Anyone hear Terry O’Connor commenting on TJ’s try scoring technique in France?

Once you get past the obvious issue of a former prop commenting on the intricacies of modern wing play it made me think that he would have been right a few years ago but wing play has changed in the modern game.
TJ ran down the left wing holding the ball in in his right hand. This stops him handing a player off and also reduces his ability to pass inside…..which is the point O’Connor was trying to make, though explained in a pretty poor way.

Now, a winger like Tom, who is confident of making yards, is more bothered about scoring than passing. If he is to do the acrobatic dive for the line when he is being pushed out of play he needs the ball in the “field side” hand, so that he can put the ball down even when the rest of his body is all the way over the line, and crashing through the corner flag.

You could argue that Tom should have switched the ball nearer the line, but I reckon that makes for a weaker carry, and he was confident in his own speed so went for it.

Just shows how the modern game has changed…….and how some ‘tv experts’ need to catch up.

One of the things that made me laugh about this was how unsure O'Connor sounded when making this comment, it was so random

He really is the weakest member of the commentary team, I think just looking to fill some air time

Johnson knew what he was doing, I'd he'd have needed to swap hands I'm sure he would
Another class try

TJ for England!

Who would he have passed to! After 70 yards everyone would be way behind him - if he'd switched hands it would have slowed him marginally and (credit to him) Mead got pretty close to him as it was.

Like you say, he knew exactly what he was doing and did it perfectly.

Once TJ has an open field in front of him he isn't passing. Not many about who are going to catch him.

I think it was Wells who shot him down when he questioned whether the try would have been worth more had he done so - made me chuckle.

Have to say Wells is the best pundit by a mile, bright and articulate and fair if occasionally a little harsh.

Sadly he won't last because he doesn't fit the TV's ideas of the bumbling but amiable northerner.

I don’t see the need for O’Connor to make the comment as it seemed he was just picking fault in what was a brilliant run from TJ. Would they have done the same had it been Ryan Hall, I doubt it.
However I do hope Chris Chester is looking at the footage and taking up these points with TJ as there is some merit in them. I just hope TJ makes a break at Wigan, puts the ball in the correct hand and fends Tomkins into next year... that will shut up the pundits.

I love watching TJ with ball in hand - he seems to have an instinctive ability to use his size, speed and agility to their best advantage, and I'm almost certain that a lot of that is neither trained or thought about - he's a natural athlete.

There is however no doubt that over time, with experience, he'll add things to his armoury that improve him as a player overall; they described him as SL's hottest property, and I tend to agree - he's already outstanding, whilst still being raw. The sky is very definitely the limit for TJ - so we enjoy him while we can.

Would be great to see TJ do that to Tompkins.

Fair comment to be honest, however I didn't hear it so I don't know how it was put across. TJ is still developing, and maybe that's why it warranted a comment. However if that's all people have to moan about, I'm sure he'll have nothing to worry about

Your not allowed to touch referees.

Out of interest can anyone work out the time over the distance from TJ collecting the pass? And compare his tome / speed to sprinters.

Don't know but it wasn't much faster than Mead.

But mead wasn't carrying a ball


always amazes me when people think that the chaser is faster or nearly as fast as the ball carrier, it cost you quite a bit off top speed carrying something or immobilising one arm. In a straight sprint over 100m I reckon TJ would beat mead by 10+ meters

I think he ran out of grass before hitting top, so in that respect he's not fully back to his pre-injury best but he's still a pretty fast thing regardless.
Both him and the club have done an excellent job getting him to where he is, but there is more to his game than just trailblazing.

I like the fact he constantly checked and knew where mead was tbh. He knew he’d get there so no need to make any sort of play or swap the ball to another hand. Great try.

Does me tbh. Anyone that's played Rugby will know that once you get the ball, tuck it in your arm & sprint you can feel that you're not as quick.
I was on an NRL website the other week when the WCC was on and I think it was St George was training. They were having sprints between a ball carrier and non-ball carrier. I think it was Tariq Sims that was doing it against someone else. The first time he didn't have the ball and beat the other dude easy over about 40 meters, the second time when he had the ball he had to dip to beat him out. Interesting to watch because you don't often see it side by side like that unless you do it yourself in training, if/when you played.

You only have to look at sprint relay teams times to see that and they are only carrying a batton. If you take ito account that TJ was continually adjusting his angles to steer clear of the toucline plus preparing to dive for the line his speed is incredible. By contrast all Mead had to do was get near enough to knock him off balance and he couldn't, it was a good effort but Tom was just to fast and lets not forget too balanced.

That was my earlier point - he's not just quick, he has amazing agility and control; and his acceleration off the mark is unreal.

All that said - didn't some club stats last year say that Reece Lyne was the fastest in the squad over 60 metres?

I've yet to see any evidence of this in a game. Not that I'm disputing it but even when he scored that full lengther against Leigh he looked like he was running through treacle for the last 20 metres. Lyne's game has improved massively as he's got slower that's the weird thing.

If I recall it went

MCB slightly faster over 100m
TJ next
Lyne 3rd but was fast over the first 60.
Miller quick off the mark and over 30 meters

We all know that to be a great winger pace alone won't do it. Anticipation, positioning, balance and above all the bottle to go for it are what really count.

Lyne is a decent player but he hesitates, MCB a bit better but TJ rarely thinks twice. If he thinks he can score he's off and it that split second that makes all the difference imho. It just as much of a gift as his pace which is often made to look even better than it already is by this ability/

Offia was the master at this, he was quick but here were quicker but none were ever as certain to score as he was.

It was a stat from the training output - so I can't see how it would be untrue; but I take your point.

I guess the issue for Lyne is that he's more often than not running through traffic and trying to bust tackles - whereas when TJ gets into full flight, it's usually off a good pass from his centre, so Huddersfield wonder-try aside, he has more opportunity to just open up and run like buggery?

I love that - can just imagine them saying that to him in training - all you need to do is ^^^

Just out of interest over 100m where do you think Hampshire would fit in a race against the others?

I did fear that using a technical expression like that might lose people - so I'm glad you're with me!