yes, thanks nothus for the link. Platts defence not so good but he did make two tries, and yes also in those same two tries theres that old has-been who cannot pass a ball Jamie Langley, passing the ball. Of course its a Cas video so for example the mis pass to "2nd year of contract bought out" that caused him to knock on with the line begging him to score is not in there, the crossing (alleged ) etc. and the good tackling of course (by Langley but also a bit by Sibbit). Phil Joseph would be what, 6th choice, so not much at risk. Effectively a Crossley replacement.

You should probably thank pyeman for the link, not me

Backs up what those of us at game said re Joseph really. Decent go forward but needs to work on defence. It's a cas highlights video so naturally it concentrates on their try's ( notice how it shows each of their tries 3 or 4 times but only shows ours once). It shows Joseph missing tackles in build up to a couple of cas tries whic was reason we mentioned his defence needs work. You don't see the go forward as there virtually no general play shown. ATEOTD were looking at him as a possible sixth choice prop and for that role his level looks fine.

To be fair to Platt he clearly did tig those players.

How long was Joseph on the field in his stints? He just looks fatigued to me when missing those tackles. Having seen him play a few times I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with his defense in terms of technique. I think that coming from a part time enviroment he's bound to be a fair way behind the fitness levels. I'd expect to see a big improvement in his next game. As squad players go we could do a lot worse IMO.

We do still seem utterly incapable of defending against that simple backline move where the ball goes to a deep runner who throws a long ball to the inevitably unmarked wiinger. Why do we react so slowly to this? It's been a problem for at least 4 years. Potter is right about needing to work on it but it's not a new problem. Hopefully our new centres can sort it, if they can't it's an obvious and clear weakness.

It was difficult to tell which were replays of the tries down your RHS defence & which were the same move repeated a few minutes later.

Thanks for posting

I agree that Platt looked pretty woeful in defence, although he wasn't helped by Ainscough being out of position or grabbing at thin air. In fact we looked worryingly ordinary in defensive department all round - let's hope it was simply the rustiness of pre-season, but it seemed like we were making the same basic defensive errors as last season...

And what about that commentator as well? He could not have been more broad Yorkshire if he's been a character in some sort of comedy sketch. Wonderful accent

My favourite was after Platt's glaring forward pass to Ainscough

'That was so far forward Stevie Wonder would have seen it'

If executed properly it's almost impossible to defend against. Someone has to mark the lead (front) runner and that's what creates the overlap. That's why every team uses the play so commonly.

I can see why every SL side uses the move (though we rarely seem to execute it very well ourselves!)

I would think that the key in defending it is communication. If that's done quick enough then the defence can move across to cover. At this game we seemed to stand like statues. Every defender had to take responsibility and move sideways quickly to provide cover. It's easy to criticise Ainscough but if he'd ran out to the winger the centre would've had a walk in. ALL the defenders have to move across and up quicker to give the attackers less time on the ball.

As you say if done well it's very hard to defend against but it's not impossible. Cas seemed almost to score at will using this move. We can and must do better if we're to do any better this season.