After what felt like a mini close-season but was, in fact, a mini close-season, it was back to my accustomed position at the back of the south sta— what on earth has Rob done to his hair‽
I need to get something off my chest up front, though. As far as I am concerned, this game (and next week’s) was put on to give a bunch of guys who hadn’t played a competitive game for five weeks the chance to blow off the cobwebs before the season restarts in earnest. It was not a game put on for the benefit of the fans, whether because of the long break or to make up for the loss of games against the defunct clubs.
Given that, I can’t get my head around comments like, “It’s not good enough”, “waste of time” or “I’ll be watching the netball…”. I re-iterate, that this game was for the benefit of the players, not a special put on as a sop to the fans for what would otherwise be a ten-week break between home matches. That it did provide a bit of light relief during that humungous gap was an extra, not a reason.
OK, rant over…
I don’t have much to say about the game itself; as I said, it was about blowing off the cobwebs. With that many substitutions and new faces, it would never be pretty but we got eight tries, even if most of them were up the other end.
Sale started well, but then we went through this period of some forty-five minutes where we just got pinged every minute or so. It meant that we couldn’t build an attack, as it would just fizzle out with a penalty, allowing Falcons to relieve the pressure. Conversely, we kept giving Newcastle possession and territory in attack. I’m not going to go down the “well, the ref has never liked us” route because it’s bollocks. (And, yes, I did see several blatant Falcons penalties in that time that went unpunished, but accusing the ref of bias is still bollocks.) So, it’s a bit concerning that we could go through such an extended period of ill-discipline; I know we can be our own worst enemies at times, but that was verging on the masochistic.
It was interesting, then, that the only yellow card of the game was shown to a Newcastle player… (Updated: I’m informed that there were other yellows brandished. I really don’t remember: a combination of the cold and frustration at the constant penalties has left a void.)
To only lose by one penalty kick despite the ping-fest and despite a list of missing players longer than an orang-utan’s arm is slightly encouraging. Continuing what seems to be a losing habit, however, is not.
It was good to see Raffi back. It would have been even better to see some sign of Bev, though – his absence suggests that he’s still not recovered fully. And is SiMac injured? It would seem odd to rest someone after a five-week break…
We saw lots of new players getting valuable game time against Premiership opposition (it may have been a meaningless friendly, but it’s all grist to the mill). Bradshaw took his try particularly well, I thought: strong enough to shrug off the tackle and get over the try line. I look forward to seeing him again.
The guy wearing 6 looked familiar. Put himself about a bit, he could do well…
I’m not going to read too much into this game (if I did, it would only depress me…). It was a chance to get back into the swing of competitive matches, that’s all, although it does irk a bit to give Dimes bragging rights over us on his first game in charge…
There’s another against Northampton to come – let’s hope it’s enough to get things back together for the important game the week after at Bath.
We need to get back into the winning habit.
an old grey dog 