Congratulations to London, not only did they out play and out enthuse us they also out thought us. Danny Ward did a great job, he attacked us on our flanks knowing that Brough no longer has the legs to get across in defense and it seemed that Miller could not be bothered to get across to defend, so the players out side them were faced with having to jump in to try and cover. The good news is that Miller may improve. The bad news is that Brough wont. The other bad news that our coaching staff did nothing to solve the problem., add that to the fact that selection was a wrong, game plan was wrong, motivation was wrong, attitude was wrong all of which resulted in our coaching staff getting schooled. Simply things that Ward got right, his players were motivated, their game plan was perfect and the attention to detail was first class, eg Fafita comes on ( why do we bring him on when we are about to defend a set ) and London run two sets at him , he had to make 7 tackles out of 10 , they tired him out. That said Fafita did his best to lead us to take responsibility, he and Kopjack were are only players having a go. Got to worry that with Kear and Moanaham now gone do we have the brains available in our coaching staff. So what should be done, first thing is that Jowitt should be first choice full back, Hampshire should be first choice scrum half , then choose Miller or Brough to play 6. That is a given it is a must. Second Horo must play, he has a rugby brain he knows how to defend, Third we need a leader on the pitch, absolutely nothing from Miller yesterday, nobody talking behind the posts when London were dominating, it needed a bollocking, I would make Horo captain. Finally we need a specialist defense coach and quickly. Again just want to say congratulations to London, they were excellent they dominated our soft pack, they were better in every position and every aspect of the game. The best side by a mile, won.
Can't disagree with any of that. We shall now see what the players and the coaching staff are really made of. I have had a quick glance at the fixture list and we have got three very hard games followed by HKR at home. If we have not won a game after playing five, I would suggest MC may have to start thinking the unthinkable and considering taking a decision he doesn't want to take. Very early days and we have time to put things right . However on everything I saw yesterday we seem to have massive problems in every department so lets wait and see how we respond.
How bloody negative... it's one game against a team with something to prove. They have us play the newbies every year, it was always going to bite us at some point.
I don't agree with playing Hampshire at scrum half, for me last season we missed some structure at halfback and Brough provides that. He has freedom at Fullback and i think he should continue to play there.
One game doesn't mean the team and coach don't know how to do anything. It was a terrible game but it happens. Chester has shown that he is a good coach. He just has to find a way to turn things around like all coaches do.
One game doesn't mean the team and coach don't know how to do anything. It was a terrible game but it happens. Chester has shown that he is a good coach. He just has to find a way to turn things around like all coaches do.
Exactly this Chester has done exceptionally well since he joined Trinity and this becomes a test for everyone of the coaching and playing staff. Yes, it was a woeful performance against London but, I believe that we are a far, far better side than we showed yesterday. Saint's is a tough game to get back on the horse but, although despondent about the result, not everything is suddenly broken so, hopefully, we can fix things up pretty quick. Saints will probably beat us on Sunday and that certainly wont be the end of the world but, I certainly expect a reaction and we will probably go with a stronger pack (something that we really should have done yesterday) and give Saint's a damn good game.
Exactly this Chester has done exceptionally well since he joined Trinity and this becomes a test for everyone of the coaching and playing staff. Yes, it was a woeful performance against London but, I believe that we are a far, far better side than we showed yesterday. Saint's is a tough game to get back on the horse but, although despondent about the result, not everything is suddenly broken so, hopefully, we can fix things up pretty quick. Saints will probably beat us on Sunday and that certainly wont be the end of the world but, I certainly expect a reaction and we will probably go with a stronger pack (something that we really should have done yesterday) and give Saint's a damn good game.
Agree with most of the above, CC always appears to accept responsibility for the team failings,and as Head coach the buck will always stop at him. It also seems to me we have this sort of performance every season, Salford away last season springs to mind, we got over that and improved. Defensively our flanks have been weak for a few seasons now, perhaps Lee Gilmour needs a bit more coaching himself to carry out his duties. Just an opinion.
How bloody negative... it's one game against a team with something to prove. They have us play the newbies every year, it was always going to bite us at some point.
I don't agree with playing Hampshire at scrum half, for me last season we missed some structure at halfback and Brough provides that. He has freedom at Fullback and i think he should continue to play there.
I agree, the first two posters are being hugely negative. A bad show by us but who doesn't have them, these two seem to forget that we used to do it all the time against the big teams yet continually ended up bottom three. Belly in particular has more faces than a town hall clock, waxing lyrical about the team and the coaching team a few month ago and now jumping on a bandwagon he seems determined to create after one game.
It is as I say one game - had we won it would be no more relevant but some just love to create mountains out of mole hills, then if they are proved right the revel in it, why I don't know.
We were plain awful and London were plain good - it happens - yet Belly choses to think that Ward is suddenly a genius as opposed to a Coach who's managed two top five finishes. Most laughable if all it's now all suddenly down to Kear, another Coach regularily binned by the OP. Its all a bit pathetic and shows a lack of back bone, ie who needs enemies!
I remember we were world beaters after winning the opening two games with some panache, and then ended up in the Million Pound Game. Last year (or was it the year before), we were rubbish in our first two games and ended up in 5th.
I mean, we were the pits in defence, but I'll panic after ten rounds, not one.
What worries me is the repetitive errors being made season after season by a variety of players occupying the same positions. Johnstone, JJB, MCB, Finn, Brough, Miller, Lyne, Tupou, Arundel or in other words the edge defenders on both sides of the field.
The common element is the coaching staff and it screams out that the defensive coaching is very poor. They either coach it wrong in the first place, don’t recognise where the issues are or can’t communicate the necessary changes to the players.
We saw the same issues when Chester arrived they were somewhat better under Kear but since he left they’ve crept back into the team again and on this showing are as bad as ever.
The problem manifests itself on the edges but originates at marker and it’s systemic rather than being an individual fault. Defenders need to know and consistently perform their job within the system as soon as they don’t you have the type of problem that gets punished at pro level.
We’ll continue to get exposed by any team that gets a fair share of the ball, the hope lies in us scoring more than we concede but we’d need to be a whole lot fitter to make that happen, that’s another story though
What worries me is the repetitive errors being made season after season by a variety of players occupying the same positions. Johnstone, JJB, MCB, Finn, Brough, Miller, Lyne, Tupou, Arundel or in other words the edge defenders on both sides of the field.
The common element is the coaching staff and it screams out that the defensive coaching is very poor. They either coach it wrong in the first place, don’t recognise where the issues are or can’t communicate the necessary changes to the players.
We saw the same issues when Chester arrived they were somewhat better under Kear but since he left they’ve crept back into the team again and on this showing are as bad as ever.
The problem manifests itself on the edges but originates at marker and it’s systemic rather than being an individual fault. Defenders need to know and consistently perform their job within the system as soon as they don’t you have the type of problem that gets punished at pro level.
We’ll continue to get exposed by any team that gets a fair share of the ball, the hope lies in us scoring more than we concede but we’d need to be a whole lot fitter to make that happen, that’s another story though
I get what you are saying, but how do you 'want' teams to score tries against us?! Unless you think we are going to nil everyone every week! Obviously conceding 8, to the supposed weakest side, is slightly alarming first up no doubt. It's hard being an edge defender, far harder than in the middle of the field. Why do you think year on year the top tryscorers are usually wingers then?! Surely we are not the only team to concede these types of tries when TJ, BJB & MCB over the last couple of seasons have probably scored over 100 tries between them?!