First let me say i wish we had won, we can win games but not playing like that.
Most fans recognize we are fit but not for 80 minutes, that is the truth that's why we struggle especially when we play top six teams. Ok Catalan are not top six but they may well end up sixth - they play & run very hard & tackle hard causing fatigue to their opposition, something we don't do !
We need to realize Finn is too slow at that level & gets by most of the time through a few smart plays but generally gets exposed with the ball & defending now. Sadly he will not get better heading towards 36. Teams do their homework !
I am a fan of Finn as also a fan of our previous Jason D, who also went on too long !
We need to realize the end of the road is nigh & simply continuing only hurts the results.

However because I am a WAKEY can I hope we truly look at our short comings and change things that need to be fixed up urgently or else we may be looking at the middle eights as teams pass us ! The final match @ shudders looks to be looming !
Genuinely up the Trin.

Pretty well put TrinTrin, on just about everything.

I also have a thought.

Have we gone as far as we physically can with the squad, given the shortfall in the cap we have in comparison to other clubs

Agreed, MC has been brilliant for & with the club, time will tell if he can up the quality, is & or have the financial funds available to move us on & up ? I have always accepted his judgement over keeping the club financially sound rather than racking up debt. However, there comes a point where the next building blocks are required which MC may not have funds available ?

This "Squad" can win all the final three games. Purely now down to "Team" selection. Over to you Chris Chester.

He did acknowledge in his post match interview he made some errors with team selection

The thing I don't get is dropping Jowitt who is an out and out full back for a player who doesn't even want to play there and obviously doesn't read the game like a natural fullback does. Catalans fourth try was a clear example of this.

I'm not going to join the Finn witch hunt but I don't think it's done us any favours unnecessarily changing the team to drop him straight back in. Same with Grix, they have to earn their way back in or take a chance when injuries strike like Jowitt and Hampshire will have been told.

If our teams shortfalls were down to the salary cap how do we explain the wins over the top teams and the exciting expansive rugby we can put on .
I think it more attitude than money .
It not luck that we beat these teams and went very close on other occasions it’s down to commitment and hard graft from the players.
Catalan wanted that game more than us it was that simple,they manned up and we fell short .
Catalan are a prime example of paying big bucks on big names who were poor to say the least .
It’s all about getting the best out of what you’ve got and playing to your strengths .
Unfortunately for us Catalan exposed our weaknesses but instead of changing players on the field to combat that we marched on in vain.
Only my opinion of course .

I’ve not been to many away games so I have stayed out of the Finn debate, however after last nights performance I think it is time to look elsewhere and start think about next year for a scrum half.


Any news on Huby?

I get your point there Kettycat, and we have always had a knack of turning sides over.

I think the thing with a better cap spend tends to be, maybe a little bit better in class, and maybe in attitude and dedication. Class is a permanent thing, and form is temporary, as they say. In the past we seem to have got into a bit of form, winning a few on the bounce, and then going through a losing patch. With this, the picking of bigger scalps could be a more regular thing.

MC has often mentioned our average gate and increasing crowds. Now I can't remember this year's season ticket prices, but about 500 extra adults on the eve gate, would bring in around £130k extra I would estimate.

Personally, I think we have the right amount of players in our squad, and cover in all positions, so not certain we need extra players. Maybe hypothetically, the £130k to maybe improve the quality a bit

I just feel that we've made changes just to fit Finn back into the team, we've brought Finn in, moved Rocky to full back and dropped Jowett, too many changes just to accommodate Finn, ridiculous.