Always a Wasp

Eastmond back is huge, hopefully he stays fit.

As has been posted elsewhere, looks like we were a bit naughty with that million from Richardson.  The bond price has taken a bit of a knock from it. Hopefully it'll hold together though...

Waiting on Old Sky Blue to post his thoughts on SBT.

As the title says.  Everyone has 2 votes, so no need to select just one (unless there's one you really want).

Don't really want to do one on a player with plenty already (Wade for instance), but obviously there needs to be useful footage of them doing exciting stuff (makes it tough to do JCW). Equally someone like Willis is a bit tough due to lack of playing time so far, perhaps I can do one at the end of the season for him.

More so, I could do with people suggesting moments from the players when they did something good.  Unlike some, I'm more than happy to look at more basics done well too, in my Robson video there's a lot of passing and kicking, Cips had kicking and nice passing plays, not just the try scoring ones. So please spread the suggestions.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/live-coventry-city-v-council-13963224

So CCFC no longer want to be paid damages (though they may take it to civil court to get that).

They are arguing we overpaid for the Ricoh, but then underpaid overall for the "land transfer", the council are arguing it was a lease extension, not a "land transfer".

Apparently the Ricoh was worthless according to the Council, so presuming we're not allowed to tear it down immediately, I'm not sure how 250 years of a worthless asset is suddenly worth a lot more.

I may be missing one at the bottom of the page, but is it possible to have a clear and obvious Login box (username + password) on teh first page of the forum?  Makes it a lot less complicated to sign in, since at the moment I always have to go to the login page, just seems like an unnecessary step?

Previous accounts have been released at the end of October, so I'd be expecting the next lot today.  Be interesting reading, lets hope for a good result!

On a completely different topic, anyone else getting the annoying inbetween posts adverts on rugbynetwork?

Bad start, better middle (at least for the first half).

Willis and Young both looking good, Willis has already made 10 tackles apparently, has taken 2 lineouts, and I'm fairly sure he nabbed a turnover.  Young getting turnovers too, though his Nathan impression of running it back needs work...

Rowlands looking good too. Miller is standing much flatter than Gopperth, and I think our attack is going better for it.

I am however confused, we go forwards with good solid play for a few phases, then a forward gets knocked back, then we seemingly choose to go wide, and inevitably get caught a long way back.

I'm not watching our rucks for bad infringements, so bitching about the ref will likely seem one sided, but we'll see if I spot any.



Kickoff.  We lose the restart, nearly secure it but Rowlands loses it after heavy competition in the air.  Our defence gets off the line, then slows and waits to see what the carrier will do, rather than just charging at him.

00.56 Our defence has been good, but it's inconsistent, sometimes we come up fast as a line, other times the first 4-5 men come up fast, but the rest are slower. We do end up forcing them to kick it though, overall good defence.

1.20 WLR kicks in field, and Quins are able to just run back to where they started, just outside our 22.  Simpson and Wade struggling to stop Marchant.  Looks like we gave away a penalty for offside at the kick anyway.  Overall a very poor exit, but not sure what WLR should have done differently except try and kick better (not easy under the circumstances).  Our forwards should have been working harder to get back, would have meant they'd have been put onside sooner.

2.54 Good length restart allows us to hit the catcher. And good fortune (rather than skill), sees it come back on our side.  We get very messy, WLR shovels on poor ball, Cips does the same, and we end up with an intercept.  We were playing a pen advantage though, so going for the miracle ball (which Cips tried, not WLR) wasn't a bad idea, assuming he knew about the advantage (I'd give the benefit of the doubt there, commentator certainly thinks he did).

4.30 Danny gets the 3 points.

4.50 Much better restart, mostly because quins choose to go long and don't pressure.  Gaby gets tunnel vision as we try and run it out our 22, and targets Marchant, ends up dropping the ball after the tackle/rip.  If he'd gone to the outside to try and draw Yarde, he could have passed to Daly, and at the very least Wade would have been free to run a good way.  Poor decision making and execution there.

6.45 Is Horwill 10? He's 10 from Danny, but I don't think he's 10 from the mark, which is a couple of meters ahead of DC.

8.15m Our defensive line is a mess. It's a great chance to blitz, but we're all over the place.  Worst is Rowlands, which I guess sort of makes sense.

9.28. Ref misses a knock on there.  Reider is injured from a phase or two back. Defensive line still looks messy, but defence is mostly solid.

9.34 I don't know what it is about Marchant, but he's just skipped away from Gaby, and brushed off Daly. Thankfully Daly gets back to snatch the pass out the air and kick it clear.  WLR smartly sprints forwards bringing our players onside. Reider is still down.

10.04 Launch puts a big hit on Brown as he gets the ball and causes the knock on.  Arguable that Simpson knocks on there, would have gone back to our scrum.  Cips with a big kick that really should have gone out. But Quins come back at us. Would have been better for us if Simpsons knock on had been seen and we'd got the scrum, Reider would have been off and we'd have had 15 men.

10.34 Daly sees sense and sends a kick skidding out. Reider off, Hask on.

11.04 Why does Simpson slow that?  Our players may not be perfectly placed, but you can see in the time he's looking back with hands on the ball, to when he passes, 3 Quins get back around the corner.  That allows everyone to drift out further and blitz up harder.

11.45 How does the ref watch Sinckler take Cruse out off the ball, around the back of the tackle (no one is rucking), along with the AR, and nothing happens?

12.05 WLR not having a great game so far, a few wayward passes.  Cips is picking runners nicely I feel.  Daly with the half break, a few offloads, great work from JCW, Cruse just doesn't hear/see Joe on the right, and Watson has cut back inside, if Watson had held his line Cruse was looking for him.  Yarde doesn't come close to releasing Cruse and takes the ball. Bad miss by the ref.

13.03 High tackle on Hughes missed.  But then lovely interplay from our backs for Wades try.  Cruse again with the nice pullback pass (mentioned it in the last game I did this). Cips commits Mrchant just right before releasing Watson.

14.40 Short restart from Quins, well taken by Daly.

15.20 How on earth was that not called as a knock on? That sort of drop is called every time. 

17.00 Defence going well here I feel, force them into a kick.  WLR with a good clearing kick.

17.44 The lineouts are arguably veering on not straight, but it's not bad enough to be given, fair enough.

19.00 Marler is being a niggling git, but Hask should know better than to react like that. Officials miss the water spray. Think it's the right decision overall, Marler just about stays on the right side of getting a card.

21.02. OK the ref yells at him, so he should have stopped, but what exactly did Cruse get pinged for?  He came in over the tackled player (which is the gate), and he kicked the ball backwards. Side entry apparently.  Launch get's sent away by the ref, after being told to lead by example (what did he do??) Ward get's told to mind his language seemingly swore at Launch?  Really don't get anything from the ref.

23.01 OK, rewatching now it's rather apparent that Browns flick to Yarde for the try was forward. Still, close enough that whilst I don't like it, I can accept it being given.

24.07 The ref is not allowed to go to the TMO to see if the ball was taken back, I'm sure of it.  He does, and the TMO gets it wrong. Clifford clearly rolls over the 22.  Bad decision from the TMO, bad from the ref who isn't allowed to do that.

25.50.  Watson... that's the biggest blown chance.  Though honestly, I think Yarde gets him out before he'd have put it down, tough to say though.

28.41 Cips missed the kick, but we've been attacking really well for a while, and got this penalty attempt, all whilst down to 14.  Pretty impressive.

29.10 WLR with a knock on from an easy catch.  Not a good game for him I feel.

30.23. How is that not a penalty for holding on?

30.33. Another potential knock on that most refs would have given.

31.30 Smith looked to give a forward pass there, but again it's close, and it goes into touch, so who cares.  Overall our defence has done well, forcing them into making more desperate plays.

32 Not even half time and 2 of our bench are on the pitch.

31.56. How has the ref not blown Quins up for coming across, their jumper is in our line pushing our guy out the way ffs! Instead he resets.  We're exactly where we were for the whole setup.

32.50 Daly over kicks, claims it came off a hand, ref doesn't check (correctly so, but that's a real stick in the throat decision considering the earlier one), we lose 40 yards and possession.

33.30 Nice switch back inside, Cips is taken out by Roberts and held back, Yarde through the hole and thankfully sends it forwards.  Ref calls over the captains, and starts tell Joe off, then remembers to make sure it includes both, about someone looking for a response will get penalised... The annoying thing is, it looks like Yarde starts it, and it's us seemingly the targets of the telling off.

34.39 Care's tackle looks to ride high, but not given, happy enough, I don't like the really soft ones being given.

37.18 another arguable high on Launch, but again, not one I'd want to be given.

37.26 Simpson a bit slow, but worse, a hard pass at Cruse's head, if you slow it down, you have to be accurate.  We lose it.

37.40 Sinckler again, taking players out nowhere near the ruck, it was gentle, but still.

38.07 Good hit by Joe, caused Smith to rush the pass.

38.30. Hughes goes forward off the scrum, Joe clears it quick, AJ on the charge, more go forwards ball, a bit slower than necessary, and that pause gives the defence

38.46 I know we've gone backwards, but Joe is needlessly organising, and all it does is allow quins to setup better.

38.52 Cruse gives Sinckler a taste of his own medicine, Sink doesn't like it! Takes him out away from the ruck.  Simpson's box kicks have been good.

39.45 We lose concentration, and let them through the middle, Cips very cheekily grabs the arm and causes the knock on.

Half time.  Messy as hell, we've blown some chances, as have they.

Restart. Sinckler clearly blocks Daly from getting to the tackler. Often not given, but annoying nonetheless.

40.47 Just a word about Cruse, his lineout throws have all been down the middle, and all looked very good.

40.55 For moaning about the ref not giving Thompson a turnover, here Ward had a fair claim on one too.

41.20 Bad drop by JCW.

42.40 Walker try, commentary blame that on Wade, but he's just seen Gaby hit Robshaw and couldn't know he'd get across. I do agree that Walker needed to be taken out though.

45.20 Nice idea from Cips, just off with the execution. 

45.40ish, Lovely from Rowlands, traps the Quins player perfectly, getting us the pen, as opposed to the ref probably just letting them slow our ball.

Ridiculous stoppage now. Doctor apparently couldn't get the feed, but it was up on the big screen surely, and they're patching up a guys head, what did he think happened?

47.02 Horwill has basically joined our line at the lineout.

51.35 Our scrum has fared very well against Quins, which is a positive sign.

52.44 OK, that's not a penalty try.  Glad the yellow came out though.

57.30 Cruse gets run over by Walker, not the first time he's gone down easy, think he's getting his body position wrong.

58.04 Cruse is also going down, not for the first time, injuries have hurt us, bringing AJ on now would have been nice.

59.36 If that is a knock on then their loosehead prop cannot go for it as he does, he's attempting to play from an offside position, should be a penalty to us.

61.50 Good attacking play sees us going forwards, Simpson plays fast when the tempo is fast, but when it's 50/50 he just doesn't drive it, and I think that we should be.

62 I love how the commentator tries to claim Quins have handled the yellow card very well, as long as you ignore the try...

63.33 Poor maul from us is turned over.

65.43 No arguments about the yellow to Cips. Potentially saved us conceding 7 there.

68.30 How can the ref call that flat? OK, we get the pen a second later, but it's still daft. Suspect we may have got the pen because of the bad flat call.

69.33 How Moore didn't get that as a turnover, after AJ just did? Makes me even more convinced it was contrition for the incorrect forwards call.

70ish, Launch gives away the pen, shame as he'd worked so hard.

76.05 Being very very picky, that was the second time Quins had engaged before the call of Set, and therefore should have been a penalty, not a free kick. The universe notices, and Brown daftly tries to keep it in, whilst knocking it forwards.

78.35 Care get's told to use it, cutely asks the ref if it's a scrum advantage, 10 seconds after being told to use it, finally passes.  Ref get's played absolutely there.

79.07 Make sure we arrive up. 79.39 straight off feet from quins.

And we lose.

Ref gave us very little indeed.  But we lost that game through our own errors.  I think we actually went fairly well funnily enough, including during our yellow card periods.  Simpson was a bit slow at times, but mostly fine.  10/12/13 went well for me, defensively too for the most part. Obviously need to gel more and get our timings better, and cut out the silly errors (like just dropping the ball).  Quins were extremely up for that game.

Our defence needs to continue to improve, but I do think it is improving.  We could do with getting players back too.  Lineout was mostly very good, scrum very good. I think Quins just beat us on intensity.  We'll see how things are at the end of the season.

I think Gaby Daly is worth sticking with, but could understand if Dai brings Gopps back at 12 (assuming Cips isn't broken).