A wins a win, but heavy weather. Possibly one Haven might feel they lost rather than us winning. They put a lot of pressure on in the second half and perhaps with better handling they could of scored a couple. Mind also missed a couple in the first half. Our defence was solid however and a lot of the poor or forced passing by Haven was as a result of increasing frustration in not being able to break through. Their completion rate was very good throughout. Also appeared more certain of the running lines in each set. We sometimes looked as if we had forgotten what was expected as the set progressed. Without Slyney and Ioane on the pitch we seemed to lose punch going forward. For them Fox appeared to have a good game and Duffy who appeared to be carrying the majority of Jennings brewery around his midriff caused problems every time he had the ball.
Their first try was good work from Holliday but feel shouldn't have been given the space. And for their second possibly should have been Macani getting to the ball. Whether it was grounded properly is another matter.
Barthau dictated most of our play. For the last try Slyney called for the drop off pass and came in at a 45 degree angle against the direction of play and despite having around 3 tacklers thinking they had him wrapped up was able to stretch out an arm to score under the posts. After that we'd start to get a good position and then knock on, or get penalised for something else gifting them possession in better and better positions. The final hooter seemed to take an eternity as we appeared incapable of running out a good set of six.
As theoretically the fitter team we should be dominating the ruck turning the player on his back and getting him facing his own line, that earns you the right to have slightly longer on in the tackle. If the tackled player is on his front and facing the right way as then the defender has to be off pretty quick that includes getting hands off the ball, that's where we get caught out when we try to slow it down because we have not won the ruck, referees recognise that and penalise accordingly. So it's not the standard of the ref it's poor technique from the players.
By all means first second set in a game test the ref out see what you can get away with, but after that a team should have it worked out.
Refs look at tackles and the move call is adjusted accordingly, defender controlling the ruck will result in slower ptb and more time to set the defence, attacker dominating as in landing on elbows and knees and still going fed defenders have to be off quick.
Defenders can only work the ball carrier on the ground in a surrender or dominant tackle.
Personally what I have seen so far we have deserved the majority of penalties
It's not fitness, it's strength and technique. Our guys remain smaller, maybe more mobile but not as physical, and it's difficult to get some of the lumps into "good" positions in the tackle, in part contributing to the holding down penalties.
All views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the RLFANS.COM or its subsites.
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that news stories, articles and images are correct, we cannot be held responsible for errors. However, if you feel any material on this website is copyrighted or incorrect in any way please contact us using the link at the top of the page so we can remove it or negotiate copyright permission.
RLFANS.COM, the owners of this website, is not responsible for the content of its sub-sites or posts, please email the author of this sub-site or post if you feel you find an article offensive or of a choice nature that you disagree with.