Newcastle Red Bulls
Player ratings v Gloucester
By Leipziger
November 24 2014
Another cracking win on Friday night, here’s how I rated the lads that achieved it:
15 Alex Tait – a big game in defence and showed a lot of willingness to attack, although he wasn’t always able to find the gaps to move the Falcons forward. 7
14 Sinoti Sinoti – another subdued game I thought from our flying winger, Gloucester seemed to deny him space as Bath did last week. A great poacher’s try though. 6
13 Gonzalo Tiesi – a quiet shift in defence from Gonzo, nothing spectacular but competent and did everything required. 6
12 Juan Pablo Socino – moved to centre to take some pressure off, the Argentine was everywhere and showed again that he is our most creative midfield force.. If his confidence has suffered, hopefully he’ll be able to get it back soon, but Friday was a very good show. 8
11 Alesana Tuilagi – a big game from the big guy, on the wing or in the centre he punched holes in Gloucester’s defence and sucked in defenders. More of the same please. 7
10 Rory Clegg – an interesting choice to start the game, but Clegg recovered from a difficult start to put in a very good night’s work. Fifteen points from the boot, and some intelligent passing and incisive running. A top night for the much-maligned fly-half. 7
9 Mike Blair – if we’d known how the game was going to go then we might have brought Blair on fresh in the second half to control the pressure period, but as it was the Scottish veteran provided solid experience and a calming presence, kicked well and gave Clegg good service. 7
1 Rob Vickers – a big shift in the front row and made the tackles he needed to. 6
2 Scott Lawson – again, not so much in attack but the Scot was a big presence in defence and a menace to Gloucester at the breakdown. 7
3 Oliver Tomaszczyk – best game in a while for the big prop. Had the Gloucester front row on toast, and moved around the park better than usual. Gave vital support at the breakdown and made plenty of tackles when we were under the cosh. 8
4 Calum Green – Mr Consistent was everywhere and played his part in a solid lineout. A great signing so far. 8
5 Dom Barrow – looks to be forming a good partnership with his old Leeds teammate Green. They are similar players in many ways, physical guys who do a lot of work that may not always get noticed but that is vital to keeping the team going forward, and so it was again on Friday. 7
6 Mark Wilson – not his best game I didn’t think but Wilson has set such standards for himself this season that he still merits a solid seven out of ten. Plenty of go-forward. 7
7 Andy Saull – a couple of missed tackles and not quite the force in attack that he is capable of I thought, but did most things well. 6
8 Ally Hogg – a bruising performance from the returning captain, added experience to a strong scrum and made yards. 7
Replacement:
Chris York – good to see the bearded one back from injury, but no time to do much when on as a temporary replacement for Saull. 6
Adam Powell – not much chance to make an impact in attack but slotted well into the defence when we were under pressure. 6
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He does a lot of spoiling work which often goes unnoticed plus he will tackle all day long. I think Welch will have to earn the right to get in when he comes back.
A natural 7 and his leadership skills are evident on the pitch whether it's geeing fellow players, celebrating excessively or unsettling the opposition. We have a solid platform upfront if we can get the scrum performing on a regular basis.
Other than that agree with those numbers.
And that defence of the whole team in the last 5 mins or so....on our try line. Great stuff.
The other thing is...Socino is a damn fine 12 and back up 10 at a push.
Lets get a top class 10 in, in the summer and let Socino play his top class game at 12.He's a right powerhouse aswell.
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