Possession into points : Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:17 pm  

We have the lowest conversion rate of any side in the league of tries scored from plays within the opponents 20. Tonight and the Challenge cup final showed that in tight games this is going to cost you every single time. I cannot understand why Watson is not looking to strengthen our halves if we want to be winning things. We are going to have exactly the same problem next year that we have this year, we simply do not have enough strike in the halves and the backs. Who are our try scorers!? McGillvary scores, Leutele scores (and is leaving). The rest have a terrible scoring rate. Olly Russell scored his first try of the season last weak grounding a scrappy ball behind the opponents line, Cudjoe scored his first try at home for 13 months last week. Russell has looked good at times this year, but he is playing behind an UTTERLY dominant pack, he simply is not good enough for this level. Theo Fages is the organiser and he so needs a half that can attack alongside him.

We seem to be content that we have so much possession and so few tries, why isn't Watson highlighting this as our number one problem? Instead we sign more forwards and 35 year old backs, i just don't get it.

Re: Possession into points : Thu Aug 25, 2022 6:38 am  

Halves are in short supply. Who would you suggest?someone like Sezer? That didn’t turn out well. Dont forget we still have pryce next year. If he plays in his FB spot then tui may go in the halves.
But I feel our issue is our plays, not our halves. We cannot score from next to goal line because we are playing too direct. It’s simple one up rugby easy to defend against. Little or no second phase or line running, no staggered plays, all the opposition defenders have to do is follow the ball as it’s passed across the nicely formed line and make the one on one tackles. Occasionally a strong carry and weak defending has seen us cross the line but more often than not a team who is determined to defend will keep us out.

Re: Possession into points : Thu Aug 25, 2022 6:06 pm  

I disagree we simply don't have the attacking players to take advantage of plays in opponents 20, It's clear Russell has been told to take the line on more, but he simply doesn't have the skillset to do it. Some players can step , accelerate and get through a gap and some can't. You can't coach the ability to beat a defender, you either have it or you don't. I'm not bagging Cudjoe because he's great at what he does but in 16 years he has never sidestepped a player yet, it's not in his skillset, and is why he scores so few tries and prefers to set them up for Jerry. We need another halfback desperately, the Russell develop plan has not worked. He will always be a cover player and we simply need better. Same with wingers, Seniors will only ever be good enough for cover, we need better attacking backs, especially with Leutele going, imagine how blunt our attack will be next year without him.