Quote Roy Haggerty="Roy Haggerty"Some really good discussion here. I agree that we have a problem with Wellens. In many ways, he's escaped too much scrutiny because the more pressing problem has been how to replace Long and Cunningham, as Eastmond remains a bit patchy, and Roby appears to need a long holiday to recharge, as he's a shadow of what he was.
However, I'm with Mugwump on the essentials. One of the reasons the likes of Roby is struggling, and Wellens isn't making the supporting breaks down the middle is that we simply don't have the props any more. Our successful years were built on having four very effective props : Anderson, Cayless, Graham, Fa'asavalu, Fozzard were all amongst the best props in the competition, and we always had at least three in the side at any one time. They provided the go-forward which allowed us to get away with lightweight back-rows and slow threequarters.
With decent props, the likes of Wilkin is making breaks through a retreating defensive line, Roby's scooting from dummy-half, and Gidley has a lot more space to work with. Compare that with tonight and Wilkin is running sideways trying to find space, Gidley gets a defender before he gets the ball, and Roby is dragged down by prepared markers. We have one class prop at present - Graham, and he's looking like he's been carrying the pack on his back for months. Clough, Hargreaves, Ashurst, Emmit all seem to come from the same factory which made Bennet - solid, medium-sized toilers. You can afford one in your pack for his tackling, but they're never props who will win you any silverware. Puletua doesn't look convincing at prop, despite his size. He was far more effective at the beginning of the season when we still had at least two decent props out there and he could run a bit wider.
The symptoms of our problem might be that our backs are starting to look ineffective, but the cause of those symptoms is the lack of decent props.'"
A careful and well constructed post but I think your missing a key point.
In the last couple of years there have been a lot more quality imports and a lot more faster players coming through the ranks at clubs. For instance, I think that the back 3 are almost as important as front rowers interms of starting sets well early and getting a "roll-on". Therefore go-forward is far more a collective issue than a front-row issue.
Consequently, a few returning props won't fix your problems IMO - it's almost as if your team is playing in 2006 mode and hasn't responded to how the competition has evolved in terms of game plan and recruitment.
Saints will be a top-four team again next year but days of winning silverware are long gone whilst your team continues to persevere with such a slow back 5 and whilst a clutch of your players are collectively coming towards the end of their respective careers.
