Lyon v Wasps: Post Match Thoughts.

[Westy68]

So if we play him instead of Alfie how many clubs do you think will be after him.
Chunky24 has got it right. Both Tom and Alfie will play a lot next season

[Shugs]

Rightly or wrongly Barbeary will be with England a lot and Willis probably won’t. Rotation will mean they will both play. Let’s not forget we have a superb back rower in Carr not even in the squad. Perceived wisdom is you need 2 front rank players per position to be competitive. At eight we have 3. Lucky us.

[Westy68]

Rightly or wrongly Barbeary will be with England a lot and Willis probably won’t. Rotation will mean they will both play. Let’s not forget we have a superb back rower in Carr not even in the squad. Perceived wisdom is you need 2 front rank players per position to be competitive. At eight we have 3. Lucky us.

+1

[Westy68]

We do have. These guys are giving their all. At 10 we have someone who is just out of school and will be banking these experiences like gold. At 15 we have talent but no solidity. 12, yes, but the guy is still a legend and at 13 you’ve got a capped All Black. It’s not quite clicking - that’s all.

Shugs I don’t care if he has just come out of school, all I’m interested in is he good enough. So next season are our excuses that our fly half’s are young and they need more experience. We can’t keep waiting for players to get experience whilst losing important games.

We need to have a winning team now, we’ve been waiting for years, or are we just a club who just accepts Mediocrity.

I thought moving to Coventry was to make us great again. Waiting for Atkinson for another 2/3 years while we win nothing is not going to cut it

We may not need excuses next year.

I really do hope you’re right

[Bloke in North Dorset]

If Alfie (or anyone else)  goes on the England tour does that mean he misses the start of the season? Then it’s AIs the 6Ns.

I think both Tom and Alfie will get plenty of game time, unless Eddie changes his mind.

[mike909]

I agree with Shugs in the main on this. At the end of the day we have a pack that could do a job for England (I'm not suggesting that, Eddie...) and if we have even average luck with injuries we'll have a backline that offers a lot within the group of Robson, Umaga, New Centre and 10, Odogwu, Bassett, Spink, Crossdale plus others as back up. We lack an out and out speedster - but that's not such a problem if the pack provides the front foot ball and ability to break lines and offload.

However, if it's not working with an international 9, Umaga, Super rugby 12, up and coming 13 plus the others, then it is then the point when I'd want to look at the coaching. Vs LI for 65mins we looked like stars and played in a managed and disciplined way whilst threatening the line. WTF happened then and at other times IRO game management and decision making surprises me. Mainly because we have the experience in the players today (for example) to make good decisions and focus our resources.

So we need to pick ourselves up and play out the season with an eye on the next. And with injury luck, we can start last season more like our recent run of form. Not entirely unconnected with being able to select some continuity.

[Shugs]

Completely agree Mike. We could really do with Lady Luck being with us for a while - if it happens we’ll be good next year.

[Chunky24]

Just a little bit of context on today, Lyon are currently 5th in Top 14, 3 points behind Racing who play in the Champions Cup semi tomorrow and above La Rochelle who they play, also above Toulouse who were in the other semi final and also above Toulon who they are likely to play in the challenge cup final, and all with a much higher salary cap / budget.

[backdoc]

And bless, Saracens have just lost.

So salary can't be an issue

[Heathen]

And bless, Saracens have just lost.

So salary can't be an issue

You beat me to it Lester!!!

[Rossm]

3 tries to 1. Sounds deserved to me.

[Westy68]

Being physical at high speed with precision makes you a very good side. Toulon made Sarries make a lot of mistakes.

I think we can be very physical just need the speed and definitely precision 

[Beasties]

So Alfie on the bench is crazy, Alfie is only 21, Tom is 23. Alfie will get a full preseason this summer and will likely make big improvements.

Tom is a very good, but Alfie will get us more yards and more trys

If we had a 10 and 15 with a decent centre pairing we would be very difficult to beat

This is a strange post.

[Beasties]

We do have. These guys are giving their all. At 10 we have someone who is just out of school and will be banking these experiences like gold. At 15 we have talent but no solidity. 12, yes, but the guy is still a legend and at 13 you’ve got a capped All Black. It’s not quite clicking - that’s all.

Shugs I don’t care if he has just come out of school, all I’m interested in is he good enough. So next season are our excuses that our fly half’s are young and they need more experience. We can’t keep waiting for players to get experience whilst losing important games.

We need to have a winning team now, we’ve been waiting for years, or are we just a club who just accepts Mediocrity.

I thought moving to Coventry was to make us great again. Waiting for Atkinson for another 2/3 years while we win nothing is not going to cut it

Jesus wept, give the lad a chance. Last year he looked like the coming force, then he got a truly terrible injury. This year he eventually got fit again and was forced into action waaaaay too soon, partly because everyone lost their shit over Umaga. Christ alive, the lad was dragging his leg around for the first three or four weeks. I said so at the time, look it up. Now he’s starting to purr again and all the miserable half empty crew can do is moan because we lost by 2 points to Lyon in Lyon. We should’ve won that. NONE of the loss is down to our FH. He was part of the reason we should’ve bloody well won it.

[InBetweenWasp]

I don't think these immediate post-match thoughts threads are overly healthy.  So far in this thread, we've been out-muscled by Lyon, but in control during the game.  Our backs were woeful, but it wasn't just they who knocked on a lot.  There's a huge disparity between the French/Irish teams so we should play our Second XV and not waste time/effort - but we only lost by 2 points and had plenty of chances to win.  We should throw the 'kids' in because they'll leave, but we're lacking experience/leadership on the pitch.

We ran Lyon very close and if anything, I think they'll have walked away relieved as we controlled the game.  If we hadn't continually knocked on then it would have been a different result.

I agree we're lacking creativity in our Backs, but it's clear the focus has been on us tightening up - Defence and set-piece are hugely improved over the past few years and has been done with some clever recruitment that looks set to get stronger, rather than weaker with the addition of Koch. 

It would be nice to see us much more threatening once again with ball in hand - Better strike play from first phase and better play from turnover ball.  Very much our DNA.

I'm not sure we're suffering from a talent issue in the backs - They're a talented bunch of ballplayers.  I think it's more structure and coaching.  Lee rates Matty Everard hugely, if he's taking on Attack, I think he'll get there especially with Lee giving a helping hand.

Agree that i'd like to see more of Crossdale at FB and see him as our long-term first choice.  He suits our style/DNA.  Lee's explained his absence though, lots of niggly injuries that he seems to be picking up just as selection comes round duirng the week.