What has changed?

[Hymenoptera]

No matter when you watch the game Jaq, the spilled balls, intercepts, awful kicks will still be there..but I respect each to their own

[Jac A]

No matter when you watch the game Jaq, the spilled balls, intercepts, awful kicks will still be there..but I respect each to their own

They will, and the result will still be the same too. But I know that at the end of todays game I was saying that I can't remember a worse performance. I'm sure if I can be bothered to watch it again in the week I'll see some things that I didn't notice at the time because I was swearing at Umaga for missing touch or Cardall for whatever that nonsense thing he did in the line out was. But I'll also have probably remembered at least half a dozen equally dire performances we've put in over the years which will give me a bit more perspective.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Don't underestimate the role of confidence and how it affects all sportsmen (and women) and feeds in to a teams performance:

The batsman who scores freely seems to get all the breaks, nicks fly over or through the slips, big shots go just over the boundary fielders' heads or just wide of them, when they get bowled it turns out to have been a no-ball. Their team mates feed off this and they seem unstoppable.

Then, all of a sudden something inexplicable happens and nicks get caught, they can't hit the ball off the square and everything starts going wrong. They tighten up and that makes it worse and they start to play against the percentages to try to break their bad luck and it gets even worse.

I think we've seen something similar. After the break Jimmy rarely missed a kick, Jacob was finding massive touch kicks, long passes were going to hand etc. Everything they tried worked. This not only gave them confidence but also made the opposition wary. You even get the better end of refs' 50/50 calls and rarely pick up injuries.

Then, inexplicably, Jimmy misses a simple kick, Jacob misses a touch and they return it with interest, a long pass doesn't go to hand and gets dropped, the ball gets spilled in tackles, a tackle is missed. All of a sudden you start doubting yourself and getting tense. To make it worse the ref seems to have it in for you and you get more of those "rugby accidents" that we saw at the start of yesterday's game. It seems like a downward spiral

How to break that is one of sports mysteries, we were in a similar position at the start of the year and Dai left. Whether its the fresh start or something else is difficult to even guess at as an outsider, but I'm not advocating sacking coaches every time you go on one of these slumps.

Maybe we're not going to be the runaway league leaders and the style of play we had at the end of last season will mean the opposition are in with a chance of scoring, but the attitude of we'll score more can overcome that, but we will lose games. Its not the losing, its the manner of the loss that's dispiriting and feeds the lack of confidence.

Hopefully Joe, Will, Jack and Dobbie back will be that change and a catalyst for a couple of wins to rebuild build that confidence, not just with the players but with the coaches as well because they must be doubting themselves and that will feed in to the squad.

[Chunky24]

We need one of the three other 9s to nail down the spot when Robson is not there.

A confident 9 playing well helps out both the forwards and backs giving them direction and time, he also can communicate the most with the ref about what's going on around the breakdown and adapt the game plan to it.
We have seen 2 experienced opposition 9s do exactly that in the last 2 games against us.

So far none of them have really managed that for more than a short period in a game, I had high hopes for Vellacott who I thought was a good signing and still do but the injury seems to have set him back more than we might have thought.

[Heathen]

Defence not quite organised and oppressive enough - Malakai and forcing the attack partly because the lineout is going t*ts up - Joe and Will.

[WonkyWasp]

Was Jimmy injured when he first came on the field or did it happen when he kicked that penalty??  No excuses  but the team was beset by constant injuries finishing  up with  Umaga seeingly soldiering on with a broken cheek bone (or similiar)  and Levi barely able to  use his left eye. I like YY but have always had reservations about his  captaincy  -  it never seems  to go well.  2  young players would appear to have been messed up by EJ.  I am now going to the Libraary with a bottle of brandy  and a loaded pistol.

[mike909]

Confidence and just luck play a big part in getting results. Look at the Saints, Briz game, decided on a rather (to my mind) harsh penalty for a "deliberate" knock on in the 79th minute - a game, Saints deserved to win - but would have travelled back up the M5 thinking HTF did we lose that game? And Briz will be likely honest enough to know on Monday morning at training that they got more than they probably deserved, but will have a spring in their step, that would have been missing, had that penalty gone wide....

Yesterday - after a shonky start, we were on the attack and a terribly offside N'Castle 9 made Jimmy knock on....that probably was a penalty Wasps, kick to corner, drive and try.....but scrum against, went the length of field eventually and they scored. In that parallel universe,  HT might have been Wasps ahead......which is a totally different game....

End of last season, we had confidence we got the breaks - and confidence breeds success.

That said - we did then facilitate N'Castle having an easy ride by allowing that run in - which basically destroyed any chances - and we started more and more to look like a team that had been introduced in the changing room and discussed strategy in the tunnel......we were looking like 15 individuals, not a team, too often.

Getting the stars back will help matters - panicking will not help - it's these times where senior players need to stand up and the coaching team needs to take stock and look to how they will get to the next league game with a fit 23.....

[backdoc]

Was Jimmy injured when he first came on the field or did it happen when he kicked that penalty??  No excuses  but the team was beset by constant injuries finishing  up with  Umaga seeingly soldiering on with a broken cheek bone (or similiar)  and Levi barely able to  use his left eye. I like YY but have always had reservations about his  captaincy  -  it never seems  to go well.  2  young players would appear to have been messed up by EJ.  I am now going to the Libraary with a bottle of brandy  and a loaded pistol.

With Miss Scarlet?

[Mellie]

The difference between post lockdown last season and this season is preparation.

Previously we had a full, fit squad. The games came thick and fast so they had short, focused sessions where everyone knew what they were doing and confidence to do it under pressure thereby upping the intensity in games.

Now we have disrupted sessions with people injured or away and coming back in with no training time because we don't have enough cover.

Jason Ryles, the England skills coach, is so right about passing making a difference. Players need to hone their skills by practicing together so they execute precisely under pressure. We have not had that time so everything appears forced, laboured and inaccurate. When we do get better preparation time that will return and confidence will grow from that.

[JF]

Pressure. They've done it once, and now the expectation is that they should do it again.

[HDAWG]

The difference between post lockdown last season and this season is preparation.

Previously we had a full, fit squad. The games came thick and fast so they had short, focused sessions where everyone knew what they were doing and confidence to do it under pressure thereby upping the intensity in games.

Now we have disrupted sessions with people injured or away and coming back in with no training time because we don't have enough cover.

Jason Ryles, the England skills coach, is so right about passing making a difference. Players need to hone their skills by practicing together so they execute precisely under pressure. We have not had that time so everything appears forced, laboured and inaccurate. When we do get better preparation time that will return and confidence will grow from that.

This is a good shout. I'd say that not having a break and player fatigue plays into this too.

[Hymenoptera]

The difference between post lockdown last season and this season is preparation.

Previously we had a full, fit squad. The games came thick and fast so they had short, focused sessions where everyone knew what they were doing and confidence to do it under pressure thereby upping the intensity in games.

Now we have disrupted sessions with people injured or away and coming back in with no training time because we don't have enough cover.

Jason Ryles, the England skills coach, is so right about passing making a difference. Players need to hone their skills by practicing together so they execute precisely under pressure. We have not had that time so everything appears forced, laboured and inaccurate. When we do get better preparation time that will return and confidence will grow from that.

You've just described the premiership..not Wasps

[HDAWG]

The difference between post lockdown last season and this season is preparation.

Previously we had a full, fit squad. The games came thick and fast so they had short, focused sessions where everyone knew what they were doing and confidence to do it under pressure thereby upping the intensity in games.

Now we have disrupted sessions with people injured or away and coming back in with no training time because we don't have enough cover.

Jason Ryles, the England skills coach, is so right about passing making a difference. Players need to hone their skills by practicing together so they execute precisely under pressure. We have not had that time so everything appears forced, laboured and inaccurate. When we do get better preparation time that will return and confidence will grow from that.

You've just described the premiership..not Wasps

Disagree there. Bath is in the same boat and they struggled prior to this weekend. The only teams that have been impressive are Newcastle and Exeter. Coincidence they've had the least squad disruption?

[Shugs]

If you set the individual errors aside the biggest difference is that we've been unable to create pressure at the breakdown. It's obvious why with JW, BS, JL and WR out main contributors there. That's where we've made sides pay and swung momentum our way. Our second row options can't make those dominant hits. Young used to be possibly the best turnover exponent in the Prem but it seems far less part of his game now. Without the breakdown pressure our defence is getting stretched and at a basic level we're just seeing less of the ball. It's fixed by personnel.

[wasps]

Is it called "heads up rugby" when it works and "a side of individuals" when it doesn't?