Quote: MattyB "You do realise we lost games with Smith in the team as well last year? May just be me but I think I've seen more entertainment in general play these last half dozen games than we did for the majority of last season. You mention poor kicking but his place kicking was mostly abysmal last year (how many times did we groan at when the kicks went straight down the throat of the opposition full back)? His conversions are no better than Escare's, however he can knock over a decent drop goal.
I don't just want one point wins, with some more players back lets get back to playing good attacking rugby with options all over the field (moving away from the five years old planned move).'"
I'd agree that we are looking better. I put that down to Williams, Farrell, Gildart and Burgess on the left edge. We look no different on the right edge.
Every kicker in the league hoofs it straight to the full back when they are kicking from 20 or 30 yards out. Matty is no different in that respect, but he is better when we are going forward, much better than Tommy.
I've been delighted by Escare, But his goal kicks are not as accurate. He has missed 12 out of 30 that's 60% success. Quite comfortably worse that Smith last season, who kicked 83 out of 110 that's 75%. Sometimes the figures (reality) tell a different story from what you've 'seen'.
Just out of interest I looked up Pat Richards' rate in 2013 - any guesses? (Yes 75%!!!)