SAINTS AT HOME 24TH APRIL 2021

[kk20gb30]

Personally would never make excuses and hate losing - but to those who are overly critical please remember where we were not too long ago.Two losses in two weeks - yes , but we could and perhaps should have won both games.
We are now competitive , seemingly irrespective of the starting fifteen,but for me though we must address properly the aspect of discipline which is becoming a repetitive and costly issue... Passion is great , mindlessness is not

[sam16111986]

Personally would never make excuses and hate losing - but to those who are overly critical please remember where we were not too long ago.Two losses in two weeks - yes , but we could and perhaps should have won both games.
We are now competitive , seemingly irrespective of the starting fifteen,but for me though we must address properly the aspect of discipline which is becoming a repetitive and costly issue... Passion is great , mindlessness is not

I think discipline has started to improve. We conceded fewer penalties than Saints. We've just been guilty of giving silly ones that look bad to officials. We've just got trust each other a little more and ease off the chase of the opposition flyhalf because recently a few hits on the 10 have been borderline and when Saints players went a little bit football yesterday it was easy for the TMO and ref to buy what they were selling and upgrade a pen to a yellow.

[CrumblingTerrace]

@kk20gb30, I sense the critique you're seeing here is because of our progress, not in spite of it.

It's a compliment to Borthwick. He's raised our expectations. We're expecting to win tight games now, not lose them.

[fentiger]

@kk20gb30, I sense the critique you're seeing here is because of our progress, not in spite of it.

It's a compliment to Borthwick. He's raised our expectations. We're expecting to win tight games now, not lose them.

Yes, exactly this. Not a bad thing to build expectation, however we still need to temper it with a touch of realism!
Felt Wells was harshly done by, attempted charge down which TMO and 'Ref' turned into, 'he clearly targetted the Milkmans standing leg'!
Don't get me started on Biggar...

[SthrnTiger]

On Biggar, did anyone else notice him tackle Nadolo by jumping at his neck?

Also when he injured his knee looked to me like that was because he was using his legs to tackle Nadolo again.

Btw overall think Dicksons decisions were odd at times for both teams and can’t blame the ref for the loss.

[wellstiger]

I think we played better rugby with a mix of the younger squad and the SA contingent.
However I feel we are still a good squad. tweaks are being made and yesterday was a step down.
One eye on Ulster or no we should still have had some better control.

I still feel we are on track, inevitable bump in the road. Move on keep calm and carry on.....

[JP14]

On the replay, it did look like Biggar was trying to trip Nadolo when he injured his knee...

[Postiger2]

We desperately need a top level attack coach. The forwards are doing a great job of creating scoring opportunities but we're very hit and miss when it comes to converting them. We need a more multi-faceted game imho. We have some very talented backs but we're not using them as effectively as we should do (again, imho). I agree with Austin's comment that leaving the attack coaching until last to sort out 'because it's the hardest to sort' does seem a bit short-sighted, especially as SB has generally done a great job so far.

To return to my original point, I'm very much hoping we have someone in mind and it's that we've had to wait for them.

[fentiger]

On the replay, it did look like Biggar was trying to trip Nadolo when he injured his knee...

That's why he was wendyball rolling around, to deflect attention from his trip!

[Dokie]

Green isn't good enough since he came back I am yet to see a game where I thought he was anything better than Average, play Lavanini whilst he is here, if not him then it must be Henderson or Martin.

Another game where we lost close and no one is looking at the international 10 that left more than enough points to win the match on the field yet jumped all over the other 10s in games we won for missing kicks.

Wallace was in effective, biggest change after HT was the fact we actually competed at the breakdown instead of hoping for Saints to mess up.

Van Wyk yet to stand up and be counted either.

Kelly going off was a big loss too

Agree on Van Wyk - not sure what he offers TBH - not quick, not physically dominant, not great under the high ball, not disciplined in defence and no great footwork.

Hopefully just a case of needing time to settle and we’ll see the true player in time to come

Before he arrived, I questioned his signing and was lambasted on here. Apart from one outstanding finish, his tries in NZ were largely walk ins and his appetite for defence was more than slightly questionable. And there was the ban for the incident with the scrum half. Sadly, I’ve been proved to be right and I’m afraid we are seeing the true player.
I’m sure some French teams would take him off our hands. Might be the best option all round. Wish I could locate that original post!

[Dokie]

ref didn't even look at the hit on Kelly, TMO told him it was unavoidable and play on, that alone should see the TMO suspended.

It was a shot with the shoulder with force to the head, mitigation down to a yellow and he didn't even get the ref to check it

It was off the ball too, wasn't it?

Late tackle as Kelly offloaded

The TMO got this one spot on. Ludlam did everything right, dropping his height in preparation to make the tackle but a split second before contact, Kelly was driven into him and his height dropped. Nothing Ludlam could have done to avoid it.
The irony is, Scott’s was 100% red. But Dickson talked it through, everything he said was red but he gave yellow. Swings and roundabouts.

[Big Dai]

I've been reading the comments with interest. Yes, there is progress in as much as we avoid big defeats and we are gainung LBPs. That optimism is tainted by the manner in which we surrender victory. (of late)

Not dealing with a kick off. To such an extent that we gain valuable points and then give three back via a dumb penalty given away at the kick off.

Which brings me onto point two. Discipline! Most on here were going on about this before the game. You can't help being pinged, especially when sir is incompetent , but the obvious and stupid could and should be avoided.

Point three, attack. We are back to "one two, bosh' again. We need (IMHO) support to make the offload possible now we have more than one source of ball carrier. Are we so predictable in the 3/4 that we are easy to pick off?

On totally different tack the Mrs "questioned" Biggar's tackle technique and rolling around afterwards.......

In all this I think dissapointment is heightened by an inability to do seemingly simple stuff. Stuff that if you got right would turn narrow defeats into narrow victories.

[BengalTiger]

Frustrating game, our England half backs came off second best to their opposite numbers, which we have come to expect, they are both fine players but too often play turgid kick chase rugby, everyone seemed off the pace, the forward drives were not well controlled, the pack played like a bunch of strangers, the some stupid penalties were conceded, again this is what we have come to expect, I hope we can push on but we are well behind a lot of teams in cohesion and in making the right choices with regarding discipline and distribution.

[JP14]

On the replay, it did look like Biggar was trying to trip Nadolo when he injured his knee...

That's why he was wendyball rolling around, to deflect attention from his trip!

Well, if he was trying to trip Nadolo then he got his just reward with a bang to the knee in my opinion. The rolling about might have been a bit football-esque but to me, the injury looked genuine.

[sapajo]

We desperately need a top level attack coach. The forwards are doing a great job of creating scoring opportunities but we're very hit and miss when it comes to converting them. We need a more multi-faceted game imho. We have some very talented backs but we're not using them as effectively as we should do (again, imho). I agree with Austin's comment that leaving the attack coaching until last to sort out 'because it's the hardest to sort' does seem a bit short-sighted, especially as SB has generally done a great job so far.

To return to my original point, I'm very much hoping we have someone in mind and it's that we've had to wait for them.

Clearly attack remains a non priority for SB he is right to focus on the set piece and forward play but that cannot continue to be at the expense of our attack. The improvements in our set piece and forward play are there for us all to see but frankly our attack is woeful as are the basics of catching and passing. Gone are the days when you can rely on beating the opposition solely by forward power. Case in point was in plain sight against Saints, they used to be like us a team heavily based on forward power but they have developed a complimentary and very effective attack. We can have both and we must.