Match Thread

[Covkid40]

I can’t feel proud of that too many mistakes the penalty count must have been massive. The close score line give a false impression. Gloucester are average at best and it was only a mad last 10 minutes that made it respectable

[Neils]

Jury out on the centre pairing. We were very leaky there.

That's not a centre pairing it's all we've got.

[CV2]

Positives:
Alfie's back!
Effective catch and drive
Character to nearly steal an unlikely win.

Negatives:
Aimless kicking (General game management again, this seems a re-occuring issue)
Fractious defence...especially from said aimless kicking
Centre pairing (desperately need a quality 12)
Silly penalties again...

Trying not to be negative in light of all the injuries but it's hard work!

[Neils]

Two back chat 10 metres should have been a yellow. Even after two marches back he had to be pulled away by a team mate.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

The excuse for Jacob’s knock-ons (not last one) that it was cold doesn’t work when you consider Hastings didn’t have the same problem.

My guess is that when we go behind behind he thinks that he has to do something miraculous and is trying too hard. His head goes up too early and in his eagerness to get moving he snatches at the ball. 

[hopwood]

I do think fans who call out ‘aimless kicking’ don’t quite get modern rugby and the strategies employed.

Kicking down the middle, to the sides….or anywhere that isn’t straight down the throat, gives our team time to align and then counter their attack, should they make one.
Yes, you can get ping-pong, but we’re massively underwhelmed with players right now…and so kicking will be a strategy versus running it out.
We’re normally a good jackaling side.
And at least we normally smother well.

But tonight, because of so many replacements, we look disjointed in defence.

Let’s write this off and not get too catastrophic (Covkid40). 

[Steve from Cov]

From the stands it looked like Booj was immediately hauled off after missing another tackle?

He then had a petulant walk off.

[hopwood]

The excuse for Jacob’s knock-ons (not last one) that it was cold doesn’t work when you consider Hastings didn’t have the same problem.

My guess is that when we go behind behind he thinks that he has to do something miraculous and is trying too hard. His head goes up too early and in his eagerness to get moving he snatches at the ball.

And yes, tonight, I do think he was trying to conjure up some breaks and ‘magic’.
But let’s be honest, that’s because nothing was happening outside him.
It’s quite a unique set of circumstances when wingers are playing centre and scrum halves playing wing.

Jacob was trying hard. Maybe too hard.
But there wasn’t much inspiration outside him…and that’s because our main centres (Paulo, Fek, Mills etc) are all out injured.
Give the guy a break.
There’s certainly not another Number 10 at the club who’s able to give him a week off.
He’s got a lot of responsibility on his shoulders right now.

[Rossm]

The excuse for Jacob’s knock-ons (not last one) that it was cold doesn’t work when you consider Hastings didn’t have the same problem.

FWIW: Hastings had taped the tips of the fingers and thumbs of both hands.

[CV2]

There is definitely more kicking down the middle with the 50-22 rule with two men covering the kick to touch.
What we seemed to do tonight was kick it straight to Moyle who kept slicing through us.

The "aimless kicking" isn't just aimed at Jacob, our box kicking doesn't seem as on point as other teams who kick to compete better than we do....

....or maybe our kicking is brilliant our chase is the issue

Problem we have is that we so reliant on Jacob, we don't have a kicking option at 12 or 15 that other teams have.

I do think fans who call out ‘aimless kicking’ don’t quite get modern rugby and the strategies employed.

Kicking down the middle, to the sides….or anywhere that isn’t straight down the throat, gives our team time to align and then counter their attack, should they make one.
Yes, you can get ping-pong, but we’re massively underwhelmed with players right now…and so kicking will be a strategy versus running it out.
We’re normally a good jackaling side.
And at least we normally smother well.

But tonight, because of so many replacements, we look disjointed in defence.

Let’s write this off and not get too catastrophic (Covkid40).

[Bloke in North Dorset]

The excuse for Jacob’s knock-ons (not last one) that it was cold doesn’t work when you consider Hastings didn’t have the same problem.

FWIW: Hastings had taped the tips of the fingers and thumbs of both hands.

I noticed that later in the game, did he start with them?

But my contention is that Jacob’s problem is that when we are losing its his eagerness and his brain getting ahead of his hands, not the cold. 

[Andywasp50]

The excuse for Jacob’s knock-ons (not last one) that it was cold doesn’t work when you consider Hastings didn’t have the same problem.

My guess is that when we go behind behind he thinks that he has to do something miraculous and is trying too hard. His head goes up too early and in his eagerness to get moving he snatches at the ball.

And yes, tonight, I do think he was trying to conjure up some breaks and ‘magic’.
But let’s be honest, that’s because nothing was happening outside him.
It’s quite a unique set of circumstances when wingers are playing centre and scrum halves playing wing.

Jacob was trying hard. Maybe too hard.
But there wasn’t much inspiration outside him…and that’s because our main centres (Paulo, Fek, Mills etc) are all out injured.
Give the guy a break.
There’s certainly not another Number 10 at the club who’s able to give him a week off.
He’s got a lot of responsibility on his shoulders right now.

From what I saw for the first Twelvetrees try Umaga wasn’t trying at all, his non tackle attempt was breathtaking. In fact he looked like he didn’t want to be out there.

You can make as many excuses for him as you like, but top players shoulder responsibility and grow into it, become leaders…LBND, King, Gopperth, Cipriani, etc  The last couple of seasons from Umaga have been flaky, inconsistent and at times embarrassing.

There comes a point when you have to see the bigger picture and worry about the team and the club over an individual, especially when that individual is performing a role key to the overall success.

[Covkid40]

I do think fans who call out ‘aimless kicking’ don’t quite get modern rugby and the strategies employed.

Kicking down the middle, to the sides….or anywhere that isn’t straight down the throat, gives our team time to align and then counter their attack, should they make one.
Yes, you can get ping-pong, but we’re massively underwhelmed with players right now…and so kicking will be a strategy versus running it out.
We’re normally a good jackaling side.
And at least we normally smother well.

But tonight, because of so many replacements, we look disjointed in defence.

Let’s write this off and not get too catastrophic (Covkid40).

I understand modern Rugby well enough thank you. The issue is most of the kicks did go straight down the throat of Gloucesters players giving them ample time to either run the ball back or return the kick with far more effectiveness. Some of the shorter kicks were so bizarre I still can’t work out what exactly we were try to achieve, in one instance we playing the advantage in their half of the pitch and Jacob immediately kicked possession away and the advantage was called over, the kick gave neither opportunity to our players to win the ball or gain territory, the fact that there were 4 Gloucester players in the area of the pitch he kicked it to opposed by 2 wasps players meant they ran it back 40 metres.

How many games do we “write off” before we realise we have a real problem, this isn’t a position that has arisen due to injuries, Jacob is our first choice 10 and he isn’t inexperienced any more.

Name one current premiership side that would swap their starting number 10 for Jacob. Absolutely none of them.

[Shugs]

Completely agree about our kicking. It’s not the longer stuff - it’s the completely non contestable shorter stuff. All of Glaws kicks of that nature were contestable and they won some. Mostly it was Porter who I think is a bit too predictable and let’s the opposition set up early.

[Neils]

Completely agree about our kicking. It’s not the longer stuff - it’s the completely non contestable shorter stuff. All of Glaws kicks of that nature were contestable and they won some. Mostly it was Porter who I think is a bit too predictable and let’s the opposition set up early.

Agree - we said that when Wolstenholme came on the passing out was faster and the kicking from us diminished.