Someone said that there was a rugby match at Salford Stadium last Friday. Well, for the first half at least, you could have fooled me.
Me at half-time: <opens thesaurus app>; T, t, t, t… tubular, tumesce, turmeric – too far – ah, here we are: turgid. Let’s see… cramped, cumbrous … fustian (I like that one) … laboured, leaden … stiff, stilted …
As first halves go, I’ve seen better. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen worse, too, but they are significantly harder to bring to mind.
Mind you, since almost the entire match took place a hundred yards away, at the far end of the pitch, I’m not entirely sure what I was watching for most of it.
I don’t have much to say about this game: it did not lodge itself into my memory and I have neither the time nor the inclination to watch the replay.
None of the above should be taken to suggest in any way that anybody played badly. Far from it: I would say that for an inexperienced team to get to within four points of the side that Leicester put out is a notable and laudable achievement. I’m just saying that nobody is going to be fondly reminiscing in a couple of years about ‘that cracking PRC game against Leicester’.
Tristan Woodman continues to impress: we need to keep him, although he’s got some stiff competition for the starting 7 shirt…
Rouban Birch had another cracking game, as did Groves – he’s made significant strides this season over previous outings. I’ve liked the look of Onasanya for a while now and I’m just wondering if his absence has anything to do with FC’s poor start to the season.
In the backs, I thought the young padawan, Obi Ene, stood out for the second week running. He could be a valuable addition to the back line. Having Nye Thomas as well as Raffi and Gus is just greedy, and I love it.
Again, kudos to a young team for holding out so long against a more experienced side and for keeping it tight to the end. I suspect we’ll start to see more first-teamers being introduced over the next three games as we begin to ramp up to the important stuff: Northampton at home in round one.
But it’s Newcastle up next: they have two bonus-point wins against Ampthill and Bedford, so they’ve not been tested against Premiership competition yet. As I said, I expect to see a couple more first-teamers starting this one and possibly a first appearance for Ma’asi-White (assuming he’s got over his niggle). It’s a game we need to win if we have any ambition for the Premiership this year.
an old grey dog 