Lima

[Vespula Vulgaris]

I know this is not an opinion many over at the other place would share, but I thought Lima was fantastic yesterday.

It was only his second start for us and he looked like he'd been playing with the team for ages.

I have always enjoyed watching Cipriani's ability to hold the defender until the absolute last second and throw the flat pass at the very last minute, but it always seemed to me that that was his default.  He rarely mixed it up much.  Lima did the same a few times, but also shipepd the ball on much faster several times too.  I thought his kicking from hand was generally very good too.  Not faultess, but a step up from anythig we've had for the last few years. I think the downside of Cips was that the ball didnt get to the wings as often, forcing them to come out of position to get involved.  When it worked it looked amazing, but it is always going to mess with the defensive structure, and also make the wingers look less industrious and successful.

I strongly suspect he's going to get better and better, and his ability to mix things up and get the ball moving fast and also run it itself is going to start to get the ball wider than we've seen for a while. 

I think if he stays injury free we're going to be more consistant than we've been for a very long time.

[Brandnewtorugby]

Yep, seems like we have more variety doesn't it, maybe not as much sparkle, but not far off. I've also noticed the Sale were terrible comments starting to slip into discussions. Wasps seemed to pressure them, so it's hard to know who gets most credit. Lima looks big, but was surprised to see Cipps edges him on weight. Pretty sure that I saw a player stopped dead in his tracks trying run through Lima, that may just be a one off, but he might put off people running at 10 a little more. Felt like there was a sense of control towards the end that is obviously about the whole team, but they patiently defended, wore down their forwards and then worked their way forward before going for the try. Not just down to Lima, I know, but would other players have been tempted into a higher percentage play? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed and miss Cipps, still enjoy watching him at Gloucester as well, they are different players and styles. Dai seems to have managed the change well, especially with Gopps injury.

[Rossm]

Pretty much agree with both of the above - though I am not sure that I would say Lima was fantastic; just very good perhaps:)

I had expressed an opinion (purely my own and on the other place) that Cips was getting just a little predictable with us and other sides were beginning to find it easier to deal with. I had no real evidence to back this up but it was a gut feeling. Ultimately I wasn't distraught when he didn't re-sign. Really looking forward to how Lima progresses.

[coddy]

Yes I've been impressed with Lima too, he's been under a bit of pressure filling Cipriani's boots having come over as a capped All Black but so far I'm not disappointed.

[wasps]

I still believe that Cipriani is an absolutely incredible attacking talent, and his ability to put people through holes with split second timing on his passes is unrivalled.

However, that's part of the problem too. For it to be most effective, it needs split second timing.
These are elite professional athletes, so with some practice they should be able to nail that timing most of the time, however, I often wonder if the success rate of that timing drops as players get more tired and as the season wears on.

I do think though that our biggest problem for the last few years has been our lack of ability to retain possession and go through phases.
Don't think that's much to do with the fly halves though