Hall was caught cold a little for the 2 catalans trys as well. He has these defensive blips in regards to positioning. When he gets it right he's a good tackler.

As for Burrow I know you've said before you prefer him on the field for 80 minutes. But I think we look vastly improved when he is spelled and he can then be refreshed and more effective against tiring defenders. Look at the carnage he caused when reintroduced against KR. He split them down the left and we scored. Coupled with a hard tackling hooker in Aiton (who can distribute crisply at a better tempo) will do the tackles it sees Burrow not having to get stuck into this and frees him up to do what he does best, running with ball in hand.

Fewer than the full eighty in all three games played so far and implemented as a deliberate tactic. A welcome change of approach from a coach seemingly now prepared to think inside the box.



Perhaps in your opinion he was but you'll appreciate that others may take a different view as to whether starting him at hooker made the best use of his threat.



Hall was also given no protection or assistance from either his hooker/half-back or centre in a situation where the attacker in motion is always likely to be at a distinct advantage over a static defender. Senior may have stretched what was permissible under the rules in this area but he gave his winger support. Burrow was completely lost - may as well have been on the bench.

Criticism of Hall for the Monaghan try is unfair. Standing start against a pinpoint kick caught by the best jumper in the league with a running leap. The best that could have been done was to interfere with Monaghan's leap, Senior-style, but refs have cracked down on blocking plays since Keith was around.

I'm a huge fan of Hall.

But fair criticism is due on that example.

You make it seemed pre-determined that there was nothing humanly possible to stop him.

If his position had of been improved he could have competed for the ball or been a legal nuisance to the dog loving leaper.

Got to agree, Hall's effort for the one against Wire was quite poor but I think credit has to go to the kicker for the one Catalans scored, that was just a very good precise kick.

So you don't know then. I am sure the coach is wanting to see what his new hooker is capable of so it makes sense to try him at different times in a game and so far more positives than negatives.

However your augument has previously been all about him not being what you called "a proper hooker" and highlighting Burrow not putting in a high tackle count around the ruck. My augument has been that Burrow is too good to be limited to cameo performances. Because he has been brilliant coming off the bench in the past is to overlook that he has also been brilliant staying on for the full 80. The team in recent years has lacked some sharpness in attack and IMO it didn't make sense to reduce the minutes of one of our best and most consistent attackers who has not lost his speed unlike some others.

Now another point I would make is that if you consider Burrow to be good enough to come on as a hooker from the bench then why do you accept that in this case it is ok for him not be defending down the middle. The much made point that his speed is more effective against tired forwards is not so valid when he comes on after 30 minutes (Catalan) which coincides with fresh opposition forwards coming off the bench and in any case Burrow is one of the few players that retains his speed and freshness even when on for the full 80.



Well we are all only expressing opinions and yes I still would prefer Burrow on for the full 80 but am quite happy that all or part of this should be as a half back.



Hall is quite used to dropping back in anticipation of the 5th tackle kick. Quite why he cannot in the same way drop back over his own goal line, in anticipation of an incoming kick to the wing, so that he is then moving forward to jump and challenge defensively in the same way he does on attack?

You cannot blame his centre or hooker/half back (who are both good defenders) for Hall's weakness in this area or most notably examples of his rush out of the line ploy which lead to tries in both our last WCC and for England in the World Cup

For me, its not about getting the ball to the best players as often as possible. the game is more complex than that. Its about getting your mismatches as big as possible. Same as you wouldn't expect Watkins to be given the ball on his own line and make breaks, you'd not want to do the same with Burrow. For me if he comes on after half an hour you get a maximisation of his time on the field and the mismatch of speed and agility. 25mins into a game you have probably 10 of the opposition with 25mins under their belt, then possibly 2 with 5-10mins under the belt and maybe one other with a few minutes. All of these are in a worse physical position than they would be at kick off. A forward who had been out there for 25mins would hate to see a fresh burrow coming off the bench. Any laziness at marker, any quick play the ball will be punished. This things do not occur so much in the opening quarter so you weaken parts of your game (defence & distribution) for only a small impact.

If he drops behind his line then its a man not just out of the line, but taking him out defensively altogether. It would give him a better position to field the kick from, but it would put him at a worse position for a regular tackle.

The defending winger is always going to be at a disadvantage as they don't know where the kick is going to be, they are on their own, and they can only really fail (knock on, miss, driven back over the line).

It was a bad read from Hall, but I think that it is pretty much the hardest skill in the game diffusing a well executed kick to the corner

Its a very difficult position to defend from.

If Hall drops back into the in goal then he risks being out of position if the attack spins fast ball wide and from that sort of range a good winger can crash over by the time he reaches them.

If he stands his ground then, has highlighted here, he runs the risk of being out jumped from a standing start.

What he needs is for the inside defensive line to push across and to get blockers in front of him to help out.

IMHO of course

What Hall needs to do is lose weight!

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The in-goal/in-touch areas are quite short on most grounds so we are only talking about a few metres and he would drop back in anticipation of their kicker punting for the corner from the centre of the field. He is then in a position to move forward with momentum to jump for the kick (like a full back). Or if the attacker doesn' t kick but spins the ball wide, the defensive winger has time to move forward and back into the line again but with momentum - in fact in a better not worse position.

Anyway in Hall's case he has usually rushed forward out of the line so it would not be worse. 9.5712890625:10