Trophyhunter wrote:Kinghorn played flat and that sped up ball and loosened structures of both sides , especially as Dragons set up to chase the points. VDW plays deeper because he has been coached that way and he kicks more so needs the space. Can Kinghorn improve play from 10 ? Signs are promising for sure.Certainly gives us options. He played 10 all through school and youths at Currie. . He switched to 15 in U20s to accommodate the more specialised talents of Hastings.
Fantastic showing from youngsters who were probably inspired by our flying Fijians who were absolutely terrific and helped by the encouragement of some of the more experienced hands on the pitch who could be heard over the crowd sound. All very encouraging.
Quote from Cockers after the game
"It got unstructured in that first half. We thought Dragons would come and play mere expansively in the second-half to score points because they needed to to get to fourth so that opened the game up.
"Jaco just got a little bit of a dead leg so its not too bad, but more precautionary because obviously we've got a big game next weekend.
"Blair at 10, he's not the best of kickers and he's more of a runner. He's a fantastic open field runner, he's quality there.
Translation - The game was open because the Drags wanted to play that way, Blair is a good runner, but he's not going to be playing ten too often as he can't execute the kicking plan we want.
I remember Austin Healy saying that tall flay halves find it difficult to kick because of the long levers, but Owen Farrel, Beauden Barrett and Johnny Sexton are all tall.
Kinghorn would learn that kicking game, he has a hard flat pass, it showed yesterday, it's something Hoggy lacked in the Italy game.
However, it's all moot, Cockers isn't going to play him at ten except in an emergency, so that's that.
Even if he doesn't play ten, he should be used as the first receiver far more often, but that would mean a huge change in mindset and game plan from the coaching set up.