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Friday Knight Lights wrote: I do think the back row was decent.
I'm not sure I agree - vdM made metres but needs to get more involved and tidy up his defence. I'm disappointed by Bennett - just not getting anything going.
What disappointed me most was our kicking game was absolutely mince. Fowles' box kicking is a farce, either no length at all or a kick that goes far too far and gives nobody a chance of recovering. VdW kicks too short. Kinghorn has a very nice kick towards the end of the first half but other than that doesn't seem to kick.
gowrie wrote:The reality is that our attack, is rubbish, and even when we've had some great ball from the forwards our backs have almost never threatened except when Kinghorn creates something. I think if you compare us to teams we should be marking ourselves against, in the top half of the table, our passing and lines are so much slower and done miles away from the defence if we do them at all. Need a change at halfback and attack coach, but I think I've said that a few times now.
joe soap wrote:Friday Knight Lights wrote: I do think the back row was decent.
I'm not sure I agree - vdM made metres but needs to get more involved and tidy up his defence. I'm disappointed by Bennett - just not getting anything going.
What disappointed me most was our kicking game was absolutely mince. Fowles' box kicking is a farce, either no length at all or a kick that goes far too far and gives nobody a chance of recovering. VdW kicks too short. Kinghorn has a very nice kick towards the end of the first half but other than that doesn't seem to kick.
specifically on those points
vdM didnt make many metres last night. What he did was run up blind alley a couple of times and away from support. He has done the same previous matches and needs to make better decisions. His tackle stats aren't exactly impressive either
Back row - as I said Hardie made his tackles but other than that - barely touched the ball (unacceptable for a 7) and pretty ineffective at the breakdown whether attack or defence. Mata TBF carried hard (best of our ball carriers though that is a low bar) but not often effectively if you get my meaning, but that wasn't always his fault. Bradbury was rank, carried far too upright into contact and easily turned over. And pretty anonymous otherwise.
Not sure what you mean by VDM kicking too short, I will say his kicking was poor as was nearly all his decision making. Kinghorn kicks long when he has to, but as should be obvious from last night he will counter attack from deep if its on rater than take the low risk option of punting it miles downfield. If he chooses his moments as well as the 2nd half last night Ill happily back him on that. He'll get a few wrong, but either he uses his eye for the gap power and pace or plays safe -if he does the latter then he isnt going to be the player he should be.
liveinhope wrote:All been said and a desperately disappointing night at Murrayfield-and further pity was a chance to capture a few (or a lot) of those who "select" their games to come back for the home run in.
Despite that as Biffer said if we were going to lose a game frankly rather this week than next (though the performance was so poor it doesn't bode well for the next few games.The Ulster game is absolutely vital -lose it and we may well lose out on 3rd place with the guarantee of Champions Cup next season and the Pro 14 play offs. Win,though, and the Scarlets match could be a possible challenge for 2nd place.
Cockerill will really earn his corn if he can lift the players for these matches ( and be ruthless in his selections-I'd like to see all or some of McCallum,Ritchie and JJ involved-and of course prayer mats out all week for SHC's recovery.)
macdone wrote:Our backline is still a problem - we are still recruiting players just below top level ie 3rd \ 4th choice for Scotland like Scott and Bennett. They are good players but we shouldn't get carried away. Our backline will at least be competitive with the likes of Connacht, Cardiff and Ospreys and that's progress.
Ultimately we have to do better developing our own backs like Leinster, Scarlets and Glasgow have. Whether we have the best coaches to do that I don´t know. But let's hope Shiel and Graham can succeed where SHC and Hoyland have failed.
Weegie wrote:Despite Cockers repeating many times that Edinburgh can't prioritise and have to give every game the same attention, I do wonder if a few players minds were not on next week.
Friday Knight Lights wrote:Not sure he ran up blind alleys - clear out at the breakdown was terrible last night no matter who was the carrier. Yeah, he needs to tidy up his defence.
Hardie turned the ball over a bit, he'll never be a carrying type. Maybe he's not the modern 7 but effective at what he does. Bradbury can carry a tad too high that's true but he and Mata had 2/3 tacklers to bring them down - problem was Cardiff disrupted the breakdown and sprinted up in defence cutting down space. There would've been space out wide but we couldn't get there. I think Dean has an underrated passing game but neither he nor Bennett would you describe passing as a strength which caused problems.
I meant that VdW's kicks don't get much length. Kinghorn's breaks were fantastic but from 22 exits he can come up to clear.
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