Where we're going wrong......

[DJD1971]

I struggled about where to post this. but...

First things first.

Defense. This week, it was as bad as it was last year.
Tackle. Please.
So much ground was lost by bad takling. The same happened last year, we were awful in defense.
The game against exeter showed the bad tackilng.
*HINT* if you grab the guys legs. he can't run.

2nd)

Kicking off.

Too deep. Please try to aim around the 22, maybe just before.
Too many of the kicks were too deep. our people weren't there to compete and it gave the opposition far too much time to decide what to do with the ball. As a result; they were planting the ball further up the pitch than we wanted.

3rd)

Penalty.

Chase.

Its simple. if you kick at goal from just inside your own half (36) into the wind, then everybody should be chasing the ball.

4)

drop goals, pushing for try line.

if you're gonna pop back for a drop goal. make sure you get it.

If the play is going well, and you're progressing, and you decide to pop back for a drop goal. it is a MUST to actually land it.

*****************************

Personally... I think the team was rubbish last week.
I hope it improves.

The problem is, I was saying this about our defense last year, and nothing has changed.

We're really strong up frong, but when the opposition get a break, and our format has to decide, we go to pot.


Regards
Dave

[thebearisstilldeano]

It's started................

[Purebob]

What I find interesting is that with a largely new team the same issues appear to be there. It is as though the issues are not only in player execution, but perhaps in coaching or direction ?

[big john]

Watch out Purebob your going to put your self in the firing line with the "Why pick on Cockers" gang.

But i for one agree with you the reason to pick on Cockers as such is like you said "New player, Same problems".

I remeber when Tigers had the fear fatcor of a greta defence but now almost every team finds the gaps and if they slow are attack down we really struggle.

Bring back the frugle defence and maybe to tone down the new attacking flair until we find a Tigers style balance

[mike]

i agree with most of that - apart from the bit 'that we are really strong up front' . The Pack on saturday was certainly a long way short of being strong and even with our top forwards back I don't think we dominate other packs the way we used to .

[salcombe bob]

the simple answer is we are having to play without 16 top players!!

[hugh78]

I would mostly agree with points 1-3 but not point 4. Even with the problems in defense it is very unusual for us to get soundly beaten on the scoreboard so having drop goals in the armoury is something I believe has been missing for a long time.Flood attempted and made 1 drop goal all last season. Ford had already made one in the first half and narrowly missed with the second. The last was a shot to nothing with no time. I'm sure they have been sailing over in practice. Exeter defended well and with no Tuilangis/game breakers available ( and whilst reffing at the breakdown is a lottery, with it being as likely to give away a penalty as get one when driving forward) I have to say we are going to need some drop goals this season.

[jamiewilkinson]

Unfortunately we will only be allowed one star player next season, and even with all your "we have to do this and have to do that" i dont think any of you will be getting that contract. let the coaches and players get on with and by all means criticise, but dont tell them how to play rugby, there is a reason they are on that pitch and your not. we learn by making mistakes.

[kpb]

Maybe it's just just one of our famous SLOW starts,and the lad's need playing time to gel together.

Maybe we (again) deep down underestimated Exeter,and when we take on Wasps we will raise our game,because we ain't got a bad set of players and we ARE good enough to beat the likes of Exeter,Wasps and Quins even without our International tribe(and injures).

I think we will show more fight against Wasps,and hopefully be more 'MANU' in our defence! Then hopefully we can go into the Sarries game with a bit of confidence behind us.

[big john]

I know we have a good few guys out at the mo but i have to say its not the skill level or size/age of the guys its seems to be the style and the way they are trying to play, i know some people will say "well that is about skill level" but as Sir Clive Woodward said and Johnno has too is a simple thing but has one of the biggest impacts on a team and on results "You need to build a team on what the skill set best suit them not build tactics and try to make the players fit in"

[mol2]

Unfortunately we will only be allowed one star player next season, and even with all your "we have to do this and have to do that" i dont think any of you will be getting that contract. let the coaches and players get on with and by all means criticise, but dont tell them how to play rugby, there is a reason they are on that pitch and your not. we learn by making mistakes.

There are a lot of people who know more about the moon than any of the astronauts who went there. The same applies to sport so we are all entitled to our opinions. Individually few of us would be good coaches however sometimes outsiders see things that those who too close can't see.

Good players don't always make good coaches. Many players don't know what made them good let alone how to help someone else improve.
We may learn by making mistakes but the wise don't repeat them and learn from others' mistakes. Not sure our coaching staff do. Perhaps that's the problem with too many insiders.

[palletman]

Been saying for a while that Cockers needs help. Someone is needed to gel it all together.To me he is a brilliant forwards coach but to run the whole club etc is too much. We should be brave and appoint some one to oversee the lot. I thought we had a good backs coach? Is he not back from holiday yet? To not learn from last season, this showed a few times on Saturday, will cost us dear. Surely catching a ball from the first kick of the season aint that hard is it?
Not saying Cockers has to go, just get him some help and explain why to him.Perhaps then we will get the best out of him and the team? Not a disaster yet but if nothing changes we will go downhill fast, like other things going on around us!
Remember Liverpool FC stuck by Rafa for too long, and had a manager to follow,Hodgson, who was not up to the bigger job/club,where are they now? Out of Europe!

[Stupid]

palletman - I can't agree with the suggestion that someone needs to come in above Cockerill. If you get a new head coach they need their own team - coaches that they know, work well with and trust, otherwise it just doesn't work. Just look at how things went when Loffreda came. If there was a new head coach/manager their team may include Cockerill (if Wells or Howard came back), but if anyone else comes it is unlikely. Personally I think things could be better (they always could) but I'm pretty happy with how the club is doing.

I do think the defense could be better, but we have a board with a lot of good rugby brains in it, that should be able to work with Cockerill to get the right defence coach in.

The other area that could be better (in my view) is player rotation. I can't help but feel that our top players may play that bit better and get fewer injuries if they had a few more scheduled rests. Equally the fringe players may get better and create more genuine competition if they were given a little bit more game time.

[Tiglon]

Personally... I think the team was rubbish last week.
I hope it improves.

Seems to me that a Tigers 2nd/3rd team with youth players on the bench did pretty well to come close to beating a near full strength Exeter team many are tipping to challenge for the top 6.

So our 18-year old fly half with virtually no experience whatsoever of top class rugby didn't always make the right decision, or execute everything perfectly... does this mean the coaching team don't have a clue? No, it means the kid is still learning!

It amazes me that people think our 2nd team should be better than everyone elses 1st team.

Defense. This week, it was as bad as it was last year.

So conceding the 3rd fewest tries, while playing an attacking style of rugby that saw the team score the most amount of tries, is bad defence?

Kicking off.

Too deep. Please try to aim around the 22, maybe just before.

Maybe it was decided that, with the players on the pitch, Exeter would have a better chance of claiming the ball from a restart and therefore the most sensible tactic was to push them as deep as possible.

Its simple. if you kick at goal from just inside your own half (36) into the wind, then everybody should be chasing the ball.

I agree, but it's one of the mysteries of the modern game that players almost never chase kicks at goal in case it's short or there's a rebound.

drop goals, pushing for try line.

if you're gonna pop back for a drop goal. make sure you get it.

Drop goals are easier to score than tries. Ford went for the percentage play and on this occasion it didn't come off. In my opinion he made the right choice. Unfortunately he missed it on this occasion, but that's gonna happen sometimes. If you keep ball in hand and go for a try, you're going to fail far more often.