I was at the match.So far this season we have used a very basic gameplan where the backs use a finite variety of set moves and where we hope to prevail with an organised and committed defence in a low scoring match. This plan was blown apart last night by our complete inability to stop Leeds from offloading and our panic and lack of resolution when they did. When we tried to catch up and play open rugby it was clear that we could not adjust to the changed circumstances and a fairly close defeat turned into a rout.Other teams will copy Leeds' tactics.
It looks to me as if Bird and Broughton will be out for a long time.
At an individual level it looked as if some of our players are coming to the end of the road. Duport has been there for a long time and his torpid reactions and inability to pass the ball were displayed in spades last night.Casty looked exhausted and both Burgess and Anderson were well below par.Marks out of ten Bosc 6 Broughton 4-though he rarely got the ball Duport 2 Wiliame 7 Thornley 7 Myler 6 Walsh 7 -A much better tackler than his reputation implied, Casty 4 Aiton 6 Burgess 4 Garcia 5-good speed when chasing back ,but not very effective going forward Horo 6 bird 7 before his injury.Bench Baitieri 8-indomitable ,Bousquet 7 Da costa 5 Anderson 4.
We played against 10 men for 20 minutes of the first half but at best achieved parity during that period .The opening of the second half was also promising and at 20-10 we still had a chance but.....
We must sign a replacement for Gigot as we have too few fit-able backs and we need Bosc as a utility player.There is no point in changing our gameplan-Castleford would beat us by a century if we did-but we must be better prepared for the opposition's response.Finally our manager said that Leeds wanted it more.This is undoubtedly the truth but ??????
