Do you manage to get over from the USA for many games?

My post wasn't necessarily intended to read as "drop Robshaw, never play him again". I guess I just feel that now is the time to really let the Cliffords, Chis-es (Chisii?) and Dombrandts go for it. And they have done this season - but in large part because Robbo's been injured. My worry is that we'll now see him come back in on reputation alone - he should have to fight for his place but in reality I don't think he'll have to, as is the way with these big-name players...

Same at 9 - I was a bit confused when we let Waters go out on loan. He's now at the age where we should be trusting him to at least come off the bench regularly. Certainly over Dave Lewis - if anyone, then Lewis should have gone out on loan instead.

I do think there is a teeny tiny bit of nostalgia-drunk thinking going on on this thread but I've been wrong before. To me it seems that Robshaw objectively isn't as effective as the player he was when he won player of the season and it's not just a yard of pace he's lost. As someone mentioned above, he was never the quickest anyway so any pace lost on top of that and you're going to be less effective - that's just basic logic. He genuinely looks knackered from the very start of games - that wasn't the case 5/6 years ago. I totally agree with what many above have said about Robbo's rugby brain but there is a point where the body can't do what the brain's asking of it quite as much as it used to. I still see all the desire and effort and never-say-die attitude that he's always had, but the same rewards for all that hard work just aren't forthcoming from what I can see.

In the process of forcing myself to separate how much I love the guy and what he's done for Quins from the player he is now I do unfortunately now think we're better off with Clifford/Dombrandt on the flanks most of the time. And with potential new signings in the back row I do wonder how much game time a player like Robshaw should and will get with all that competition. Assuming just one of someone like Kwagga Smith or Will Evans do join, do you still select Robshaw to start 4 times out of 5? I don't know the answer. I guess from a Quins fan's perspective, more competition for places can only be good news - I just don't know how sustainable it is if you continue to pick an old, determined workhorse over an athletically-superior young gun most of the time.

The caveat to all of this, of course, is that my concerns are based on a couple of seasons of pre-injury performance and much of that was during JK's reign of horror - maybe I'm just being unfair. Obviously I'm going to get right behind him if and when he appears in the next game and for the rest of the season but just wondered where everyone else thought he was at. In my mind he, Brownie and Care are in the twilight of their careers and it's critical we start to let others take up the mantle.

I reckon this is the first time robshaw has been written off during an injury.

Just out of interest, who was it who tackled George Lowe? I remember it was horrendous for sure but can’t remember who? Was it against Saracens again and was he Scottish? For some reason that’s all my mind can gather

Which is literally what hasn't happened.

A ringing endorsement....


He just doesn't have the pace or intensity of those guys any more. His engine still tends to see him through 80 mins time after time but I feel like I've also seen him start to have less and less influence on the game.