Given Smith departing, I wonder if this also gives us the option of putting Sam into the halves? He's had a disrupted season on his return but he was certainly a long way from the player we knew when he left us.

At the game on Saturday a friend (I do have the odd one, odd being the objective word ) and we were talking about signing Escare. I wasn't keen because of his defensive frailities. However he made a very good point "You can coach someone to defend, but you can't coach the pace that he has"

You get played like Escare, to me their defensive issues look tactical/technical, then you get Richie Mathers, who's defensive issues were down to a complete lack of heart and bottle, he just wouldn't put himself in danger.

Certainly I can't say Frayssinous ever struck me as the shrewdest coach in the world.

I've seen a couple of people saying Escare's issues are down to bottle but you just never know until they sign for the club and you see them play.

My example would be Sarginson. I'd read he was a poor defender who lacked bottle yet IMO nothing could be further then the truth (by the time he left). His defence has improved no end but he's never lacked bottle. That lad has an unbelievable workrate and engine and he's tough.

I look forward to seeing how Escare goes.

Definitely not, more a case of throw as many established players together and hope they do well.

The one thing that Escare lacks, and you can't coach it is size. IMO he will always struggle because of this. Attackers will run over him, find it easy to rough him up. He struggles with any competition when taking a kick as it is easy to put him off. He has ability, I've no doubt of that but simply isn't big enough.

Have you seen Sam Powell up close? He is not big by any stretch, in fact I'd say he doesn't look like a rugby player, but he made the second most tackles in the league last year. They must be able to overcome size with technique.