Quote Bullseye="Bullseye"I'm sure we all have our own answers. I'm just interested in Rohan's opinion.
I would like some sort of confirmation that we were having an injury crisis and the decision to leave out Crossley/Lauaki and Clough wasn't down to some hairbrained scheme.
The poor last tackle options were IMO down to a combination of things. No go forward from the pack, slow pass from dummy half, Fev line speed, our kicker being too far from the dummy half, our kicker not getting any protection from Fev defence, a lack of organisation in the plays leading up to the last tackle to prepare to get a kick away and poor technique from the kicker. Most of that can be worked on - it's simple game management.
I agree line speed has been crap this season. Whether that's by design (but why would it?) or just down to a lack of enthusiasm or fitness I don't know but being as we're fulltime I suspect it's an attitude problem.
Coaches are often fond of saying things in defeat like "there was 100% effort" or "I can't fault the effort". We've heard it ourselves a lot this season but I doubt it's always the case. It's a platitude used to placate fans and the press. The evidence of my own eyes backs this up.'"
I too would like to hear the thoughts on the prop situation. Clough hasn't played for a few weeks, so one can assume he was injured. Lauaki was definitely mentioned somewhere as picking up a knock, which is why he didn't play (I forget where now). Crossley I've seen no mention whatsoever why he was left out though. At least if it was down to injuries, it makes more sense. If it was down to choice, much like the O'Brien thing, it's hard to see anything other than he got it wrong.
The line speed thing, don't I remember reading some guff about Lowes instructing the team to allow a fast play the ball so they'd be ready for it by the time they got to the middle 8s? Not withstanding the fact that they didn't bloody get there, is that related to the slow line speed? And if so, was it too ingrained in the team for Rohan to change it yet? More questions than answers if I'm honest.
And I agree about the effort. Part of me always says to myself that I can't believe any player goes out there and can't be bothered. Surely it's just not in the nature of a pro sportsman. But then you watch it, and you wonder how it can be anything else with the evidence you see in front of you.
