Matches - this is testing

[Damian68]

Re. Lima, I've been a bit hacked off with his comments this week. Yes losing 25% of your salary isn't great, but he is still on an obscene amount of money compared to most people, and quite how much value for money we got from him before is debatable. Yes playing 7 matches in a month will be tough, but is it any tougher than what nurses have faced for a longer period of time for less than 1/12th of what he's still earning?

+1

[Hymenoptera]

Yes, this is just utter madness. We all want rugby back but this borders on dangerous and reckless. It's basically going to be select two separate teams and rotate them. You just can't play two games a week for a period of time.

So lets do that then, all teams in same situation and if you look for a positive, some fringe or academy will get game time. Nothing dangerous or reckless here, just need foresight and planning and maybe use of the bench better.
We have 4 wingers, 4 centres, etc.....lets play them all for a change.

[Heathen]

So lets do that then, all teams in same situation and if you look for a positive, some fringe or academy will get game time. Nothing dangerous or reckless here, just need foresight and planning and maybe use of the bench better.
We have 4 wingers, 4 centres, etc.....lets play them all for a change.

It is doable.

As Hymenoptera says, we have enough good players. Careful rotation will ensure that nobody plays more than 80 minutes per week. It will be the same for every club. Preseason conditioning will be very important. We have a new broom this year so it will be very interesting to see how our lads manage.

[wasps]

Next logical question then.

Do you go with a 1st team and a 2nd team, and try to target the toughest games with the first team...

Or do you mix the teams up so that you have 2 teams of relatively comparable strength on paper?



With the former, there's a tendancy to overplay the first team when every game is important
With the latter approach, you may not have either team strong enough to guarantee any wins


It's tough to be the boss

[HDAWG]

wasps,

Good point.

I have absolutely no idea what the solution would be. Reckon we have enough depth to rotate for some positions (12, props, wingers, fullback), but some players are far better than replacements (Umaga, Fekitoa, Willis etc.).

[Raggs]

Sops is more than capable at 10 though as is de jongh at 13.

[BG]

Whatever the solution/answer is for squad selection, I hope the coaches (conditioning staff) have a re-think when it comes to physical training and practise between games.

[Neils]

Whatever the solution/answer is for squad selection, I hope the coaches (conditioning staff) have a re-think when it comes to physical training and practise between games.

I would think that most physical training between these matches will be rare. More likely is skills training, physio and rest will be the norm.

[Heathen]

Witha decent squad as we have, managing players optimally should not be an issue.

[Neils]

Ugo Monye in a blog yesterday made a point about the number of players coming back and now getting achilles injuries similar to the 20 week NFL layoff in 2011.

[RogerE]

2911?

[Neils]

oops! Corrected.

[Heathen]

I wonder if plastic pitches were a contributory factor?

[backdoc]

Assuming all fit:
Team A:
9. Robson
10 Umaga
11 Watson
12 Gopperth
13 Fekitoa
14 Bassett
15 Miller

Team B:
9  Vellicott
10 Sopoaga
11 Kibirige
12 Mills
13 De Jong
14 Odogwu
15 Minozzi

Leaving Porter, Wolstenholme, Spink, Simonds, Sirker, Le Bourgeois for the bench/cover etc.

[Neils]

Assuming all fit:
Team A:
9. Robson
10 Umaga
11 Watson
12 Gopperth
13 Fekitoa
14 Bassett
15 Miller

Team B:
9  Vellicott
10 Sopoaga
11 Kibirige
12 Mills
13 De Jong
14 Odogwu
15 Minozzi

Leaving Porter, Wolstenholme, Spink, Simonds, Sirker, Le Bourgeois for the bench/cover etc.

I suspect we might see Lima continuing at 15.