Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

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mightymouse
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by mightymouse »

They were a good team and we were not at our best but: Re Nigel _ firstly I agree about all the scrum pens against us. We were clearly the better scrum and he he did the usual arbitrary decisions, and didn't have a clue what he was talking about in the end. Actually I just got annoyed with Tigers in the end for not realising that if you won your own scrum ball held it in and went for the drive he was just going to penalise you, so you may as well just get rid. He is yet another one of these refs who cannot bear to see the scrum and will penalise you for trying to use it as a weapon.

There was one of their scoring penalties when their loose head fallen on the wrong side of our ruck and then he penalised us instead of them.

I think their knock oN near the end of the game was deliberate and yet instead of the penalty we deserved he gave us the scum and then penalised us again.

So in spite of not playing that well I think had it been properly refereed we could have built more momentum and won.

I don't buy this business about Owens being a good referee, he is a pedantic little ... and hasn't got a scooby what goes on in the scrum and make plainly wrong decisions.

On a final point why are our coaches obsessed by Ben Youngs? For a scrum half he lacks a very key skill... the laddie canna pass!!!!
Iain
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by Iain »

Can't fault the effort. We came within three points of a very good team. If you want to see a textbook example of how to work the drift defence look at Racing's performance yesterday. Gave us no space in the wide channels at all. The pressure they put on us in defence contributed to the high rate of handling errors - but doesn't completely explain it.

You can't legislate for handling errors. There's nothing you can do to coach them differently at this level to avoid that. It's inexplicable - it merely happened and it killed us.

I don't want to point fingers and lay the blame at any individual but Youngs had a game he'll want to forget. He was put under a lot of pressure and didn't have a lot of good ball to work with - but as an international scrum half he'd expect himself to be able to deal with that. Unfortunately in a pivotal position like scrum half, that had a huge impact on our performance. Ben has games like that, roughly about one in twenty, when nothing goes right and he looks a shadow of himself. The last I remember like that was away to Exeter. He's an outstanding player and yesterday doesn't change that but he fell a log way short of his own standards yesterday.
wormus
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by wormus »

Iain wrote:Can't fault the effort. We came within three points of a very good team.
I don't want to point fingers and lay the blame at any individual but Youngs had a game he'll want to forget. He was put under a lot of pressure and didn't have a lot of good ball to work with - but as an international scrum half he'd expect himself to be able to deal with that. Unfortunately in a pivotal position like scrum half, that had a huge impact on our performance. Ben has games like that, roughly about one in twenty, when nothing goes right and he looks a shadow of himself. The last I remember like that was away to Exeter. He's an outstanding player and yesterday doesn't change that but he fell a log way short of his own standards yesterday.
Totally agree on Ben Youngs nightmare game BUT why did we not bring Harrison on at half time as Youngs slow retrieval from the scrums cost us so many times.
Dom Barrow cost us two kicked penalties by not rolling out the way when Owens told him twice, Owens did not have a great game either. Well played Owen Williams straight on and kicks the penalty and tried hard throughout.
Back to basics again at Oval Park - quick ball, pass, catch, tackle & two hands on scoring.
mightymouse
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by mightymouse »

A lot of the spilt ball was I the tackle. That is simple ball retention. Now either the Racing tackles were either particularly brutal or we are so often looking for the offload that the ball is more exposed in the contact area
G.K
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by G.K »

mightymouse wrote:They were a good team and we were not at our best but: Re Nigel _ firstly I agree about all the scrum pens against us. We were clearly the better scrum and he he did the usual arbitrary decisions, and didn't have a clue what he was talking about in the end. Actually I just got annoyed with Tigers in the end for not realising that if you won your own scrum ball held it in and went for the drive he was just going to penalise you, so you may as well just get rid. He is yet another one of these refs who cannot bear to see the scrum and will penalise you for trying to use it as a weapon.

There was one of their scoring penalties when their loose head fallen on the wrong side of our ruck and then he penalised us instead of them.

I think their knock oN near the end of the game was deliberate and yet instead of the penalty we deserved he gave us the scum and then penalised us again.

So in spite of not playing that well I think had it been properly refereed we could have built more momentum and won.

I don't buy this business about Owens being a good referee, he is a pedantic little ... and hasn't got a scooby what goes on in the scrum and make plainly wrong decisions.

On a final point why are our coaches obsessed by Ben Youngs? For a scrum half he lacks a very key skill... the laddie canna pass!!!!
Yes quite right on these points, Nigel interprets the laws as he sees fit and yes those two scrum penalties clearly went the wrong way. Best ref in the world? No way! However as you say Tigers should be well aware of this and play accordingly.

However to balance things up he then disallowed their try for the knock on that wasn't. If he wasn't 100% sure he should have allowed the play to complete and then review it. To be fair he realised he'd messed up and apologised.

As for Ben Young's passing, mostly slow and awful and makes it difficult to build momentum. Never really got Manu over the gain line often enough and for me Manu's not as effective at 12 as 13.

Other main problem is the rucking, too often forwards were AWOL and backs had to try and re-cycle the ball. Fair enough trying to play this all-court Rugby but we need to get the forward play at the breakdown sorted first.
Nowadays referees decide matches, players by how much.
The Boy Dave
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by The Boy Dave »

Other main problem is the rucking, too often forwards were AWOL and backs had to try and re-cycle the ball. Fair enough trying to play this all-court Rugby but we need to get the forward play at the breakdown sorted first.
Team hasn't got the right shape for me.
It's unbalanced by selection issues etc.
I want loose forwards playing like loose forwards, front five playing like front five, do the basics first and the flash comes after.
It's all over the place and inconsistent as a result.
The backs can be outstanding given the proper platform.
Nothing to make me believe it'll be any different next season if it can be so amateur this season.
Also new players to fit in next season so in transition again.
Found out again by a good team, good teams will do that!
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PAW
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by PAW »

Away from the game, the ref and random scrum decisions;

- Thought the City Ground was easy to get to. Easy to park
- Struggled to get a pint as the pubs were packed- nice Doom Bar from a barrel outside the rowing club.
- Awful seats! £45 to sit at ground level, in the corner, behind the posts? Really?
- Appreciated the drummers trying to get the crowd going. Hopefully they will become regulars
- Stewards were friendly and helpful (probably pleased to have Rugby fans to deal with)
- Eventually spotted the stadium clock after 78 mins, buried at pitch level, far corner and hard to see next to glaring electronic advertising boards.
- Thought the announcer was a bit "Wasps" like. Rugby is a game for grown ups who don't need fake excitement injecting.

Shame about the result. All we have to do is win 4 in a row (yes pedants - I know 3 from 4 is also possible - but lets be sure)
mol2
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by mol2 »

What a dump the city ground is. Why did we play there? Getting there is fine.

Ok the Crisp bowl was in use but what about the Ricoh or Pride park?

The ticketing arrangements left a lot to be desired:
Given the place was half empty they seemed to have sold the :censored: seats first.
Some seats were sold twice and the stewards had to find alternatives.

Toilet facilities were poor, and for ladies almost non-existent. Getting to them was a nightmare as spotty oik had set up the temporary bottle bar exactly opposite the main bar in the Brian Cough stand causing a huge and potentially dangerous bottle neck.
RagingBull
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by RagingBull »

The Boy Dave wrote:
Other main problem is the rucking, too often forwards were AWOL and backs had to try and re-cycle the ball. Fair enough trying to play this all-court Rugby but we need to get the forward play at the breakdown sorted first.
Team hasn't got the right shape for me.
It's unbalanced by selection issues etc.
I want loose forwards playing like loose forwards, front five playing like front five, do the basics first and the flash comes after.
It's all over the place and inconsistent as a result.
The backs can be outstanding given the proper platform.
Nothing to make me believe it'll be any different next season if it can be so amateur this season.
Also new players to fit in next season so in transition again.
Found out again by a good team, good teams will do that!
Agree with most points.

I think Williams and O'Connor at 6 and 7 would have made a big difference at the breakdown but the trouble is we need to be able to have like for like replacements, Fitz isn't a 6 really IMO, and Croft isn't a similar player to Williams at all. McCaffrey whilst playing very well isn't a similar player to O'Connor either Although Evans certainly looks like he could potentially be that player. Maybe we have a williams esque player in the academy as well somewhere Milne? Beckett? (Although Beckett seems to be a TH for Souths)

Fonua looks out of depth at 8 against a team with a player like Masoe, whether this is due to match fitness it remains to be seen (IMO it isn't), he played lock for Bayonne a few times maybe that would be a better place for him in the long term. But it is def a place where we need to spend big when the right player is available cough Beaumont cough.

Tight 5 wasn't to bad I thought but the 2 props look tired and IMO if we can get away with using them for a limited time during the next 3 weeks the better. Ayerza should be getting a full pre season off for the first time in a age so that is a positive. Barrow who has been playing very well went back into his Newcastle ill-discipline self unfortunately yesterday but is only 23, Kitchener skill set has struggled in the loose and has lost his form from last season and would have a fit Slater ahead of him. Thacker weight is always going to be an issue at the breakdown it isn't so bad if you have a proper 6/7 combo who you can rely on in the tight to slow up ball and then you can afford to move Thacker out wide to defend (Where he is very good at) And TBF his scurmmaging has improved in the last 2 weeks hopefully it stays that way as he is a talent.

With a back row we had starting yesterday we needed a Tom Youngs in the tight rather than a Thacker and IMO If slater was fit enough he should of been in that back row.

Regarding New players not to the same extent of this season Toomua and JPP are the only ones I would put straight into the starting lineup, the others are either depth players (Cilliers and Brady or Youngsters like McCguigan).


SIDE NOTE
The Champions cup needs to sort out the play offs big style it needs to allow Clubs a say in where to play and it needs Clubs to have a say on ticket prices and it needs to give more of a gap between Finals. Would rather both Semis played on the same day (Saturday) TBH.
trendylfj
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by trendylfj »

Apart from the performance and the result, my biggest grip was the music they played for Racing when they scored and the dour stuff they played for us. One was encouraging and saying well done and the other would not have inspired a bird to fly.
Hehehehehehehehe
Noddy555
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by Noddy555 »

Well we tried but even though it may be unfair to single out one individual after that poor performance, I must mention Opati Fanoa or Fanua he had 7 carries in the first half he dropped the ball 4 times and knocked on once, that is not good enough for a Tigers No.8 especially one of international class. We should have started with McCaffrey at 8 and Croft at either 6 or 7. To me Opati will never become a top class player and can we afford such expensive subs particularly when they continually under perform. However if we get a bonus point win over Worcester this weekend then we are assured of 4th place in the Aviva and a probable semi final against Sarries.
rcooper
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingha

Post by rcooper »

Was yesterday a handling errors record for tigers? I cannot remember so many in the time I have been watching them. How can a scrum going backwards get a ball out the back so quick? Little clue the hooker was not required to hook. Racings defence was top notch. And I had the pleasure of sitting amongst the racing fans, how can so few make so much noise lol.
sapajo
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by sapajo »

trendylfj wrote:Apart from the performance and the result, my biggest grip was the music they played for Racing when they scored and the dour stuff they played for us. One was encouraging and saying well done and the other would not have inspired a bird to fly.
Agreed! I hated the Racing piped chant after every score, same as when they played Stand up for the Saracens against Wasps :smt009 I cannot understand how they are allowed to play that when Smoke on the water was not played at all??? Thought the commentary and music was lousy and from where I sat I could not see a match clock, I cannot understand why it was not on the Big Screens ? Rant over.
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Robespierre
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by Robespierre »

Sadly (do I mean that?!), I couldn't watch the game, but it appears to me that there wasn't exactly an atmosphere that one would associate with the European Rugby semi-final. They'd have been better off playing the match at Friar Lane Old Boys - at least the ground would have been full!!
Why did European Rugby decide to stage the match on the same day that City were at home? Why couldn't the Wasps/Sarries game have been played on the Sunday?
The ticket pricing policy too, needs to be looked at. The prices seemed to be beyond the pocket of your "ordinary supporter".

The final in Lyon isn't exactly going to be atmospheric either. We all know that Sarries fans aren't very numerous (8,000 was it, for a home Q final is pitiful) and Racing don't attract the big crowds, and even the French neutral is unlikely to be behind Racing, and I'd imagine that the average English fan won't give a toss either!!
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TigerCam
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Re: Racing Metro Paris at Nottingham

Post by TigerCam »

GS wrote:Apparently Cockers went into the changing room after the game and sat down and in despair put his head in his hands - and dropped it.
I think that that is all that needs to be said.
Whoever said "one person cannot change the world' never ate undercooked bat
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