It is hard for a full back on a 2 v 1. Rightly so. He should try and buy time to allow his team mates to get back and help out. That’s not the same as getting rid of the momentum rule which would massively affect the attacking side of the game.

Really? A player 9m away isn’t in their eyeline? At any point? It’s irrelevant whether the full back drops it or not. That player is offside and should be penalised. If the offside player takes himself out of play or is clearly backing off he won’t be penalised. But if he’s still moving forward he should be penalised the same as defenders setting off to early from the defensive line. The knock on is irrelevant.

Walker
Briscoe Newman Hurrell Handley
Sutcliffe Myler
Seumanufagai Dwyer Singleton
Ferres Watkins
Merrin

Oledzki Cuthbertson Smith Sutcliffe / Donaldson / Holroyd

That obviously depends on the fitness of Ferres, Cuthbertson, Walker and Holroyd.

If Watkins is behind Newman as a centre why would you pick him in the forwards? He isn't a second row at all. It might not be a bad thing for him to have a longer break to try to work on basic fitness, particularly speed. If we're down to that I really don't see why we wouldn't pick one of our Academy players ahead of him.

Watkins has played 2nd row for a while now.

A chaser could easily be at an 80 degree angle and not seen by the recipient. Especially seeing as the guy will have his eyes on the ball.

An error has been forced and they've gotten away with it on a technicality.

With regards to these final 2 v 1 passes for tries, I've seen loads that have been forwards (nowhere near even flat). Maybe the refs aren't deeming them to be the momentum rule. Maybe they're just not keeping up with play. If so, they need help from merry flag wavers.

This with Golding in at 17 as back up hooker.

Watkins may have played second row. So has Sutcliffe. Playing there is not the same as being any good at it.

I hope Hurrell is fully fit again for this one. We might still lose but at least we’ll get some entertainment.

We should be desperate in every game until we’re clear of relegation, it’s no good relaxing now London are dead bottom. We could still easily get sucked back into the dogfight here.

But the error is irrelevant. The player is offside. Are you saying a penalty should only be given if there is no knock-on? That would seem a bizarre rule. The player is offside, if he’s still moving forward toward the play he should be penalised, same as in any other situation.

I really haven’t seen that many that are forwards. They might have been caught in front of where they were passed but then that’s usually because in a 2 v 1 the passer often is travelling at speed and so isn’t a forward pass.

One problem with forward passes is how flat supporting players run nowadays. How often do wingers run almost parallel with a centre who's made a break? It makes any kind of pass very high risk, especially as the player with the ball is often at full pace themselves.

Also, the perception of the game suffers as a result, as the resulting pass travels massively forward in relation to the ground.
Most - though by no means all - longstanding fans recognise this.
However, it is massively difficult to explain to someone new to the game whose understanding is that the ball should go backwards. There must be huge levels of scepticism amongst casual TV viewers too. In fact I know there is.

Oddly enough it makes the skills look lower even though a flat pass at speed is one of the hardest to do.