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

[TigerFeetSteve]

More controversy in reffing...

Herbst was yellow carded for Quins...

He only served 7 minutes off the pitch before he was returned to the field of play...

[BengalTiger]

For me the Newcastle scrum had Diamond's fingerprints all over it, he knows Dickson has neither the knowledge or the nouse to see the early push, the angled shove and the classic Diamond shuffle (also known as wheeling).
Every team he coaches have the same play book, credit to him as they seem to work nearly every time, as the refs are clueless at the scrum.

Oh, and please, the commentator fancies himself as a wordsmith, me I just want to have the action described with no long alliterations and poetic flights of fancy.

[fentiger]

For me the Newcastle scrum had Diamond's fingerprints all over it, he knows Dickenson has neither the knowledge or the nouse to see the early push, the angled shove and the classic Diamond shuffle (also known as wheeling).
Every team he coaches have the same play book, credit to him as they seem to work nearly every time, as the refs are clueless at the scrum.

Oh, and please, the commentator fancies himself as a wordsmith, me I just want to have the action described with no long alliterations and poetic flights of fancy.

Yes and yes
Commentator wouldn't hold a candle to the greatest of them all - Bill McLaren

[fortysix]

McKellar gives the distinct impression he is not at the races. We beat Quims away, we beat Bath away, but some of the other performances have been absolutely dire attacking wise. Our kick chase is non existent., and the sole reason for a box kick is to pressurise the opposition.

It doesnt help Whiteley has been at 9, when he is patently Championship standard at the very best, and Pollard is not on song.
Youngs is so slow now he is the McDonalds to JVP's rare wagyu beef. Youngs does absolutely nothing apart from box kick and pass----slowly . Where is his Devil may Care attitude?? At least Care makes things happen for Quims.

Kata is a red herring because his Tuilagi style of rugby is back in the dark ages and too often everything slows down when he is bought to ground. Bish bosh. I think he is better as a replacement against tired defenders

Kelly has totally lost it( hopefully temporarily) and Scott doesnt seem to have a stable role under McKellar.

Bassett is not up to standard, sorry to say, and OHC hardly ever gets the bloo*y ball.

Steward's mind must be all over the place, but he isnt going to get chosen for England now that 15's have to be ultra quick. He is a stone lighter than Estehausen, but if he bulked up, he could make a wonderful centre. Decision time.

Then overall the backs inter passing is just awful, appalling until..
Until they suddenly decide to throw caution to the wind, as if they all have been injected simultaneously. Never has a specialist backs coach been more urgently needed, and in my mind its shocking we havent employed someone.

I think next week will see Leinster win easily but the week after, nothing would surprise me if Stains got a lesson in durability at FG.. at least in the main our defence has been excellent. And with JVP back......

[BengalTiger]

I thought the award of MOM to JVP was a joke, he was not even the best SC on the pitch, and for me is very ponderous in getting to the ball and the dithering when he gets there, light years behind a young Ben Youngs

[aslongaswebeatsaints]

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?????

Fair point. I don’t know I’m not an Aussie Prem Manager. Neither am I a Newcastle fan. New manager bounce?

[sam16111986]

I thought the award of MOM to JVP was a joke, he was not even the best SC on the pitch, and for me is very ponderous in getting to the ball and the dithering when he gets there, light years behind a young Ben Youngs

I have no idea what game you were watching. JvP was a big stand out. Crisp passing from the base, kicked well and made things happen when he picked and went. The issues began once the ball left his hands.

[OakhamTiger32]

For me the Newcastle scrum had Diamond's fingerprints all over it, he knows Dickson has neither the knowledge or the nouse to see the early push, the angled shove and the classic Diamond shuffle (also known as wheeling).
Every team he coaches have the same play book, credit to him as they seem to work nearly every time, as the refs are clueless at the scrum.

Oh, and please, the commentator fancies himself as a wordsmith, me I just want to have the action described with no long alliterations and poetic flights of fancy.

Completely agree.. so cheating at the scrum is ok however apparently having some illegal blockers in the maul is totally unacceptable

[Jimmy Skitz]

For me the Newcastle scrum had Diamond's fingerprints all over it, he knows Dickson has neither the knowledge or the nouse to see the early push, the angled shove and the classic Diamond shuffle (also known as wheeling).
Every team he coaches have the same play book, credit to him as they seem to work nearly every time, as the refs are clueless at the scrum.

Oh, and please, the commentator fancies himself as a wordsmith, me I just want to have the action described with no long alliterations and poetic flights of fancy.

their 9 seemed to be bounce passing the ball into the second row too, not sure how the hooker could even attempt to strike that.

Your right about the early shove too, they moved about a foot off the mark every engage

[voice of the crumbie]

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

And he's not the only one. Remember our very own much maligned Cockers making a difference at Toulon and Edinburgh quickly too.

Am I wrong to expect at least some signs of cohesion and improvement from a coach with an international pedigree? I'm asking because I'm bemused because we see the same old things each week. Let's hope improvement comes soon.

[sam16111986]

For me the Newcastle scrum had Diamond's fingerprints all over it, he knows Dickson has neither the knowledge or the nouse to see the early push, the angled shove and the classic Diamond shuffle (also known as wheeling).
Every team he coaches have the same play book, credit to him as they seem to work nearly every time, as the refs are clueless at the scrum.

Oh, and please, the commentator fancies himself as a wordsmith, me I just want to have the action described with no long alliterations and poetic flights of fancy.

Completely agree.. so cheating at the scrum is ok however apparently having some illegal blockers in the maul is totally unacceptable

Yes, because an no point did Falcons use blockers for their rolling maul

Diamond is a well experienced head coach. The guy Falcons had in before was used to working on set piece for decent French teams. He wasn't used to not having an experienced backroom staff and being so under budgeted. Diamond is in his element in those situations. Push the limits at the set piece, contest everything, try to nudge the ref into decisions you want. It's all out the Diamond playbook.

I see Falcons are bemoaning their lack of lineout accuracy and inability to get points from entries to the 22. Attack being the trickiest thing to implement.

[CrumblingTerrace]

It doesnt help Whiteley has been at 9, when he is patently Championship standard at the very best, and Pollard is not on song.
Youngs is so slow now he is the McDonalds to JVP's rare wagyu beef. Youngs does absolutely nothing apart from box kick and pass----slowly . Where is his Devil may Care attitude?? At least Care makes things happen for Quims.

Kata is a red herring because his Tuilagi style of rugby is back in the dark ages and too often everything slows down when he is bought to ground. Bish bosh. I think he is better as a replacement against tired defenders

Kelly has totally lost it( hopefully temporarily) and Scott doesnt seem to have a stable role under McKellar.

Bassett is not up to standard, sorry to say, and OHC hardly ever gets the bloo*y ball.

Steward's mind must be all over the place, but he isnt going to get chosen for England now that 15's have to be ultra quick. He is a stone lighter than Estehausen, but if he bulked up, he could make a wonderful centre. Decision time.

Then overall the backs inter passing is just awful, appalling until..
Until they suddenly decide to throw caution to the wind, as if they all have been injected simultaneously. Never has a specialist backs coach been more urgently needed, and in my mind its shocking we havent employed someone.

Our (mostly) International backs are not awful players. They have proven the opposite over their careers.

They are, however, playing some awful rugby at the moment.

The sum is significantly less than the parts and for me, that points to something deeper. The lack of a senior coach, the strategy, their confidence... I don't know what it is (otherwise I'd tell Dan), but I just don't see that the problem resides with individual players.

[mol2]

Agree our backs seem to have no structure in attack.

Using Kata as the crash ball every time is as predictable as Cockers “Chuck it to Manu” but less effective. The initial boshing should be role of the forwards, but it’s not happening.

[sam16111986]

Agree our backs seem to have no structure in attack.

Using Kata as the crash ball every time is as predictable as Cockers “Chuck it to Manu” but less effective. The initial boshing should be role of the forwards, but it’s not happening.

We have structure but it's very basic. We look to narrow the defence through the forwards and Kata running hard lines. Once there's some space we immediately go to the touchline for the winger to take the metres from the narrowed defence. The height and speed of Bassett and OHC mean that this works as they are good for the crossfield kick and can work their way in off the touchline when the cover defence comes across.

There's no subtlety to the attack with the carrier being obvious making it easy for the opposition to double tackle. The better sides will draw up the defence and then pop onto a support runner etc. imagine Weise crashing onto a short pass through a soft shoulder rather than directly into two set defenders.

[tripeandonions]

How good and close is the working relationship between Pollard and McKellar?
A TV commentator/analyst (don't recall which) recently made what I thought was a key observation - how crucial this relationship is to club performance.