superb stint in the 1st half when rovers threw everything at us early on and was pretty good inthe 2nd well done lets hope it carries on next week...

My thoughts exactly. Thought they were definately going to crack when HKR forced 2 goal line drop outs but they held firm.

Worked hard for each other and there seemed to be a lot more team spirit, looks like Smith is starting to make a difference. Would have been interesting to see us go behind and see what effect that would have had. However, a great defensive display and we dominated KR for the vast majority of the game.

dont want to see us behind lets get in front then we have something to defend

I second that excellent defence in the second half

I honestly thought we could nil them and was a little disappointed we didn't. The communication was VASTLY better and it was good to see the players scanning up and down the line when they had retreated the 10 so they knew were structured properly.

I thought for the first 35 minutes our defence looked pretty watertight. I can't remember any team being handed 3 back to back sets on our line and us being capable of holding them at bay over the last couple of years. This may be pure coincidence but Briers came on and a few minutes later Monaghan came off just before half time. After 5 minutes of the second half I was thinking to myself that there were a few more gaps around the middle of the park on both sides. Lots of numbers in the tackle but each team were making a lot more half breaks.

One thing that was evident was the number of mistakes made when Monaghan came off, Again it could be purely coincidence and the fatigue factor was kicking in similar to the defence in the second half. In the first half we just looked tighter as a group, playing football with a low error count and scoring a couple of scrappy short range tries but very effective.

In the first half I could only remember one error, There was plenty of loose ball but always somebody there to drop on it or scoop up and carry on. In the second half we looked to play more expansive and as a result we scored a couple of well worked tries but we also gave away a fair bit of possesion and leaked a few. Fatigue may have kicked in due to the constant stream of penalties we gave away. It would be interesting to compare first half and second half completion rates.

This post maybe seen as a dig at our style of play when Briers is on the pitch and to be honest yes that might be in the back of my mind but I make no apologies for that.

One thing no-one can argue with is that Monas has a better defence than Briers. He works harder, has a better technique and is stronger. What the lad now needs to do is couple that with a bit more attacking awareness, kicking and short breaks. Although his kicking wasn't great, his short passes and confidence attacking the line resembled his first few games over here. In terms of defence yes much better and I look forward to Westwood adding to that.

Those three sets virtually on our line in the first half, i was very impressed with.