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Thread: GB Lions 2020 Tour

  1. #101
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    Tommo not as badly injured as feared so is staying on tour

  2. #102
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    Quote Originally Posted by reliable sauce View Post
    For me he tries to play too much and do other peoples jobs.
    A couple of times Walmsley was charging onto the ball only to then slow down or not be passed to because Hodgson decided he’d take a extra steps on the ball.

    It doesn’t help the half backs either, give them early ball and let them create. Then he tries to kick which more often than not are sh*te.

    We saw when Roby came in in the tests against NZ our play improved drastically, he got the ball out quick instead of fannying about on it, his distribution is far far better.
    This is how I see it. Imo Hodgson needs to stop over playing he's in the way too much

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  3. #103
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    Quote Originally Posted by reliable sauce View Post
    For me he tries to play too much and do other peoples jobs.
    A couple of times Walmsley was charging onto the ball only to then slow down or not be passed to because Hodgson decided he’d take a extra steps on the ball.

    It doesn’t help the half backs either, give them early ball and let them create. Then he tries to kick which more often than not are sh*te.

    We saw when Roby came in in the tests against NZ our play improved drastically, he got the ball out quick instead of fannying about on it, his distribution is far far better.
    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.

  4. #104
    Learning All The Songs Blue Harvest's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dux View Post
    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.

  5. #105
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    Hodgson has always been my major selection gripe.
    He shouldnt be in the squad let alone starting in my opinion.

  6. #106
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    Quote Originally Posted by CGSaint View Post
    Hodgson has always been my major selection gripe.
    He shouldnt be in the squad let alone starting in my opinion.
    He isn't a bad tactical player but our strength would be trying to get quicker ptb, Hodgson slows play down a lot I reckon, I've thought this for years. I like Clark but been disappointed the way Danny Houghton has fizzled out.

  7. #107
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Yellow Giraffe View Post
    Bettered only by 2 weeks of silence from you and your retarded little pals since we became champions again.

    Run along rubber dickie lad.
    Rubber dickie? Is that what his missus straps on whilst he’s playing his banjo in his Christmas jumper?
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  8. #108
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Newlove View Post
    He isn't a bad tactical player but our strength would be trying to get quicker ptb, Hodgson slows play down a lot I reckon, I've thought this for years. I like Clark but been disappointed the way Danny Houghton has fizzled out.
    I think Danny Houghton is a bit like Roby, suffering from being overworked.

  9. #109
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Yellow Giraffe View Post
    Bettered only by 2 weeks of silence from you and your retarded little pals since we became champions again.

    Run along rubber dickie lad.
    You'll find I have posted. Just after Saints won the GF. There's been no topic of interest of late...almost every thread is 3 page's or less.
    Last edited by rubber duckie; 28th October 2019 at 10:06.

  10. #110
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    Quote Originally Posted by rubber duckie View Post
    You'll find I have posted. Just after Saints won the GF. There's berm no topic on here of interest...almost every thread is 3 page's or less.
    Please feel free to ruin other forums with your drivel instead

    Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

  11. #111
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    We were undercooked that is a hell of a Tongan team.
    Learned comment from The Don

  12. #112
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scouse Don View Post
    We were undercooked that is a hell of a Tongan team.
    Aren't they playing Australia next week? It'll be interesting to see how they get on.

  13. #113
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    Quote Originally Posted by rubber duckie View Post
    You'll find I have posted. Just after Saints won the GF. There's been no topic of interest of late...almost every thread is 3 page's or less.
    Sorry it's not up to your high standards.

  14. #114
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dux View Post
    Aren't they playing Australia next week? It'll be interesting to see how they get on.
    They are indeed

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    Got A Replica Shirt St Christopher's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bostik Bailey View Post
    It’s almost like watching saints under Cunningham.

    I hope Wolf has us playing like Tonga
    '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!

  16. #116
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    Quote Originally Posted by rubber duckie View Post
    You'll find I have posted. Just after Saints won the GF. There's been no topic of interest of late...almost every thread is 3 page's or less.
    Yeah, I am exactly the same. Never make a post unless there is a minimum of three pages to the thread. What's the point in derailing a thread of 3 pages or less...... A total waste of my time & energy.

  17. #117
    In The South Stand Tez the Saint's Avatar
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    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.
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  18. #118
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    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)

  19. #119
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    Quote Originally Posted by St. Christopher View Post
    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)
    I don't disagree with any of your points, but one thing I would like to see is a GB coach that is SL based, irrespective of nationality. I know that some of our better players are NRL based, but most of our options play in SL. For me get rid of Bennett.

  20. #120
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tez the Saint View Post
    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.
    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.

  21. #121
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dux View Post
    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.

  22. #122
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    Quote Originally Posted by Angry Dave View Post
    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.

  23. #123
    In The South Stand Tez the Saint's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dux View Post
    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.
    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.
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  24. #124
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tez the Saint View Post
    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.
    Yeah, I agree with all of that.

  25. #125
    Starting A Programme Collection Roger Moore's Avatar
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    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.
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