Lealiifano Signs

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Dave
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

Post by Dave »

Those banana kicks need to be binned. Cooney put in an excellent touch finder on the right hand side of the pitch on Friday past. Let him do it.

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BaggyTrousers
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

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Dave wrote:
BaggyTrousers wrote:This weekend coming he has the chance to show me what he's got. His two previous away performances have seen him almost anonymous which is just not on for a 10. That is where you need your 10 to control a game & I've seldom seen two games where less control was evident.

I want him to do well, I expect him to be enveloped in the clusterballix that will see Ulster thrashed this weekend. I won't be blaming him for a defeat of astronomical proportions but if we do better than Clermont did there a couple of weeks back, I will be relieved.

I fear the rounds of the kitchen approaching at Ophelianic pace.
When Lele went off against Treviso we were 21-0 up. No ten in world rugby could have controlled that rabble against Zebre.

We were indeed 21-0 up but we were also a rudderless mess, that's his job, he's the rudder, the fact that it got worse is neither here nor there in terms of his performance. That was the day the Moron-in-Chief made a raft of changes without a sniff of securing the TBP but in his mind, the game was won and we nearly blew the win.

Zebre, he played like a drain like everyone else, you cannot have an anonymous 10, the half-backs must play, they cannot cruise, in both those games Cooney was our best player, he stood up, his partner not so much.............if at all.

It just worries me that he has had two away games and not a creditable performance yet away from Spanners. To me, that sounds typically & worryingly, wee Ulsterman. If I'm alone in being concerned by that so be it. I have every confidence in my own perspicacity in relation to players.

As Big Ron the Racist once opined, "it's early doors up to yet", but I remain unconvinced about him as a ten, I have no doubts about him being a wonderful player with sublime skill but so far to me this is a classic, right player, wrong position, the forcing of a round peg into a square hole.
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

Post by ColinM »

Fear not Baggy he's only here a few more weeks. I am quite sure that given UR will have had around 12 months to prepare for what happens in January, that they will indeed have the position sorted once and for all
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Dave
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

Post by Dave »

Point taken Baggy, the 10 should indeed be controlling the game. Watching Ruan on Saturday reminded me of how much we kicked with him at the helm. As I understand things, this year we are implementing a new style of possession based rugby. Sounds like FOLK mumbo jumbo I haven't seen that so much. Against Treviso, it was Lele's second game, with a team mourning the loss of Ruan controlling most things at 9 and trying a new system or at least some FOLK feck pokery. FOLK is confusing as feck for us to listen to, I wonder how the players cope.

Against Zebre, we made 47 errors that were either a missed tackle or knock-on. I think only a ROG, kick to the corner style could remedy that scenario. Lele is not that type of 10. Last season PJ and Ruan split the kicking from hand duties but this year Cooney hasn't kicked an awful lot. A strange stat, I thought, from the Zebre game was that Cooney only kicked once. Now a 10 has to kick from hand so Lele has to show consistency but you might be right about round/square hole scenario. We will see how things pan out.

Lele can kick from hand mostly well (non-banana) but Cooney has to do his share. I think Cooney gets too many pats on the back for not being p. Any 10 joining a team, performing below acceptable levels (at times) with a 9 that doesn't kick won't necessarily thank you for it. Take the money and run Lele. Although, come back as utility back. Lowry should be blooded this season. Jackson was already starting games by this stage. Time to move on.

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BaggyTrousers
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

Post by BaggyTrousers »

On Cooney, I absolutely take your point that he is well received by most simply by not being dreadful, but in truth, he does have much more than I had thought.

For example he has directly saved two tries that I can readily remember, one against Connacht when Healy broke the line and put, I think McKeon away, and last week after his partner threw a mad pass in attack and JC showed remarkable pace covering 70 metres back to beat Wassups to the touchdown.

He has been decent all round but admittedly not being p is amongst his strongest suites.
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BR
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

Post by BR »

Are we actually suggesting we should kick more from 9?

Please, god! Let's not go back to sihte!

We need someone with a bit more distance/ambition for touch finding penalties, and of course there is a question of left/right footed options.

But let's not even contemplate the sort of repeated wasting if possession that we saw for the last few seasons.
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Dave
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

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BR wrote:Are we actually suggesting we should kick more from 9?

Please, god! Let's not go back to sihte!

We need someone with a bit more distance/ambition for touch finding penalties, and of course there is a question of left/right footed options.

But let's not even contemplate the sort of repeated wasting if possession that we saw for the last few seasons.
I agree. Less kicking overall would be good.
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Dave
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

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BaggyTrousers wrote:On Cooney, I absolutely take your point that he is well received by most simply by not being dreadful, but in truth, he does have much more than I had thought.

For example he has directly saved two tries that I can readily remember, one against Connacht when Healy broke the line and put, I think McKeon away, and last week after his partner threw a mad pass in attack and JC showed remarkable pace covering 70 metres back to beat Wassups to the touchdown.

He has been decent all round but admittedly not being p is amongst his strongest suites.
He is a quality defender, much better than the great one.
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

Post by Tender »

Speaking of Ruan, I watched him get robbed of the pill at the wkend and he didn't look that fussed about it.
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Dave
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

Post by Dave »

Tender wrote:Speaking of Ruan, I watched him get robbed of the pill at the wkend and he didn't look that fussed about it.
Missing us too much to care! Muhuhuhahahahahaa
I think he was mightily pished off with his lazy forwards providing no cover for his box kicks. I have never seen him gulder as much.
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Re: Lealiifano Signs

Post by Tender »

Mmmmmmmmmm, R u a n' s B o x K i c k s mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I loved watching him practice them during pre match warm-ups. Majestic.
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