Quote: NickyKiss "It’s a shame Ellis has got himself banned because it sounds like Havard could be back this week or next and you then have the option of moving Ellis to 13 and letting him play longer minutes. He looks capable of that and it’s something I’d look at longer term.
In the short term Smithies should certainly be starting ahead of Isa based on this seasons showings. I don’t know if Isa has gone too far in reigning himself in due to last season’s disciplinary issues but it’s been such a meek start for him at loose forward and that is surprising. I really expected him to revel in the opportunity and to lead a charge for us but it’s been anything but.'"
I’d go with Farrell Smithies and KPP as the backrow when Thornley is back. It won’t happen but more power than the current chosen 3 for the backrow.
Our front row is still suspect and a lightweight of a backrow of 3 guys at 14 stone doesn’t cut it.
Hopefully Harvard is back on Thursday otherwise Partington will be in the 17.
French looks grossly overweight so can’t see him in the 17 for a good few weeks. Happy to wait for the lad as he is a quality player and when drier conditions come along he will be ready and waiting for us to kick on.
A good chance for some character and a bit stoicism on Thursday. Let’s hope we have the lads with those characteristics to bounce back from a bottom 4 performance in the last 2 weeks.
Off field things appear to have improved significantly unfortunately on field lack of management over the previous 3 years means we have a few diamonds but multiple lack of quality across the majority of the starting 13.
I never expected any trophies this season or even for a year or two but I want commitment and a bit of “dog” in the ensuing years. Hopefully the Cas game we will see a turnaround from 2 weeks of poor delivery and a significant step up in our defence which has been poor in the extreme so far this season.
The general tempo has got to improve. We are slow, slow slow, slow. This seems to be deliberate but until this changes every game will be a struggle and potentially a defeat. Not panicking but a touch of realism now suggests we are nowhere near a really competitive team and somewhere between 4th and 8 th is a realistic outlook for this season.
A hard slog won’t do us any harm and will sort out which lads are here for the long haul.