Newport away.

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Bodie 007
Posts: 56
Joined: 08 Jan 2020 23:11

Newport away.

Post by Bodie 007 »

Well I went there with no expectations and unfortunately was not surprised. Newport played a different type of game than our home fixture a few weeks ago, again unfortunately, both worked, one backs orientated but today's forwards orientated. Our set piece was abysmal, especially considering we have two forwards coaches. I know we have a lot of injuries but Peard, Chapman and especially Westwood played quite well. We don't seem to have a leader or gameplay, we didn't use the conditions at all unlike our opponents.
Something HAS to change!
String
Posts: 1289
Joined: 26 Feb 2005 02:36
Location: Cayman Islands
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Re: Newport away.

Post by String »

I came with low expectations and those weren't met.
We've gone backwards again.

N****t had a very simple game plan. Ultimately every single time they set up a rolling maul within 20m of the line we had no defence at all and it either went over to score or was stopped illegally.
We had absolutely no way of competing or stopping it.

Our own scrum was a mess - penalised no end of times. But that wasn't as bad as our lineout where we lost almost all of our own throws (and the last try was scored as a result of us losing our own throw on a 5m lineout.)
Why exactly 60 mins into the game did we still insist on throwing long knowing what had happened every time up to then?! We did throw it to the front once - and won that throw.

Discipline was abysmal again - i lost track of the penalties by half time but they were all fair calls. "Only" one yellow card this time with a well deserved penalty try - is that an improvement?!

With no ball its not a shock that not once did we put n*****t under pressure. Our one try was a good break away from our own half but it summed it up - we created no attacking platform at all. Never once threatened.

There was only one opposition try where they had to create anything. All the others were a direct result of us getting absolutely pulverised in the forwards.

Yes it was windy but it was the same wind for both teams and we lost both halves - both with and against it.

We look like we lack any form of on field OR off field leadership. There is nobody dictating a style or play and no adaptation to conditions or what's actually going on.

The league starts next and we're going to come up against much better opposition than we have up until now and that may not be pretty.
I honestly can't see a single team in the fixture list where it looks like we have a chance of winning against.
Bodie 007
Posts: 56
Joined: 08 Jan 2020 23:11

Re: Newport away.

Post by Bodie 007 »

String, fair assessment I'm afraid.
Something needs to change soon as this sort of impotent play is reminiscent of the season we got relegated.
Malpas69
Posts: 1659
Joined: 01 Mar 2005 12:56
Location: Ebbw Vale exile living in N*****t

Re: Newport away.

Post by Malpas69 »

Without being negative, it is hard to disagree with anything that has been said.

Newport will not score five (or was it six, I lost count) easier catch and drive / rolling maul tries than they did yesterday. There was a feeling of inevitability every time they kicked into the corner. Everybody in the ground knew exactly what was coming - basically either five or seven points to Newport.

Why were we finding it so difficult to defend, was it (a) the Newport forwards were just bigger and stronger than us (b) given our recent disciplinary track record, we were afraid to do anything illegal to stop it, or (c) Newport just had good technique, which we were just not able to cope with?

We should know a thing or two about the technique of rolling mauls, how many tries did we score via the 'catch and Kynes'?

Going into the match, I was actually more worried about our defence in the backs as I had heard/read that the Newport backs ran rings around the Merthyr backs the week before, but I actually thought that we defended reasonably well in the backs.

Once Newport had scored so easily (almost at will) with the first catch and drive, it was inevitable that they were just going to repeat the same thing time after time!

At the moment, we are just an easy five points for the opposition and are really offering very little. I appreciate that we have a very lengthy injury list (that is a fact), but (as has already been said), there are definite parallels between this season and the season that we got relegated. Thankfully, we are going to be spared that this season (at least for the time being).

Maybe the end of that stupid Cup thing and the start of the League will bring a change of mindset (and hopefully some of our injured players back), but I am not holding out much hope!
Crime in multi-storey car parks - that is just wrong on so many different levels!!
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