That was Disappointing.

[Rossm]

The other site going into meltdown with the usual suspects demanding Dai's head. They seem to think that because Newcastle are bottom then we are entitled to beat them. This is just not the case, as I said earlier they are no mugs. Until they got a bit stranded at the bottom, I always thought it would be Wuss that would drop. Still do. However, I really do think we should have won that.

I must admit I am beginning to find Dai's use of subs to be IMO too conservative. I am not sure, but I think Budgies emptied their bench. As far as I could tell, we still had Tom West, Biyi Alo, Charlie Matthews and Umaga who didn't get on. I would have had Charlie on when Rowlands stupid yellow was up and I would certainly have had all three forwards on when Budgies made their changes. Less sure about Umaga - Miller was playing well and was kicking 100%. Unless Joe had a knock, I wouldn't have brought Hampson on. Though his service can be quicker than Joe's it is a bit erratic. He also made one dreadful clearance kick late on.

I thought Willie had a good game, taking pressure off Rob. I still don't know why we are finding it hard to click. Puzzled.

[Chunky24]

Unfortunately as soon as we tried to play keep ball with 2 minutes to go the writing was on the wall for what would happen.
Good efforts from Watson and Willis, impact from Neal when he came on but the rest as the thread says so disappointing.

[Rossm]

And I forgot to mention we made a mess of two attacking line outs in (I think) the first half.

[jamestaylor002]

Struggled to find the positives from this result. Today was the day I finally saw how blunt our attack is plus our inability to close a game out.
I was really quite angry with the way the game finished. All our own doing.
No fault with the ref today.

[andermt]

Way too many errors on the field, the disallowed try was unlucky, the lack of pass to Watson for a guaranteed try early in the 2nd half wasn't.

Terrible clearance kick from Hampson as well as a couple of poor kicks from Willie (who otherwise was very good today) really cost us at the end of the match, contrast with the end of the game in Bristol where Dobby really controlled the last 5mins.

No idea why we aren't playing Charlie Mathew's, and Ross Neal was a game changer when he came on.
Line out in the 1st half was poor as well with at least 2 occasions where Tommy threw in the ball and no-one went for it, that isn't acceptable at this level.

I'd like to see Ross Neal getting more of a chance as he showed more than Gabby today.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Back from the game. Gaby played better today. Simpson started off nice and fast. His box kicks were great. WLR started poorly, and played that way for a while, but started to settle down and get on with it. Watson seemed to have a good game, as did Miller and Josh.

BUT ... as a whole, the backs were far from cohesive and never looked like troubling.

The forwards had an OK game, but the lineout throw ins were a lottery with TT. Hampson really did not impress. Neal looked very dangerous.

As usual, not taking the opportunities and giving away far too much. Both Ash and Will should know the danger of giving penalties in front of the posts ... and yet they do it anyway.

I know, we are missing so many, we will be better when we get xxx back. For me, the only player that could make a difference would be Gopps. He will have at least three weeks in contact training before he can play.

A week off for the players, then do we get the internationals back, or do they get a rest? (I am guessing that they might not need a rest if they didn't play much).

Play like we did today, and Gloucester will take us to the cleaners.

Jimmy back by the Worcester game? Maybe.

[Neils]

Spent two hours driving home fuming. We should not have lost that but we deserved to do so. So much inept battering the Falcons defence. The players that hit the field seem clueless moving forward. Stupid mistakes and penalties continue to cost us badly. Few positives from that - Neal coming on was a superb cameo, Miller is good and was shouting to get the team going. Willis tried hard but fell short at times, Morris was a solid replacement. I thought TT lineout were abysmal. Gaskell was as good as ever. The forwards tried hard but got nowhere. The backs just don't have a cutting edge currently.
Well done Falcons. Ref was good.

Just don't know where we go against Glos next time out. We also need some positive news quickly - either incoming or returnees.

Also the other place's keyboard warriors are seriously pissing me off. So many "support" from afar and just spout vitriol.

[jamestaylor002]

I haven't looked at the DW site and don't really want to either. I can imagine what's happening over there.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[Hymenoptera]

Well, Neal did ok when he came on but was culpable for the first try, biting in on the tackle of the wrong man, which created the overlap and try time...that sort of undid any good stuff he did for me.
TT missing lineouts was a problem and Rowlands today, not a great day at the office. Hampsons cameo was disappointing.
My biggest issue is decision making..both individually and as a team. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to play ball keepie against Falcons of all teams for 2 mins..seriously? Its idiotic at best...and if you are going to do it, commit all your forwards, not just 2 or 3. They just arent behaving like professionals.
I'm not sure the subs would have helped, we don't have many options or game changers available.

Im not sure what the answer is TBH..losing has become a habit. We were a foot in touch, a bad bounce of the ball or a Hammersly toe from scoring 3 tries...its so frustrating.
We desperately need Goppeths leadership.

[Harry the wasp]

Just got home. There may have possibly a few watering holes on the way so apologies.  I  agree with NWW in that the backs just didn't seem to be at the races today. Sadly I took two friends who were new to rugby today on the season ticket deal.  I'm sorry to say that they were bored and I can't blame them. They won't be back in a hurry. Turgid at best, that was poor. With half a team out I think that we would expect that the rest would take the opportunity to step up to the plate but they clearly aren't capable on that display. A clear out in the summer must be on the cards and I'm sure that's on Dai's radar.

[Heathen]

I won't quote what my wife said about our performance today!

Will the returning internationals lift our performances? From the evidence of what we have seen since the end of September, I really have my doubts. One win will probably see us us safe from relegation - our current form is that of a side in freefall.

Playing in the Challenge Cup is not going to set the tills ringing. The powers that be must be worried.

Change IS required. But what??

[jamestaylor002]

I won't quote what my wife said about our performance today!

Will the returning internationals lift our performances? From the evidence of what we have seen since the end of September, I really have my doubts. One win will probably see us us safe from relegation - our current form is that of a side in freefall.

Playing in the Challenge Cup is not going to set the tills ringing. The powers that be must be worried.

Change IS required. But what??

I agree that I doubt the returning internationals will add much, although I'd like to think Joe's leadership will be much needed.
I think a change in the coaching team is needed plus getting rid of the dead wood in the playing squad.
How we go about that exactly I don't know..

[westwaleswasp]

The dead wood in the squad is looking more like a forest than a wood......

Things are so miserable I am watching 7s on Sky. Spain put a smile on a few faces, unless your are an AB fan.

Dai should stop us running the clock down, we got away with it at Bristol, but it has bitten us on the arse more than once these past couple of years.

[BG]

The dead wood in the squad is looking more like a forest than a wood......

Things are so miserable I am watching 7s on Sky. Spain put a smile on a few faces, unless your are an AB fan.

Dai should stop us running the clock down, we got away with it at Bristol, but it has bitten us on the arse more than once these past couple of years.

Running down the clock (or trying to) is a major bugbear of mine. Ref's instinctively know what the team is doing and based on a furore from years (10 perhaps) ago when Munster used to do it for minutes, the ref will be eagle eyed to pick up any offence (sealing the ball off eg).

I would estimate 20 - 30 secs is the maximum before a mistake or offence will be committed.

Get the ball deep in the oppositions territory.. preferably off the pitch as a lineout can take a minute at least to set up and with a few shennagians can create a few resets and waste even more time

[Heathen]

If Wilie had done that from the penalty, I doubt that we would have lost.