Hodge out

[gowrie]

To be deleted/used as evidence of my prescience as appropriate

[Crichton Gunner]

Zero wins is a truly appalling record for a head coach. He has to go.

[Legless]

Zero wins is a truly appalling record for a head coach. He has to go.

Totally agree, I'm not going back to any games while he's in charge, been a complete disaster since he took the reins

[Frenchy]

Call me a happy-clappy, but I quite like a coach with no losses on his record...

[biffer]

Call me a happy-clappy, but I quite like a coach with no losses on his record...

Happy clappy DavePearson. Take your head out of the sand.

[Weegie]

It will be interesting to see if Hodge is a good backs coach shackled by Solomon's tactics, or if he is part of the problem.

[Weegie]

It will be interesting to see if Hodge is a good backs coach shackled by Solomon's tactics, or if he is part of the problem.

I think we just might be seeing a positive change in the backs and forwards.

[doedin]

Have to agree - we seem to be going out looking to play rugby and to win games with Hodge whereas with Solomons is seemed to be all about not losing and not taking risks. We might not end up much further up the league under Hodge this season but at least we will go down trying. I reckon on what we have seen so far Hodge deserves a few more games to see if he can take us forward. If nothing else I suspect we might see a few more of the crowds that deserted us under Solomons coming back if we continue to play 15 man rugby!

Thank AlainRolland Solomons got the boot!

[Crichton Gunner]

I've been really impressed with what Hodge has achieved in a very short time. I was a bit sceptical of his ability to make significant improvements in our game, but there's no doubt he has fundamentally changed our whole approach, and very much for the better. I have enjoyed all our recent games, including the Zebre one, far more than the fare we have endured under a succession of recent coaches. Ok, we made a lot of mistakes against Zebre, but we never stopped trying to play attacking rugby, so the intent was there if not the execution. We bounced back in great style against Ulster; the first half of that game was as good as I've seen us play. We didn't benefit from some of the fortunate breaks we got against Quins, we made all the tries ourselves and comprehensively outplayed Ulster in that first period. The players are clearly enjoying their work again, which is great to see.

Personally I'd be quite happy if they gave Hodge the job now.

[Martin Bell]

I think the coaching team have done very well so far. There's a balance to be struck between rewarding that and making sure that there is a long-term team in place by the summer at the latest and, ideally, identified long before then (as with Dave Rennie along the road). It might be that the right thing to do long-term is to have a Hodgey-led regime with little or no change in the backroom team. Or it might not.

I wouldn't be making any commitments now, not least as I'd like to see how the club progresses into 2017 before coming to any hard and fast conclusions. However, a strategic decision is going to have to be made in time to get a permanent head coach in if the SRU doesn't feel that Hodgey is it.

[Crichton Gunner]

You're probably right about giving it a bit more time to make a decision on Hodge, and 2017 isn't very far away. But when it comes to head coaches there is always a bit of the grass being greener elsewhere; that mythical super head coach that will turn a bunch of losers into winners. But who is that person? How often do head coach appointments bring success, and how often do they fail to live up to expectation? In most cases it's the latter. There might be someone better able to deliver a winning Edinburgh team out there, but coach appointment is always a risk, and there's no guarantee even a big name would get us playing well. I'm really enjoying our rugby under Hodge, and I'd be a bit gutted if the SRU appointed a so-called bigger name who took us back to a more conservative game plan.

[bignose]

I think there's two separate things that are going on in the team, one of which is good and the other that I think is as yet unresolved.

The first is that the team are clearly being given greater freedom to play "off the cuff" and to attack opportunities from anywhere on the field rather than to hoof the ball and chase (or not chase). That's great and has led to (a) better results and (b) better enjoyment for us all - and hence a better crowd on Friday past IMO.

The other though is that the backs are still not showing anything like a cutting edge. Our backs play has always been limited and remains so. We can play chaos-style against fractured and scrambling defence (viz Harlequins) but we have no clue what to do against a highly organised defence (viz Zebre). i'm waiting to see signs of improvement here. As I understand it, Solomons thought of himself as the attack/backs coach but I also thought that Hodge was responsible in some way for that aspect of the game too. I *really* want to see something change in this regard because if we continue to lack the ability to pull defences out of shape then the bigger teams will rapidly realise that they only need to be disciplined and organised and we'll have a whole season full of Zebre games to look forward to.

If Hodge can nail the second one then I think the job is his.

[biffer]

I think there's two separate things that are going on in the team, one of which is good and the other that I think is as yet unresolved.

The first is that the team are clearly being given greater freedom to play "off the cuff" and to attack opportunities from anywhere on the field rather than to hoof the ball and chase (or not chase). That's great and has led to (a) better results and (b) better enjoyment for us all - and hence a better crowd on Friday past IMO.

The other though is that the backs are still not showing anything like a cutting edge. Our backs play has always been limited and remains so. We can play chaos-style against fractured and scrambling defence (viz Harlequins) but we have no clue what to do against a highly organised defence (viz Zebre). i'm waiting to see signs of improvement here. As I understand it, Solomons thought of himself as the attack/backs coach but I also thought that Hodge was responsible in some way for that aspect of the game too. I *really* want to see something change in this regard because if we continue to lack the ability to pull defences out of shape then the bigger teams will rapidly realise that they only need to be disciplined and organised and we'll have a whole season full of Zebre games to look forward to.

If Hodge can nail the second one then I think the job is his.

I know where you're coming from, but feel I have to point out that the second try on Friday as thirteen phases in and around their 22, stretching them all the way across the pitch and back twice before creating the space and mismatch which made the try.

[gowrie]

Remember that being able to break down organised defence through persistent phase play is immensely difficult for any team. New Zealand in particular score a huge number of tries through turnover ball or broken field play with barely, if any, rucks involved.

We could be better, but it's a very big task to fix and we were up against the third best defence in the league (it was the best before we played them).

[dolf_lundgren]

I agree with most of the points to a degree.

A couple of things to consider re back play. Firslty we have been badly disrupted with injuries first to Burleigh and Tovey then Weir so we havent been able to build up consistency, it is telling and disapointing though how little Rasolea and Tofilau haveplayed recently, i hoped they were going to make a difference but Hodge doesnt seem to rate them, which is fair enough he will know them as well as anyone.

Secondly, the style of play being less forward orientated is partly coaching and partly necessity. We are missing, Dickinson, Sutherland, Nel, Bresler and have also missed Manu and Du Preez for chunks, so it may well be we dont have the peronell to enter into an arm wrestle. Once we get them all back we will see what Hodges plan is.

I dont think there is a rush for a new contract, Hodge already has one and he is unlikely to want to leave or be poached at this time. Lets take the pressure off and let him do his thing. We cant get much worse so let him try things and have a real go.