Quote: Scarlet Pimpernell "How did the changes to the squad go today and also Hampshire playing in the seven position.'"
Good. Batchelor made 2 handling errors but tbf 1 of them was a complete hospital pass from Kyle Wood. But apart from that he ran strong and won collision a few times and was excellent with the boot. Good performance.
Hampshire - kicking could have been better but caused more problems with ball in hand and running than Finn would - few jinking runs that made the Hull line hesitant but we sometimes lacked support runners off the back of it. I'd give him a run at 7 personally because his pace means we shift the ball quicker imo.
Jowitt - Mixed. Should have dropped on a loose ball for the first Hull try and dropped another high ball that put pressure on us to lead to another of the Hull scores. But he was excellent chiming into the line (nice cut out pass for Tupou's 2nd) and in his one on one defence (particularly when Talanoa broke down the wing). Pretty good. Again, quicker than grix - we looked dangerous when we shifted the ball quickly from one side to another and regularly stretched Hull down our left side with Arundel.
Baldwinson - Stood up okay. I didn't really see him much but maybe just can't remember. Didn't seem to play as many minutes as other forwards? Don't know. Just don't remember seeing all that much of him so can't comment too much on how he did.
Pauli Pauli had his best game yet. Made some good metres and went on one great run near the end to give us a chance of a drop goal. Hirst was excellent I though. Leg drive and metres after contact seemed really good. Randell was solid and great invention for MCB try. Arundel ran hard - I'm a big fan. MCB defensively is dodgy for me - shot wildly out of line for Talanoa's try off the kick leaving him in acres for an easy catch and score. Another instance where he left it way too long to react to a grubber and luckily the ball bounced back to us. Well taken second try though. Tupou was Tupou - thought he had another good game. Miller was pretty good, passed the ball well and troubled them with some jinking runs - kicking game lacking again.
Overall it was a good performance and I was happy with it and enjoyed the game. It was extremely small margins as seems to be the case at the minute but they will come good. I came away gutted but feeling positive about what we can do as the season progresses.