Houghton

Sika

Bowden





Closely followed by shaul who I thought was fantastic, his try had shades of Tompkins.

Also Taylor who ran through everything no matter how hard he was hit, he just trampled over them.

Carlos, hands and step in centre pos we havnt had for some time.



Special mention for Thompson, who has stepped up his game and has fantastic footwork at the line



Looking very promising

Houghton

Taylor

Bowden

Houghton -fantastic running .

Shaul - scared them to death every time on ball

Thompson - tireless display . great foot work

Very difficult to narrow it down to three but here's mine:



Houghton.

Bowden.

Shaul.

1. Houghton - machine last night, got through a lot of work and created a few tries with his running from dummy half.



2. Pritchard - bit quiet towards the end after he picked up a knock, but I thought he was superb. He makes metres every time, usually with 2 or 3 players hanging off the back of him.



3. Sneyd - was good to see him bossing the game. Thought him and Pryce compared to Lui and Dobson were on another level.



Special mention to Thompson. Took his try well, but I thought he performed admirably against Carney in what looked like difficult circumstances. Players and coaching staff kept him away from Carney at the end, otherwise I think he'd have lamped him.



Also, Bowden and Green was great and its nice to not lose any impact when our starting props went off.

1. Thompson - filled the hole left by Westerman (Westerwho?) and provided great interplay with the halfs. Unsung hero imo

2. Houghton - great dummy half runs, quick play the balls, a real handfull

3. Bowden - Ive been one of his biggest critics but he was great last night and was the pick of the front rowers who all did well

Houghton

Taylor

Manu

How manu isnt in everyones top 3 amazes me.



Manu

Houghton

Bowden

Houghton

Bowden

Manu



The Talanoa love-in is interesting. Suppose it depends on what you want from your wingers. Good hard yards in the middle and always wins the play the ball but I want my wingers to shine on the wing!

Houghton

Manu

Frank

I dont see it as a love in. I see it as massively obvious. 1 on 1 he'll score 9 out of 10 times. Makes massive metres. Each of his seasons he's been near top of fast play of the ball stats. That's massive for your team. Never man handled. Also wins more pens than nearly any player in the league. He was for a first run out pretty outstanding! Wingers roles have changed a lot in recent years. Being fast doesn't cut it

Houghton

Bowden

Thompson