No unforced changes to yesterday’s team on top of three last week is far from the shake-up required.
Three immediate changes that would improve our attack:
1. Bring in Sailor and Saab on the wings, shift Ravalawa to centre.
Ravalawa is worth a try in the centres. He runs hard, is quick, can break tackles and has a decent offload. He is also a hard body in defence. He must come off the wing where his mistake rate and inability to defuse bombs was exposed a long time ago.
To revert to Aitken as a default to Williame’s injury rather than affect some creative change to an insipid three-quarter line underscores why fans are fed up with the coach.
Saab is a no brainer. There is more to wing-play than metres, coach. His height offers a receiver to catch attacking kicks and safety in defending bombs. Also pace. Pereira is a great trier but we badly need class out wide.
Sailor offers youth, pace, energy. Enough said.
2. Jackson Ford into the 17. Another fact lost on the coach is how mobile, athletic back-rowers are taking over. Most clubs have them, guys who can run all day, bump off defenders and carry the ball with the pace to finish line-breaks. Not battering rams. This guy needs game time, if not a starting position. Good to see Fuimaono back too. Could have used him on Monday.
3. James Graham is all heart but we need an injection of youth and pace across the park. Lovodua is a good prospect. A clever player who can use the ball to create. He gets through his work and has the ability to develop into a great on-ball old-school lock. The type of player coming back into vogue since the rule changes have sped things up and the type we’ve missed with de Belin on the sidelines. He can also offer McInnes a break at hooker.
1. Norman
2. Sailor
3. Lomax
4. Ravalawa
5. Saab
6. Clune
7. Hunt
8. Kerr
9. McInnes (c)
10. Vaughan
11. Frizell
12. Ford
13. Lovodua
14. Fuimaono
15. Merrin
16. Host or Graham
17. Dufty
