Costello

[Vespula Vulgaris]

At the risk of being stoned to death I am wondering if he may have been misjudged.

For the last few games we have had a decent structure, have defended with a sense of purpose, and have managed to hold our own against some seriously talented attacking teams.

It's far from perfect, but I'm thinking that we actually look like a team who can defend at the moment...

[DuncanS]

You’d better hope Andy1210 doesn’t read this board!

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Indeed. They seemed, last week and this, to believe they could hold 'bigger' side to the gainline. Still not perfect, as Sarries show you can push up faster. Lima was again putting in so many big tackles you could easily lose count. Booj was awesome also today. Each game he steps up a little more. Rosco seemed to frighten Sarries (as well they might) and he held his own and more.

Yes, as Dai says, mistakes were made, but it is slowly coming together. Yes, the combinations change each week due to injury, but slowly they are learning to play the same game. It is building up to a more solid game, and the team is starting to play as a team.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

You’d better hope Andy1210 doesn’t read this board!

I realise it might not be a popular suggestion with some, but until we started swapping off our players for the bench our defence was rock solid. It's early days to draw any firm conclusions, but we haven't been able to say that for some time now.

[BG]

I think the players  are starting to get to know each other and trust each other. Michelle was caught out by stepping in sometimes on the blindside but that's probably because he's not a winger and instinctively doesn't quite know what to do.. step in or stay out or try to drift and use he's outside defender.. the touchline.

[wasps]

VV, I felt the same when I was posted on the match thread about our defence, but I didn't want to go as far as defending him yet.

It can take time to instill new structures.

Brad Davies took time before things started to improve.
The same with Phil Blake... Albeit that they never got particularly good under him.

The difference is, if you have a coach with a history of success at high level, then they'll often be given the benefit of the doubt for longer.
If the coach doesn't have such a rich CV, then the knives come out quickly.

Time will tell. I'm still not sold, but the last 2 games have definitely shown that something is improving

[Vespula Vulgaris]

I agree with pretty much all of that. I'm not completely sold, but I'm not longer panicking/despondent.

[Heathen]

We are desperately short of a second 5/8 as the ABs call then. Jimmy was our anchor. I would have thought that Dai may have been better served getting an inside centre than Campo. I just hope that next week JdeJ wears the 13 shirt. Elliot to 14 with Ross on the wing??

[Vespula Vulgaris]

We've been short a good 12 for years. Jimmy was a complete revelation and was always going to be impossible to replace if he got injured

[Raggs]

Blake disappointed me, he placed what seemed to be a good system, but was unable to get the players involved into it. The final against Exeter, whilst lost at the last gasp, really showed what it should be capable of, as did the pre-season friendlies against Ulster and someone else. But through the season itself, it just wasn't intensive enough.

Costello seems to be getting the attitude from them that Blake failed to.

The best breaks Sarries made were through individual tackle errors, rather than system failures I felt. Itojes break came from AJ Harris straight up missing what should have been a straightforward tackle, but then AJ is 4th/5th? choice hooker (Taylor, Cruse, Johnson, Zhvania?), what do you expect.

Campagnaro looked/played like someone who'd never met the squad, and had never played with them, which is exactly the case, so forgiveable.

I'm not despondent, and I'm hoping we do a bit of a tigers, and come strong in the run in of the season.

Have to say, I'm wondering more and more where a few players sit in the pecking order now. Harris has been a beast both in open play and set piece, do Mullan or McIntyre walk back in?

[Vespula Vulgaris]

Hi Raggs!

Good to see you. I agree that Blake never really managed to hit the heights we all expected, I am however quietly confident that Costello will do better.

I'd really love to see us with a team that was closer to 1st choice, it feels a little like we're hanging on by our finger tips right now.