What’s out there at Second Five?
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@mariner4life said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
@nzzp said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
@mariner4life said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
i love that people think they need to "see what Laumape can bring"
dude, you know exactly what Laumape can do. He plays one way, and one way only. And that is to run as hard as he can in to the nearest defender.
Which, while i am not exactly a fan of that, will at least provide a point of difference over the "samey samey" types we have at the moment.
... and it is remarkably successful. Good coaching would help him develop other parts of his game.
I'm going to go on my grumpy old man rant now, but FFS if you are a professional back in Union, you should be doing half an hour of kicking practice off either foot multiple times a week. You'll suck to start with, but within a few years you will have a touch on the ball if you ever need to do it.
Too much gym time, not enough skill time.
I'm going to disagree here.
Being able to physically kick and pass when by yourself on the training paddock is waaay different to being able to execute that skill under pressure on a test pitch. And that's assuming that the player develops the mental game to know when to do it, and to where.
Nonu's transformation from bash merchant with suspect hands to a triple threat 2nd 5 tricks so many of us in to thinking it's possible. I think, in the vast majority of occassions, what you arrive with is what you leave with, you just tweak it here and there. And experience helps you be in the right spot.
Watched Nonu doing that with another AB before a Scottish match. Bill on a string. I was surprised.
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@nostrildamus said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
Havili-best position is 12? He can kick as I recall..
Laumape does not just run into players, he can also run over them, not bad athleticism for a disrespected leprechaun.
Benches 170 kg.
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@cgrant said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
Tupaea has the talent but he goes missing sometimes. He blows hot and cold but he is still very young. Let's see what he can do with more experience next year.
IMO he has been played out of position for both Waikato and the Chiefs. Having watched a lot of Quinn since his schoolboy days I think he is better suited to 2nd 5 rather than centre because he is a direct runner who can distribute. Tupaea started a lot more for the Chiefs this season than even he would have been expecting to.
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@Bones said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
@nzzp said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
I'm not picking on Ngani here.
Well it certainly looked like you were saying he doesn't try to enhance any of his skills, is lazy and doesn't train...
that's a long bow to draw.
Was more of a grumpy old man rant at all professional players - kicking is such a useful skill to have, there's no excuse in my brain to not be working on it. Over time, it must get better - and when you have to pull one out in a game, it won't be terrible.
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@nzzp well you seem to know more than I do about their kicking training 😬 I would have assumed most of them do, but most of them are probably given instruction on what's expected of them on the field and it probably doesn't always include kicking...
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@taniwharugby said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
@Higgins well I didnt recognise any of the names I saw on FB as being any of our coaches, but I guess online we can be whoever we want.
I know we have low expectations of Fozzie but surely he could work out how to post under someone elses name? Even if it's just by using his missus account...
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@Bovidae but has he picked up injuries along the way? e.g. concussions and collision injuries He doesn't seem quite so keen to hit and run hard as often as when he burst on to the scene. Is that maybe why the migration to centre?
I like the look of Tua from Northland.
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@ARHS said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
@Bovidae but has he picked up injuries along the way? e.g. concussions and collision injuries He doesn't seem quite so keen to hit and run hard as often as when he burst on to the scene. Is that maybe why the migration to centre?
I'm not aware of any major injuries, although he did acknowledge that SR was tough (mentally and physically). For the Chiefs, Tupaea played at centre because they obviously wanted ALB at 2nd 5, and ended up on the wing occasionally if injuries struck. That doesn't explain why he and Sullivan were supposedly playing in the wrong positions for Waikato. Only the coaches know that reason.
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@Tim said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
@ARHS said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
I like the look of Tua from Northland.
Unfortunately he's set to miss super rugby due to surgery recovery.
I bet he provides the kind of punch the selectors are looking for
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@Bovidae said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
@ARHS said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
@Bovidae but has he picked up injuries along the way? e.g. concussions and collision injuries He doesn't seem quite so keen to hit and run hard as often as when he burst on to the scene. Is that maybe why the migration to centre?
I'm not aware of any major injuries, although he did acknowledge that SR was tough (mentally and physically). For the Chiefs, Tupaea played at centre because they obviously wanted ALB at 2nd 5, and ended up on the wing occasionally if injuries struck. That doesn't explain why he and Sullivan were supposedly playing in the wrong positions for Waikato. Only the coaches know that reason.
That one is really frustrating, and I agree that I'd like to see him used closer to the action. Let's hope that the Chiefs coaches are reading your posts...
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@junior said in What’s out there at Second Five?:
Mate, did you watch the opening minutes of our RWC semi final?
We should use the crash on the fact in one game we failed to tackle well? That's bizarre.
(We just watched a series of games where all the Argies did was smash it up, and it proved singularly uneffective. Luckily for them, our strategy was worse, but that does not make theirs good. )
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Back on topic, the short answer is fuck-all, isn't it?
That's why they've been trying to shoe-horn Goodhue in there all year. They picked the wrong one of the two good midfielders to move, but you can see the reasoning at least. Can't see any reasoning in the outside backs.
Laumape deserved a shot on form but was injured, then got one go and didn't do much outside an out of position fullback and one of the worst AB halfback performances you could ever hope not to see. I'm not a fan of his style of play, but that's pretty harsh on a bloke who has been a real stand-out at the level below, and made a number of his team-mates look pretty stupid this year.
