It wasn't that today, he just genuinely wasn't good/decisive enough. The amount of time it took him to catch and pass today it was like watching Washbrook in the halves for us again. Even for his try he hesitated and looked to pass first with the line begging.

I agree with this, Houghton and Horne were pretty poor today . Houghtons distribution was awful and Horne was terrible.

If Kearney is the best we could do this winter I'd sooner we do go with Horne for a year and then look for better.

Are more and more people finally starting to realise that Horne has had it. Getting him away from 6 is great and getting him away from 6 and fullback will be even better. Squad player if he's to stay for me, nothing more.

Number of poor decisions too. The set just before half time there looked to be an opening on the left but brought the ball back into the traffic on the right and the attack fizzled out

Horne was very poor today,too slow and ineffective with distribution,we are crying out for a decent no 6 and thats been happening for a few seasons now,squad player next season but we need a bit of class in the pivots at fb and hb

Very disappointing game from Horne today.

Has to be a utility player next season.

Which is why I said if all goes to plan.

Awaits all the posters coming on here later on somehow trying to defend him yet again.

don't think anybody is defending him, he wasn't the only poor player out there today, houghton and westerman were both below standard imo

I'd send russell back, stick horne at full back and give whiting the rest of the season at stand off. westerman should be kept well away from any pivot role

Sounds like our best option for this year.

I would agree with that. The off the ball runners were very poor also today but Horne and Houghton in particular were way below par. Horne did well to score his try and Houghton was good in the lead up to Tickle's try but apart from that there were a massive number of wrong options taken. I thought Westerman looked to have been told to play up the middle and didn't really play a pivot role at all. The sooner Heremaia is fit the better in relation to Houghton. Seymour needs another 6 to take some play making responsibility away from him.

Both Horne and Westerman have had long spells out and Houghton has played 80 minutes for god knows how long.
I thought both Horne and Westerman were disappointing today, but they were not the only ones.
Earlier in the season, when he had had a run of games Horne had shown glimpses of his former self, especially in the first derby. I don't think he is our answer to our half back issues, but still don't think we can write him off completely.
If we had won these last to weeks, I don't think half of the threads we have had would have existed.

And I'm sorry if that makes me an apologist (see what I did there?)



Oh, by the way, Heremia said he is back in full training and should be back for the Wire game.

As much as I like Horney and try to fight his corner somewhat, today he was slow and poor. Tackled too much with the ball, he even nearly cocked up his try when all he had to do was fall over the line.

Thought Seymour had a very good game, tried all he could and basically did it himself. Nice kicks, short and long, and some nice passes. He is getting better every game and could be better still with a decent SO.

Again, we play below par and draw with a top side.

Hornes been out of his depth for years now and people have been defending too much imo.

Agree with all of your post, except that Saints are a 'top side' this season they are an average side the same as us, and we should be picking up 2 points at home.

This season they do look average, but to get 3 points from 4 against them is probably something you would take at the beginning of the season.

We did enough to beat them today. I thought their sliding defence was pretty good, but we built more pressure today then we probably have all season and failed on most occasions to make it count.

so its horne,westerman and houghton now if all these so called experts had there way we would have got rid of sharp,turner,martin and aspinwall before the start of the season

Saints were poor, we were poor. Both sides trying to get the last weeks games out of their systems.
Horne (and a few others already mentioned) were gash.
I was really surprised by Houghton in that he made the ground, did all the hard graft and turned it inside again and again. I could have pulled my hair out at times.
As someone said next to me, that's why he's not in the full England squad - he needs to take the line on more. But, was it PG's tactics?

I think the short inside passes must surely have been a tactical decision by Gentle, as everyone was at it! its a tactic that bores the life out of me!

Me to, at times there's a gap for all to see and a step inside would be the option but no, lets flip it back instead....and then the player gets tackled.

Especially when it's obviously not working yet we continue to do it

Game plan?

Exactly my point