Calling all south africans!!! I'm a Scarlets fan and we currently have Johan Snyman and George Earle playing for us, they're playing absolutely brilliant right now hopefully it will continue. From Snyman's history he seems to have played for lower clubs in SA, even though he's an absolute beast of a player.. putting in huge carries, huge hits like proper SA 2nd rows really. So this just got me wondering how are they regarded in SA because they're a brilliant partnership here in the RaboDirect Pro 12.
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Snyman and Earle
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Can't agree with that. Both have been remarkably average, with just a few good performances thrown in here and there. They haven't been the enforcer type second-rows the Scarlets desperately needed, which means the Scarlets' pack still get's an absolute pummelling against any half decent pack.
Both are barely good enough at Pro12 level, and are completely shown up at Heineken level.
Both are barely good enough at Pro12 level, and are completely shown up at Heineken level.
Haven't seen the last few games then have you?? Especially last night where scarlets scrum and line out dominated joe and George we putting huge carries and bone crunching tackles everywhere, your obviously deluded
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Difficult to say as I can't say that I've really followed their careers here in SA. I don't think they were really rated here as they kept flitting between teams and couldn't hold down a starting berth at the Lions which doesn't inspire confidence. That said many guys get better with age and the confidence they get from regular game time.
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Ahhh, the LV= cup and severely depleted Pro12 games. That doesn't exactly tell us much, otherwise Draggs would currently be claiming that the Dragons are world beaters. If you think there has been anything positive about the Scarlets front five this season, other than the emergence of a probable future star in Samson Lee, then I think it might be you who is sadly deluded.
If you ask anyone here, they'll tell you that I follow the Scarlets closely, as I do all the regions. I often have good things to say about the Scarlets players and always hope for them to do well, but the Scarlets recruitments lately have been decidedly sub-par, despite the hype surrounding them pre-season, and during the beginning of the season when the Irish teams were missing all their big players. The Scarlets seem to have recruited based on stereotypes, it appears that in their minds SA players = big and knarly, yet they've ended up with 2 second rows who are no better in the tight than Day and Reed, an Argentinian second-row/back-rower who's about as useful as a paper bag, and a South African prop who can't scrummage.
There is some promising players in the Scarlets pack, namely Rhodri Jones, Samson Lee, Rob Evans, Shaun Hopkins, Ken Owens, Kirby Myhill, Kieran Murphy & Daniel Thomas. Rob McCusker and Turnbull looked promising a few years ago, but look likely to fall slightly short of the mark. The rest should be no better than 3rd or 4th choice at a Welsh region. This leaves the pack with no quality experienced players, and the Scarlets hoping that some of those youngsters can step-up. This leaves you with youngsters like Samson Lee being 1st choice, and whilst doing remarkably well for his age, taking a bit of a battering against the likes of the Ospreys, Clermont and Leinster. He should be 2nd choice behind a strong scrummaging tighthead, learning his trade, not being thrown in at the deep-end and waiting to see if he sinks or swims, especially in such a specialist and technical position as tighthead prop.
If I had to pick a Scarlets team with only players that are realistically strong enough to win the HC in each position it would look like this:
01
02 Ken Owens
03
04
05
06 Aaron Shingler
07
08
09 Tavis Knoyle / Gareth Davies / Aled Davies (When they can figure out the pecking order)
10 Rhys Priestland (again with severe questionmarks)
11
12 Scott Williams
13 Jon Davies (what a great distributing centre partership! \end sarcasm)
14 George North
15 Liam Williams (reservations surrounding his aerial abilities)
16 Matthew Rees
17 Rhodri Jones (doubts over his scrummaging)
18 Samson Lee (a bit early, but not far off)
19 Josh Turnbull, or one of Timani, Earle, Snyman, Kelly or Ball might just be good enough on the bench
20 Keiran Murphy
21 Another one of those scrum halves mentioned above
22 Gareth Owen (if he can return to form, biased selection!)
23 At a push Andy Fenby
That's a lot of holes. When more of those youngsters develop in the pack, then there might be fewer holes, but it'd be a start if the Scarlets just sourced some no nonsense forwards that could stand up to the nasty bullies. If Exeter can manage it then the Scarlets should be able to as well.
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Unfortunately finishing win less in this season's Heineken cup campaign has shown what they're made of already. I can see them missing out on a play-off place in the Pro12 as well, because the likes of Ospreys, Leinster, Ulster and one of Glasgow or Munster will finish stronger, unless the Scarlets pack can front up and secure the backline with ball, where the Scarlets are now lacking any quality at 10. Having a bunch of rookie coaches just compounds matters.
Yeah I like Rhodri Williams as well, but he seems to have slipped to 4th choice, getting very little game time recently.
Whoever they chose, Easturby needs to stick with someone for a run of games. The Scarlets current tactic of rotating their 9 every match is mind-boggling. It gives none of them confidence, and destroys continuity. I don't think Easturby has a clue who his strongest scrum half is though...
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Been waiting for a few years for this Scarlet Heineken Cup win.
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