not sure any have a proven track record so it will be interesting to see who rises to the top - Dean has to do something this season or else you wonder what his future holds, Allen didnt look the answer at 13 last season, our new SH guys might be the answer but one has limited Super Rugby experience (less than 10 games a season) and is not exactly prolific try scorer and the other was playing for Kirkcaldy last season! We will have to wait and see. Will Bryce be the answer at 13, for me he looks a tidy player with pace and good hands? We look well covered at FB and wing with a bit more pace than before but TBH pace has never been a problem, it has been getting good fast ball out wide to use the pace.

However bottom line will be the coach and the gameplan that the team are told to play to. If we continue to play 10 man rugby then we will beat the poorer teams but not the better ones. The last 3 seasons have demonstrated we need more than a strong set piece and a kick and chase game!

As many will know my faith in Solomons is now almost non-existent and I suspect we will see a rerun of last season where we flatter to deceive, fail to speed up our game, don’t score enough tries and end up 7th or 8th again. However if we get lucky with a new signing and they are the centre we have been missing then who knows ....
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby dolf_lundgren on Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:48 pm

Good post Doedin,

I agree about the centres, Rasolea i think is a good player. However with Burleigh at 12 it was really a 13 of that standard we needed. We are now well covered at 12 but looks like Dean and Allan will be our go to guys unless Bryce steps up. I dont know how good Bryce's hands are but he certainly has the running game and can defend.

We are definatly stronger than last year, as you say its how we play that will decide if it makes a difference. At least we now look to have the ability to play different ways now and agree Weir has a far better running game then he is geiven credit for.
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby Tichtheid on Fri Aug 12, 2016 8:42 pm

It doesn't have to be all singing and dancing champagne rugby to work, but it does have to be executed with precision and with pace. Our pack should be good enough to win possession, but I'd like to see an urgency giving Sammy good quick front foot ball to work with where he has the choice to snipe or pass to Weir, same goes for all options at 9/10 - get the opposition scrambling back trying to align and we have some genuine speedsters to exploit it
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby The Feral Goat on Fri Aug 12, 2016 8:53 pm

Our pack at the set piece was very good, it did not always perform well in the loose we conceded a lot of turnovers at rucks because Bresler was about the only player hitting them and clearing out and Ritchie was a nuisance. Having Manu, McKenzie, Gilchrist back should all help in that area and hopefully get us some quick ball.
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby Tichtheid on Fri Aug 12, 2016 9:05 pm

The Feral Goat wrote:Our pack at the set piece was very good, it did not always perform well in the loose we conceded a lot of turnovers at rucks because Bresler was about the only player hitting them and clearing out and Ritchie was a nuisance. Having Manu, McKenzie, Gilchrist back should all help in that area and hopefully get us some quick ball.



Completely agree with that, and these guys can galvanise others - when Manu was playing against Leinster at the start of last season we did look more aggressive at the breakdown

I'm putting a lot of faith in big Nasi
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby biffer on Fri Aug 12, 2016 11:40 pm

Gilchrist and Manufacturing are to all intents and purposes new signings this year. Add Ritchie and Bradbury with a year if improvement and the pack should be better than last year.

Backs look better, but I'm not expecting anything fancy, pretty much bish bosh stuff from the centres, tight work from the forwards and wings finish it.
Don't mention Rory Hutton. I did once but I think I got away with it.
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby Tichtheid on Fri Aug 12, 2016 11:51 pm

Biffer wins Best PreSeason autocorrect
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby doedin on Sat Aug 13, 2016 1:39 am

Tichtheid wrote:It doesn't have to be all singing and dancing champagne rugby to work, but it does have to be executed with precision and with pace. Our pack should be good enough to win possession, but I'd like to see an urgency giving Sammy good quick front foot ball to work with where he has the choice to snipe or pass to Weir, same goes for all options at 9/10 - get the opposition scrambling back trying to align and we have some genuine speedsters to exploit it



Problem is neither Kennedy nor Fowles have shown the urgency nor the break to suggest that can attack the line, Tovey sits in the pocket and will rarely attack the line so SHC and Weir are it. If neither play then I suggest we will see a replay of this seasons failed rugby! No depth at 9 nor 10 I’m afraid.
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Re: Season 2016/17

Postby hp18 on Sat Aug 13, 2016 6:55 am

biffer wrote:Gilchrist and Manufacturing are to all intents and purposes new signings this year. Add Ritchie and Bradbury with a year if improvement and the pack should be better than last year.

Backs look better, but I'm not expecting anything fancy, pretty much bish bosh stuff from the centres, tight work from the forwards and wings finish it.

You'll be hoping Nasi can produce the goods with a workmanlike performance?
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