I know this does nothing for my credibility but I'm going to sort of stick up for Cappy again.
Much like I think Lolohea started to get overrated while he was benched, I think a marginal decision to drop Ayshford is leading to him being pumped up beyond all reality. Ayshford came to the club as a long-time journeyman (if not just plain poor) first grader and has surprised us all by being better than expected.
As I've mentioned previously it astounds me how Ayshford gets so many kudos for running into gaps created by Johnson while we all remain silent about Johnson himself and how he has made guys like Ayshford and to a lesser extent Thompson and Fus look better than ever when they play outside him.
Ayshford has had some very poor moments on defence this season which have ramped up over the last couple of weeks. He doesn't have a base to fall back on in terms of either reputation or potential so from my point of view he is very droppable if he plays poorly.
I note that over the last two weeks combined we have conceded something like 5 tries down the Ayshford/Maumalo edge and ZERO down the Vatuvei/Kata edge. I haven't heard this mentioned at all and in fact (although it is less prevalent here where it tends to be more anti-Maumalo) the main thing I've heard is that Manu should be dropped. It has generally been more Ayshford than Maumalo who has been at fault.
If Cappy thinks that out of form journeyman Ayshford is the odd man out compared to Manu + 4 guys who are evidently the future of the club's backline then I can't really disagree with him too strongly.
I think that a big part of what's causing this tinkering is that Cappy really rates Fusitua and thinks he is multi-talented and a bit wasted on the wing, despite his highlight-reel dives into the corner. I actually tend to side with Cappy on this. I think he feels the same way about Lolohea but rates Fusitua higher. So, he's tried to squeeze those guys into positions where they can do more than just hang out on the wing and he was probably encouraged to do so because Maumalo has been playing ok and Ayshford has waned slightly.
I can see where Cappy is coming from with each individual decision but does that outweigh the disruption caused by his constant chopping and changing? Of course not.
I can see that line of thinking, but...
The problem is Ayshford has had some pretty great moments in defence this year too - and done quite a bit more than just run into gaps created by Johnson.. he has set up his outside man a whole bunch of times - even when Wright & Maumalo manage to screw it up - took an intercept not too long ago, has been a genuine threat cutting back inside... and just - and this is hugely underrated - takes the right option more often than not when we have the ball.
And I'd argue that even despite conceding 26 points in our last game (22 after 80 tbf - and if you average out our last 2 games after 80 minutes, that's 18 points a game... that, over a season up to this point would put us as the 4th best defense in the league), the bigger concern was a failure to score when totally dominating the game for a significant period (in both of the last two games). That, to me, screams to get our best ballplaying fullback in and get our best finisher on the wing... and in doing so, remove the guy who looks completely lost when given an opportunity (or even just a half opportunity) to score.
It's hard to say Fusitua on the wing is wasted when he dominates that zone, and we
really feel it when he isn't there - anyone else love that feeling last week when you realised it was Fus that had gone over in the corner and you knew - just
knew - he had done it? It's just irritating because the initial switch should never have happened. Cappy's apparent (and let's be honest here - current - it may change, particularly if Maumalo starts doing something silly like scoring tries) man-love for Maumalo is getting to ridiculous Kata-back-end-of-2015 proportions... I can only pray that Maumalo goes away, works hard on his game and improves as much as Kata did. Though he's coming from a lot further behind.
