Spot on especially regarding cooper!

I for one am one of the posters that does not rate Mathers, and would love to see Jowitt slowly introduced this year as a replacement for him. Although there is a fine line between not rating a player in which I do not in Mathers, and lambasting every inch of his game because any player has decent qualities, even Mathers.

Jacques - I know an attacking full back is nothing new but my dads in his 80s so goes back a long way.You know what its like "when I wer a lad" with the oldies lol

Gary Cooper was a fantastic attacking player but as you say was prone to the odd defensive lapse which resulted in name calling back then so nothing new. His attack more than made up for those defensive lapses.

I'm not saying Mathers is in the same class as Gary Cooper but I feel his positive contributions out weigh his negatives and overall I'm happy with him at full back and hope the rumour is not true.

Never been a Mathers fan as he simply isn't the top class player he's sometimes touted as - but I thought he had his best ever SL season last year, cutting out most of his trade mark unforced blunders (his biggest weakness) - though his tackling remained limp at times. If he can recapture that level of consistency I'd be happy enough for now.

Not a fan of mathers if he had a tenth of the enthusiasm in defence that he does for attack id be happy for him to stay.But it riles me to watch him getting in the acting halfs way and forcing his way into the attacking line to give a pass which slows us down as too many people in the line invariably.Yet when i want him to cover tackle or make that last ditch one on one he's found wanting.So i for one wish him well and hope it's true sorry if this sounds harsh personal opinion.

Find it funny Mathers has gone from everyone's scape goat to the best fullback in 30 years at BV. All in the space of five pages. Which all goes to prove it's all about opinions.

I think the person with the most important opinion is the coach and all I can say is, if/when he isn't happy with RM at fullback he will drop him. So for now I'm happy with RM in that position. Anyway, attack is the best form of defence so a few more displays like Sundays and we'll be OK!

Hat trick for Mathers, proving some doubters wrong.... one of the best players on the field apparently.

Mathers 4th

Fair play to him. He has now set himself a standard of performance to live up to every week, rather than blowinghot and cold like he has been doing.

maybe just what he needed to get some confidence back.

4 tries against a poor London side doesn't change the fact that he'll be below average more often than not this season. Fair play today, Richie, but i'll be happy when I see some consistency.