Manu talks about playing 12

The local rag has this interview with Manu on the Lions tour.

http://m.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/story.html?aid=19180449&category=sport

............... and what's your opinion

He's a 13 playing out of position. Might work given the 10s ability to stand flat and bring him into the game. The established game plan from the Baabaas game seemed to involve a lot of carrying work from the the 12 which should suit him well though his pace won't get much of a show at 12.

His lack of footballing skills means he is no different to Roberts and the Dr had a great game last weekend. One if his best for a good while, nice deft touches great passing and some strong running.

Eyes will be on Tuilagi and BOD to see what they can create and achieve for others rather than score themselves.

He's well able to play 12 in a Gatland gameplan which will involve him running hard most of the day. Maybe the only concern is will he be as adept as picking lines as Roberts but he's big, strong and fast. Should do ok.

Notch wrote:He's well able to play 12 in a Gatland gameplan which will involve him running hard most of the day. Maybe the only concern is will he be as adept as picking lines as Roberts but he's big, strong and fast. Should do ok.

How is that a Gatland gameplan?

Wales played Henson over Roberts and didnt use him in that way. Roberts didnt play that way in HK either. I think Tuilagi is better suited out wide.

I want to see what he can do on the wing.

maes. Do you really believe he has the pace to play wing?

I dont think he as to be honest, but i would love to be proved wrong.

formerly known as Sam wrote:He's a 13 playing out of position. Might work given the 10s ability to stand flat and bring him into the game. The established game plan from the Baabaas game seemed to involve a lot of carrying work from the the 12 which should suit him well though his pace won't get much of a show at 12.

Totally agree with you, Manu will be wasted at I/C, and I don't agree with Gatlands' gameplan of playing the big often fast player at 12 and the more skilful playmaker at 13.

A 13 he is.......

It will be ok against sides that have slower, less aware and less skilful 7/9/10 axis but against the test side IMHO this will not be productive, it will also rely on us to have rapid distribution as Manu might be fast when he builds up his speed but he hasn't the best vision, balance, kicking off both feet, best hands, or quickest acceleration and against quality (Test) opposition they will be on him (the Openside, the I/C) like a flash. In a tight situation and tight play and particularly if the Aussies adopt the drift defence.... I think he will get frustrated and possibly lose his cool or his game will deteriorate. He needs to have a couple of yards to pick the gain lines, gaps and run hard at them, that's the 13 channel.... its his natural and most potent game.

A 12 he is not......

maestegmafia wrote:

Notch wrote:He's well able to play 12 in a Gatland gameplan which will involve him running hard most of the day. Maybe the only concern is will he be as adept as picking lines as Roberts but he's big, strong and fast. Should do ok.

How is that a Gatland gameplan?

Wales played Henson over Roberts and didnt use him in that way. Roberts didnt play that way in HK either. I think Tuilagi is better suited out wide.

I want to see what he can do on the wing.

Yes he did. Roberts played a balanced game but quite a lot of his play involved running hard lines at soft shoulders. Last weekend we had Roberts running hard from 12 and this week we have Tuilagi in at 12. A big physical 12 who offers a hard running option off first phase ball is clearly his preference on this tour. My concern about Tuilagi is he's maybe not as adept at picking lines as Roberts is and perhaps less handy at finding the offload once he makes the initial line break. I'm excited to see if he can prove me wrong though.

Hmm, interesting. I was impressed with the Welsh duo. I've always liked Roberts at 12. Davies had a particularly poor game against Ireland in the 6 Nations which effected my opinion of him. But he was really good at the weekend I thought.

From an Irish perspective I'd love O'Driscoll to be starting the tests. I'm just about his most sickeningly gushing fan. But I'd be perfectly happy with the others as long as the combo works.

Roberts/Davies - Proven to be quite effective if not spectacular
Roberts/BOD - Superb 4 years ago but is O'Driscoll still able to play 3 x 80 minutes?
Roberts/Tuilagi - The most unbalanced in my opinion
Tuilagi/BOD - Let's wait and see, could be interesting. Not Tuilagi's best position though.
Davies/Tuilagi - Again, hard to tell, but could be good. Very good.
Davies/O'Driscoll - In whichever order it certainly has potential.

What do ye think? And will O'Driscolls familiarity with Sexton help his cause? They tend to link up extremely well for Leinster.

I think yes. Sexton-Roberts-BOD is the dream ticket right now.

Davies did well but he's up against the Boss. BOD still has to earn his jersey but he offers so much experience, leadership and organisation to any backline he's in it's hard to bet against him.

Feckless, without hindsight of the next two-three games, I think wither of the following would be the best options

Probably the best
12 Davies
13 BOD

Potentially the best
12 Davies
13 Tuilagi

Probably Gatlands choice
12 Roberts
13 BOD

Notch wrote:I think yes. Sexton-Roberts-BOD is the dream ticket right now.

Davies did well but he's up against the Boss. BOD still has to earn his jersey but he offers so much experience, leadership and organisation to any backline he's in it's hard to bet against him.

O'Driscoll probably offers much less "impact" off the bench than Tuilagi would.

I've noticed BOD tends to look shattered at the end of every game he plays these days. Although he still has great performances in him, it might be ideal to replace him with Tuilagi around the hour mark in the tests. Good impact subs can really win games. As a Leinster fan I've seen Schmidt's timely use of the bench make the difference between victory and defeat many times.

Look at the damage Manu did to New Zealand in a short space of time. So we could benefit from O'Driscoll's abilities AND Tuilagi's. The two at the same time mightn't be the best option though.

I think what will effect the efficiency of Manu with BOD will be if the a) interchange allowing fast hands at 12 with BOD and direct power of Manu, mixing the positioning will give the opposition centres a lot of issues. B) the outside backs support lines off of Manu, when he makes the break he oftens looks for support runners, go watch the win over the Kiwis he created two tries through a nice offload and a nice pass after breaking through the line. He'll back himself in contact over another runner but on behind the defence he'll look to attack the space.

Have said for sometime now that I would like to see a JD/Manu 12/13 combo, hope it gets a run out at least to see if they work.

I'd agree with you, Feckless, insofar that Tuilagi on the bench would offer a massive impact. Its also 1 of the reasons that although I'd love to see SOB starting the tests I think he'll be on the bench to be unleashed against tired legs. SOB can cover all backrow positions from the bench and Tuilagi can cover centres and wings with at least 1 starting winger able to cover FB.

bedfordwelsh wrote:Have said for sometime now that I would like to see a JD/Manu 12/13 combo, hope it gets a run out at least to see if they work.

Ditto to that Bedford

Neither JD or Manu are particularly brilliant passers though (is that fair?). O'Driscoll is the best and cleverest passer which would complement the power we have in abundance

What about defence? We all know BOD has always been highly rated as a tackler as well as a defensive organizer. What are the other lads like when the opposition have the ball?

The Boss, You're right I see SOB being used as an impact sub. Imagine a tired opposition having to face a fresh, SOB as well as Manu, among others. If the bench is used well it could win us the series. If the games are close I think we have more impact players to turn it in our favour. That said, I'm not very familiar with the Aussie squad. I just know they're generally seen as having the least depth of talent of the big three SH sides.

I would rate JD as having the better defence of the 2 although that could be just gut feeling on my part. A wiser rugby brain than myself can either confirm or deny that. Also I wouldn't say either JD or bad passers but Manu does have a tendency to not see the space to make a pass.

Either way I can see a few surprising omissions from the matchday squad especially in the backs.

Manu is actually a very good passer of the ball, where he falls imo is that he doesn't have the vision to put people away unless its a simple 2 on 1. Defensively he needs to be reigned in a bit as he still goes looking for the big hit and if he doesn't make it he usually leaves a big hole behind him. He will learn a lot from BOD about when this is the best option and i've actually heard that despite the way he talks, he picks up new skills and learns things incredibly quickly on the training ground.

I think we could see Davies/Tuilagi against the Reds. I doubt he'll play the welsh pair together again as he looks to shuffle his options and I can't see O'Driscoll backing up with two starts in a week, so Tuilagi will have to pull double duty. It's then who he's paired with.

I'm really interested to see how Tuilagi goes at 12. While Roberts has more experience in the position I think Tuilagi's pace and power are phenomenal and could really set him apart if he can adapt to the different position. It will be very interesting to see how it goes. Lucky I'm on study leave and have penciled a revision break in around that time tomorrow!

Time is the game tomorrow anyway?

Beloved either way, as you say, its a great chance for some of the younger players on tour to learn from the legends and they'll all be better players for the experience.

Robbo I'd agree with you there. BOD will need to be managed in the warm up games as most players his age will be.

I was told 11am, but I'm going to double check in the morning. I think it's west coast Australia which is why it's a little later our time, I think the rest of the games are on the east coast and are all slightly earlier.

Ah bollox I'll be missing it in work. On a half day tomorrow too so thought I'd get home in time for it.

robbo277 wrote:I was told 11am, but I'm going to double check in the morning. I think it's west coast Australia which is why it's a little later our time, I think the rest of the games are on the east coast and are all slightly earlier.

Today's match is 11am UK
The other warm up games all kick off at 10.30am UK
The three tests start at 11am UK

Well the whole Manu not being able to pass is put to bed. He looked to really have a good understanding with BOD, Sexton and North. Hope we get to see that 10,12,13 combo in a more competitive game.

I was really impressed with the Sexton-Manu-BOD midfield.

The pair were on the same wavelength pretty quick and they had the ability to really stand defences honestly. By that I mean, defences didn't know which one was going to get the ball making their dummy runs very effective, both distributed and carried well so the defence had to sit back and react rather than predict.

Agree, Sexton/Manu/BOD looked good. Pleased with that.