Match thread

[mike909]

Whilst tempting to look towards the officials - it wasn't why we lost/lost by so many. We didn't play well as a team, and we lacked power. We also defended at maul time/around the maul poorly, possibly linked to our apparent lack of power. Ball in hand, we looked too often as if we were not on the same wavelength or were trying it on too much when the more obvious was an option. We gave them two tries at least. This wasn't helpful

Sure, the reffing of the scrum was a lottery and if the ref calls "use it" and there is a problem (As there was) you need the ref to call on it. But again, it was a detail. The ref do ok at certain points of Law around the breakdown but whilst this allowed mostly, quick ball, he also allowed too often, hands once it was a ruck.

We only looked like the team we were end of last season, once the game was effectively lost - but we then played with the tempo that's needed, especially vs a  team that would have been given "some firm instruction" after the game last week. We missed the players injured early doors and obviously those away with Internationals, but we need just to get back our mojo and soon.

[Rossm]

Jack comes on at 60 for Tom Curry but Dan gets all of 5 minutes. Why f*cking bother?

[MarleyWasp]

When you get on the wrong side of the ref early on it's hard to know whether the end result is because you play badly or because you get reffed out of the game. I think it was an unhealthy dose of both.

Smales was poor, from letting Simmo keep the ball at the back of the fuck for 12 seconds after calling use it, to inconsistent interpretation of rolling away and legal tackles. What summed it up was the way he picked on Jamma in the first half. Jamma changed his scrum cap at half time and was suddenly able to get away with a side entry at a ruck a minute or two after Gloucester got penalised for the same thing.

We didn't help ourselves either. Tackling and game management poor. We failed to adapt to the ref. Personally I don't think Douglas did much wrong for his yellow card, but it was obvious he was going to sin bin the next player who stopped Gloucester regardless. We seem to lack the ability to pick our fights some days and today was one of them.

One plus point though. Odogwu's second try was a try of the season contender...

[Shugs]

Mike909 I agree we looked underpowered. Thought we really missed Shields and the things he does so well. Taking JL and WR out of the second row really leaves us mobile but lightweight in there. But it was indeed the detail. Little things like JG missing touch, SW kicking straight out and missing too many tackles. It's inevitable that when we're missing JU, BS, JL, WR, MF, JW and DR that our performance will dip and that is what happened. I'm worried about De Jongh's form - he looks really out of sorts.

[HDAWG]

It wasn't s day for kickers, not sure if it was conditions, but everyone from both teams had some kicks go wrong

[Brandnewtorugby]

I hope the players can take something from the way they played at the end. It was almost like they relaxed a bit and things started flowing.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Having left to watch the England game, I'm not usually one to leave early but the reffing was so frustrating, and missed two tries the upside was:

Joe had a cracking game. Lots of that work that doesn't get commentators excited but is the foundations most teams need.

Jack came on as a HIA replacement and was solid. Tough to get in that back row.

Dobbie was given just enough time so that Eddie can say he's been given a go.

[Heathen]

Jack comes on at 60 for Tom Curry but Dan gets all of 5 minutes. Why f*cking bother?

With the bench that Eddie had selected, only two backs, meant that with Watson coming on earlier, Dobbie was covering a lot of options just in case another back got injured.

[Rossm]

What summed it up was the way he picked on Jamma in the first half.

As I said earlier in the thread, Jamma got right up his nose early in the game when he started counting down after Smales had called 'use it' and Simmo was dithering and not getting the ball away.  AFAIK, there is nothing in the laws that says you can't count down. Smales just told him to stop - he definitely didn't like it.

I noticed the blue scrum cap as well. I may be wrong but I don't think Jamma got penalised at all in the second half 

[WaspsUpNorth]

Dan will be fortunate to be retained after that performance - on the field for a full four minutes and never kicked it once!   Joe has been magnificent of late and hopefully is EJiot's starting lock from now on.  Jack did what Jack does.

[Nigel Med]

Is it just my wasps-tinted glasses or does Joe deserve the credit for Maco's try? The commentators were going on about Maco's ability but I'm not convinced he had much to do with the score. He ran straight and got blocked easily, Joe grabbed him, spun him round and over the line, no way it would have been a score without Joe's strength and invention.

[Tervueren]

Is it just my wasps-tinted glasses or does Joe deserve the credit for Maco's try? The commentators were going on about Maco's ability but I'm not convinced he had much to do with the score. He ran straight and got blocked easily, Joe grabbed him, spun him round and over the line, no way it would have been a score without Joe's strength and invention.

He does

[Heathen]

I make the same comment immediately after Maco scored. Joe definitely put in another huge shift yesterday.

[hookender]

Interesting that some ( including myself) thought BB’s player ratings were a bit high .The Rugby paper seems to agree with him, so maybe we weren’t as bad as it seemed.

What I found noticeable was that in the other games yesterday there seemed to be a lot more chatter from the other officials to and from the referee,even if it was just a confirmation. I didn’t get that feeling in our game (apart from scrums)Maybe he wanted to make all the decisions himself. Similar to how CMK started. I guess they want to make their mark , but really?

[InBetweenWasp]

I think our issues from yesterday and the Sale game were almost identical and for me are more psychological than anything else.  Both times we got on the wrong side of the ref, or got frustrated with the way the game was being reffed.

When that happens, we tend to lose our heads a bit.  The frustration leads to penalties, which puts pressure on us and we then try to force things putting more pressure on us. 

It’s almost like we need to reset and either find a way to contain our frustrations or trust our game or try and change the way we’re playing to fall in line with the game is being reffed. 

Despite being pinged a lot in the first half, we know we can score tries quickly so think we needed to be a little more patient with ourselves, trust our defence and then go full beans when it was on.  Alfie was probably prime suspect of trying too hard - flying out of the line etc...