Robbo4 wrote:If Motu had put in a performace like that it would have been below his usual standard. Byrne was solid in defense but did nothing in attack.
Exactly. If that had been Tony playing instead of Byrne, the same criticisms would have been forthcoming from me, i.e. a lack of any sort of impact with the ball, a poor work-rate in bringing the ball out during exit sets and a complete lack of penetration on kick returns. I'd also be wondering why his technique on the ground had gone to poop, taking an age to get up and play the ball.
Conversely, there would have been much more made of the incredibly simple kick that Byrne fudged which put us under enormous pressure at a key time.
CRAIG 73 wrote:What sticks in my mind is the first 4 or 5 games of last season where Motu Tony couldnt catch a bomb to save his life. Everytime the ball went up the whole stadium held its breath, closed it's eyes and said a prayer. Some people seem to have very short memories.
And some people's memories are complete fabrications. There was one game last year - for a spell of 20 minutes - in which Tony dropped a couple of kicks. Despite that, he was still one of our best players in that game against Harlequins. The only other dodgy spell he's had was the previous season against Wakey, again for a spell of around 20 minutes. Again, he was still one of our better players that day.
Big Dave T wrote:As per my previous example, Washy playing 6 meant that when R Horne was fit he came back in because Washy wasnt playing well and wasnt a 6.
Washbrook was one of our better players last year and has as much claim to being a 6 as Byrne does to being a fullback.
