Quins vs Bath - Saturday

[Banquo]

I really do like Redpath. You can tell his brain works that bit faster, which gives him that ability to seem to have ‘time on the ball’. So pleased he joined Bath. I’d have him in with England. I’m not saying starting, as there is lots to iron out, but to take his approach to the game up a level.

A talent, but quite a few errors yesterday too

Absolutely. Good coaching and more exposure at this level will help on that front. He’s definitely got the base talent to go far.

I think his errors were more about experience and picking the right decision than anything else. He hasn’t played much senior iirc

[fivepointer]

A talent, but quite a few errors yesterday too

Absolutely. Good coaching and more exposure at this level will help on that front. He’s definitely got the base talent to go far.

I think his errors were more about experience and picking the right decision than anything else. He hasn’t played much senior iirc

Yep. He hasnt started 10 games to date i'd say. He needs to play. He's got the talent.

[Scrumhead]

He’s being asked to play rugby and adapt to people and teams having done done homework on him? Wow!

Yup, pretty much the definition nofnsecond season syndrome.

It's one thing to look good when no-one knows how you play, and you're playing your "natural" game. It's an entirely different thing to look good when the opponent's have done their homework, and you're asked to fitni to a tean plan.

It why I never champion anyone for international honours until they've gone through this. Some players don't suffer S³, some suffer and work their way out of it, most suffer and join the crowd in never looking as good as they did in their breakout season.
A breakthrough season is not enough to claim a new messiah.

This. I also think it’s slightly more extreme with Dombrandt. The guy was playing uni rugby two years ago ... the guys that come through the academies have a completely different experience in terms of structure and professionalism.

Personally, I still think he’s trying to find the balance between playing his ‘natural’ game and adapting to more structure. I think he’ll get there, but it’ll take time and the manner of his breakthrough has made it harder as there’s a weight of expectation he probably doesn’t need on his shoulders.

[padprop]

Quins really looking sadly rudderless. Outside of Dombrandt, Lasike and Marchant theres not much going on. Herron really doesn’t seem up to it.

[Digby]

A talent, but quite a few errors yesterday too

Absolutely. Good coaching and more exposure at this level will help on that front. He’s definitely got the base talent to go far.

I think his errors were more about experience and picking the right decision than anything else. He hasn’t played much senior iirc

I agree, bar wanting of course to say decision making on a rugby field doesn't get easier than at centre, I'm just not sure having that lack of clarity works with a national selector. Given it's Eddie though I make no prediction, Eddie goes with some specific requirements at times and we get Graham over Kvesic , Twelevetrees has his snafus count against whereas Farrell does not, so I'm more clueless than normal trying to fathom what Eddie will do

I'd pick him, but I'm biased to wanting to pick talent who can go out and play some rugby, my gut take from watching England is they'd want to see a lower error rate

[Stom]

BTW, could McConnochie get a recall? He's looking sharp.

And having someone with Marchant's athletic ability in that midfield would be a real boon to England.

We have a major problem with individual mistakes. We consistently make really poor mistakes - see 2 of Bath's tries - and it's not something that seems to be going away. Gustard needs to get a handle on that quickly. As it is, the old heads are the ones setting the tone, especially when Smith is absent. Which is great, but we're losing Robshaw at end of season and Care and Brown will start to lose their legs very soon. Right now, all 3 get into our best team very, very easily.

[Scrumhead]

I think Care is one of the worst culprits TBH. He may have deserved his MoM against Saints, but he was terrible yesterday, one of his errors was the catalyst for Bath scoring a try and there were several others that wasted the possession we did have. He’s been pretty poor for the majority of the games he’s played this season. Honestly, I’d be quite happy to see Steele get a few starts - he’s impressed me since he joined and has the kind of heart we need.

I’m really not sure what was up with Symons yesterday? His errors on the restarts were hugely costly, but I’d cut him a bit of slack because generally he’s one of our most reliable and consistent players.

Robshaw is going to leave a massive hole. The back likely back row of Chisholm, Evans and Dombrandt has the potential to be decent, but there is virtually nothing behind that. Lawday is OK, but Archie White (rightly) can’t make our reserve side and there is no-one else after that in our senior squad.