Is Felipe Contepomi better playing at inside centre than as a fly half ?

Number 10 Shirt

Tony Ward remarked upon this in his commentary during the Ireland vs Argentina game that he saw Contepomi more as a 12 than as a 10.Having watched him playing for Leinster over the years I'd be inclined to agree with Ward on this.

gar120

much better as a 12 than a 10 IMO.

LFC5Times

I concur.

irishbucsfan

Showed in his last season at Leinster when Sexton was coming through behind him. Not a natural 10. Quality player though.

PhatPiggins

He tends to be more consistent at 12 but when he's good at 10 he's very good.

[Jackass]

Contepomi was a 12 converted into a 10.

12 is his natural position and it was only really at Leinster that he took the 10 shirt for lack of other options.

He's not a first choice kicker quality and he's not a world class 10, but he is a world class player and on his day one of the best 12's in the world.

To see Contepomi at his best, see Argentina in the 2007 world cup, with a world class 10 inside him and kicking duties off him. (although Hernandez is a 15, he was senssational at 10 during the world cup.)

His best years are certainly behind him, but in my view, he was the Eric Cantona of rugby. A tormented genius and one didn't win all the medals his talent deserved, but an absolute cult figure and one of the most naturally gifted players to ever play the sport.

thomond2006

PhatPiggins wrote: »

He tends to be more consistent at 12 but when he's good at 10 he's very good.

Against France in the summer, he was untouchable.

antogz1979

Medicore at both. Over rated in my opinion.

irishbucsfan

antogz1979 wrote: »

Medicore at both. Over rated in my opinion.

:rolleyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwa24ZwYdX8

[Jackass]

Some fond memories of Contepomi at Leinster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrfa_LI43mk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8RqpD2YnKM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ2FMahLk-U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzW5KlXF5d8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc9zZs9-xS8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV5k-cQx3qY

Tim Robbins

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Showed in his last season at Leinster when Sexton was coming through behind him. Not a natural 10. Quality player though.

It depends how you play Rugby. Irish people have this idea of a 10 being a great kicker and being able to find tactical touch's the entire game.

New Zealand, Oz and France don't have this obsession with finding touch and run with the ball a bit more. In their way of playing the 10 position isn't as specialised and can be used interchangably with the 12 or even the 9 (especially the French).

Wardy was only able to play 10. He was a conservative 10 and it doesn't surprise me that he only sees Contemponi as a 12. I'd see contemponi as either a 10 or a 12.

JustinDee

Contepomi played 10 while his brother played 12.
They were a decent enough combination. They did tend to forget about discipline however especially unable to resist taking players out in the air. Thats my memory of them at least.

JustinDee

Tim Robbins wrote: »

New Zealand, Oz and France don't have this obsession with finding touch and run with the ball a bit more. In their way of playing the 10 position isn't as specialised and can be used interchangably with the 12 or even the 9 (especially the French

Aussie and New Zealand have always had 10s who were good with the boot before anything else. Mark Ella (my all-time favourite), Michael Lynagh, Bernie Larkham. When Tim Horan took over at first-five when Larkham got injured, Australia were in big trouble because Horan couldn't kick.

France not so but boy, would their supporters be praying for such a player nowadays. I don't think they've selected the same 10 twice in a row in ages.

Luckycharm

JustinDee wrote: »

Aussie and New Zealand have always had 10s who were good with the boot before anything else. Mark Ella (my all-time favourite), Michael Lynagh, Bernie Larkham. When Tim Horan took over at first-five when Larkham got injured, Australia were in big trouble because Horan couldn't kick.

France not so but boy, would their supporters be praying for such a player nowadays. I don't think they've selected the same 10 twice in a row in ages.

Pretty sure Trin Duc played a couple of games in a row in the last 6ns

irishbucsfan

Tim Robbins wrote: »

It depends how you play Rugby. Irish people have this idea of a 10 being a great kicker and being able to find tactical touch's the entire game.

New Zealand, Oz and France don't have this obsession with finding touch and run with the ball a bit more. In their way of playing the 10 position isn't as specialised and can be used interchangably with the 12 or even the 9 (especially the French).

Wardy was only able to play 10. He was a conservative 10 and it doesn't surprise me that he only sees Contemponi as a 12. I'd see contemponi as either a 10 or a 12.

While you make a good point about different styles of 10, it doesn't really apply to Contepomi.

I'm a big fan of the more attacking 10s myself, but Contepomi was not effective in that role in the 2008/9 season at Leinster. He took the ball deep and strangled the back line for much of the season. Before he got injured the best rugby Leinster produced was in the last 20 minutes of Magners league games in the second half of the season when they introduced Sexton and moved/subbed Contepomi.

Myself, I wouldn't have started Sexton at that time either, because I was convinced he had problems with his kicking (at that time one of the last game he had started was for Ireland in the 2008 Churchill Cup and he'd missed all his kicks) but he did eventually get his chance.

Contepomi would have been better used as a 12 in that last year at Leinster because his form at 10 was very poor. I remember hearing that he'd agreed to move to Toulon when I was in the RDS and a lot of people around me commented that given his form that season he wouldn't be that big a loss.

irishbucsfan

JustinDee wrote: »

Contepomi played 10 while his brother played 12.
They were a decent enough combination. They did tend to forget about discipline however especially unable to resist taking players out in the air. Thats my memory of them at least.

When Hernandez was around he played 10 with Felipe at 12. That was the best Argentinian pairing in those positions.

Podge_irl

Contempomi, when on song, is utterly fascinating to watch at 10. I'm not sure there is a player on the planet I enjoyed watching as much at times. However, he's completely incapable of altering his game and quite often takes far too much on himself. Because of this he was never a prefect 10. He killed as many games as he opened up really and Leinster are a better team with Sexton at 10 (they were at their best with Sexton at 10 and Conters at 12 and I'm disappointed we didn't get to see more of that). Those games where he was on song at 10 though, **** me they were a joy to behold. I love him more then is entirely appropriate for someone to love a rugby player they've never met!

Luckycharm

irishbucsfan wrote: »

When Hernandez was around he played 10 with Felipe at 12. That was the best Argentinian pairing in those positions.

I think Hernandez is one of the most over rated players I have seen - he definetly had the talent to run the ball but seemed to spend his whole time at 10 either kicking garryowens and having attempts at Drop goals. Corletto on the other hand was a class player.

Cpt_Blackbeard

I'd say that he is more of a 12 anyway. He doesn't have the bottle to be relied upon at 10. His talent is undoubted, if a little romanticised, but he can lose you a match as easy as he can win you one.

PhatPiggins

Luckycharm wrote: »

I think Hernandez is one of the most over rated players I have seen - he definetly had the talent to run the ball but seemed to spend his whole time at 10 either kicking garryowens and having attempts at Drop goals. Corletto on the other hand was a class player.

Then you haven't seen enough of him outside of the T14. DG's and garryowens are outhalf play book page 1 in the T14

Luckycharm

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Then you haven't seen enough of him outside of the T14. DG's and garryowens are outhalf play book page 1 in the T14

No that was when I saw him playing for the Argies especially in RWC07 expect for the 3rd place play off game where they decided to play some rugby.