Quote ="Sal Paradise"I would say it was a numbers issue they had a man over Bowen - defend him all you want but Bowen went past Sinfield as if he wasnt there. This notion that Hardaker is some kind of superman capable of stopping every try is nonesense and certainly not born out by what has happened on the field. The Bowen try would probably have not been scored if Hardaker had played but that is the only one'"
I would say it was a communications issue between 2 players that don't normally defend together and a player who plays most of his games in League 1.
You know why Bowen went past Sinfield like he wasn't there? Because he wasn't there. A more experienced centre wouldn't have left such a big gap between him and his halfback, especially one who'd played with said halfback and knew he's not the quickest.
It wasn't a numbers issue really, the team had numbered up right just had left too much space. Now Sinfield is partly to blame for that but so is his centre and I'm sure that had Watkins been defending there rather than Keinhorst that that gap wouldn't have been so large.
That's why I think the try would've been stopped if Hardaker had been available, because Watkins would've been at centre.
But being partly to blame for 1 try doesn't make a player a liability in defence. No-one in this current Leeds team is a liability in defence.
