Never has there been a more evidence that Jurbo needs to be used differently. Prop and for a short stint.
Speed and mobility in the middle is everything in this game ATM. And Jake's just not that man.
Its been evident for some time, it will be very interesting to see what Seibs does when he has every one available, his selection and use of players, Jazz offered more starting at 13, thing with Jake though, he isn’t really a prop either, sure he can tackle and play there, but look at Sio and Bully last night, he can’t do that, then there’s the issue of being a million dollar bench prop for the next 2 years, it’s a hard one, one that Seibs has to face and make a call on.
Likewise with Simpkin, how refreshing to have a DH on the field, everyone bangs on about frogs defence in the middle, actually Frog and Jake’s defence, don’t get me wrong they work hard and aim up in defence, but it’s pretty self evident Simpkins and Jazz bring something more.
Last night Jazz topped the tackle count and ironically I pretty sure Simpkin was 2nd, without checking Jazz 35 with 6 or 7 misses, Simpkin 32? with a single miss almost 97% efficiency, (he made 50 tackles last week) I don’t think we lose much in that department, we did however gain plenty, his service and running out of DH was refreshing, even his enthusiasm and post match happiness was inspired, our mobility was way better, our scrambling defence was good, even Navale in his 10 minutes made 14 tackles, no misses, our defensive effort last night no doubt won us the game.
Bully starting was also good, think if we had Paseka he’d better coming off the bench, maybe even with JA he gives us more impact value coming off the bench, but he proved he can start and shouldn’t be out of consideration as a starting prop.
We are still a quality prop short, maybe Lodge comes back and does a job, but I just can’t see Jake’s future up front, you need mobility and you need to be able to bend the line or have some impact, it’s really sad facing the future around Jake, but the fact remains Jakes Million on a quality prop would make a massive difference on its own.
If we go back to Jake at 13 and Froggy at 9 it will be hard to stomach, how Seibs handles our team selections going forward will expose a lot, even Talau needs to be in the side, his carries are invaluable, his chemistry within the side is good, makes me think, did we miss Saab last night?
On Talau his still a centre for mine every day of the week, just lacks pace as a winger, again getting the best out of the side, might come down to moving him in and starting him each week, yes it’s Kola that moves out, (hard one surrounding Saab) Tolu would get more space and opportunities to run with the ball on the edge, it all comes down to Seibs and what he wants do, just hope we see some common sense, we looked better last night than we have for quite some time. Seibs has some tough decisions to make, his hand was forced last night, but when it comes down to his choice, I’ll be very disappointed if we go back to the old status quo.