V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

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Re: V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

Postby Crichton Gunner on Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:56 am

I wouldn't worry too much about who's playing 12 and 13 at the moment, they are unlikely to see much of the ball.

Cockers' tactics for the remainder of this season are clearly a traditional English-style game of batter them up front and then batter them some more. It's not pretty, but given we're drinking in the last chance saloon in respect of Champions Cup qualification, it's entirely understandable. There's a lot of criticism of Hodge and our back play on here, some of it perhaps justifiable, but I very much doubt that our backs will be doing much more in training than practice their kick chasing and tackling.
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Re: V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

Postby Friday Knight Lights on Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:25 am

This is very true and it's what's been so disappointing for me - the backline tactic is still hope Kinghorn or Graham can do something outrageous from nothing but other than that it's a forwards dominated back to basics game.

They're the right tactics no doubt but it's disappointing there's been a lack of improvement.
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Re: V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

Postby joe soap on Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:42 pm

Frenchy wrote:
Friday Knight Lights wrote:I'd be very happy with Dean 12 Scott 13.


I think the only solution to this is to play Scott at 12 and Scott at 13.


if he gets any bigger he'll need both shirts. Looked overweight to me, badly. Backside was bigger than Nel's
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Re: V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

Postby The Nudger on Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:40 pm

Yeah, I'd imagine the s&c boys are looking forward to her to g stuck into him over the summer! That interview he did before the Leinster match must have contained a misprint when it said he'd had to cut back on the gym, should have said pies!
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Re: V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

Postby doedin on Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:49 pm

Agree with CG - our game plan for rest of season is to batter the life of other teams up front and don't let the ball go too wide. Keep it narrow, dominate the set piece, keep defensive line tight and squeeze the life out of them and wait for other team to make mistakes. It aint pretty but it is fairly effective. However it does let us down against the better teams and we don't have any set plays for a free ball after a penalty in the oppo 22. Given this I think that it is slightly unfair to criticise Pyrgos too much (although he was pretty rank in first 40 mins on Saturday) as he is playing to orders and he is usually pretty good at it. His box kicking has been instrumental to the game plan this season. It is interesting that time and time again the coaching staff talk about playing to the 'system' and doing what we are good at and the team are clearly under orders to follow the 'system'.

Cockers is clearly playing to our strengths with his game plan. When Scott and Bennet got injured and neither Hickey nor Socino stepped up to the plate then he wasn't left with many options in the backs. With only Pyrgos to really depend upon at 9, Fowles and Kennedy have demonstrated they aren't up to it and it was too early for Shiel, then his options narrowed even more. Dean and JJ have been solid but neither are going to set the heather alight at the top level. End result was our fairly limited but understandable game plan.

Hopefully next season will see stage 2 of the plan put into action. With Shiel stepping up and hopefully a new 9 coming in then we will have more options at 9. Bennet and Scott will have a full pre season behind them, Kinghorn will have recovered and should be itching to go plus we have the new Tartan Fijis to come in. Hopefully Taylor will also step up in his development and provide options at 13 as well. It would be good to see another option at 10 though, it looks like Cockers has lost faith in Hickey and VdW has come on but has limitations and we need another option there.
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Re: V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

Postby New Gunner on Mon Apr 08, 2019 6:06 pm

One thing of note from Sandy Smith’s match report in the Scottish Rugby Blog - prior to Saturday, Scarlets have won 29 of their last 30 home games in the Pro14. Brings the players’ achievement into sharper focus. Huge win psychologically, we now know we can beat the top teams in the league on their patch, for 12-0 down at half time. Muscle memory and all that.

Though Jaco has a fine game, not just in kicking and his try, but also he was always getting involved in the ruck and showed quite some bravery for a back. Darcy was superb as a threat from deep, Hamish and Rambo looked on it, and Toolis imperious in the lineout. Schoeman destroyed Samson Lee, Nel struggled but Berghan made a huge impact.

Bill having a bit of a dip in form, but hopefully freeing up space for others. Criticism of Pyrgos a little unfair (I wasn’t in favour of his signing but he’s proved me wrong) - he is absolutely doing what he’s told by Cockers in terms of the box kicks. Also noticed in the second half he set up the ‘caterpillar’ in preparation for a box kick, then passed instead - we need to vary things in that way to keep defences guessing.

Still concerned about our defensive system when opponents spin it wide - we’re too narrow, and more often than not they make far more yards down the wings than they should against us.

All in all, game of two halves etc etc, but a huge win.
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Re: V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

Postby macdone on Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:59 pm

dolf_lundgren wrote:Is free why someone did 10’yrs ago doesn’t make them worth keeping now.

But... he showing good form at the start of this season and he was excellent for Gloucester. Far too early to be writing him off.

No point binning good players on the off chance that a group of youngsters come good.


The only way for us to build the backline we need is to look at the next generation. Glasgow do it every year. They've signed Hastings, McDowall, George Horne and Steyn. We need to get away from signings like Weir, Scott and Bennett IMO. I'm not saying we shouldn't sign 1 or 2 experienced guys but we have gone too far down that route for too long.

The best backs signings we have made have been Darcy and Kinghorn. Rory Hutchinson has been brilliant lately - let's hope he's not now out of our reach. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/47867754
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Re: V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

Postby dolf_lundgren on Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:15 pm

Growing our own has to be the model we use, but we also need to import some experience and quality.

While Glasgow have used the guys you mentioned, only really because injury forced them to and while signing them they have also signed the likes of DTH, Matawalu, Jones and Jackson to add experience. and quality. They have also signed the likes of Masaga, Peterson and Tamielau who have all flopped. Steyn, like JJ for us, was signed as emergency cover and I didnt seem overly planned, he has done well but still raw.

When we signed Weir he was only 24/25 I think, as was Bennett, so these are not old guys and they were better than we had, all 3 you have mentioned have not looked great value due to horrendous luck with injuries. If they had had a a full season Im sure they would have improved us. We were also starting from a very different place from Glasgow.

I would think Hutchinson is already out of our reach, he has taken his chance well. He is 23 and now an extablshed pro so woudl be pretty similar to signing Bennet!

If anything our signing of Fijians who are late 20s and Haining are more questionable in terms of development and quality.
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Re: V Scarlets Sat 6th April 18:45

Postby Crichton Gunner on Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:00 pm

I'm hoping that next season we won't be losing to the King's, Dragons and Zebre during international periods with Haining and the Fijians in our squad.
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