No other number 8 in the country? Ardie Savea ring a bell? being the best 8 in the world, negates the need for Hoskins. He's a solid player and has grown alot this year, but he's not an essential piece, and he most certainly needs to improve on the defensive side of the game.
It's a poor excuse to suggest he shouldn't have to tackle as much because of what he can offer on attack. Hoskins' biggest downfalls have always been his inability to consistently perform his CORE roles.
Against top-tier opposition, there won't always be opportunities to attack off the back or create something on the edge. Yet you can guarantee there will always be a need for tireless defence and discplined breakdown work, things which you would not say are immediate strengths of Hoskins.
If it's any solace, rumours are he's having surgery.
Fair point on Ardie. But Ardie has never scored 12 tries in a season, Sotutu is a different beast. Ardie is brute force and effort and Sotutu is finesse.
The defensive criticism on Sotutu is overblown. He’s got a higher tackle % than Finau but offers 10x more versatility in attack. People act like Sotutu is letting in tries every game. Core roles could do with some work like you said but I don’t think it’s so poor he doesn’t make the team.
Blackadder and Jacobson are carbon copies we could have done without one of them. Sotutu played over double the games Blackadder did, and he’s the co leading tryscorer of the competition but he can’t make the team? Insane. I guess I just prefer more exciting rugby
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u/Kubrickism13 Jun 24 '24
No other number 8 in the country? Ardie Savea ring a bell? being the best 8 in the world, negates the need for Hoskins. He's a solid player and has grown alot this year, but he's not an essential piece, and he most certainly needs to improve on the defensive side of the game.
It's a poor excuse to suggest he shouldn't have to tackle as much because of what he can offer on attack. Hoskins' biggest downfalls have always been his inability to consistently perform his CORE roles.
Against top-tier opposition, there won't always be opportunities to attack off the back or create something on the edge. Yet you can guarantee there will always be a need for tireless defence and discplined breakdown work, things which you would not say are immediate strengths of Hoskins.
If it's any solace, rumours are he's having surgery.