Too much cider to post yesterday.
Ref was very good. Made the pace flow quickly and pinged what many PRL refs would let slide in the ruck.
Defence was good.
Discipline was generally good. But we were hard pressed in the second half.
Lineouts much better
Scrum was strong up against a very heavy scrum.
Line speed was good
Tackling good.
BUT. Both sides lacked finishers.
Both sides lacked the ability to find space
Both sides had poor service from their 10s.
In our case, Lima might has well have sent them a note to say where he was next passing the ball. He received it, turned his shoulders to face where it was going and passed it there, regardless if there was a defender already up. I don't want to say this, but Umaga is way better than this display from Sopoaga.
After the ball got to Jimmy, we were going backwards and sidewards.
Our wings had no chance ball in hand. every time they got the ball, the defence had slid sideways with us leaving the wing marked by 3 men.
When we did break through (at least 3 times), there was no support. Off one of these we scored, off the others we did not.
The ruck often delivered the ball to Porter, for him to see no one ready to receive. Sopoaga often missing as receiver.
The big difference between the first and second half is we got desperate and panicky, thus losing the ball. The other difference was that Edinburgh realised we had no one capable of catching a kick chase ball. So they pumped ball after ball up and watched our wingers and Sopoaga struggle. Only Minozzi coped with these.
We really need some wingers who can catch and run with with these kicks, and we also need wingers who can chase and compete for our own kick chase balls. In fact, we really need 3 wingers in the squad who are actually wingers, and not sevens whizz bang runners. None of our wingers seem capable of these basic roles.
The issue then? We may have a large squad, getting smaller each week, but we do not have finishers or creative players. If we were at full strength, I would say our forwards are fine. But the backs need a serious culling. Given that some have just been signed (or re-signed), that will not happen to as many as it needs to.
I just don't see either Sopoaga or Fekitoa as worth any more than Le Bourgeois or Umaga.
Our MoTM? For me that was YY, by a long way. But he did not look fully match fit, even saying that.