looked very comfortable at 7. A few mistakes, but on the whole very good, imo showed roby up on the night

He had a great game tonight lets hope its the first of many.

He had a good game tonight, hopefully he'll have proved a few of his doubters wrong with a performance like that.

I'm not sure he showed Roby up but I agree that on the whole he was very good. He did drop the ball a few times, crucially on the tryline on one occasion, and a few of his passes were wild, but that's all to be expected and hopefully over time he can iron out the number of mistakes. He definitely seems to be developing. Can he be consistent with it? I suppose time will tell.

good running from the lad. just what we need. He ran at the forwards that Graham and Puletua had tired out, our forwards ran that hard all night that Wellens found the gaps just like he used to through their tiredness

Thought Roby played ok tonight (who was playing in a totally different position to Eastmond, by the way), so I can't understand why you are comparing the two! Yeah he made a couple of handling errors, but that will sometimes happen if you are touching the ball a lot more than any other player.

Is it just against the Wire or can he do that every week? No wonder you let Long go. The kid looks like a modern day Clive Sullivan with added extras!

here's hoping! He's got 8 weeks to cement his place.

Agree. Both were great and our attack looks good with the others running off these two

How did he show Roby up?



I've been one of the people that have had doubts over Eastmond playing scrum half, but i'm pleased to say he was very good tonight. Looked dangerous every time he had the ball.

Good in attack. When he can shoot back given his pace and hack the heels off of a prop (Carvell) and try save. Then he will be wourld class!!!!! Darren Albert eat your heart out!

Kyle was fantastic tonight. If he can keep this form up over the next few weeks, there is no doubt in my mind that he can be our next Scrum Half.

Looked alright I suppose. I prefer blondes though

That's alright, i'll like him enough for the both of us..!

I thought he defended well too.

I disagree with that. I don't agree that his defence was very good. I thought defensively he looked pretty average (not awful by any means), but definatly need improving. When Long first came to Saints, his defence was too pretty rubbish, but it improved with time and he can now defend quite well in the centres, and hopefully Eastmond will be able to improve his defence.

I think he has improved but he is always going to find defence difficult due to his size. But he didn't shy away from defending, which is a positive.

It's not held Burrow back and, as you say, he chucks his body in there regardless of the size of the opposition.

Size shouldn't matter most of the time, if the technique is right.

It'll come, you can teach defence, you can't teach talent in attack, of which Arnold has bucketloads.

That is why I think saints should keep these young kids feet on the ground ( Hence George Best Man Utd of past years). It all good nueturing young players to be come good un's for the future. It got to be for the better not just attack football. Shaun Long made plentty of try saving tackles in his career!!!!

Very good. First 20 he was average and pretty anonymous, second half he was immense.

I still have doubts about him but hopefully he continues to grow on the field. If he continues to play like that Longy should be knowhere near the squad.

But Burrow (a) has a few years on Kyle to perfect his technique and (b) still makes errors of judgment, eg at Leeds last year in the CC semi when he was out for the count and had to be helped off the pitch. Kyle has improved quite a bit on last season, for instance, in terms of his technique and effort but he is bound to continue finding it a challenge given the difference between him and the majority of men he is tackling.

I didn't say very good though



For his size and position and against the likes of Cooper, Carvell and T'other big fella who's name escapes me, who targeted him in defence on occasion, he didn't hide too much or shirk his responsibility in fronting up to their attack and he put in some good tackles.

Of course he has some work to do but for now, not bad.

First time I've seen Eastmond looking like the real deal of a half who can boss the team, rather than a kid playing a bit-part role. Really looked threatening when he got the ball (far more than Pryce, for example), and I was looking forward to him touching the all every time, as he was so full of potential for damage. Top stuff. And for a right-handed player, that pass he delievred for Gardner's try was really impressive.

If he can keep that form up, then we have our answer to the departing Long problem.