I dont mind Mcilorum BUT for me hooker is the single most important position on the park and seeing we are champions you'd expect our hooker to be one of the best in the league bar none. Mcilorum simply isn't in the same league as Monaghan, Buderus, Roby or Piggy was.

He'd be an excellent number 2 but I'd love a top hooker 2 come in. Even if that means we'd be weaker in other spots.

Spelling Micky and Tommy and leaving the halves unchanged worked well I thought and providing Deacons got 80 mins in him on a regular basis this is the way to go.

I can't see Deacs lasting 80 minutes very often. Not just his fitness, but he seems fragile and any hard hits tend to hurt a lot these days. Ever since the New Zealand game where he nearly died, he's had to look after himself better.

No point saying when points are scored compared to when one individual is on the pitch; it's a team game, and both TL and MM have their roles to play as hookers.

MM coming on also roughly coincided with Mossop, Coley, Hansen and Lockers going off (around the 20-30 minute mark), and I'd argue that missing those four in the middle of the game was much more of a factor.

Its a tricky one with McM.
I feel people credit him for things which don't relate to what are his expectations as a 9. Yes he hits hard, yeah his defense his solid, but (and I could be wrong) he doesn't seem to get us moving around the park like Tommy does or Piggy did. We don't seem to play off the front foot when he's at 9.
I think he's been a tough player who's put in the time for us playing big minutes. I think he deserves a run out as a spelled 9 alongside Tommy, plus he's only young.

he actually looked more at home during the 6 or 7 minutes he played at 13...a la roby.
tommy on for H
lockers went 2nd row
mm went 13

problem with that is that MM would only be 3rd or 4th choice at best behind Lockers, Faz, and Joel if he was back in the pack