The 3 asterisked players are confirmed to be off
Its four. You missed Baldwin.
As you say, reinforcements are a must!
I don’t disagree with that. My feeling is that we have a squad of about 32 players who are good enough (or not far off) right now which just isn’t enough.
For me that looks like:
1. Marler / Els
2. Baldwin / Gray (just about) / Head
3. Louw / Kerrod
4. Lewies / Young* / Lamb
5. Symons / Tizard
6. J. Chisholm / Lawday
7. Evans / Kenningham
8. Dombrandt
9. Care / Steele
10. Smith
11. Green / Morris
12. Esterhuizen / Lasike / Tapuai
13. Marchant / Lang* / Northmore
14. Murley / Earle
15. Brown* / Lynagh
(The 3 asterisked players are confirmed to be off)
I am happy enough with that group, but unfortunately when you factor in injuries, 32 players is quite a few short of what is needed to compete in more than one competition.
I can’t really judge Trenier as we haven’t seen him in a Quins shirt yet, so perhaps he can be added. Same for Stafford.
I also haven’t included the likes of Baxter, Hammond, Riley, Jurevicius, Anyanwu etc. who could well figure in our squad next season but aren’t really ready right now.
IMO Garcia Botta, Elia, Collier, Cavubati (who was actually good last night), White, Landajo, Herron, Campagnaro and Ross Chisholm are either not good enough or injury liabilities.
When we also consider that the three confirmed leavers are all members of the first choice 23 when fit, we really need to do some reinforcement.
Yeah, I'd agree with that. As usual, hooker, lock and again centre are areas which need recruitment, and flyhalf is now a priority. I'd look to add an older, proven prem quality player.
Some stats from that farce of a game.
Positives:
Green made 66m from 11 carries, 3 tackles / 0 missed
Northmore 25m from 4 in 41 mins
Tizard made 18m from 13 carries and 11/2 tackles
Kenningham 25m from 14 carries and 12/1 tackles
Lawday 33m from 15 carries
Cavubati 18m from 6 carries & 2 offloads, and 1 clean break
Els 12m from 3 carries and 1 clean break
Steele 18m from 4 carries, 7/1 tackles, and 2 turnovers won
Negatives:
Northmore 2/2 tackles (out of position and it showed)
Tapuai 0/2 tackling
Ross Chisholm 0m from 3 carries and 1/2 in tackles, in 39 minutes
Archie White 1m from 4 carries
Herron 0m from 5 carries and 5/3 in tackles
Earle 4/3 in tackles
Yeah, I'd agree with that. As usual, hooker, lock and again centre are areas which need recruitment, and flyhalf is now a priority. I'd look to add an older, proven prem quality player.
Not that many 10s who fit that description TBH.
The back up 10 doesn’t need to be a superstar, but they do need to fit our style of play. From the Premiership, I quite like Lloyd Evans or Zack Henry, both of whom are slipping down the pecking order at Gloucester and Tigers due to incoming signings.
Either Evans or Henry would be a step up from Herron.
Re Hooker, Bristol have three very decent players on their books in Byrne, Thacker and Capon. I wonder how sustainable that is in the medium/longer term, as surely they can't all get the game time they'd hope for. Any of them would be a very good addition.
Also worth mentioning that Marcus has a very good chance of an overdue England call-up over the summer. If he gets a chance, I think he will take it with both hands which makes the requirement for a good back-up 10 a big priority.
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