Match Thread - Tuesday Night

[CV2]

My takeaway from last nights game albeit against a young Sarries team is that you want a few to put their hand up for selection;-

Mehson - 4 tries from right wing, no one seems to have nailed down that spot. Time to give him a go?
Crossdale - Not sure why we are not persevering with at FB, still seems the best option for me.
Mills - if only we could keep him fit! Would be such a good option at 12, becomes first receiver a lot of the time which would take pressure of our young 10's.
Miller - Could he be our experienced 10 option? Lack of cap space and I don't think he's got the pace for FB anymore means it could be an viable option.
Nizaam - Even with our riches in the back row I would still find a place for him in the 23. Such a good rugby brain and a tackle machine.
Curran - exciting future, with Young off next year and Willis x2 and Barbeary around England camp I think he could rack up a fair few appearances.

Notable mentions to for Cardall and Theo - to very good back up options to Launchpad and Stooke.

[Steve from Cov]

My takeaway from last nights game albeit against a young Sarries team is that you want a few to put their hand up for selection;-

Mehson - 4 tries from right wing, no one seems to have nailed down that spot. Time to give him a go?
Crossdale - Not sure why we are not persevering with at FB, still seems the best option for me.
Mills - if only we could keep him fit! Would be such a good option at 12, becomes first receiver a lot of the time which would take pressure of our young 10's.
Miller - Could he be our experienced 10 option? Lack of cap space and I don't think he's got the pace for FB anymore means it could be an viable option.
Nizaam - Even with our riches in the back row I would still find a place for him in the 23. Such a good rugby brain and a tackle machine.
Curran - exciting future, with Young off next year and Willis x2 and Barbeary around England camp I think he could rack up a fair few appearances.

Notable mentions to for Cardall and Theo - to very good back up options to Launchpad and Stooke.

+1

[DGP Wasp]

Can see why the soccer boys get upset about the cut-up field of play - mostly seems to be as a result of the ref making his marks. (Ref had a good game)

Is that really necessary?  They manage to hold the mark without cutting up the surface on plastic pitches.  Must really wind groundsmen up!

[JonnyD]

also of note Pieter Scholtz played 63mins, which must be a record for him since he's been with us.

Also, not sure if anyone mentioned in the teamsup thread but Scholtz played LH for this game. Potentially an issue with numbers available but gives us another option. Front row put themselves about but had a hell of a lot more experience than their opponents who fronted up well.

Potentially, we could go into next season with
LH - Harris, Martinez, Hislop, Scholtz, Nearchou
TH - Koch, Ryan?? Alo, Millar-Mills  Scholtz (assuming JTA is off)
And then more youngsters getting gametime when they can. Congratulations to McArthur and Hardwick on their debuts.

Thought Curran looked abrasive. Think he’s always played a Haskell type roll at 6 at u-8 but if he can develop over the ball he could be very useful as he’s already very Pocock shaped with his upper body. Just needs to stay fit.
Big shifts from Carr, Morris, Theo and Cardall again.

Did anyone seem to think we looked a lot more organised off first phase ball than the ‘first team’? Little loops from Wolstenholme, a nice little move tried twice out to Carr and then an inside ball back into Simonds (he has great hands btw, and if he can stay fit will definitely push Booj in the pecking order next year) Mills pulling the strings from 12, a lot at first receiver with Miller looping out the back and getting the ball into Crossdale’s hands a lot quicker.

Our current back 3 options never seem to work together as a unit and play more as individuals. Last night was an improvement in this area.
Mehson deserves a shot ahead of Watson, good to have Minozzi fit again but if he’s off too the get Mehson ahead of him too.

[Sliminator]

My takeaway from last nights game albeit against a young Sarries team is that you want a few to put their hand up for selection;-

Mehson - 4 tries from right wing, no one seems to have nailed down that spot. Time to give him a go?
Crossdale - Not sure why we are not persevering with at FB, still seems the best option for me.
Mills - if only we could keep him fit! Would be such a good option at 12, becomes first receiver a lot of the time which would take pressure of our young 10's.
Miller - Could he be our experienced 10 option? Lack of cap space and I don't think he's got the pace for FB anymore means it could be an viable option.
Nizaam - Even with our riches in the back row I would still find a place for him in the 23. Such a good rugby brain and a tackle machine.
Curran - exciting future, with Young off next year and Willis x2 and Barbeary around England camp I think he could rack up a fair few appearances.

Notable mentions to for Cardall and Theo - to very good back up options to Launchpad and Stooke.

I've often wondered why we haven't looked at Miller as an option at 12 in the past, a second distributer and he's a similar size to Gopperth, Not that we are going to be short of options their next year.

[Jac A]

Good post CV2 and JonnyD, lots I agree with.

My thoughts:

We've got a lot of right wing options and I'd keep Odogwu there while Mala is fit and at the club. Given that he is quite big, I'd like to see more of Mehson on the left wing or, as suggested, at fullback. I'm not as sold on Crossdale, good in attack but his defence doesn't fill me with confidence. and I'd like to see us reinforce there for next year but I'd defo like to see some more of Mehson in the squad.

I liked Mills at first receiver and I've always been a big fan of Mills and I really hope he gets a whole season without serious injury, he's such a clever player but also has good physicality. Agree with Miller as a 10 now too.

Carr was great, brilliant squad player and perfect to rotate in as he can play across the back row. I do just think that the four back-rowers we will probably be fielding at the weekend are, or have the potential, to be so good and so game influencing that Nemo wouldn't make my best 23.

Curran was good and I have no problems with the game he played - a solid 7 out of 10. But I'm more intrigued to see how he develops. He's a big lad and likes to take contact but doesn't have the power of an Alfie to shrug players off, nor the footwork of a Willis (either) to take the impact out of the tackle and beat the defender. He also doesn't seem to be a tackle monster like Underhill or Ludlow - missed a couple round the fringes and didn't really compete over the ball. So I'm not sure what if any USP he has at the moment and in a very high quality back-row I think he will need to up his game to get more involvement - I know that might sound really harsh and I think he's a good player but our back-row has real quality when you consider Carr and the consistency of Morris.

Was great for Simonds to get a whole game without injury. Didn't see much ball but made a couple of breaks and his positioning was ok considering he's usually a 12.

Kicking was fine but the similarities with the 'first' team made we think that VV is right about coaching. Our chase on 'bounty' calls isn't good enough - we might get one or to players to their receiver but the defensive line is either too slow or too disjointed. It did also look as if Miller was making the choice to put kicks out first and foremost and sacrificing distance for making sure it left the pitch.

The other similarity with Prem games was that our pods didn't seem to work well at all. We seem to be running two man pods with a floating forward who seems to be there for a possible offload but increasingly is having to clear out and as they weren't part of the initial pod is arriving late and we are getting turned over/pinged for holding. This is the source of a lot of our breakdown woes and I am wondering why we aren't fixing it.

Otherwise very happy with the win. We stay unbeaten at home this year and hopefully can sue the momentum from three straight wins to surprise Glaws.

[Heathen]

Potentially, we could go into next season with
LH - Harris, Martinez, Hislop, Scholtz, Nearchou

WEST??

[JonnyD]

Potentially, we could go into next season with
LH - Harris, Martinez, Hislop, Scholtz, Nearchou

WEST??

Knew I was missing one…. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Well, just finished watching the game in between getting some work done 

Hard to believe the game I listened to on BBC radio and this one were the same.

Seems eerie with no commentary, except that of the ref.

Ref had a REALLY good game (as did the line refs, who contributed a lot).

Some truly outstanding performances there.

As said by others, Mills had a great game, as did Miller at 10. Mehson was in a different league. My goodness, he has the height, speed, quickness of direction change to be first pick 14 right now. He is the sort of winger we have been missing for many, many years on that wing (not to say Wadey wasn't excellent, but he was a different sort of winger). Mehson is the sort of Winger Eddie likes.

Full back, scrum half and 13 weren't challenged so much. Watson at 11 was a bit anonymous.

Late replacements of Minozzi, Ma’asi-White and Monye were all lively.

Pack was good, TV3 showing his true potential.

Good to watch.