Snipe Watson wrote:againstthehead wrote:It was only after I got out of the comfort of the terrace that I fully realized how horrific the conditions were out there tonight. Fair play to both sides for putting in a physical performance with some reasonable handling given the howling wind and driving rain. As usual, a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly....
Positives
- Set-piece was fairly decent and it needed to be in those conditions. Scrum held very firm albeit maybe it wasn't the attacking weopen that the conditions cried out for. I really enjoyed winning the penalty just before half-time - just a shame ruan missed the pot. had a couple of scrums deep in our half towards the end and we dealt with them pretty comfortably - so well done. Likewise we defended their driving maul fairly well at line-out time. Couple of poor darts but generally solid all round.
- Discipline was superb. hardly remember a penalty given away. Partly due to the fact we weren't doing an awful lot at the breakdown but in such a tight game it was imperative to keep the penalty count down.
- Defense was generally pretty good. Withstood some prolonged periods and the cover defense was excellent when the ospreys did make a break or two.
- not too many individual displays to rant about but I thought Wilson was pretty aggressive and henderson made an impact when he came on. Darren took his try well and Ruan added the odd touch of class although did make quite a few errors tonight.
Negatives
- we had a tough night under the high ball at times but given the conditions it's hard to be too harsh. Some of the ospreys kicking was excellent and they chased well at times so fair play to them.
- our kicking game generally left a bit to be desired. Sugar and Caveman hit a couple of nice ones to the corners but generally we were pretty aimless. Their full=back had a bit of a field-day pinging the ball back to us. That said, with the conditions it was all about playing the game in their half and the kicking game was the way to go. So right idea, just poor execution.
- would liked to have seen the pack go through a few more phases at times with a bit more carrying. That was an up-the-jumper night at times and we never quite exerted the required pressure through the pack to force the penalties.
- haven't seen the replays of the disallowed tries on TV but from the big screen it looked like Allen could/should maybe have held onto the 1st one. so maybe we left a few points out there.
Anyway, interesting to see the team play in different conditions to recent weeks. Always nice to see us sneak a win the hard way. Sometimes that says more about a side than a comfortable win if that makes any sense... Important points for the league campaign and sets us up nicely for another homer next week.
How can you possibly write a negatives section that long and not mention how incredibly bad McKinney was?
Hendo was excellent when he came on. Other than that it was a dire match on a dire night
I'm sure you know the answer to that Snipe. Oh well I'll tell you anyway .................... its because Against is what is known as a munted spacker.
Positives:
We won & eventually played the game the only way the conditions allowed
Breaking with tradition, p for at least he had the wit to kick when he came on & kick well. The terrace was protected from the worst of the weather but it was a mingin' night to try to play rugby.
Keeping them scoreless for 70 minutes.
Negatives:
Completely outkicked for most of the game, Ospreys played it much more intelligently from the start while we thought , feck it its a crap night but lets try rugby anyway.
McKinney, sadly he is no player at all, NOC was better, and comfortably better.
The was an utter ballix near me who, when the rain was at its worst, kept moaning "No, don't kick it, run it" Only perfect manners prevented me from swinging my cosh down upon his idiotic cranium.
Important win, we have a wee run of very winnable games right up to the Sarries clash. Thereafter we will know whether he should put all our eggs in wan basket, if we are still cushty in the HC, we have a ballix of a Rabo run in, if not we will still be in with a home semi chance in the Rabo & can go for it.
I expect us to be in the HC semi, but its too early to let the Rabo slide as some have suggested.