Quote ="quinny"Its not as easy to stand out playing at a much lower level ask any first teamer. The kids are not on the same wave length, they dont run great lines, there passing is all over the shop and with some there is very little awareness at all. It might be an obvious thought but its actually pretty difficult to drop down and play in a massively different level. jeremy smith has been a top player in the toughest and fastest competition in the world previously yet in thge 20's can look very ordinary.'"
You could be describing Penny - but it's a fair point.
I feel really sorry for Penny because I don't doubt his desire.
He has two massive stumbling blocks to his future, neither his fault.
One - as far as I'm aware he was late to the game and is a perfect advertisement as to why we nee to get kids young. If he had played earlier he would have a grasp of the basics which IMO is what lets him down.
Secondly he's a small and slightly built man playing a big mans game. There is no shortage of these players who make it but they usually have to be tougher and smarter than there bigger opposites. Penny is neither.
So much as I agree with you Penny above all needs to stand out in the reserves. As for Smith I've not seen him in the reserves but I would at least expect him to impose himself.