Quote: BullCharge "I had a feeling at half time our lead wouldn't be enough. I knew that with the wind at their backs, Widnes would have the advantage. One of the differences yesterday was that Widnes, more specifically Kevin Brown, used the wind to their advantage in the second half. In contrast, we didn't use the wind at all in the first half. Brown split Kearney and Kear on many occasions with his kicks and by the time our forwards got back it was tackle three, forcing us to kick into the wind. Widnes were starting sets on the half way line. I think one of our last tackles went to Purtell, god knows why.
Secondly, Widnes' attack was far superior, obviously, as reflected in the scoreline. Their left edge is their attacking strength, our right edge is our defensive weakness. The likes of Brown and Hanbury tore through us.
Thirdly, well played to Ah Van, who took both of his tries very well.
I am very disappointed that we lost the game from the position we were in but clearly Widnes just wanted the two points more than us. Donaldson was our best player. Lulia showed he is better than Purtell and in my opinion will be missed next season. Addy didn't exactly prove why he should receive an improved contract either.'"
I had a similar feeling at half time but I thought we kicked alright in the first 30mins as it took that long for Widnes to get in our half. Unfortunately we conceded a try the first time our line was put under pressure and the Marsh try with 20seconds to go until half time was just typical of what we've come to expect recently. Against the top teams one can make some allowances but we showed a worrying and predictable lack of toughness in that situation yesterday.
Second half Widnes kept us pinned back and kicked very well but again we did enough to win leading 28-16 at one point. Unfortunately we then lapsed into silling mistakes and needless ill discipline. Once they got within 4 points then end had an inevitability about it.
I thought Donaldson did well and didn't deserve to come off as he looked quite fresh. Lulia looked good in defence but was less impressive in attack. As you rightly say we'll miss his defence next year. Our right side defence was pants as it has been a lot this year. Too often we seemed short handed on that side with big gaps between centre and second row. Sometimes Gale was there sometimes not. We were really slow sliding in that direction and IIRC all our tries were conceded down that side.
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