Quote: Ferocious Aardvark "Don't agree with that, we had long spells where we tried our bollox off to get to their end and stay there and score, and so I don't think lack of effort was the reason. The U11 analogy did strike a chord though as I said to the bloke next to me that the long but fruitless assault on their line reminded me of "dads v lads", where the dads were defending with one hand on the head while the lads thrashed about, until they got fed up of it and ran down the other end. Maybe unfair, but that's what it reminded me of.'"
I thought that heads went down after conceding the first try and the rest of the first half showed a lack of committment in defence. Players were dropping off tackles far too easily and lacking in purpose. That along with the beaming smiles on the faces of Hall and L'Strange at the end of the game left a bitter taste in my mouth.
We may have made more of an effort in the second half but it was let down by a complete lack of focus or plan. We lacked direction and panicked whenever we were on the attack.
The side is obviously lacking in confidence, and is prone to giving up for periods of the game. When the effort is there they lack direction. These are all pretty fundamental problems. The U11s analogy is a bit unfair but in some ways correct as we have experienced professionals who are playing like novices. They all know that you need to run onto the ball at pace, they all know that a flat attacking line offers less of a threat to the defence, they all know that having dummy runners creates space, they all know that concentration is key in defence. I could go on but you get the gist. The problem is that despite knowing what they should be doing they do the opposite when under any pressure.
