Aviva Premiership - Round 11

[Wendigo7]

Yeah, he was a real bright spark and is starting to look much more at home than in his first few appearances. But that is the third (?) time he's been charged down under little pressure in about a month. As Peat says, basics. As a team we often tend too much towards relying on flair to get us out of sticky situations. In a way, Sweil is a very 'Quins type' player.

The place kicking should be less of an issue though. He is fairly accurate up to medium distance/difficulty (see the win over Falcons where he scored all of our points). However, his accuracy goes off a cliff when asked to take long or wide kicks. That isn't a deal breaker for a fly-half, it just means you need to cultivate a second kicking option in your starting 15. Most good teams have that but, inexplicably, we never seem to bother. In fact we don't even have a bench fly-half at the moment, despite Grimoldby being fit! We are a strange club...

Rumours flying that Sweil will stay, but I don't see that happening until the 2014/15 season. Way I understand it, he has to go back to the Sharks for the 2015 Super Rugby, regardless of any money we could offer or if he can be persuaded to stay.

I love this to be the case.

The thing with Grimoldby is that he's just painfully average. Not a personal attack or anything but there's nothing in his game that's been seen in the starts he's had that he could ever handle premiership rugby. Like a poor Rory Clegg.

Swiel staying would be great. Thought he played really well and if he can learn to take the ball to the line more aggressively with runners outside him, we will be a threat. We just need someone to partner Lowe .

Side note, Clifford and Lowe were fantastic yesterday. Clifford really is some prospect.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

The thing is Clifford and trayfoot and Wallace and robshaw and Easter all at the same club makes me think the young guys are going to want to leave to get more game time.

And part of me wonders if Wallace is secretly annoyed being played at 6. Then even now robshaw is out they move Clifford who is a 6 to 7 over Wallace! Very English club thing to do at the moment.

 

[Patchey]

I love this to be the case.

The thing with Grimoldby is that he's just painfully average. Not a personal attack or anything but there's nothing in his game that's been seen in the starts he's had that he could ever handle premiership rugby. Like a poor Rory Clegg.

Swiel staying would be great. Thought he played really well and if he can learn to take the ball to the line more aggressively with runners outside him, we will be a threat. We just need someone to partner Lowe .

Side note, Clifford and Lowe were fantastic yesterday. Clifford really is some prospect.

Oh yeah, Grimoldby isn't too hot but then he has literally only just stepped up from the academy. Had Swiel got a knock yesterday we would have ended up with Care at 10 (no joke, apparently he is the contingency).

Casson outside Lowe would be my call. We've had to slowly feed them both back into rugby this season but hopefully they'll both start playing full games soon.

Agreed on Clifford. He is, IMO, as potentially important to us and future England as Itoje at Sarries.

 

[Wendigo7]

The thing is Clifford and trayfoot and Wallace and robshaw and Easter all at the same club makes me think the young guys are going to want to leave to get more game time.

And part of me wonders if Wallace is secretly annoyed being played at 6. Then even now robshaw is out they move Clifford who is a 6 to 7 over Wallace! Very English club thing to do at the moment.

Quins operate a left and right system, not a 6 and 7.

 

[Patchey]

The thing is Clifford and trayfoot and Wallace and robshaw and Easter all at the same club makes me think the young guys are going to want to leave to get more game time.

And part of me wonders if Wallace is secretly annoyed being played at 6. Then even now robshaw is out they move Clifford who is a 6 to 7 over Wallace! Very English club thing to do at the moment.

Clifford is actually being talked about as a long term replacement for Easter. I just think that he'll never get any time there until Minty retires! I wouldn't mind seeing Wallace leave, I think Robshaw/Clifford/Easter with Trayfoot and Chisholm as bench options would be swell.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Lowe coming back has been a godsend for Quins.

12. Lowe
13. Marchant

That might be quite nice to watch in a year or two!

 

[Patchey]

Or Sloan, he looks a prospect.

 

[j'nuh]

Clifford is actually being talked about as a long term replacement for Easter. I just think that he'll never get any time there until Minty retires! I wouldn't mind seeing Wallace leave, I think Robshaw/Clifford/Easter with Trayfoot and Chisholm as bench options would be swell.

Are you sure about Clifford being a replacement for Easter? I know Clifford played 8 at age-grade level, but physically he's being left behind by the other 8s. Nearly 22 and below 16st (according to the Quins website)! Also, Trayfoot-Robshaw-Clifford would probably be the most lightweight backrow in the Premiership. You'll be needing a massively physical front 5 to be getting away with that.

I think you may need to replace Easter from outside the club. But then you may lose one of your flankers as a result.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I think Ibuanokpe might possibly be Quins' guy at 8 in the next few years... he doesn't look like he's naturally built as a prop (6'3" - 120+kg) where he's currently playing.

 

[j'nuh]

Well, that's a good start.

Fantastic finishing from May.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Some good rugby so far. I don't want to speak too soon but it looks as though our attacking play of set piece ball is becoming marginally less predictable.

Good early carry from the Hask there.

 

[j'nuh]

Oh dear. Never a penalty.

Here's to hoping the Shed gives him enough stick to Goode the rest of the game.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Could've wrapped his arms though...

Hughes is so good at the breakdown!

 

[ratsapprentice]

Good to see Billy Burns on... he looks a lot better than his brother in all honesty.
More well rounded and less flaky.

 

[Peat]

Quins seem to build the muscle on a lot of their prospects pretty slow, wouldn't be surprised to see him become fairly big as time goes by. He'll never be really big, not like Easter, but it might be a goer. I'd agree that it looks like he might be a flanker though but we'll see.

I'm also delighted to see Lowe back and in form as I reckon that he's a prime contender for that "13 with genuine attacking skills that we'll never see for England as he's behind a bunch of converted big 12s" slot.

 

[Wendigo7]

Gloucester are painful.

They make a good signing in Laidlaw and couple it with poor signings in Hibbard and Hook. They are woeful at defending and so easy to score points against.

Their prop stocks might actually be the worst in the league. They do too many dumb things to be improving at the moment.

 

[j'nuh]

Frustrating. Even though the position in the table doesn't show it, this Glos side are a big improvement on last year. It just seems that the other mid-table sides have significantly improved too though.

Pack did alright today. Some big positives there, but it was an issue how many Glos players entered the contact zone when Wasps weren't even contesting. Left us really short of numbers in attack.

The backline needs a lot of work though. First step should be to move Hook to 13 or 15, and either play Laidlaw or minor Burns at 10. Hook and Gloucester looked better today when Hook wasn't at 10.

Gloucester are painful.

They make a good signing in Laidlaw and couple it with poor signings in Hibbard and Hook. They are woeful at defending and so easy to score points against.

Their prop stocks might actually be the worst in the league. They do too many dumb things to be improving at the moment.

Hook will be a good signing when they finally realise he isn't a good 10.

Didn't even like Hook at 10 back when he was competing with Stephen Jones for the position back in 2008. But he's been brilliant in the centres and at fullback since.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I still find the prospect of Robson leaving Glos to accommodate Hook absolutely insane.

I know there has been a convoluted handover of management - but even so, someone should have said "look... we cannot let this kid go".

 

[Wendigo7]

Robson to Exeter would be hilarious.

Exeters improvement continuing!

 

[j'nuh]

I still find the prospect of Robson leaving Glos to accommodate Hook absolutely insane.

I know there has been a convoluted handover of management - but even so, someone should have said "look... we cannot let this kid go".

Not too sure about this. Gloucester originally signed Laidlaw as a 10, but I thought that was silly at the time, and I still think it's silly, and I think that the new management feel the same. Laidlaw is a 10 in the same sense that Hook is. They both have a fair amount of experience there, but they both look better in other positions. Unlike Hook though, Laidlaw doesn't even want to play 10.

Robson's roadblock into the squad isn't Hook, it's Laidlaw. And we would probably rotate a lot more if Laidlaw wasn't our goalkicker. I would love a Saints-style selection strategy for our scrum-halves. Just not going to happen unless we get in another goalkicker.

I don't think Hook has much of a future at 10. His performances there will not go unnoticed with the coaches, especially after Burns' performance today. So I think it's quite possible that we will move Hook this season (Burns coming in at 10) and we'll be in the market for a 10 for next season. This does open a chance to get a goalkicking 10 in, which also means that we won't need Laidlaw as much. I hope that this happens, and that we can convince Robson that he will have more opportunities if he stays.

To be honest, I'm actually more interested in seeing more of Billy Burns than of Robson. Burns had a great half today; I thought he looked better than Hook has all season at 10. (But also, I thought Hook went really well at 15 too!) To be honest, if I were Hook, I'd be thinking that 10 hasn't worked out, and moving to 13/15 would bolster my chances with Wales. Especially 13, where there is a bit of an opening in the Wales squad.

9. Laidlaw 10. Burns 11. May 12. Twelvetrees 13. Trinder/Purdy 14. Sharples 15. Hook
or
9. Laidlaw 10. Burns 11. May 12. Twelvetrees 13. Hook 14. Sharples 15. Cook (when he returns)/McColl

To be completely honest, I wouldn't be too upset about losing Robson on the basis of what he's produced this season.

Their prop stocks might actually be the worst in the league. They do too many dumb things to be improving at the moment.

Huh? Our scrum won 6 penalties today. We can't be that bad prop-wise.

We have a quality starter at tighthead but no depth beyond Afoa (Puafisi and Knight are not Premiership-standard scrummagers). At loosehead we have the opposite problem: decent depth but no quality starter.