Was Clifford's kicking game that good, I thought at times our last tackle plays were poor, I thought Clifford's best part was running and passing?

He had a decent spiral bomb - but they only came off every so often. Persisted with short Drop Outs, which I don't mind by the way, but his execution was poor 75% of the time. Best part of his kicking game, was his kick offs. Making it a contest. How many times would Sneyd just put it straight down the half backs throat, then Clifford tries something different and he got criticised too

Not just me who thought that then. His field kicking was pretty poor. His kick offs were the best part of his kicking game.

Kick off where fantastic, I hope he was training our current squad and young halfbacks how to do this. One thing he was very good at was off the cuff kicks, earlier in the tackle count when teams maybe wasn't expecting it, we scored a few trys off the back of this. I'd bet we were very low on repeat sets as we seemed to panic on last tackle plays near there line.

I didnt mind his kicking game to be fair, thought he turned teams around quite well at times.

Question stands, any comparisons between the two, as to whos the better 7?

I remember the time we had an Australian Test hooker who played in all 3 GB/ Aus matches back in the days when beating Aus in Ashes series(this one in Aus) occurred pretty frequently.

He came to play for us soon after.

George Watt?

I agree
to have a half who can regularly break the line was a major part of his game

Our last tackle options were fairly garbage most of the season in the oppo 20. It's been a while and I've tried to forget most of it, but feel a pretty high majority of the tries we scored were from longer range and breaks

Well, nearly ffs.
Back to the bench for Foran just before kick-off.
The quickest interchange in history.

Played just over 20 minutes, an assist to his name and had his hands in a couple try’s. High energy in both attack and defence. Not a bad cameo

Agree. He will be a force in SL.

George came from Aus with scrum half Duncan Jackson to join my favourite winger to play for Hull - Bruce Ryan, making a trio of Aussies in 1948. Shed a few tears when Ryan left Hull for Leeds a couple of years later.

Also playing in that Aus ashes team with George were Arthur Clues and Lionel Cooper who also came to England and became club legends playing for Leeds and Huddersfield.

We had to wait a while to see him involved but an impressive appearance from Brown.

Thought he must have pulled out with an injury in warm-up when it took so long for him to come on.
Looked decent when we finally saw him introduced.

Was thinking isnt this the 1st time we've signed a current 'big 3' nation international since Berrigan?

Fitz, Ogre, Sika Manu?
Mind you, their International days were probably over by the time they wore the Irregular Hoops although Sika was still playing internationally although he'd switched to Tonga after being a World Cup winner with NZ.
So yes, you're probably right.

Seeing Nu Brown yesterday gave me some cause for optimism for next year. Yes we have some clear weaknesses across the team. Centre and second row are obviously a worry. But very few teams have top quality right across the team. We are big and mobile in the forwards with a bit of pace in the back line. A livewire like Brown might be just the difference maker we need if we can lay him a platform.

I thought he showed well for the Kiwis. His passing was crisp and as mentioned he made an assist direct from acting half. In one set of six he made three tackles , one on a rampaging prop and his support play led to a break that two plays later led to another try. He certainly looks the business and he also has some aggression and fight which is never a bad thing.
Considering their interchange bench he must have been good to get in that squad , star names everywhere and a big step up from the current England squad , the gulf in class is now probably as big as it was in 82, those kiwis would have hammered England yesterday and their pack is massive, . Samoa slightly weakened at halfback didn’t help their cause but was a good watch .

Just got round to watching the Kiwis game. Really promising debut from Brown.

Hope he gets a shot at the aussies

Apologies for thread drift (am really hopeful that Brown is a star for us) but how old are you Freddie if you don't mind me asking?

Only ask as Bruce Ryan was my Dad's favourite player, and I'm certainly no spring chicken...

I really hope our fans give him time to settle in & don’t expect those type of performances straight away. Doubt he’ll be as explosive until the pitches start to firm up a little.

Be intresting to see if we had signed Brow 4 weeks ago, what the reaction would be. It was either genius or luck the timing of him signing coincided with him getting called up for NZ.

I saw one Rovers fan (Phil B) saying the signing was scrapping the barrell, been a bit quiet since that.

As someone has mentioned if we can lure Clifford back or someone of his quality, Brown would be a great replacement for Houghton.

https://nzrl.co.nz/kiwis-name-unchanged ... kangaroos/ Brown on the bench against the aussies

https://nzrl.co.nz/kiwis-name-unchanged ... kangaroos/ Brown on the bench against the aussies