FT Widnes 50 Dons 16

Wilf Grimshaw wrote:It would appear that the playing surface may have influenced the squad selection. Said it again and again not bothered what the result may be, more concerned we don't pick up any long term knocks. Well I really put the mockers on that about injuries. Misi and Reece Lyne with what appear to be long term arm and ankle injuries. Match report https://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/ ... 50-dons-16 and from what I read on FB its back to basics regarding discipline, play of the ball etc.

Wilf Grimshaw wrote:It would appear that the playing surface may have influenced the squad selection. Said it again and again not bothered what the result may be, more concerned we don't pick up any long term knocks. Well I really put the mockers on that about injuries. Misi and Reece Lyne with what appear to be long term arm and ankle injuries. Match report https://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/ ... 50-dons-16 and from what I read on FB its back to basics regarding discipline, play of the ball etc.

Ooooops!
Not good for confidence is that result.
Time to wheel out some excuses methinks.

I suppose 2 injuries buggers everything up and that is the extent if it...apart from dodgy tacking and penalties which wouldn't help.

14 penalties and 6 incorrect play of the balls! Once again our over enthusiastic coach says it's a lesson learned and we need to improve on that, there's honestly more life in a junior aspirin! Indiscipline has been a big downfall for years with us and we're still not learning, i see no passion or fire in horne's belly, this isn't an over reaction from the last 2 games as we were never winning those competitions but he just doesn't seem like a coach who could make an inspiring team talk at HT if his side was losing.

A perfect storm of things going wrong; missing players leaving some odd team selection, haemorrhaging penalties, missing tackles and bad injuries.

We, in all likelihood, have a 5 week break now and it might be quite welcome to get some bodies back and regroup. We also have a bit more information about where we're lacking. I'm not devastated by yesterday, and oddly still think that's a winnable fixture (Boas had a certain try disallowed that would have got us within 1 score a decent way through the 2nd half, think when they went the other end and scored straight after it wasn't worth us chasing the game anymore). Maybe will help get a few feet on the ground too.

With only having one warm up game against Hull, the three competitive games we've played have in effect been warm up games for the league season. Changing the team around so much is never going to lead to a great deal of cohesion although giving so many penalties away and incorrect play the balls seems pretty fundamental. Having said that, I watched the Barrow v Oldham game and both sides were pinged regularly at the play the ball too. It did seem rather arbitrary as there were many instances that were overlooked as well. All sides need to get their act together on this very quickly.

Having picked up some injuries, a few weeks off might be a good thing but five weeks without a game can also lead to rustiness and lack of match fitness. Our first four league opponents are York, Sheffield, Wakefield and Featherstone. They will all be more finely-tuned than we'll be as they'll have played other matches whilst we're resting. This worries me somewhat.

I can understand Richard Horne not wanting to play too many pre-season games in order to avoid injuries but we can't afford to be half-cooked when the league season begins for real. Compared to our first four opponents, I fear we could be. Then we've got a trip to Barrow in Game Five.

Maybe the Widnes defeat will focus minds and make everyone realise that the Championship is a very tough league and if you're not on your game you will get severely punished.

Why have the officials nearly almost entirely ignored the rule for playing the ball in past seasons.The next rule they need to look at is how the ball is fed into the scrum its now a complete farce.

They don't change the rules, they just change the way they interpret them. Silly, I know!

I can't ever see the ball having to be fed into the middle of the scrum again. It'd make scrums competitive and the powers that be don't want that. The term 'hooker' is probably the most inappropriate title possible for a number nine these days!

When was the last time we heard the cry from the fans, "Feeding!"?

The rule states that the ball shall be put into the scrum from the referees side by holding it in a horizontal position with a point in each hand and rolling along the ground into the tunnel formed by the front row forwards.