Not so sure about Sammutt, but it's surely plain as the nose on anyone's face that ripping out two major impact forwards has ruined the balance of our squad. The lack of pack is top of the list of things that have got us regularly paggered.

Gale was disappointingly back in his wardrobe. I just don't know what it is with him. Maybe he plays very well for Narnia.

As for the rest - well I promised myself I'd give my "schoolboy errors" mantras a week off so ...

I would like to defend Gale's performance yesterday based on my attendance at the press conference on Wednesday for the Challenge Cup. Gale had a rocker on one foot which seems to indicate the damage he did to his ankle in last week's match against Wakefield was perhaps still troubling him and was a more serious injury. He may have been still struggling with it yesterday!.

You would have thought he would have taken it off to play though.

Like any halfback he’ll struggle behind a pack that is going backwards. Even the great Paul Deacon (steady tigertot!) used to get smashed when he was playing behind a weaker pack in the early days of McBanana’s rule.

Gale did throw an awful pass to Gaskell when we had an early chance to apply pressure. He was in acres of space so not sure why it went onto Gaskell’s bootlaces. Booting the ball dead three times was pants too and just doesn’t apply any pressure. Having said all that his huge hit wasn’t the actions of a man who’s injured. That’s not to say Gale was alone. I thought Addy was very poor and was doing his turnstile defence too.

I agree on the confidence factor. The team are brittle psychologically. You could see it in the body language after we conceded shortly after the bungled kick off. Heads dropped, people seemed to look like they’d rather be elsewhere. It showed in the tackling which lacked aggression and in the attack where we were tentative and hesitant. Again another factor making Gale look bad was the quality of his runners which at times were non existent.

It’s a bit “chicken and egg”. How do you get confidence? We need to get a run together of decent performances where we make the opposition have to work really hard and we need to get in “the arm wrestle”. A few look really reluctant to get stuck in and that’s disappointing. We seem to be lacking that killer instinct or even a bit of mongrel. The weak pack is a big factor in this. I really hope we keep Kaufusi.

Kaufusi has gone back to Hudds now apparently. Awesome.

Matty Smith, currently in the England training squad, is equally as completely lost as Deacon or Gale, but in a much better team. Without Green to dominate he is restricted to passing or kicking. There is only Brough & possibly Burrow who can create something from a team on the back foot at 7. Gale is no different to the majority of English scrum halves.

Time to see what baldwinson and bates can do then.

Never. Just great.

Don't be so silly. Time to play another player out of position at prop then.

Looks like no option but to play Bates, Mellor and Baldwinson. It’s a tough ask but sometimes young lads can make a mark in these circumstances. I remember in 98 we had a horrific injury list and the team falling out in lumps but a certain Stuart Fielden came in as a 19 year old and put others to shame.

Time for Mellor and Bates to get some game time, particularly Mellor who’s big enough to make an impact.

FC should be on the phone to Eamonn McManus, begging him for Sauvelio for a month.
That kid has serious talent, wasted in the academy imo.

Mellor and Bates have impressed when they've played. But then we get players back and revert to the same dross that get hammered every week. Walker at prop is embarrassing.

Play him in back row or don't play him at all. Stop trying to find a place for your mate. Agree with Gotcha, Cummins team selections are awful at the moment. Next two games will decide our fate.