Reflections on Saturday

mike · Post by **mike** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:19 am

One of the most enjoyable games for ages with both teams actually playing open ,entertaining rugby . The good points for Tigers were :-
1. Excellent scrumaging by the front row - Castro must be 1st choice at tight head now given his all round excellence .
2. Hamilton was a revelation - towering in the line out , tackled well and comfortable with ball in hand .
3. A good balanced back row that was much more effective .
4.John Murhpy - could be a very fine player - far more effective and reliable than Vesty .
5. Burke had a good solid game that should give him confidence but needs to be more inventive than just shipping the ball on .
6. After his initial mistake Humphreys recovered and played really well - has a better all round game than any of our other fly halves and took his try well - almost Healey like !

Bad points - not many , 1. line out a shambles apart from Hamilton . Buckland's throwing in was rubbish and I was amazed he was only pinged once for delayed throw ins - shame because he had a good game otherwise . 2. Hipkiss - again a few good breaks but try lost because he yet again did not pass , and poor effort at tackle gave a try away .

I wouldn't make many changes next week though - Kay for Cullen , Corry for Crane , Gibson for hipkiss , geordan for Lloyd .

Chobbsy · Post by **Chobbsy** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:40 am

I thought it was a fair performance against a poor/average side, but it was good to see Johnny Murphy build on last weeks performance.

Front row outstanding destroyed the opposition.

Flankers were great.

Humphries was good but looked too light weight.

I agree cabbage was lucky to be only pinged once for dummy throw.

Danny Hipkiss would be a far better player if he was more aware of who was around him.

But again it was a comfortable win.

simon redshaw · Post by **simon redshaw** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:57 am

Agree that Danny Hipkiss needs to pass a bit more and be aware of those about him more. However, he is making some really good breaks and is doing good in my opinion. The passing can be drilled into him, maybe?

One break he made I think in the second half nearly brought a try.

I think we played well all round and something to build on - positives for coming weeks that I hope are continued. Great defence mostly when needed, much positive and attacking play. Just lost the ball needlessly on occasions which needs to be improved on.

Very Good though.

Phil B · Post by **Phil B** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:50 am

Overall I thought we played better than against Sale - then our sheer power and agression blew them away - Saturday I thought we were in control in every department - a very solid performance - must have had Howard and Cockers purring.

MikeWW · Post by **MikeWW** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:12 pm

I only have 2 minor critiscisms really but I think if we do not address them it will cause problems when we meet stronger opposition:

1) I thought we gave away 2 'soft' tries. 1 from an interception and one because we couldn't seem to tackle.

2) Contact skills let us down a few times with too many balls spilled in the tackle.

Other than that it was a great game and I'm really pleased I was at WR to watch it!

Osprey in Leicester · Post by **Osprey in Leicester** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:26 pm

Dont want to burst your bubble but the Dragons made 13 changes themselves from the League match the week before, but it was a good match to watch.

smith482 · Post by **smith482** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:28 pm

Well I for one thoroughly enjoyed it - agree about Hipkiss needs to offload sooner but making some lovely breaks, nice to see some good open rugby - well played lads

G.K · Post by **G.K** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:21 pm

Obviously a better performance than some recent ones, but against a somewhat depleted Dragons team remember and it was at Welford Road.

On the positives:

The backs looked sharper and the new guys of J Murphy and Humphries looked promising, but they need to decide better when to run and when to kick and get the decisions right. After a slow start Leon looked good on the wing and all around a better choice than Varndell. Burke had a better game and fair play to him for that but Humphries looks a better long term prospect. Hipkiss makes some very good breaks but often wastes them with his awareness (lack of) when and where to offload. Bemand also is really coming on but the big difference was when Gibson came on, then things really do happen. We will need him there for the big games.

The forwards were pretty much dominant, as they often are at WR. Castro and Hamilton in particular. Buckland still second choice Hooker for me but a good second choice, also lucky not to be pinged for blocking the tackler when Jennings scored. Poetic justice I suppose though as the disallowed try a bit earlier looked good to me. Need to decide what to do with Moody, is he going to be first choice openside or play at blindside?

On the negatives:

Two soft tries again, didn't matter on the day but another day, another game, it will. Yes too many spilt balls in contact for my liking. Alexana is particularly prone to this.

Can we give the same kind of performance though away from the comfort of WR? That is the problem that we have to solve.