Getting strange up here in this thread :dry:

We sign what appears to be an extremely promising and exciting outside back and people are:

1) Unimpressed as he's not an All Black
2) Think it has something to do with Jack's kicking

We could sign Brodie Retallick and people would complain that he's no good at throwing into a lineout :blink:

*Disclaimer: wouldn't be surprised to find out Brodie has better darts than Phil Taylor

connachta wrote: Don't want to be in the "not-carried away" camp, as I'm pretty excited.
But to answer to the above post : a kicker should before all be a starter, look at Cooney he didn't help much to improve our rate to the posts because of Marmion. Even good in this area, same may apply to Reece because of decent competion in the back-3

And he's 1m79 tall, hugely doubt he's a starting FB ahead of TOH.
I see him as Healy replacement when the latter turns 30+

What's his height got to do with it. Leigh Halfpenny is only 1m 78. Would he start at FB ahead of TOH ? Keith Earls is also 1m 78 and Andrew Conway 1m 80 but there aren't many better players under a high ball than either of those.

And just to clarify, I'm a massive fan of Jack Carty. I rate him really highly and I think he's improved year on year. I believe the inconsistency that creeps into his kicking is more of a confidence than a technique issue. Ronaldson is one of the sweetest strikers of a rugby ball around but I find it hard to see where will fit into the team. He doesn't have the necessary vision, control or self belief to play 10 IMO and he's well down the pecking order for a centre spot. Maybe the extra time he'd get at FB may help him but I doubt his ability to improve his game in the right areas required to play FB.

Either way all kickers have off days and injuries so the more guys on a team that can step up when required the better.

It might be a bias, don't really think so.
But it's clear Carty's not the one to blame this season.
Will he be reliable enough to convert an improving team efforts, that's the qustion...

Statsbunker.

It's a bit annoying in that you have to filter by competition or it gives a player's total including internationals, and also that it divides this year's pro 14 into regular and post season but doesn't for other seasons.

But it's all there, which is the main thing.

Where do you find the kicking stats Salmson?

salmson wrote:

salmson wrote:

connachta wrote: Again it depends where the kicks are taken. Carty's had shocking misses this season no-one could deny that.

Exactly. But we don't have stats on that so talking about Jack's kicking like it's the be all and end all of Connacht's issues is moronic. Halfpenny missed very kickable penalties at the weekend. How many times has Sexton shanked that gimme penalty 30 metres out just to the right of the posts?

Of the half dozen kickers who kicked 60 or more times in the league, only Cooney was in the high 70s - and he had a horrific conversion rate in Europe, presumably because he was taking on kicks he shouldn't. There are plenty of lads with 80+ who took half as many kicks.

My point is this is confirmation bias (or the Wisdom of the Barstool, as I like to call it). Jack was a bad kicker. Jack is now a good kicker. But since he used to be a bad kicker and we expect this, we only note when he misses and confirms our bias.

Again it depends where the kicks are taken. Carty's had shocking misses this season no-one could deny that.

Change the record. Carty's place kicking was at 75% this season (for comparison, better than Byrne and Cooney, worse than Keatley and Sexton).

As a general rule, if you're 2% off Leigh Halfpenny's kick percentage despite taking 18 more kicks, you're doing alright.

Good point, but we have been leaking points FYI, I am not a Jack basher I enjoy his field play, he really proved what he can do against Leinster. Craig has been great off the tee but I preferred him in the center with Bundee. But we have signed a 10 and a 12 that can kick, that speaks
volumes to me. Maybe with a new coach we will get a new offering.

Should have been a bit clearer, I am happy with the signing, apologies. As for kicking, Sexton knows that he is first choice for Ireland and Leinster therefore its not a problem. Others only take the tee from him if he's injured or not on the field. When he found out Halfpenny would be kicking for the Lions he was clear that knocked him as he saw kicking as a central part of his role as a 10 (whether he thinks like that now is not clear but I assume in most situations he does).

For Carty, yes absolutely he struggles as a kicker but he apparently still wants to be the kicker and has finally shown improvement with dedicated kick coaching. Therefore taking that away from him is likely to knock his confidence which could affect his ability in game. If kicking is taken away from him then it needs to be for good imo, you can't keep going back to him when the first choice is missing and expect him to believe in his ability when coaches don't show they believe in him.

Why does one player have to do all the kicking? Sexton is the best no doubt but I think there are few complete 10s in Ireland right now. I believe Jack is one of the best field players in the country, but struggles off the tee. There were 4 players in the match day squad for Leinster on sat that can place kick.
Why can’t we get more lads kicking and share the duties. All around Europe you have 9s, 10s, 12s, 15s that kick, why not us too?

We also can't bring in a new kicker again and expect Carty to progress. We've been saying for 3-4 years now that he has to improve which is true, but he finally has shown improvement last year and it would be a mistake to unsettle him as a kicker and a 10 unless we were giving up on him as a 10.

Don't want to be in the "not-carried away" camp, as I'm pretty excited.
But to answer to the above post : a kicker should before all be a starter, look at Cooney he didn't help much to improve our rate to the posts because of Marmion. Even good in this area, same may apply to Reece because of decent competion in the back-3

And he's 1m79 tall, hugely doubt he's a starting FB ahead of TOH.
I see him as Healy replacement when the latter turns 30+

Jesus lads, this guy is actually a pretty good kicker also, an area we definitely need to strengthen and seems to have the speed and vision to play 15. If he proves good under the high ball he could be a top class 15. That kind of pressure might be just what's needed to get Tiernan playing the kind of rugby we know he can consistently and see him genuinely competing for an Irish jersey again.

Probably other areas of squad that need strengthening rather than the wing. Not exactly blown away by this one.

www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/provincial/8...-the-ranks-continues

"He's got all the time in the world, he sees space very well and he's probably one the best backs defensively in the competition."

www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/sevens/88246...g-his-way-to-the-top

"But because Reece came here via scholarship, and not off his own bat, there's a three-year stand-down period from the time he finishes school before New Zealand Rugby grant him eligible to wear black. It's understandable, but it's made Reece have to play the waiting game. He would have been a shoo-in for the national Under-20 side, while All Blacks sevens camps have also had to sit tantalisingly in the background."

Seems to be very highly regarded in NZ so maybe we should be pretty excited about this. From the articles, his play seems very unpredictable and explosive. If so he might be just the kind of player we need to keep opposition defenses guessing and thereby stop the aggressive high speed pressing defensive line that's been killing us for the last 2 years.