Match Thread

[Eezamarlowman]

Totally unprofessional. Some entertainment in that but I’m sick of our soft underbelly. The Team and coaches should be totally ashamed of that. Still absolutely fuming !!

[Shugs]

Just incredibly naive. They scored from every visit to our 22. I think we saw the problem with the Fekitoa/Odogwu pairing - Quins ran through them endlessly. Feel so sorry for the likes of Robson and Shields. Barnes display was "interesting". Brushed off a definite red card hit on Umaga and missed the high tackle on Bassett afterwards. Some great performances going forwards - some terrible ones in defence. But what is really missing is our ability to manage the game.

[Rossm]

Once again we didn't get the rub of the green from the ref. Rowlands scored a good try. It was chalked off by Barnes for a double movement but he wasn't held. He was entitled to go for the line.

Credit to Quins for their spirit.

[mike909]

Once again we didn't get the rub of the green from the ref. Rowlands scored a good try. It was chalked off by Barnes for a double movement but he wasn't held. He was entitled to go for the line.

Credit to Quins for their spirit.

Agree. Bad form to complain about the ref, but his decisions probably affected the result. The Rowlands "try" would have sucked the spirit from Quins and the scrum penalties were getting "obtuse". Seemed to want to penalise us. But it would seem like that, when you lose......

[Heathen]

Qualifying for 8th place now looks remote.

Failure to close out games has been our achilles heel for too long.

Something has to change or we are not going anywhere except mediocrity.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

No point in blaming the ref for that. We have some of the best players in the league, but as a team we are chokers, and we have no desire to win.

It would have taken the smallest of psychological edges to turn that embarrassing capitulation into a cricket score against them.

We got the result we deserved.

[mike909]

No point in blaming the ref for that. We have some of the best players in the league, but as a team we are chokers, and we have no desire to win.

It would have taken the smallest of psychological edges to turn that embarrassing capitulation into a cricket score against them.

We got the result we deserved.

I think I can still be disappointed in both our display and naivety and in the reffing when it does appear to have had the potential to affect the result.  That's not blaming the ref - but it does acknowledge that sometimes - too often it seems - the rub of the officiating makes a material difference to a game.

[Rossm]

Something has to change or we are not going anywhere except mediocrity.

Hey Heathen, we've been bad for most of the season We scored 6 tries against fourth in the table. We were a post away from drawing. I thought Barnes' was too quick in some of his decisions (whack my peepee, I'm complaining about the ref); for one he was too quick to chalk off Rowlands try as a double movement. Give us some credit.

[hopwood]

Fekitoa, like his countryman, Sopoaga may have been an All Black...but I don’t feel he offers much as a leader, a communicator or a strategic head.
Just because these guys played for the All Blacks doesn’t make them outstanding, all round complete players.

We really missed an organiser and a good, calm, experienced communicator in our backs today.
Think back to the days of King, Waters and Abbott.
More recently...Jimmy.

But I find it hard to comprehend that with all his power, experience and different clubs...Fekitoa doesn’t bring more imposing leadership, strategy and communication to a back line that DESPERATELY needs it.

For me...that is our chief weakness.

Hypothetically speaking...imagine if we had Fraser Waters playing as one of the centres today.
His words, composure, his ability to understand where we are in the game, where to play the game, and his ability to communicate clearly would have meant we would have closed out that game.

It’s a hypothetical.
But for me it just illustrates what we are lacking in key backs positions.

Fekitoa is a really important player for us....who provides a ton of power and endeavour. I just wish he had developed more as a strategic and vocal leader.

[westwaleswasp]

Qualifying for 8th place now looks remote.

Failure to close out games has been our achilles heel for too long.

Something has to change or we are not going anywhere except mediocrity.

I thought at the end they flashed up that we were in 7th now, having gained 2 points?

[Rossm]

No. We're 9th on 38 points. Next above is Tigers in 39. Then Bath on 41.

[JonnyD]

If we finish 8th and the Champions Cup is seeded again it could be a rough ride in the group stages.
Big loss in revenue but a season in the lower tier competition, being able to bring a few more younger players through, the opportunity to build momentum with hopefully more wins and being able to focus more on the league in terms of player rotation could be extremely valuable.

[Rossm]

If we finish 8th and the Champions Cup is seeded again it could be a rough ride in the group stages.
Big loss in revenue but a season in the lower tier competition, being able to bring a few more younger players through, the opportunity to build momentum with hopefully more wins and being able to focus more on the league in terms of player rotation could be extremely valuable.

Very sensible. Getting hammered by the top seed would do us no good at all.

[Tervueren]

Qualifying for 8th place now looks remote.

Failure to close out games has been our achilles heel for too long.

Something has to change or we are not going anywhere except mediocrity.

I thought at the end they flashed up that we were in 7th now, having gained 2 points?

They did show us in 7th, but corrected it later.

[DGP Wasp]

Qualifying for 8th place now looks remote.

Failure to close out games has been our achilles heel for too long.

Something has to change or we are not going anywhere except mediocrity.

I thought at the end they flashed up that we were in 7th now, having gained 2 points?

They did show us in 7th, but corrected it later.

Someone in that BT production team somewhere obviously jumped the gun and drafted the table before Quins had their final say.  Shows how much more we needed those points than Quins.  2 bonus points would still have given them a nice buffer for top 4.  The extra 3 for us would've seen us 2 places further up the table and actually very close behind Irish for 6th.  All the more frustrating.