..that if i attended enough Rovers v Saints matches this weekend i would eventually see us win one! Congratulations to the under 18s for a cracking 34-28 victory over their Saints counterparts in a great advert for Academy rugby.
"Dream Big..Work Hard".................. Sarah Storey, Paralympic Legend.
Joined: Sep 26 2005 Posts: 3592 Location: East 'Ull of course!!
R.B.A wrote:..that if i attended enough Rovers v Saints matches this weekend i would eventually see us win one! Congratulations to the under 18s for a cracking 34-28 victory over their Saints counterparts in a great advert for Academy rugby.
Joined: Jun 12 2003 Posts: 4022 Location: Kingston Upon Hull (East)
Deffinately my point Phil. Warrington for years had the phylosophy that if you score more points than the opposition then it doesnt matter how many they get you still win the game, certainly a true phylosophy but it doesn't always work out the way you want it to and how many trophies did they win before they realised to win anything major they had to work on their defence.
In 2006 our attack was better than I would have said 5 super league teams, we could have been a mid tabled team just from our attack, but because of our defence we would have been at the bottom of the league.
The U18's were playing their first game, I understand it will take a few weeks to find their feet and learn how the player inside them defends so I am not going to get too critical too soon, however our U20's have had a few games now and the score lines have been pretty big which is to say the general standard of defending accross the competition is pretty poor.
If Morgan's defensive game plan is not working throughout the whole clubs structure then maybe we need to look at bringing in a defensive coach? Someone that is known for getting the best out of defences? The board have to ask the question IMO, yes Morgan is the right man for head coach but he's not bigger than the club and results speak for themselves. As O'Connor said on "All the tries" Rovers looked good at times in the game on Friday, we attacked well, Simmons even said his backs needed more work but reading in to it I think he meant we'd exploited their backs, but goal line defence was poor, the Wellens try apart I think all their tries came close to the line and predominantly down the middle while we paid Roby too much attention.
The players need to buck their ideas up, the coach needs to evaluate his methods and the club need to try and come up with a plan of how to get our season back on track.... All of which I am sure is happening behind closed doors.
I think the Under 18s defended really well on sunday considering it was their first hit out. Particularly when they were defending their lead. With regards the Under 20s, my view is that you will see big scores in that league on a weekly basis due to the big disparity in abilities both within the league and within teams. Most teams have a few full-time players in the side aswell as a few genuine under 20s, under 18s and amateur lads/trialists. I reckon they wont even spend that much time together as a team to work on their structures. We would have probably beaten Saints under 20s on friday had it not been for Kyle Eastmond and hardly conceded a try. The first team defensive problems stem from, in my opinion, players defending in different areas than they are used to and also a few new lads been brought into the system. I dont think that the system itself has changed much from last year so i expect us to settle down and defend better as the season goes on. I dont think that bringing in a specific defensive coach would make a great deal of difference. Nor do i think that Justin would relinquish any power to allow somebody to change his system anyway!
"Dream Big..Work Hard".................. Sarah Storey, Paralympic Legend.
They were young lads who took on a saints side which at any level are always going to be hard to beat and regardless of how many they scored we scored more. A wins a win, we had 6 making debuts. Never worry about how many points against when its a win, the margin of win doesn't matter, it only gets you the same two points. If the first team got results like this every week would we complain? Certainly not! The 20's league is as you say a very diverse array of talent. The defence of the first team is a worry because we are better than what we are producing at the moment, as we saw against wire away, we defended great for 77 mins which is no mean feat with the pressure they put on us and with a bit more composure with ball in hand we would have won. Teams are always gonna score points whoever they are, saints on friday scored a few tries close to the line which has been one of our strongest areas in the past but again saints are still a top team. It's just not working at the moment but I'll be very surprised if we don't turn it round. Confidence is low, players like you say are playing out of position and we are suffering our first real test in 5 seasons with key player injuries. Its a tough learning curve for Justin too and he's not really had to deal with this situation before and he may not get it right at first. No need to panic, yet, the players have to perform well in all areas and they will at some point.
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