hi JW and cloudy,
sure Mo'unga needs gametime,... but I think he's ready for the big stage,... he has already played 4 finals (2 SR and 2 NPC) and been the best player and MoM in the 4,... his performances these last 2018 SR finals have been outstanding,.... and he was pressured by the opposite teams,... in the final against the Lions (the Bridesmaids, next year), saders had to play 2 thirds of the game in own territory with few possesion,... that's some kind of pressure and despite of it he controlled the game, gave a materclass and was the best man on the field
and this week everyone who was disregarding Mo'unga's performance with the Rolls-Royce nonsense (AB coaching staff included), is singing BB's praises who just took advantage in the second half of the countless mistakes the aussies made (41 tackles missed and 22 turnovers, schoolboy level),... amazing
and even the AB were dominant in the second half, BB never controlled the game,... 5 from the 6 AB tries came from aussies turnovers and the other one, the first one, was preceded by an easy tackle missed,... he struggles controlling games coz he's not a 10,... he's been excellent (2 Player of the year awards, though the last one quite debatable, IMO Reiko Ioane deserved more) but he needs a dominant AB (or very feeble opposition like last sat),.. each time he faced tight opposition or defense at test and SR level he struggled
still it's understandable the coaching staff want to keep him at the helm,... he's been managing the team this 4 years btwin WCs period since the last WC and has its logic they wanted him to finish this phase,... but it's a huge mistake IMO not to have Mo'unga on the bench and give him gametime to be the backup,... if a team can put a tight defense nulifying BB like the aussies did during the first half (they did it even without a rushing defense), then DMac is not the answer,... coz he's exactly the same kind of player (a FB playing 10 who needs space and time) but even more error-prone when pressured as we could see in the QFs,... and the very important games from now on are going to be tight,... the Irish game on november, the WC finals,.... these are the games that matters
and here's where mo'unga comes,... or should come IMO,... he could be the one who can solve this problem,... he's been the only one able to handle the defensive pressure, specially from a rushing defense,... but he needs gametime to, firstly, show that he really can do the job at test level and afterwards to acquire the experience needed,.... but from what the coaching staff is doing, seems they are going to stick with DMac as the nº10 backup keeping Mo'unga as the third option and not giving him too much gametime,.... 10 min against the argies,... another 10 min in the last bledisloe if it's alreday decided,...
and I'm writting too much,... enough
