The UAFC

Worked for Rodney...

Based on the evidence, he’s a dud. Hoping he comes good won’t make it happen.

Bart S wrote: It is not that long ago that people were saying that we had our long term future at tight head sorted when Kane had played a few games. We also looked like we had loosehead sorted a few seasons ago with McCall.

The fact neither is a nailed on starter given the other resources we have in those positions shows that neither is anywhere near where people expected them to be at this stage.

O’Toole has shown promise but also had a couple of rough rides at scrum time, as you would expect from someone at his stage if development. For me it is too early to be saying whi are starting props should be and it is all to play for on thise positions.

Spot on Bart, I have hopes for all three yet, but I wouldn't be putting a months pension on any just yet.

Rooster wrote:I reckon Hond will be pretty good this season, among other things his contract is up and if you are not playing well your value plummets

Indeed. And if doesn’t get his act together then the best chance he has of adding something to his highlights reel might be a couple of appearances on Countryfile..

Don’t be fooled, The Hond will not get any better, go back watch the game , O’Toole is the real deal just 19 ffs, most props don’t excel until late 20s, this kid will be a Lion I am convinced of that .

Kane was thrown in early but no where near the ability that TOT has and I do not think he will ever get any better ( hope I am wrong) .

Great to see the Academy contributing now to the Senior side hope the nay sayers seen the benefit of the past three years bearing fruit .

Ach O'Toole isn't Lions material in the making, heck I'd hold off even on if he's going to have much of a significant Ireland career. He'll be pretty good for us though, remains to be seen how good his ceiling is as a scrummager.

A prop has to be able to scrummage. An obvious statement I know. If O'Toole can conquer that he will do well. The problem for these young tightheads is that we have no stability on the loosehead side. The only person to provide that last season was Callum Black.

I heard at the game that O'Hagan is injured again. Tough break for the guy if true. Either the Hond or Warwick will have to step up and find some consistency. Otherwise it could be a long season.

I thought it was pretty heartening performance tbh - I thought everyone who got on the pitch looked like they could do a job, and that was a strong Gloucester side out. Quite apart from individuals, I was in the Family stand, so in the first half our defence were backs to me, and I thought that our defence looked very solid - stayed well-connected, lots of good communication, and few missed or soft tackles. The one exception was Williams try, Rea and Timoney won't enjoy the video session today!

First time I'd really seen Lowry and I was impressed - good kicking game from hand, pretty good service, and has a knack of staying out of harm's way when he tackles, his technique is very good. Burns looked very assured when he came on - looks like a similar player to Paddy. The one big negative for me about the 10s though, was that throughout it was Pete Nelson taking shots at goal... It's not good if we're going into the season with literally one decent kicker in the squad

Like others have said, Hond and in particular O'Toole were impressive, albeit the first half played to their strengths, with few scrums. When Moore came on he was absolutely routed in the attacking scrum - not the best calling card... I think TOT could be a star - obviously his scrummaging needs to come along, but he has 2-3 years to hone that, so no rush.

In the backs, I remain to be convinced by either scrum-half tbh. Stewart kicked possession away, and had his now-traditional box kick chargedown. I thought Kernohan had a good half, made a couple of nice half-breaks in traffic, I thought he defended well as well. Henry spoke before the game about playing more heads-up, freer rugby this year, and you saw some glimpses of that - you could see the back line setting up nicely on first phase, and then resetting, with multiple screens and trailers. You can see it on Timoney's try and Hume's as well, Sexton sits back nicely inside Burns

Anyone else think Caleb Montgomery looked half decent? He made a few inroads with ball in hand.

Dave wrote:Anyone else think Caleb Montgomery looked half decent? He made a few inroads with ball in hand.

yep, thought he looked decent

Dave wrote:A prop has to be able to scrummage. An obvious statement I know. If O'Toole can conquer that he will do well. The problem for these young tightheads is that we have no stability on the loosehead side. The only person to provide that last season was Callum Black.

I heard at the game that O'Hagan is injured again. Tough break for the guy if true. Either the Hond or Warwick will have to step up and find some consistency. Otherwise it could be a long season.

Could well see Rodney at LH

Rooster wrote:

Dave wrote:A prop has to be able to scrummage. An obvious statement I know. If O'Toole can conquer that he will do well. The problem for these young tightheads is that we have no stability on the loosehead side. The only person to provide that last season was Callum Black.

I heard at the game that O'Hagan is injured again. Tough break for the guy if true. Either the Hond or Warwick will have to step up and find some consistency. Otherwise it could be a long season.

Could well see Rodney at LH

I'd imagine if he's fit that he'd be quite likely to start the next preseason game there.

Gerald the Mole wrote:Don’t be fooled, The Hond will not get any better, go back watch the game , O’Toole is the real deal just 19 ffs, most props don’t excel until late 20s, this kid will be a Lion I am convinced of that .

Kane was thrown in early but no where near the ability that TOT has and I do not think he will ever get any better ( hope I am wrong) .

Great to see the Academy contributing now to the Senior side hope the nay sayers seen the benefit of the past three years bearing fruit .

Despite the decrease in the number of scrums in matches the THP's primary role is still to 'lock/stabilise the scrum'. Nothing encourages or discourages a team as much as seeing its scrum either destoying the opposition scrum or having its own scrum destroyed... I have expereinced both sensations At this stage I would have more confidence in Ross Kane's ability in this regard than Tom O'Toole's. Although the latter's mobility is better than Kane's , I think Kane's is no slouch ''in the loose'' either.
I trust both Kane and O'Toole remain injury free and both enjoy lengthy and successful careers

Kane looks more natural in the scrum for sure, both lack a bit of power there I feel though, but that should hopefully come with time.

Dave wrote:Anyone else think Caleb Montgomery looked half decent? He made a few inroads with ball in hand.

Only seen him at last years pre-season match and this year. Immediately thought he had a bit of dog in him and impressed me in both matches . He looks very athletic, maybe a little light for blindside? but saying that compared to jones, he did make ground carrying and had the intelligence to attack the space not the defender. Definitely has potential!