Well RS has done it again - we had a new tactic last night . Following on from the list of failed tactics from RS - passive defence , no line speed , messing up the hooking position , playing players in the wrong position, being unable to get our kickers to kick consistently on the 5th tackle etc , he came up with an absolute belter last night - The PASSIVE ATTACK !!

We line up across the field and all stand flat footed ( do not run onto the ball ) and pass the ball across the field and the final player to get the ball gets crunched - what a genius.

Against a Sts team there for the taking , he finds a way for us to lose again.

The only thing left is for RS to get a Non Passive kick up the as he collects his P45 on Monday morning .

Couldn't agree more, frustrates me every time we do it, havnt yet seen anything positive come from doing it, bizarre

It’s to get the ball to the middle of the pitch and to test the defender split either side of the PTB, something most teams do. obviously better if the passing is accurate and someone’s running onto it

It’s crazy that you and probably others think Smith is telling the players to not run with intensity

this isn’t something you need to coach either, it’s basic rugby, I’d put this on the players

I’d also put most of it on the players, they are individually responsible for it. Collectively, and over time, it’s the coach that is responsible as he sets the acceptable standards and has to get players to perform or they are replaced. Smith is far from solely to blame, but he’s not without blame either.

And yet he is still preparing a squad which he mostly inherited and wasn’t performing well enough previously.



He has added MacDonald, McDonnell as first team players and they are good - without having much room at all on the cap.



We have also moved on some dead wood under him which we needed to do.



I want to see him sweep more away this year and really start to stamp his mark on the side / then we can judge better.

And he got those standard against Wire and Hudds, and I’m sure he won’t be happy that they dropped the standards last night.



Who do you replace them with tho? Donaldson? Academy players? Are they ready to step up? We don’t seem to have much strength in depth

The “they’re not ready” line is a bit of a nonsense to me. No player who has debuted has ever been ready, they will make mistakes but will develop faster with first team exposure than without. Perhaps more importantly it’s critical to signal to those who under perform that they don’t have any pressure on them. Can you imagine if a senior player is serially underperforming and is replaced for a game or two by a kid, is there a better way to kick them up the butt and let everyone know that they haven’t been achieving the required levels?

I agree but Saints were there for the taking. Smith and O’Connor were very poor.

Throwing in kids isn’t always the best option tho, especially in the forwards, I know nothing about the academy team and who the next in line would be but chucking in a 17 year old prop just because he’s next in line who’s never played against grown men is irresponsible and can do a lot more harm than good.



I agree players should be dropped if constantly under performing

We’re pretty much in agreement there, you need to handle kids carefully, but a week or two in the front line can be worth months in the Academy, as long as they can take it physically.

Second game running O`Connor has had a bad day at the office.

I might be wrong but I do think we are flogging him too hard and getting him to play too many minutes.

Maybe the guy needs a break to recharge?

Likewise Smith has played well for the majority of games this season.

But because the halves fail to take control of the game again imo Smith might just feel he has to do the controlling and ends up stifling the play.

Our forwards were nowhere near as intent as Lees was for Saints last night.

We are very powder puff in the collision.