Ben was very good last night. Whether he can be the same attacking threat as before the ACL reconstructions time will tell, but he does seem to have adapted his game better this season to suit his limitations with the reduced lateral movement he has.

Ben, like all our forwards, was utterly fearless last night and it will do him the world of good. The knee problem is the first real setback he has had in his career and mentally last night will give him huge confidence.

....... and how good was Joe Philbin? MOM for me - we forget how far and how fast this lad had progressed and GB honours have elevated his confidence hugely.

1 to 17 played well last night.

Thought Currie did very well - got through a lot of work defensively and in attack he often seemed to be half through with 2 or 3 defenders clinging on.

As has been said above - Joe Philbin was immense. Even though he's played for GB, I think he really came of age tonight and didn't look like a bench interchange prop.

I add a word of caution to all this celebration though - Saints were without several key players and i mske no bones for raising this - losing Warmsley before the match was a MASSIVE blow to them. Coote was another. And in the match they lost Percival too.

Not taking anything away from a superb Wire performance, but the next march against Saints will be tougher and we'll need to show the same resolve to win.

So who's responsible for turning us from a boring / predictable side at the end of last year to what we've shown in these2 matches?

Did Briersy say to Price at the end of last year 'We need to do x,y,z' or maybe Hendo?
Or was it a bit of all of them?
I'd like to think that it came from the assistants in some ways because that would bode good for the future.

Onwards and upwards

We were playing good rugby last year until injuries and a drop in form ruined our season.

The key this season will be to maintain this level of form throughout the year.

I think the biggest difference between these first two games and the end of last season has just been the intensity of the players. They seem to be thinking faster and playing at a more aggressive tempo than last year when it just seemed like we were accepting being second best.

I'm definitely encouraged by Currie last night.

No complaints from me, Currie played well in an excellent defencesive team performnce.

He took a couple of strong runs into their line, looked fearless and not like somebody worrying about another injury.


We moved the ball incredibly well on Thursday night. Shows how well the team is clicking together. I take the point about Saints having players missing but would counter that with a question mark over the depth of their squad.

Agreed he made some really good solid drives with good leg drive especially in the second half last week. Where as in moments last year, he seemed to take the tackle (almost given in) to the defender, but not really push on through the defensive line.

Ideally we need to see more of the same from Currie, hopefully he will develop his attacking game more, loved seeing his long looping passes to wingers or his inside ball to Ratchford from a penalty tap..