London Irish v Wasps: Post Match Thoughts

[Wombles]

I think lee needs to speak to skivington on how to get a team to never stop.

Gloucester never stopped and just wanted so badly to keep the pressure on bath, even with 2 minutes to go and game comfortably won.

This is an awful trait we have in our club

Westy I think you have hit the nail directly on the head. We do not demonstrate an ability to go for the whole game. An 80 minute performance does not mean that you will not be under the cosh, or having points scored against you, but it demonstrates that you give that same intensity and desire to win for the entire game a la Gloucester yesterday. Like you say we switch on and off far to often. My question is do we now need a sports psychologist in?

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Hopwood how many times do you allow something to happen before you learn from it. We conceded 28 points in 13 minutes.

Lee made bad decisions and players like porter, Paolo and miller-miller lack commitment, as a professional player that is inexcusable. All a fan wants is commitment and too many players who came on did not show that

I don't think you can blame Lee for that. What coach wouldn't make changes in that position? And how many time have we praised Porter when he's come on for adding tempo? The problem was the game didn't need tempo, it needed slowing down.

Do you think lee will do it again, I think he will. Surely the coaching set up should tell the players what is expected off them when coming on. Pre planned subs is a poor way to do things - I think EJ has surely taught us that

Was it all pre planned?

Probably the front row, well Frost and M-M, but we don't know that others hadn't emptied the tank or were carrying niggles and wanted for next week.

And I say again, what coach wouldn't have made changes in that situation? It may or may not be a good idea, but, as said above, that's how the game is managed nowadays and I think its hindsight bias to claim Lee shouldn't have made the changes.

[Rossm]

Don't forget TCUP. Will Porter forgot it and made a bollocks of a tap penalty that we didn't need to do. Drive the oppo as deep into their half as possible. They've got to get out of there. Keep the pressure on and maybe pick up a penalty or two alone the way. Grind down the clock. Be ruthless. Take a knee and a breather at every opportunity. Every second counts. Break up their momentum. So it's gamesmanship, it'll piss them off and the pressure will get to them. Give the whole team - particularly the bench a long lecture on being street wise. The important thing is to win. I really don't care how we do it.

[Wombles]

Hopwood, I hear what you are saying about learning, and we all do throughout life, indeed the old adage "every day is a school day" is a truism of the highest order. However, it seems, the "we will take lessons from today, learn and move on" is looking more and more like an excuse for us rather than an accurate portrayal. If we really were learning, then we would apply those lessons and demonstrate it in a game. In many ways we have developed, we look more cohesive and are playing better. Where we are not learning is how we switch off, lose intensity and discipline. In these facets the "we are learning" are simply words without substance.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Don't forget TCUP. Will Porter forgot it and made a bollocks of a tap penalty that we didn't need to do. Drive the oppo as deep into their half as possible. They've got to get out of there. Keep the pressure on and maybe pick up a penalty or two alone the way. Grind down the clock. Be ruthless. Take a knee and a breather at every opportunity. Every second counts. Break up their momentum. So it's gamesmanship, it'll piss them off and the pressure will get to them. Give the whole team - particularly the bench a long lecture on being street wise. The important thing is to win. I really don't care how we do it.

+1

[Wombles]

Don't forget TCUP. Will Porter forgot it and made a bollocks of a tap penalty that we didn't need to do. Drive the oppo as deep into their half as possible. They've got to get out of there. Keep the pressure on and maybe pick up a penalty or two alone the way. Grind down the clock. Be ruthless. Take a knee and a breather at every opportunity. Every second counts. Break up their momentum. So it's gamesmanship, it'll piss them off and the pressure will get to them. Give the whole team - particularly the bench a long lecture on being street wise. The important thing is to win. I really don't care how we do it.

Complete agree!

[Shugs]

We shouldn’t need to learn how to close a game out like that. That shouldn’t be something we are learning. That should be an absolute cakewalk. There were some fantastic displays in there but we just seemed to lose all intensity. Blackett’s frustration at the end was palpable in his interview. I’m pretty sure he won’t be going in there encouraging the players to learn from that - he’ll be laying into them for letting it happen.

[HDAWG]

I wasn't able to watch the whole match, but we do look quite a bit better as the season has gone on, might well be as a result of players gelling as the season has progressed.

This is still a young squad, and it's a massive learning curve. You'll have days like this sadly. I do think we're looking better as the season has gone on, but definitely not good enough for top 4, or arguably Europe. I expect us to be a lot better come next season though.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Quick tap penalties really annoy me. Robson took one earlier, and messed up as well. STOP TAKING THEM. Period. Take your time. Give the forwards a break. We lack the strategic nouse that other teams show game after game.

With the lead we had, at the end, should we have taken that penalty? No. Should have taken our time and kicked to touch. Game management and closing out the game. It has been a mantra here, but apparently nobody will listen to these wise old heads. Wasps would rather mess it up. Not for the first time. It won't be the last.

[Shugs]

Completely agree NWW the tap penalty for me normally ends in conceding possession. The chances of getting an advantage of any sort is slim. I’d have gone corner given there were 78 mins on the clock and with the greatest of respect Umaga kicking. He landed it but it gave them the chance of possession. Such a disappointing end to what should have been a celebration of a great performance.

[backdoc]

You take a tap penalty when you are chasing a game, not when defending a lead.

[Steve from Cov]

One of my pet bugbears is conceding penalty tries. You give the oppo an automatic 7 points despite where the penalty may be given away. Joe definitely pulled their maul down, no argument with that but, and I know it is a very big but, in the heat of the game, why not accept that the try is going to be scored and at the very least try and push the oppo wider, thus putting pressure on their kicker to get the conversion to, in this case, draw the game?  If he'd missed, then we win. Don't make it easy for them.

Why would Joe deliberately drop the driving maul when he knew there would be so many eyes on him and 7 points would be inevitable? I think the picture he painted was unfortunate but it wasn't intended..   

[Wombles]

One of my pet bugbears is conceding penalty tries. You give the oppo an automatic 7 points despite where the penalty may be given away. Joe definitely pulled their maul down, no argument with that but, and I know it is a very big but, in the heat of the game, why not accept that the try is going to be scored and at the very least try and push the oppo wider, thus putting pressure on their kicker to get the conversion to, in this case, draw the game?  If he'd missed, then we win. Don't make it easy for them.

Why would Joe deliberately drop the driving maul when he knew there would be so many eyes on him and 7 points would be inevitable? I think the picture he painted was unfortunate but it wasn't intended..

Joe definitely did not drop it on purpose, the error was ours going up to compete when they threw flat and short to the front to set up a quick driving maul. We were caught with our line out pants down, and they were set and driving so fast that Joes legs were not quick enough to follow his upper body and down he went. The fault was collectively ours as we should of stayed down ready to defend the driving maul not go up and compete.

[Rossm]

You take a tap penalty when you are chasing a game, not when defending a lead.

Completely agree. It's probably as much a surprise to your own team as it is to the oppo, And if you must do one, then do it a lot closer to the oppo's goal line.

[Rossm]

Question for those more knowledgeable than me: What is the point of yellow carding Joe when the clock is in the red? Does that mean he has a 10 minute handicap in the next game?