And Graham.

I reckon Laffranchi has been our best prop so far this year, admittedly, none of them have been particulalrly good, but even so, he has done ok. Perry is an out and out prop, and he has failed dismally so far.

Anyone who thinks TP and Clough are anything but props is on a different planet to me.

Seems to be a few people on here a bit deluded, at the end of the day in most sports the coach/manager pays the price for poor performances and results. We are no doubt light in some areas of the team (An experienced halfback (not a guy who's mainly played fullback and hooker) and a monster prop) that may or may not be Royce's fault but it doesnt matter really as he is paid to coach what we have to perform at their peak week in week out and for whatever reason he's not managed it.

Time will tell if it was the correct decision at this point in the season but tbh I dont think his contract would have been renewed anyways so all we have done is bring forward the inevitable

With Rush and KC in charge I wonder if they'll make the tough calls? The Wello question springs to mind - for me he shouldn't be our first choice at 1 , if they see it too will they make the call and bench/change Wello's position ....

I kind of agree but I think TP would be fine in the second row if we had better options at prop , running wide he would create havoc and importantly space for our centre's with his ability to draw in defenders and offload

Clough is a bettering ram and a prop every day of the week

When we signed him, I was hoping for a Lauititi type second row to play out wide, but ever since he's pulled on the Vee he's played up the middle (and a very good one).

Cant argue that, we need 2 of him really

If Soliola could do a Ruben Wiki and complete his transition from centre to prop next year that would help us out a lot.

But, as I've said, we've got 5 props who should be enough to compete with any other set in the league. The problem is we're not getting the best out of them.

They're making yards for us, which is admirable considering our one up playing approach, but we don't seem to be winning any quick plays and we don't get many offloads.

I reckon Soliola will end up a prop, though.

I think the problem is that we aren't moving off the ball at all. Because there are no dummy runners it's obvious who is going to hit the ball up in every play, which means it's easy and safe for our opposition to put numbers into every tackle. As a result we're getting a slow play the ball and a set of forwards who are knackered after 60 minutes.

In which case, the yards which the forwards are winning shouldn't be sniffed at, as they're getting [ibrick walled[/i whenever they get the ball.
When we started the bradford game there was a little bit of extra running (i was looking out for it following my dissapointment at the Hull game), but it did not last and we ended up playing one up drives.

I don't like using the stats page, but I think it can be quite useful when looking at props.
rlHere's Boof vs Morleyrl. He doesn't look too shabby on that form.
Average metres per carry of over 7.5
Plenty of marker tackles shows he's working hard.
Not many missed tackles or errors, but a penalty a game isn't great.

Looking further into the stats, Tony P has only managed 2 offloads all season! His go forward yardage is ok, so he's carrying his ball, but that stat demonstrates how the Opposition are able to et multiple defenders around him to shut that sort of thing down.

I've said for a whole that sia will end up prop but I think it's a few years off yet and could offer much more if was used proper a little wider.

Stupid, short sighted decision by Saints board. You'll come to regret it when you get the uber talented young English coach that is Rich Agar from Wakey when they bin him off...lmfao
Seriously, all things considered I can't think of any logical reason to get of Simmons now. Sure you've lost some games, a pretty poor points haul so far but you'd have been there or thereabouts come the end of the season. You've been seriously unlucky (The Cats wonder try that shouldn't have been for one) and some players just switching off/underperforming (this happens in sport no matter how good a coach you are)
with the squad you had at your disposal this year it would have been a big ask to win silverware IMO but rebuilding and bringing on the youngsters so they make fewer and fewer mistakes was a priority for you this season. As others have said you are in transition after having had a huge amount of success with some mainstay players that are no longer there.
IF you lose the next 3 games then I think you'll be lucky to make the 8 personally

If we lose the next 3 games we can still easily make the 8.

It's a cert. I'd give him a new contract with the intention of moving him there next year.

I'm glad others can see it too. All I hear around me at the ground are morons who clearly dont understand Rugby screaming for us to 'throw it wide' which we do and go nowhere because of the lack of options to make a defence work.