It was borderline to be fair and my initial thought from my seat in the East Stand was he was outside the 40.

Sorry guys, but I called 40-20 as it left his foot. I was sat mid East Stand and I was pretty convinced myself.

That's not what I said. I asked why every team except Halifax go for the 40/20 at the Shay.

Because every visiting team is on the front foot come 4th or 5th tackle. Wheras we have abandoned going forwards and started going lateral.

spot on.

Its glarignly obvious, the question is can MC adapt his squad?

Lets see?

I don't think it's a matter of just at the Shay, it's a tactic that's there for every team to utilise, but obviously, you can't use it from every part of the field where a tackle takes place.
Two things though, the line should be able to read a player like Rooney or even hear the call go out & attack his kick.
Secondly, the wingers & full back could be better placed to defend the kick.

It's basic defence, MM. The wingers and full back should be watching for that type of kick, and it should be instinctive as to positioning. They've played the game for long enough. Surely, by now some things just come naturally, or are they coached out of them?

He could have hopped the length of the pitch and scored. Our lot still wouldn't have stopped him.

You can't just drop both wingers back to defend a kick on a whim, with the full back & two markers that leaves eight defending what would be a frail line to run ball in hand.
The kick isn't bound to make it's target either so it's be a gamble dropping back, all I'm saying is smarten up, that's what Rooney did, play smart.

Where did I say drop both wingers back? Don't misquote me, please. I said it should be instinctive in a player with regards to positioning. Most teams just have one winger and the full back drop back to cover a ick these days.

I'd say with the shocking defence going down in the centres atm the wingers would be a bit unsure whether to drop back too far anticipating a kick or to stay up to defend the line if they run it cus from what ive seen teams have breezed through the centres. The positional sense of the whole team has looked poor.

correct.

I didn't mis-quote you, I was offering an explanation.

He did the same when he shattered his arm against Leigh (on Sky) last season - he got up, played the ball and ran straight down the tunnel. He had a double compound fracture of his arm !

Gutted for him again. He was just getting his confidence back. It's a tough sport.