Gareth Thomas Video - Laugh? I nearly p***ed meself

[gpartin]

Fuji, judging purely on last night and ignoring anything I know about Noble the evidence suggests he wasn't ready. Would Nobby have known in the back of his head he wasn't ready? Yes imo unless he had his eyes closed in training or as I suggested before he wasn't being given training specific to his needs. Either way he wasn't ready. Was it safe to put a player out who wasn't ready in the way he wasn't ready? Would Nobby have used the fact that he was expected to play to cloud his judgment? negligence.

[cpwigan]

Fuji very simple question was Gareth Thomas at risk of serious injury last night owing to a naive / wrong running style?

[ancientnloyal]

It was his running style, it seemed like he wanted to get rid of the ball, naturally, hence his low profile and a few times looked like he'd knock on. Im sure they will work on that during training for him. He does seem slow however

[gpartin]

It was his running style, it seemed like he wanted to get rid of the ball, naturally, hence his low profile and a few times looked like he'd knock on. Im sure they will work on that during training for him. He does seem slow however

Not used to playing with such big balls?

[ancientnloyal]

There is actually a slight difference between Gilbert and Steeden balls.

[cpwigan]

If you forget his past sport, here is a naive novice with 2 weeks experience of playing RL. It is crazy to put anybody in that situation. He should have been training for 2 months minimum before even playing below first team level.

[gpartin]

http://twitter.com/Gareththomas14 should be interesting follow this feed as his career in league progresses. He's still in touch with a lot of union players as you'd expect and makes some comments about the size of the hits/players, the intensity of training and the technicality of the sport that would come in handy if ever in a discussion with a rah rah fan. Well worth a look.

[cpwigan]

The Wales rugby union legend was helped off with concussion after a heavy tackle just half an hour into his first Engage Super League appearance for Crusaders on Friday night.

Explanation

Coach Brian Noble admitted Thomas still had a lot to learn about the game but had no doubts he would progress.

Noble said: "We are going to have to teach him a few of the nuances of how to protect the ball in the tackle.

"He wants to carry the ball a lot but he needs to learn how to do that and when to do that.

"But for his first 30-35 minutes he's done fabulously well given he's never played any rugby league."

still had a lot to learn about the game

We are going to have to teach him a few of the nuances of how to protect the ball in the tackle

"He wants to carry the ball a lot but he needs to learn how to do that and when to do that.

Let me see has a lot to learn, does not know how to carry the ball, does not know when to run or how to run by the admission of his own coach where is the Duty of Care?

Even better;

A 30 minute speel where by Thomas own admission he had little idea what was happening is deemed he's done fabulously well by the coach who threw him to the wolves. Noble you are a disgrace.

[exile in Tiger country]

Now Gareth Thomas has had experience of a game of RL, he is still keen to play next week (Comment from him prior to the Wales Italy game on BBC1).
If he, with all his previous experience of RU and now having a real taste of proper Rugby, thought he was in any real danger I am damn sure he would be telling Noble et al that he needed specific coaching/more time or whatever.
He was unlucky. Look at Cameron Phelps technique in the tackle last season, he got knocked cold a few times, and he wasn't a novice.
He'll do OK for an old fella, and considerably better than the last person to "convert" to RL just to gain publicity, Dwain Chambers.

[mave the rave]

CP i think as a rugby league fan and not just a wigan fan i have a duty of care to protect our British coaches from biased people like you, you make light of the fact that the crusaders had no chance at all to compete in the super league this year had Mr Noble not taken the challenge and the Wrexham village set up come on board.I would like to see how mm would have sorted that out not every coach can walk into a ready made squad.So stop being so smug and give other sides a bit of credit.You do have to play other teams to win we can not be top without teams underneath us can we. ?