Yeaman and Horne should both be dropped next week IMO, Whiting had a mare admittedly but he at least played well in the previous 2 matches. Calderwood back on the wing, Hall to left Centre, Turner or Whiting to play 6/3 whichever way round. Still not sure about 7, Tansey is probably the best suited but I like him at FB. Only other real option is Berro to 7 but it hasn't worked for 2 years so why would it now.

As for the forwards, Moa in for Radford and Tickle back for Burnett.

*runs screaming from the building*

It didnt work for 2 years because when he was asked to play there he was also trying to play hooker at the same time because we have been so poor for 2 years



Today shouldve been: horne at 6 with berro at 7, houghton at 9 with washy on the bench to give houghton a breather, turner shouldve been in at centre at least



Why did Hall go swanning over to the left hand side twice in he past 5 minutes? he left Whiting, no disrepect here, on his own having to play both centre and wing and expected to score on both occasions he had the ball by having to go round the welsh left wing partnership as he had no one to pass to. If Hall was to take the ball off Whiting there he wouldve gone in for 2 tries.

Moving Berrigan to the halves weakens the hooking position as well. Berrigan is the only one who provides any direction from dummy half. Other than scooting I'm not sure what Houghton offers tbh.

I agree with that last paragraph , asked me mate where Hall had gone thought he'd been subbed .

To be fair to Hall, he ended up on the wrong side of the pitch after desperately attempting to produce something from deep in our own half. The better of our two wingers today IMO. In fact Whiting and Hall were the better partnership for most of the game. Very disappointed with Yeaman and Briscoe in defence - neither one of them has a clue how to handle a high kick under pressure.



Thought we really missed Tickle today - his workrate and the lines he runs.

Ridiculously underrated by many of our fans, easily our best/most consistant second row forward.

Hall played well today, agreed. As you say tried to conjure something from nothing, a long shot, bet we clearly were having no joy from more conventional clueless bashing away at the line type options.

I'm not so sure that was the game plan ,our forwards dominated the game and Crusaders had one attack in the second half and scored from it. Attacking wise we was very poor, numerous times we had overlaps and Washy and Horne just kept dropping there shoulders. If Longy had of played we could well have racked up a big score.



A few things concern me ATM.



1) Lauaki is a bit of a liability in defence and has cost us vital penalties.



2) Briscoe is not too confident under the high ball.



3) Horne is just garbage, all his last tackle options and execution is very poor.



I'd be concerned but not worried. If Long plays alot of games this season we'll go ok, however if he gets a long term injury we are fecked.

Depressing, wasn't it? Using Hame like a big, dumb battering ram. We didn't even do that right though as most of the time he (or any other forward) received the ball standing still.

Agreed, me and my uncle said the same. Manu and Lauaki would run riot in most teams.

He did, but the execution wasn't there. Fitz was first receiver today a lot of the time.

Horne should be nowhere near FB. Whiting to FB, Tansey to SH, Calderwood in and Hall in the centres. Drop Houghton and give the bench spot to Washy or Turner.

You can try Turner there but what will he bring to the team that Washbrook and Horne couldn't deliver for you yesterday?



I cant remember the last time Tansey was even given a role at 6/7!