Quote: hengirl "
so im not going to proclaim the new dawn is here but the team did a job, made hard going at times but once they wore them down only one winner.
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Same here, I don't get the ridiculous level of negativity in this thread. I wasn't happy at HT because it was obvious they were missing a few and I said we ought to put at least 30 on them, which we did in the end. The first half was very much about wearing the opposition down with very conservative rugby, we completed at 90% and didn't make any errors, and I think that was important after last week. As a paying spectator, I don't particularly enjoy watching it but I understand the tactic.
But when we turned it on, it was good to watch - Farrell's inside pass to French was almost impossible to defend. As well as Hastings and French having strong games in the backs, it was good to see Joe Bullock's contribution and I thought Smithies made good metres with ball in hand. On the negative side, a lot of ball watching within our 20m led to their tries and we couldn't stop their offloads. Not getting carried away, it's 3 games in with a lot of new combinations against weak opposition. Next Sunday will give us an idea of how we compete at the top end of the table.
A couple of people have mentioned the referee's performance. I don't understand how a bloke can ref one half in one way and come out with a completely different style of officiating after halftime. I don't know who the officials talk to at HT or whether they get reviewed by Ganson or the video ref, but the conspiracy theories being shouted out about Sky wanting to see an 'upset' seem as good an explanation as any. This sort of inconsistency within one game is very frustrating for the spectators and especially for the players. After Isa (legally) pasted their forward and Hastings blew up and got penalised, I thought the game might get away from us, but thankfully the team regained their composure.
