Steve, Lovodua should be the bench hooker instead of Mint to be honest. You saw a very noticeable drop in speed and accuracy of pass when Danny came on. He loops the pass, and also when Dwyer was on, he has the forwards hitting the ball at the ruck rather than passing it backwards.

I myself have said it, that if we are not going to use/play Lovodua as an interchange 9 then I really don't see where else he fits in in all honesty. Out of Dwyer, Lovodua & Houghton then for me Houghton is behind both regardless of how good a servant as he has been.

Agree. If Lovodua doesn't play hooker it's wasting a valuable quota spot. To be fair to him he's never been given a fair run at his best position due to injuries.

Agree about Griffin imo was our best player apart from Clifford

Hopefully get back to his best and make 2nd row his own

And smith deffo needs to get his subs right leaving taylor dwyer and satae off most of 2nd half until last 10 minutes was just ridiculous and having both lovodua and Houghton on bench is pointless

Cas will definitely struggle hope we don't but I'm not sure if we're much better

If the second half had gone on 5 minutes longer we would have lost the match

Just had a look on the SL site and the stats from the game. Fonua made 17 metres off 4 carries, he's turned into a right pudding.

Looked like he was running in treacle when he was on

Unfortuneatly McNamara is a real weak link but i dont think it helps having Lane,Scott and McIntosh on your outside.
Feel he will be more confident with Tuimavave on his edge so ill defer overall judgement on him until he has a couple of games with Carlos under his belt.
Certainly needs more confidence as evidenced when has passed to Houghton for his try as i felt he could have angled his run and scored himself.

But it didn't. You miss my point. The match is played over 80 minutes not 85. If there was an extra 5 minutes at the end of the first half we were so much on top we would have gone on to score more points to seal the game.

You have a point but it looks like Tony Smith is going to use Houghton regularly off the bench using him at nine,and then moving him to 13 so we can expect to see Houghton on the field for 50/60 minutes per match.
This is what Hodgson did only he flogged him for 80 minutes
Until we see Lovodua given a run at nine we dont know how he will go but in reality having Houghton on the pitch does not enhance our attack at all and i wonder if playing him is more to do with respect for the player

Agree with you bonaire regarding Smith use of Houghton, hopefully it's just a stop gap with us not having any of Ligi, Dre or Carlos. With just Ligi or Dre back I don't see a place in the 17 for Houghton and quite honestly not sure what he offers anymore. It was disappointing seeing Smith play him for 60 minutes too as unfortunately he just isn't able to do those minutes anymore and be effective and we still have a hangover in regarsd to that. For me he's behind Dwyer and Lovodua and in all fairness I think Cator would bring more than Danny Houghton if he's going to use someone at 9 then move them to LF.

I'm not saying Lover shouldn't play over Houghton I agree with a lot of you, but it has to be one or the other for me of Mint or Lover, I'd play Dwyer for 35 first and last 25 so whoever backs him up will get 20 but like you say the can stint 6/13 if needed.

It's nice to have options for a change, we need to be playing Brown too for me.

I think the majority would echo that it has to one of Lovodua or Houghton not both and for me Brown should have been in the 17 ahead of both Houghton and Evans. Sadly father time catches up with everyone and if Smith wants a player that spell at 9 with Dwyer and then move to LF then Lovodua and Cator are again for me ahead of Houghton for what they offer and the stamina they have. Its not having a go at Danny as he has served the club well but its clear to see that he just can't do long stints anymore.



Brown for me was one of the selections that Smith most got wrong with his omission from the 17.

I think Houghtons getting unnecessary critism here - He came on when the three main forwards went off so was never gonna be able to do a lot without a pack in front of him. Iirc he did a couple of scoots and was quite lively and id have him off the bench ahead of Lovadua who i see as a completely pointless signing.

Scored a try and had a hand in at least one other.

Sure he made a break as well?

Glad someone thinks same as me.

You want to see what the cas fans are saying about him .

Said this to my misses and got to agree .Cue on the rack far to early .

It's sad to see the way Fonua has declined since his first spell with us, he was unplayable at times and so exciting to watch. Hopefully he can regain some form for Cas, his confidence looks shot to bits.

He'll always get a big cheer from me for everything he did in 2016 & 17.

Houghton scored a try that 50% of the crowd would of scored

He just spends most of the time just running around like a headless chicken

He makes 10 yard scoots yes but dwyer would be turning them 10 yard scoots into breaks/trys

Houghton is here on sentiment only

He looks far too big. He's got the turning circle of an oil tanker

Don't know if it's an attitude thing or what, but we've definitely seen the best of him.

I might feel different after another watch about Houghton.

It should be an either or between Houghton and Lovodua for me, unless injuries say otherwise.

First half was really good to watch , New signings look to have settled in well Dwyer especially . Pleased for Cator to get through his first game after his terrible injuries.

Yeah he's definitely too big, he's a well built bloke so hes never going to be a flyer, but there's too much bulk there, he was caught at marker for our 2nd try because he couldn't turn to get Dwyer fast enough.

We all agree he has to improve, but what you say is baseless. The last three coaches, two of whom have had a degree of success, deemed him good enough to play, regularly. They know more about RL than anyone on here, so there is a reason Houghton features, and it isn't sentiment. He has no prior connection with TS, so there is no sentiment involved in Smith's decision to play him. Lovodua for me isn't a hooker, I don't really know where he fits, but his distribution from dummy half isn't great, some of his passes go higher than necessary and slow down the attack, he isn't really a punchy backrower and not a halfback. He is handy to have around as he can cover those positions to a degree, but he doesn't warrant a quota spot, for me, anyway. .I'd like to see Brown in the 17, I feel he is probably ahead of Taylor for form, but we don't all see what TS sees everyday and maybe he has already decided not to renew his contract, which expires at the end of this campaign. It is only round two, against Leeds who seemed absolutely clueless and I would not be surprised if there is dressing room unrest there, some players hardly bothered against Warrington and maybe Rohan's novel new approaches have been a bad idea, who knows? But to be bagging Houghton after game one is ridiculous, we need him for his D if that Cas result is a yardstick, one area in which he is outstanding.

Thought Taylor went well against Cas. If anyone I'd be dropping Evans for Brown. But think Evans will get another week.

Mcintosh gets another week too. If Mitch is out for a few weeks, wouldn't be against giving Litten a go on thr wing if Mcintosh can't cut out his errors.

Hoy, Swift, Sutcliffe, Scott, Mcintosh, McNamara, Clifford, Taylor, Dwyer, Satae, Griffin, Lane, Fash

Sao, Evans, Savelio, Lovodua/Houghton