Post by banjo on Apr 14, 2024 20:38:23 GMT
I keep going back to this, the last 4 games we've drawn 1 and lost 3. Away to Blackheath is not an easy task - to give an example they've beaten us, Chinnor and Plymouth at their place. Plymouth was a poor performance and Chinnor were right on point for yesterday, with the added incentive of the trophy and black & white flares to let off if they secured a victory. It doesn't matter how good your lineout is or how many penalties you're giving away, when you kick the ball straight to one of their players who runs it back for a try and then minutes later throw an intercept, there's 14 points gone to add to the first try - game over. That's not collective bad play from Moseley, that's individual errors. Those who have played, at any level will have been in games where nothing goes right and you tend to try too hard to make things right, which just makes things worse.
Mark D makes some good points. Chinnor were light years ahead of us, speed of thought, organisation, supporting the ball carrier etc - Nick Easter and Cruse have got them firing. We have to be careful when mentioning the officials, but week in week out, there are decisions being made that I can't explain, for both sides I might add. The standard isn't great - I appreciate it's a hard job (I wouldn't do it) but consistency is not something that happens. One of my gripes with Leinster is that they make the breakdown a mess, after the tackle, they swing round and slow the ball down, it's deliberate but not seen as illegal, so they get away with it, as all the top teams have over the years. I don't think I saw Chinnor releasing any of our players after the tackle, they just clamped straight onto the ball and the whole 8 shouted as loud as possible that they were "on the ball" - result - penalty to them. There's supposed to be a clear release. Regarding the high tackles, some of them have been dubious at best. I still say, if you've got a split second to stop someone and have no time to get yourself into a low body position, you're going to end up higher than you should be. The option is to just let them go by - which wouldn't be looked on favourable by your team mates, coaching staff or fans ! I don't know what the answer is - all I know is that it's the first season and hopefully common sense will prevail and a few tackles that are borderline will be let go if their not dangerous, because at the moment, if you're not around the ankles, then you're penalised (slight exaggeration). There's been a few high tackles we've been on the receiving end of that haven't been given. Will Safe took one yesterday that was waved play on ? Again, no consistency.
I note that of the teams that have beaten us, they all have a 10 with a massive boot that can really put the pressure on when kicking to the corner, or relieving pressure and kicking for territory. When we do get a penalty on the opposition 10m line, we more often than not end up outside their 22, rather than being in a threatening position.
The players I think are hanging on, carrying a lot of niggles, confidence is low and a lot of players have played a lot of minutes - it takes it's toll when you've got a small squad.
One last effort - if we beat Rams or put in a good performance we can look forward to another good season after the boys have had a rest over the summer.
Mark D makes some good points. Chinnor were light years ahead of us, speed of thought, organisation, supporting the ball carrier etc - Nick Easter and Cruse have got them firing. We have to be careful when mentioning the officials, but week in week out, there are decisions being made that I can't explain, for both sides I might add. The standard isn't great - I appreciate it's a hard job (I wouldn't do it) but consistency is not something that happens. One of my gripes with Leinster is that they make the breakdown a mess, after the tackle, they swing round and slow the ball down, it's deliberate but not seen as illegal, so they get away with it, as all the top teams have over the years. I don't think I saw Chinnor releasing any of our players after the tackle, they just clamped straight onto the ball and the whole 8 shouted as loud as possible that they were "on the ball" - result - penalty to them. There's supposed to be a clear release. Regarding the high tackles, some of them have been dubious at best. I still say, if you've got a split second to stop someone and have no time to get yourself into a low body position, you're going to end up higher than you should be. The option is to just let them go by - which wouldn't be looked on favourable by your team mates, coaching staff or fans ! I don't know what the answer is - all I know is that it's the first season and hopefully common sense will prevail and a few tackles that are borderline will be let go if their not dangerous, because at the moment, if you're not around the ankles, then you're penalised (slight exaggeration). There's been a few high tackles we've been on the receiving end of that haven't been given. Will Safe took one yesterday that was waved play on ? Again, no consistency.
I note that of the teams that have beaten us, they all have a 10 with a massive boot that can really put the pressure on when kicking to the corner, or relieving pressure and kicking for territory. When we do get a penalty on the opposition 10m line, we more often than not end up outside their 22, rather than being in a threatening position.
The players I think are hanging on, carrying a lot of niggles, confidence is low and a lot of players have played a lot of minutes - it takes it's toll when you've got a small squad.
One last effort - if we beat Rams or put in a good performance we can look forward to another good season after the boys have had a rest over the summer.