Back this weekend it would appear. Sam Lewis as well.

[www.worcesternews.co.uk]

Great news.

Oh, and we are "desperate" which is good to know.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2017 15:51 by usa warrior.

Too right. We should be desperate to pick up points from every game, regardless of whether or not we're bottom. I think we have a mentality of settling for taking 0 points from games and that is the difference between picking up bonus points and not.

I'd be starting Wynand if he is fit. He is a real threat going forward and I think we just need that little boost of a player coming back into the team to shake things up. Te'o had a great game in the home win against Bath (our last Win), so I'd keep him in there at 12 and stick Olivier in 13. Nothing against Willison because he's a top player, but we just aren't firing there at the minute.

Really hopeful that Jono can come in and get us moving around quickly too.

KceWarrior I thought about what would happen when wynand returned and to be honest I would drop te’o to the bench. He isn’t consistent enough and doesn’t suit a game where we are under pressure defensively, he missed multiple tackles against Sarries and defensively we have better than him. Also we have no distribution past 10 if he plays twelve and that robs a talented back 3 of any quality ball. Honest opinion is that when mills is fit he will slot in at twelve with wynand at 13 and teo/Willison on the bench depending on our game plan.

I do like Te’o but he just doesn’t seem like the right type of player for how Worcester want to play.

I'm not sure on putting Olivier and Teo together. I think it works when you've got two playmakers at halfback (FH and Mills) as the defence can't always read where the killer pass is coming from.

With Arr or Stronger at 9, I think you need another distributor, in the shape of Willison.

I suppose the main issue is the lack of consistency in our half back selection.

Totally agree with the above two posts. Olivier and Willison is a better combination.
Don't get me wrong, Teo is class, but he does limit our options in attack and makes our backline far more predictable.

Obviously "Quick ball" makes them all look better but there hasn't been too much of that.

Wynand has been as big a loss as Cox imo. Providing he is proper fit, Wynand and Willison to start. It’s not like Ben isn’t used to being brought on with 15 to go by Jones and Gats. Think Wynand has more tries in him yet.

I am not convinced that it isn't the other way around. Jackson is a terrific 12, but not a 13. Ben can play either. They should have been swapped. Wynand is our best 13. For me it is:
12 BT 13 WO
Or
12 JW RM 13 WO BT

Wonder whether EJ has 'recommended' to the club that Ben plays 12?

Frankly D4E I coudn't care less what EJ may or may not ask for, England don't run the risk of being relegated at the end of the season, we have to do what is best for us.

Spot on Rollo!

At present the way we play Willison at 12 and Olivier at 13 with Mills at 10 is our best combo.

Lance will fill in for Mills until January

We have had world class players before who have not done well because the team just did not provide them the right opportunities.

J
P

(IMHO) I just think it looks like we've spent a lot of time structuring our defense and very little looking at our attacking structures.

We have a B&I Lion in our back line for goodness sake. Opposition players will focus on Te'o and you always see 2/3 players closing him down - This makes space outside if players are looking for the offload (considering he is very good at making offloads). Unfortunately so far, the player on his shoulder always seems to be a front row forward and not an Adams/Humphreys/Willison who are going to burst away.

It's also important for us to have much faster ball. It's useless giving the ball to Te'o if he's getting hit as soon as he has possession - He needs early ball and space to run into the defenders, he is great at stepping off his left and beating the first man.

I know it looks like i'm "fan-boying" Ben here. I'm not, I agree he hasn't been influential this season except for the Glos game. But I really don't think we're utilizing his skills at all and it is such a waste of a pretty unique player in this league.

It's a real toss up. All the centres offer something different. Olivier - line breaks, Willison, distribution and Te'o big carrying and offloading.

Last season our most effective partnership was Willison and Olivier, but this year Te'o has been our most threatening attacker so you can't leave him out.

I would start Te'o with Olivier, but we can have confidence when he is away with England we still have good options.

I think Teo will be much more effective with Hougaard back.

Imho our backs have struggled for multiple reasons.
Not enough front foot ball
Not enough consistency of selection
Poor decisions from half backs

The likes of Denton and Spencer will help us get more front foot ball.

GG needs to pick and play the same players for a block of games, it won't happen mind until everyone is fully fit, I'd go Te'o Oliver in midfield with shilcock as fly half back up to Lance with arr sh until hougaard is fit.

I agree about the Defence structures appearing to be a main element to the close and early season training. Not completely evident based on the points A value so far, but i feel the general opposition have been a tough start.

Under Hill, we moved from the apparently free flowing rugby that Ruddock wanted, to a very defence orientated game style which eeked some narrow wins, but also, some narrow, last minute defeats. It was regarded as very turgid viewing for the spectator, but in some ways was effective re team performance. However, nobody knew how to make the next step change from that point.

At the wrong time or day, Vesty would be expected to be getting pelted fro the lack of tries from the team, or the basic skills of the team to score more, yet surprisingly he seems unscathed to date by 'the Faithful'. Mr Cross must wonder sometimes at the commentary of his skills on here (if he read any of it)for the teams poor defence, when we do not appear to have plugged the gaps consistently as yet.

Wynand will help Sam Vesty out if he starts tomorrow. I would not be surprised if he scores a try- Wynand that is, not Sam

For how we played last year and how we are looking to play this year we need a distributing 12. If Lance is decent then mills would be my first choice 12. He is a better distributor, tackler and competitor than willison. Wvynand is our best 13 by far and has the all round game to not become a casualty in either attack or defence.

Agree that we have been restrained with SV. Mainly because we are all aware that attack will only flourish with front-foot ball and quick distribution. SV, like everyone else, will look better when FH is back.
That being said, I believe that he is not yet the finished article. But his potential is clear.