That's how he played when we used him as a second-row, it's clear to me that he's been told to change certain aspects of his game now he's a regular centre.

KF- So whats the change then?

Can someone tell me what our coach is trying to achieve here. Randall is a quality hooker and Orr is not. Both are playing out of position for what reason? I am baffled

This is the sort of thing that really worries me. I’m no coach but I would think the most logical and best chance of turning things round given the current crisis is to pick as many of our best players as possible in their best/strongest/most familiar positions/roles, then decide the best options to fill the remaining places. I mean, we still have the nucleus of the side that won ten out of the first fifteen last season. Perhaps there was an element of luck about that good spell, but there aren’t that many first choice players missing any more and we ought to be capable of at least running most teams close, and beating a few, if we get our act together.



Playing musical chairs with the team sheet in the hope of hitting upon something that works seems a bit clueless to me and looks worryingly like muddled thinking. Unless Mac has given the matter deep thought, is convinced several of our most experienced players are better suited to roles they never previously occupied on more than an occasional basis if at all, and intends to persist with these adjustments for long enough to make them work if they are ever going to work? But if this were the case the best time to do it would have been over the close season, not now the wheels have fallen off.

To me it looks like he's far more rigid in his positional play, which is almost certainly something that he's being coached to do now he's the regular centre. Playing second-row gives him far more space and ball to make the powerful runs we saw from him at times last season. Ultimately there is only so much our backs can achieve playing behind a beaten pack with substandard halves.