Logorrhea wrote:artaneboy wrote:Obviously if he’s judged to be capable of holding his end up in the final quarter of an important match- the, probably correct, assumption is that he’s a risk worth taking to fill in for an injury to the starting 9 from earlier in a match.
Nahhh sorry I just dont agree with your assumption there. Big difference between throwing a player on when your team is 25 points ahead against Ulster and needing him to play for 60+ mins away to Montpellier when your team needs a result.
I see where you are coming from, in that its a risk that could pay off allowing us to get Lowe on the pitch, but the thought of mcCarthy being expected to play for 60 mins away to Montpellier would terrify me (at the moment).
I’d be nervous too. But if we accept Luke McGrath as the number one- or that Jamison and Luke are very close, then IF we want both Fardy and Lowe in a match squad, we are inevitably driven to consider the gamble on McCarthy in place of Gibson-Park.
I’m one of the minority that rates JGP very highly. I wouldn’t accept that Luke is necessarily or inevitably the first choice. But the choice of Jamison over Luke with them that close- makes no sense with that ‘bloody rule’ being an issue. We’re not going to make a marginal call for one of those scarce non-Kolpack places for him.
So that bring the case, the performances that matter here are, “offensively” in terms of Lowe: is he worthy of a pick as a game-changer- and “as insurance” with Nick, can he hold his end up for 20 minutes and in an emergency for longer.
My view is that there’s a clear gap in performance between Nick and Luke/ Jamison. But not so large that I’m terrified at him being dropped the 9 in a biggie. On the other hand, I think Lowe’s few performances show he has to be in the squad, as does Fardy on a much larger sample, only more so. QED Jamison drops out of the squad. Not happy about it; but it’s the pragmatic choice.
Now- would I be happy at Nick starting if Luke was injured? Absolutely not! It’s a risk and a bet that he won’t be needed.
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