How did JJ play for Saints

Given the way Keatley played v Tigers, am wondering how JJ played v Racing on Saturday. brief Sunday Times report said he played very well and couldn't be blamed for the heavy defeat. Any Saints fan out there to give us an opinion.

Given Sexton's nightmare v Toulon and Keatley's ditto v Tigers, and the criminal decision to leave Madigan on the bench for 77 minutes, us Irish need some good news in the no 10 slot, though Jackson was excellent on Friday v Toulouse

Not a Saints fan, but I felt that Northampton looked a lot more threatening when Myler came on.

LondonTiger wrote:Not a Saints fan, but I felt that Northampton looked a lot more threatening when Myler came on.

When Kahn Fotuali'i came on you mean. Along with both teams making a raft of subs at the same time.


Brennomac, he played well. They got well beaten but in the first half they threw an intercept, messed up a certain try and had a try ruled out by Clancy\tmo. So they were creating chances despite being outplayed. Hanrahan done the simple things well apart from one kick out on the full.

Hanrahan was ok, but in a team that did so poorly it really is hard to judge. As soon as they failed to get set piece dominance they seemed to be clueless.

Factors conspired against them though - two perfectly good tries ruled out and a dreadfully sloppy intercept thrown by Matfield.

I guess the standout perormance from an Irish outside half was Jackson - but then Ulster dominated so much easier for him.

play well in a saints team that lacked teeth IMO.

Start him with Fotuali'i @ 9 and Pisi @ 12 and he should look better.

I like Stephenson but he has looked better @ 13 IMO.

Burrell is just meh ATM, certainly not England quality.

I've only seen 2 games with him playing so far - and I'm not that impressed! Although any new player has to be given some time to bed into a new environment.

LondonTiger wrote:I guess the standout perormance from an Irish outside half was Jackson - but then Ulster dominated so much easier for him.

Very encouraging from Jackson as you say, but the game really opened up for him. Schmidt will want to see how he handles a game where his place kicks are not all in front of the posts and a game where a lot more pressure is put on him in terms of teams marking the runners he has around him a lot better.

I really am a fan of Jackson as a player though, and it's good for Ireland Ulster have decided to back him as our first choice place kicker over Pienaar.

Difficult to judge JJ as his pack were well beaten and any ball he did get was ruined by Dickson who was having one of his shouty days. There were glimmers of potential but it'll take a while.

The whole Saints backline is struggling tbh

I've not seen the game but I did see his game vs Bath where he was solid but unspectacular. Whilst a very low error count is good he needs to add some creation to the team. As said above that might come with time and familiarity.

Very average, certainly not good enough for Ireland.

Not a thread for my question, but I'd like to ask anyway; how did Owen Williams play on the weekend? I doubt he'll get picked for Wales come February, but if he is first choice for Leicester and playing well in the European competition then one would assume he is ready to begin his transition to international rugby.

He was good for Tigers, kicked well and controlled the game well. Probably needs to offer more to be an international though, either a running game or a more varied passing game.

To be honest Youngs controlled the show so there wasn't as much for Williams to do.

Thanks Yappy - he sounds a bit similar to Biggar, although Biggar is flawless at the basics which makes him such a great asset and he's also a high percentage goal-kicker. We're lucky to have two No.9s who are both game generals with a good try-scoring rate - so when you take that into consideration along with the fact we can also call upon Halfpenny to take the shots goal it actually sounds like Williams could fit in; but again I doubt he'll even get selected unless there is injury to Biggar, Anscombe and Patchell. Nevertheless it's good to know we have him.

I struggle to remember much of Williams in the game, other than restarts and goal kicking. Suggests to me he was solid with no significant errors but no real wow moments either.

He's missed a couple of weeks with a niggle and went off with a pulled muscle. We didn't see any of his distinctive powerful runs ball in hand and his kicking from hand was muted which to me suggests he's still not fully over whatever issue forced him off. He's pretty key for us at the minute and does read the game fantastically well. He's had a good season so far.

As Yappy says any 10 playing outside of Ben Youngs in peak form gets an easier ride.