James Haskell - Highlanders Debut

Just a quick update for all of you "Brand" followers.

Although only on for part of the second half as an openside replacement James Haskell didn't do anything to discredit himself during the Highlanders 23-19 win of the Chiefs. It was a slow start - hitting rucks etc - but he did win the game ending penalty to stop any Chiefs comeback. Strong start considering he's only been in NZ for a few days.

I don't expect many responses as most Haskell fans remain in the closet

I like Haskell to be honest. I'm not english but I like him. He is a good player and had a brilliant world cup. I think when he returns to England he will definitely get a place in the back row. He would add a significant amount of firepower.

I think he has grown to become a very handy player and he will slot into the EPS rather well (especially if we can get him to play 8 at Club level!) and he is covers 7 and 8 well from his position but my only issue with him is that he seems to be a douche

He was probably Englands best player last season, his brilliant form from the 6N's was carried on to the world cup but then inexplicably dropped.

He had a good debut and yes got a key pen at the end. Did he come on at 8 or 7?

Just a shame he's a total dick off the field.

Do you know the guy or are you getting these facts off the media might I ask?

Yeah I know him

Actually one of my mates went to the same school as him and he is apparently a dick, or was at school. Apparently so was Waldouck

He gave me the old Samoan sidestep at school. Think Lomu vs Catt, but I actually stopped him! You guys must have heard the PDJ and Haskell story then? Ha

Where Haskell videos him in action? Yeah, that was an odd one.

yappysnap wrote:He was probably Englands best player last season, his brilliant form from the 6N's was carried on to the world cup but then inexplicably dropped.

He had a good debut and yes got a key pen at the end. Did he come on at 8 or 7?

He came on as a 7 replacement for Hardie. To be honest he probably played a bit of a floater role with Adam Thomson, splitting the 6/7 duties.

Nasi Manu, who plays 8 for the Highlanders is an absolute beast and will be hard to displace for the 8 jersey. The only scenario I see fitting is Haskell playing a mixed role with Thomson where by they share the 6/7 roles.

One thing you can be sure of is that if you're wanting to improve your loose foward play you can have no better task master than Jamie Joseph.

[quote="AFewTooManyKnocks"]

yappysnap wrote:
One thing you can be sure of is that if you're wanting to improve your loose foward play you can have no better task master than Jamie Joseph.

Very true- Thompson's game came on leaps and bounds last year under Joseph. Not his biggest fan but Haskell couldn't do much better than Joseph...

I saw that game - he did OK. dropped the pill at one restart but then got into the game.
Looked to be working hard and forced the turnover to end the game.
All in all, not a bad debut.

AFewTooManyKnocks wrote:Just a quick update for all of you "Brand" followers.

Although only on for part of the second half as an openside replacement James Haskell didn't do anything to discredit himself during the Highlanders 23-19 win of the Chiefs. It was a slow start - hitting rucks etc - but he did win the game ending penalty to stop any Chiefs comeback. Strong start considering he's only been in NZ for a few days.

I don't expect many responses as most Haskell fans remain in the closet

AFTMK, is that the nature of Brand followers?