Tommo not as badly injured as feared so is staying on tour
Tommo not as badly injured as feared so is staying on tour
Yes, I agree. There are times (most of the time, in fact) when what you want from your hooker is just crisp, decisive distribution, but Hodgson always seems to feel like that’s not enough. It seemed odd to me to have Jackson Hastings in the side but doing almost no kicking while Hodgson is picking up The ball from DH and booting it dead.
But I don’t think we learned a great deal about the backs or half backs yesterday. We just got physically battered and everything was a struggle because of that.
I think I put on an earlier post, Hastings and Coote have a certain skill set, if we're not going to utilise what they bring to the game why have them involved? Yes, it's great to have varying options so you can mix it up around kicking options, but we didn't really mix it at all.
If they are the tactics we are going to use for the tour, we might well see Batman and Jones at centre in coming games and just to try to outmuscle to opposition.
Hodgson has always been my major selection gripe.
He shouldnt be in the squad let alone starting in my opinion.
We were undercooked that is a hell of a Tongan team.
Learned comment from The Don
'Agree on both points.
Bennett continues to treat British players based in the NRL as an automatic qualification into the GB team but choosing Hodgson over Clark and leaving Lomax on the bench for most of the game is pure idiocy.
Tonga had more imagination, looked fitter, stronger and faster, and threw the ball all over the field. Did anyone see any GB players with a smile during the game? A lack of inspirational coaching or motivation from Bennett perhaps.
Yes - looking forward to having Woolf with us!
Watched it yesterday. Two things stood out IMO.
1. I thought we sold ourselves short with the team selection. Lack of pace throughout the team. Slow outside backs, slow 9, three front rowers, no real pace in the halves. Only ever going to play one way.
2. I don’t think we moved the ball enough which was probably down to team selection as much as anything. Tonga, Samoa and Fiji in both League and Union want you to run straight at them. Physically they were a lot better. The less time spent playing through the middle against those teams the better, I thought we played right into their hands and got what we deserved.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
I didn't get to see the game - but watched the highlights. The one positive from that was that Woolf doesn't seem to restrict his sides playing expansive, off the cuff rugby
As for GB: Even if everyone was fit - i don't think there's a huge choice of world class players at our disposal at the moment. Those you might class in that category were either unavailable for this tour or are nearing the end of their career, and perhaps their best days behind them. Having said that - I don't like Bennett's team selections or the style in which he chooses to play.
I would like to see a British coach taken on next. I've nothing against another nationality coaching GB or England - but I'd like to see a British coach given a chance again (e.g. Watson, McDermott, or even Wane)
Regarding point 2, I think it’s a balancing act. You can try to play around a physical team but ultimately there’s no escaping a physical contest. The other problem is that Tonga are a massive side but they’re not the kind of big team where you can move the ball around and they’re knackered after 30 mins. They’re phenomenal athletes as well as being bruisers, and if you go wide without first going forward I think you end up in trouble. Ultimately I think to beat a team like that you have to fight fire with fire - we failed miserably at that on Saturday.
No there is no escaping physical contact but you shouldn't play into their hands either and pace will cause any side problems. Look at how we used to handle that huge Bradford side. It wasn't anything amazing, just kick well, be disciplined, patient and close them down. It didn't work everytime but from memory we had it over them.
But we always gave it to them in the middle as well. They didn't usually manage to bully us like they did other teams (not when it counted, anyway).
I take your point, though. There's no point running mindlessly at someone like Tamaulolo. I think a good way of countering massive packs that like to put big hits on is to sow seeds of doubt - have options supporting the ball carrier every hitup, and use a tight passing game between forwards at or near the line.
I didn’t really mean trying to play around them to be honest. I mean for example as you say, their middle is very physical and looked to be on top from pretty early on, but you can take that away from them by varying your attack and playing down short sides for example to strip that line speed from them. I didn’t think we played with any real shape either, one out carries are easy to defend when you’ve got two props attacking their line by themselves for example, if those two props have got the option of pulling it back to a half or they’ve got an inside option as well etc that’s harder to defend against. I just felt we were too predictable with the ball.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
I thought the tactics and player type selection were remarkably similar to the Cunningham era at Saints. Also the very limited option of a plan B when plan A didn't work.
Loyal and true, not a glory hunter.