Tigers v Newcastle (A) - Premiership - Friday 29th March 2024 - KO: 19-45

[tripeandonions]

There is no doubt that DMK, so far, is a conservative approach coach. Perhaps this is a reflection of what he has inherited, and the overall ingrained heritage of the club which has clearly been a strong factor in both his appointment and how the team is playing, this season.
But there must now be serious doubt, about whether this is going to bring success.
Is celebrating a brave, backs to the wall holdout win over a team with zero wins, the best that we can now muster - coming as it does after two successive defeats against the team that would otherwise be in last place? It's a long way from being good enough, and Tigers are currently only ranking as eighth out of nine, which I'd say is no cause for celebration.

[mol2]

The absence of an attack coach is all too apparent.
Beyond a rolling maul and Pollard’s cross field kicks have we seen any consistent attacking theme?
One decent run, passing along the line for OH-C try, absolutely nothing. Is our attack coach situation resolved? If not we need to bring someone in urgently if only on a temporary basis until the matter is formerly resolved with his return or a permanent replacement basis.

Without Reffell we have little means of gaining possession hence for much of the first half we were under the cosh. Not starting a 7 could have cost us against the worst team in the league.

Tigers scrum struggled before the second string front row came on. I know that our two first choice tight heads were out. But, given that Heyes was available last week, why wasn’t Cole rested last week instead? Clearly the internationals were shattered last week and it was simply not ideal to play them all and have to rest them all this week due to regulations, exhaustion and injury.
I am not sure if Cronin is carrying an injury or just unfit, but we have problems at loose head and that took its toll.

Titanic effort at the end but that should not have been needed if we had kept our discipline when we had them in their own 22.

[TigerFeetSteve]

I know that our two first choice tight heads were out. But, given that Heyes was available last week, why wasn’t Cole rested last week instead? Clearly the internationals were shattered last week and it was simply not ideal to play them all and have to rest them all this week due to regulations, exhaustion and injury.

Hurd had only just returned to match fitness, so it was decided to have Cole play last week to enable Hurd to be ready for the week he was away (obviously we didn't anticipate Heyes being injured) so it was expected we could have Heyes and Hurd for the week he was away rather than Heyes and Richardson, unfortunately the injury to Heyes made it Hurd Richardson instead.

Whatever plans we had for resting players possibly had to be changed last week. We had a bug in camp, Kelly, Pollard & Scott was ill (so I'm led to believe hence why Kelly played when he was ill) are the ones I know about it.

Unfortunately the fact a bug was going round the players it meant those who had been away from the others (ie internationals) were the least likely to have the bug and be unwell, so resting them may have been a luxury we couldn't afford..

[SETiger]

Well done to all of the guys who held out at the end - I really don't know how we did it but we did. As far as the penalty count is concerned - we were under a bit of pressure in the scrum before the penalties began to lead to yellow cards and after that, I think we were somewhat lucky to only have 2 forwards in the bin given the current laws and consequently down to 12 players on the pitch. The ref did not have much choice but to keep issuing the cards but at least we stopped them from getting a penalty try which a really good set of scrummaging forwards would have done.

The question of how the scrum is refereed in the red zone is pretty inconsistent though. Some refs would simply have insisted the attacking team use the ball if it's available (possibly because they want to avoid making a game-deciding decision). A penalty for a technical offence can be disproportionate but when you are allowed to compound that through multiple scrums it starts to look weird. I just hope no one looks at this and decides we need law changes to allow penalty tries from further out, or for more leeway for the refs to award one.

Seems to me that Newcastle really messed up, they seemed to be more interested in yellow cards than a score. If they had been ordered to "use it" they would have had their best chance of winning. But oh the irony of losing the game with a jackal penalty when we hadn't come close to one in the previous 100 minutes.

[Jimmy Skitz]

I thought Illione should have come on far far earlier last night he only got on about 30 seconds before the Clare yellow. Side note I noticed when Clare returned Phil C returned too as Montoya went back off, but Phil C went off to allow Cronin to return, what are the rules around this> I would have thought that Illione should have come back on or are we free to choose?

[longlivethecrumbie]

I thought Illione should have come on far far earlier last night he only got on about 30 seconds before the Clare yellow. Side note I noticed when Clare returned Phil C returned too as Montoya went back off, but Phil C went off to allow Cronin to return, what are the rules around this> I would have thought that Illione should have come back on or are we free to choose?

I also thought this was dubious and wondered when he was going to be back on.

On another note, I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the Falcons coaches box to see Dimes' reactions down the stretch

[AngusMcCoatup]

Just watching it back, Dickson was desperate to bin some of our players towards the end, he was far to pally and chatty all game with the Newcastle players in a way he wasn't with ours. Which at the least isn't a good look.

We need to find a way to have Shillcock and Pollard in the team together. Pollard needs that second playmaker.

We had the ball with 1 min on the clock why kick it away?

I thought the same about Dickson he was always talking to the Falcons players jovially and missing high tackles and dangerous moves but in the last twenty minutes he was so determined for Falcons to win..
I seem to remember similar attempts by Dickson at MWWR to sway the result away from Tigers.
But we missed at least 4 scoring chances camped on the line but not getting the ball down, we were our own worst enemy there not finishing the game with a four try bonus and avoiding the extra time
I feel sure Dickson will be asking for overtime payments at double time on a bank holiday too.

[SASCOkid]

Agreed re Ilione, Dan Mc. doesn't seem to have much faith in the younger lads and seems to be selecting on reputation. Weise played well yesterday but Pollard way off his best, Montoya also not up to his normal excellence. I thought the bench brought some much needed energy but substitutions too late in the game. We have to get a full 23 playing together at the moment we look like a disorganised rabble.

[aslongaswebeatsaints]

Agree with a lot on here but just want to add that some credit has to go to Newcastle. The improvements since Steve Diamond arrived are obvious - they are no longer the pushover some think.

[sapajo]

Agree with a lot on here but just want to add that some credit has to go to Newcastle. The improvements since Steve Diamond arrived are obvious - they are no longer the pushover some think.

So what does that say about us under Mckellar?

[Ian Cant]

Those of us at Newcastle were proud of the fight in the team and I remember last season up there and even the season we won the Premiership we only just got the job done.
Again we lack continuity in the squad due to injuries and International call ups.
Bath and Sarries too have rested some of their internationals this weekend but Quins certainly haven’t.
JVP was great last night and some of the penalties we gave away were a bit unlucky. Shilcock certainly brought better attacking intent from full back but Pollard has gone in Montpellier mood: some Falcons’ fans asked me why he hadn’t played for us like he does for South Africa! I didn’t know the answer.
Newcastle pushed Exeter all the way last week so the improvement was there but all game they pushed early in the scrum which resulted in many of their penalties!
That was commented to me by a neutral at the game who thought some of the decisions against us were harsh!
The next two league games we will be underdogs so it will be interesting and if we can get Chessum, Martin, Reffel and Heyes fit then I still believe the best is yet to come!

[Voyager1]

Just to highlight that Dickson was all over the place last night.

His first mistake was to ignore World Rugbys guidelines to speed the game up, especially at
caterpillar breakdowns and resetting scrums. Perhaps he was emulating Carley last week.
In the second half when resetting a scrum a Newcastle player received attention on the pitch
while two players were being subbed. While all that was going on he never stopped the clock,
I timed the total amount of time taken to complete that scrum was about 3m 45s.

In extra time when awarding another penalty to his mates, one of his mates had the audacity to
enquire about something and Dickson replied “It’s OK I’ve stopped the clock” this was in the 89th
minute. He hadn’t got a dicky bird at that point, he was panicking. RFU take note……

He obviously requires a refresher course on how to react in a pressured environment.

[aslongaswebeatsaints]

Agree with a lot on here but just want to add that some credit has to go to Newcastle. The improvements since Steve Diamond arrived are obvious - they are no longer the pushover some think.

So what does that say about us under Mckellar?

That’s my point. It’s not just about McKellar.

Personal view - we are a season in transition following Borths and his team going on another ‘journey’. Results not helped by the usual integration and fatigue issues of returning internationals in a post World Cup season. And the prem has levelled up due to teams picking the best player talent from the three failing teams. Among the previous bottom teams Glaws have improved from underperforming to expected because they have returned from an injury crisis. Newcastle have a marmite manager who knows how to build competitiveness in an underdog. And Bristol have hit some form with the dry weather but remain hit and miss. Among the rest Quins are being Quins, Exeter are half way through Baxter’s rebuild with youngsters. Sale are being Sale, while Bath, Saracens and the Saints are the three teams edging ahead.

As such I don’t think it says anything about McKellar. I’ll judge McKellar next season.

[sapajo]

Agree with a lot on here but just want to add that some credit has to go to Newcastle. The improvements since Steve Diamond arrived are obvious - they are no longer the pushover some think.

So what does that say about us under Mckellar?

That’s my point. It’s not just about McKellar.

Personal view - we are a season in transition following Borths and his team going on another ‘journey’. Results not helped by the usual integration and fatigue issues of returning internationals in a post World Cup season. And the prem has levelled up due to teams picking the best player talent from the three failing teams. Among the previous bottom teams Glaws have improved from underperforming to expected because they have returned from an injury crisis. Newcastle have a marmite manager who knows how to build competitiveness in an underdog. And Bristol have hit some form with the dry weather but remain hit and miss. Among the rest Quins are being Quins, Exeter are half way through Baxter’s rebuild with youngsters. Sale are being Sale, while Bath, Saracens and the Saints are the three teams edging ahead.

As such I don’t think it says anything about McKellar. I’ll judge McKellar next season.

My point is that if Diamond can improve Newcastle so quickly why can't Mckellar do the same for Tigers?????

[Tigersunited]

My concern about DMK is that the lack of attack coach could be a red herring. Will a quality attack coach improve our drills and preparation? I would assume so, will said attack coach be playing their head coaches game plan? I would assume so…..
Also concerned we get another Aussie he has worked with before, we don’t need jobs for the boys, we need experience and a proven winner - hoping we get an attach coach with premiership pedigree