superleague.co.uk/report/9998 Some surprising ones there, I really question the Mose ones, looked great on the night! Sia and Robes the stars Richards and Thompson did very well LMS much improved, great effort, looked in real pain throughout too

superleague.co.uk/report/9998 Some surprising ones there, I really question the Mose ones, looked great on the night! Sia and Robes the stars Richards and Thompson did very well LMS much improved, great effort, looked in real pain throughout too

Another questionable stat (with Mose's) are Wello's, great mtrs and carries but only 3 tackles and 2 missed? doesnt sound at all like Wello!

Luke Walsh six missed tackles! Is that a record for one player?! Good job that some of the 13 he made were absolutely vital. Spares his blushes a bit!

Stats are interesting but they don't tell the full story of the game. Wello was nothing special defensively but his presence was crucial IMO. Likewise with Walsh and his organising. We would have fallen apart without those two and Robes once the injuries started to bite.

Wello's missed tackles are correct!

mose didn't take the ball up much, and his tackles were generally third man in flops.

His performance was not satisfactory IMO.

Last week he put the effort in. This week he was in dos mode.

His pre season injury cannot be used as an excuse anymore. Last week showed he was now upto hitting a higher level. The fact he hasn't done so, shows a lack of application.

I think Saints are in a bit of a bind re Mose, in that when we have a fit pack he should not be in the side due to lack of application. However there is no A team for him to serve his penance. So by not playing him, he would just pile weight on and lose fitness due to lack of any match action.

At last someone has noticed what I've been saying all season

You weren't at the match last night and you weren't at the match last week, and you haven't seen either match on TV either, so you are making a fool of yourself.

Exactly and that's why I've quoted in my posts that I'll see it when I beeline it as I haven't seen the games



I also read how the man himself admitted he's been taken super league lightly so obviously he thinks his form isn't up to what it should be.

I've yet to see him play well once for saints, it seems I've missed his one game he played well. In fact, I don't think I've seen him make a one on one tackle this year, he continually comes in 3rd man.

I hated seeing Amor and walmsley doing the tough stuff, getting smashed while trying to get out our 20m zone while Mose walks back letting the play come to him.

To be fair Pete, ive long noticed him being third man in.
I suspect that's a deliberate Saints tactic, as his size pretty much stops the opposition attacker from getting a quick play the ball. However for me such tackles should only class as one third of a tackle.
There may also be the psychological effect of opposition forwards not wanting to run at Masoe. I remember that used to happen re Vila Matautia. Could be quite funny seeing a forward run sideways to avoid getting smashed by Vila.

Its his offensive stats that were particularly poor. The kids all outshone him. A senior player should have personal pride in not wanting kids just out of their nappies like Richards and Thompson, make him look like a lard .

Yeah, so don't talk so daft without first seeing things for yourself.

He did a great scoot from dummy half for instance (which was hilarious but also very effective) and played his full part in the try of the night. The team was madness in the second half, with Walsh orchestrating things the whole time, keeping us in some kind of order. Again, this is something you wouldn't know because you weren't there and you haven't seen the game. So you're better keeping your thoughts to yourself until you see the game otherwise you make yourself look a bit of a pratt.

I think teams will want to run at him, it's called a spot set, players deliberately run at a player who is big and struggles with fitness as they are most likely be to tired to make tackles and takes the sting out of his running. Feka used to be a prime spot set target.

I've seen him nearly every single week at home and away.

If this was a Lms or laffranchi and not the smiling fans favourite Samoan then we'd be calling for his head.

Why make comment of him scooting? He's a pro rugby player, that comes with the job but make out like it's something special. Would you make comment if Amor, Sia or another forward made a scoot or did you make that comment because deep down you know it's very unlike Mose to do something like that as he's lazy.

Half the season in and I'd give him a 6 out of 10. He's on level par with the likes of LMS who's been avg at best.

I can't remember seeing a prop doing it before, that's why. Nothing to do with anything 'deep down'. Don't be such a t!t.

He also played nowhere near the minutes he played last week. We had a rolling bench in the second half as we only had one interchange and LMS was playing injured (turned his ankle). Thompson, meanwhile, played for 60 minutes so his stats are bound to be better.


LMS had a mare until he went off injured. When he played injured in the second half he had a much better game. You're speaking out of your backside as you weren't there this week or last, haven't seen the games and so know nothing.

For a player of his size Mose is so easy to bring down. Half the time he's going down before even being tackled.

Like I've posted and also told you, I'm basing my opinion on the games I've seen him play and I think he's poor. Your just caught up in the happy go lucky smiling Samoan so give him a easy ride.

Last night Saints used Mose in a completely different way than they did the week before. He was used more as a foil than a ball carrier.
He made himself available far more without ever getting the ball.

Not too sure why we would change his use after such a successful game against Huddersfield - but that was the reason for his completely different stats.
I can only guess that this is Browns attempt to actually make him a more complete player. At the start of his season he was telegraphing each run and there were 3 and upwards defenders prepared for him. If he brings more to his game like dummy runs, backing up breaks etc. then he will be far more effective to the team dynamic than he currently has shown.
Imagine the time when defenders don't know who to target and start leaving him with only 2 or maybe 1 defender in front of him - that is when we will see the best of him. Right now he is too easy a defensive target.

You do know that is the way that forwards are taught how to control their tackle. It would be impossible and mostly counter productive to attempt to break through every tackle. The idea is to get the player to have some control, almost a voluntary tackle, so that they hit the ground how they want to (I think the terminology used is "Knees and elbows"icon_wink.gif so they are able to get back up faster, play the ball faster, and allow the team to build momentum.
Its a team game not an individual game - play your part and the team looks stronger.

I'm aware of that, and have noticed teams put quicker players in at dummy half to run into the hole they hope he will leave. This was certainly a massive problem in the first few games Masoe played and I commented at the time about it.
I will say of late though that he does seem to be covering back ok, not great, but he isn't in the "old Feka" league for leaving holes.
However that might be a sign of other players covering for Masoe. That then leaves edge defenders more exposed.
Its certainly the case that we tend to struggle out wide, so this could be a symptom of one or more players lack of mobility in midfield.

Is it not possible that, knowing we only had 1 sub, he levelled out his game to make sure he could not disadvantage his team by taking up the bench spot for long periods of time? From the report I was told, he was awesome in the first 15 during his first stint, and akin to his Huddersfield performance, and low key for the rest of the game. Sounds like someone whose been given the task of lasting the game to me...

Instead of having the Mose debate (again) can I ask to those who were at the game - do walkers stats look about right? How long was he on the pitch for??

I would say that was very likely. We only had one sub all second half. Thompson played 60 minutes, most of it with a busted nose, but we had to spell LMS as he was a wreck and we had to do stuff like amble to scrums, Walsh wasted time around kicks, etc, just to give everyone a breather.


I was at the game and Walker wasn't on long although I couldn't say exactly how long he was on. He went off in the first half during his first stint. He was wandering all over the place after his head was hit so he had to go off with the concussion rules. His stats would be about right.

Walker barely played the game. He came on took the knock and then went off again. Cant have been on the pitch for more than 10 minutes.

Masoe did very little in his first stint, played first 15 minutes. He drove the ball in strong, but didn't do it often enough.
When a prop doesn't take the ball in once during a set of six, I think there are issues.

He showed last week and the Leeds game that he is capable of 15-16 hit ups a game. To do only 8 this week was not good enough.
Infact its only one better than his first and third games this season

Fair enough about walker, I was shocked when I saw the stats.

I can only go off the report I was given. But everything about the stats shows survival and attrition - as a club now we have a week off, and everyone will be better for it. As I was told, no one was great this week, but it's not a game to call anyone out from.

And we can go entire sets without a forward touching the ball, let alone masoe not. Welcome to the world of browns tactics (that's my pet peeve!)

Well said! (And your first paragraph was spot on)

That was also my impression. He was always available for possession but never given the ball. I thought he was solid but not spectacular and this may be more to do with lack of subs meaning he had to do longer minutes.

Also can I say that I thought LMS put in a good shift. He was subbed late in the second half just in front of me and he looked absolutely shattered. 5 Minutes later he was back on.

I was just going to post the very same thing, we seem to be overdoing the decoy bit with Mose, last week he was running onto the ball better and making impact. In my opinion they don't know how to play him, more so with our first choice props injured, what frustrates me most is most of the time he gets the ball semi static with 3 players on him straight away.