normally this kid only gets his own thread when he's dropped a ball, but even though no player was poor tonight i think personally that jack hughes was ecxellent tonight worked his absolute socks off, made some cracking tackles, plenty of hit ups and generally got through a lot of work did he play the full 80? thoughts?

I think his career has stalled due to that centre move. IMO he's an out and out second row and they should be looking to put weight on him and stop the thoughts of him playing centre again (unless it was absolutely necessary).

He's been poor since he lost his second row spot about a month or two in to last season when a couple of lads came back from injury but last night he really stepped up. He was aggressive and full of energy and we need to see more of that now.

I agree with you 100% for me he’s a second rower and though I’m not his greatest fan he like all of the lads yesterday stepped up to the plate and did us all proud.

Agreed - and hopefully now with our comparative riches at centre he'll be able to concentrate on being a forward.

He's an 80 minute back rower and he plays his best stuff when given a lot of time. Good game yesterday.

Lots of young forwards make their way into the first team, play plenty of games and impress and then have a spell where their progression slows. It took Joel Tomkins a while from his debut to properly establish himself as a top second row. He had some less than impressive years. Liam Farrell had one slightly disappointing year.

Last season Hughes did pretty well early on when covering for Hansen. Then during the middle of the year his form dropped and he struggled. His last few games and his performance for the England Knights were outstanding.

This season he started with an injury. There are so many examples it's impossible to count where players have struggled when they've been injured during the off season.

Hughes is a talented player with plenty of potential and he could become an excellent back row. He's just turned 22 this year, that's still very young for a forward. He should have at least a decade of rugby ahead of him and so it's definitely worth persevering with him. He's put in some excellent performances and we know he's not matched that so far this year but he's got a lot more to offer without a doubt.