Ok have it your own one eyed way then. We will see how selection goes over the season.

Really enjoyed that (well the 2nd half at least)

Hurrell was immense and will become a fans favourite very quickly!

Also the shot clock speeding things up a hell of a lot, what happens if the scrum hasn’t happened aftee tge 35seconds though?

Agree Handley wasn't m.o.m but saying that how do you get the opinion he was poor? He did nothing wrong.
Once again Ferres offered nothing & Sutcliffe was just as ordinary if not worse especially defensively 1st half.
Hurrell was my pick for m.o.m by some distance also thoyght Walker chimed into the line well.
Overall i thought our pack highlighted what we already knrw we lack genuine power with & without the ball.

Seriously what's "one eyed" about how the pre-season has unfolded & listening to Furner?

Agree re-shot clock wrt what happens if it goes over 30 secs its a Penalty isnt it?

To who though? Is it up to the ref to decide who has held the scrum up?

Enjoyed the game today good turnout for a great Lad. First half very ropey but was well pleased with the response in second half. We look much fitter than last year but with some of the same mistakes. Hurrell was by far man of match with cuthbo a close second. All in all a good hit out for both teams, one thing it did show we are def short of big aggressive prop.

Agree with that. Cuthbertson came on and added some bite to the tackles that had been lacking. After that we looked a lot more solid and more aggressive going forward.
Agree second row didn’t add much, if anything.
The ref was just ridiculous. The holding down was daft and only penalised rarely, which I hope is not a sign of things to come. The forward passes from both side were throughout the game yet only one penalised.

I believe it’s penalty fines to the club rather than an on field fine.

The shot clock is more interesting with GLDO, because if a player is faking an injury in this time, the player will either have to be subbed off, or they have to play the full set of six with 12 men.

Couldn't agree more. Apart from personnel, that could have been a McDermott coached team. Still can't tackle using correct technique and relatively clueless with ball in hand. I had contemplated buying a season ticket for me and the boy, but if that or similar is to be served up each week i will forget it.

Merrin looks very unfit and like a big lump... hope he improves fitness wise.

It's still early but the first 3 games could see us 0-3 with a big -ve points difference!

On the plus side, the stadium looks great.

It was a pre season friendly, Merrin hasnt played for months, lets give them a chance before writing the team off eh?

FWIW the second half performance was light years away from how we played last year IMO

Found the rules

3. If the shot-clock has counted down to zero seconds, (indicated by a buzzer sounding) and one team is not properly bound and packed, the Referee shall award a penalty to the non-offending team. This will result in a full penalty.

4. If the shot-clock has counted down to zero seconds, (indicated by a buzzer sounding) and both teamsare not properly bound and packed, the Referee shall award a penalty to the team which has the feed. This will be a full penalty.

Positives,
We finished strongly so fitness may well have improved.
Hurrell will be a great asset if he stays fit.
Stevie Ward looked fitter than for a long time.

Negatives
Front row looked powder puff at times. We looked better with Cuthbertson and oledski on the field and Crosby may help but we are weaker without Garbutt. Yet to be convinced by Peteru.
Early days regarding the half back combination but was expecting Lolohea to take on the line a bit more. Cas scored some tries that were well executed moves, ours were more off the cuff.


Some of the younger players will have another season under their belts and will be better for it.

the fines will happen if the goal kicker exceeds his allowed time (which is a joke)

Well my post was made at half time after a very dubious first half, big improvement second half, thought we really got stuck in some aggressive line speed that has been missing for a few years. We conceded a couple or 3 very soft tries unfortunately all down to Newman, who is not a winger and is no were near ready for first team yet. Needs at least 12 months at Fev.
Cameron smith looked very good when he came on, Cuthbo proved the doubters wrong, Hurrel is the real deal. Sutcliff another year another position, still looks poor, I've defended Ferres, but not any more, should have been shipped out, stealing a wage.

I'll take that scoreline in a competitive friendly. The main points seem to be a) Hurrell's performance, b) fitness - the fact that we weren't blown away and seem to have finished strongly, c) that apparently no-one broke down injured and d) solid returns from Ward and Watkins.

As for the apparent lack of creativity etc. We don't necessarily want to be pulling out all the stops and new plays straight away in this kind of game. Realistically it was always going to take time for a new coach's ideas to be implemented and the new players to gel. At this stage I'm happy with signs of improvement mixed in with 'more work needed' in some areas, as opposed to another false dawn and a scoreline that papers over the cracks...

I wonder sometimes if I watch the same game as others. How does TM look like a lump? He had 2 sessions, held the ball securely, made good metres for a 2R, and a lovely offload in the 2nd half. I thought KH was immense and Cameron is looking better and better. Let’s not forget, we were playing against a good mature team who know how to tackle and attack really well. To our credit we kept battling where last year they would have run away with it. Well done both teams for a good game. And yes the stadium is looking great!!!

Cas were by far the better side in the first half. I don’t think anyone can argue with that.

We were much improved towards the back end of the first half and into the second half. Once Ward, cuthbertson and Oledzki were introduced.

The biggest positive for me was Koni, who in my opinion was the best player on the field from either side. I personally thought Merrin for a first run out showed some quality running the ball in. Tui showed glimpses and will take time to get his flow going but the signs are promising. Oledzki looks fitter and stronger he certainly outshone Peteru today and could certainly be pushing for a starting spot at some point this season.

Overall a lot of work still to do and I still feel we are still a meter crunching forward shot of being a real force.

By the looks of things were still lacking a decent back rower (if merrin is to play LF) and a big front rower who is going to throw his weight around a bit. Pack looked small compared to cas's starting pack with watts and sene-lefao. A few injuries to cuthbertson and singo and we could struggle up front. Nice to see that we look more dangerous in attack which will get even better when we sharpen up as the season goes on. Agree that sutcliffe shouldnt be playing back row and think smith should defo get a go, great ball handling back row and could go well with either watkins or hurrell outside him.

I think we'd get better value from Peteru as a wide running back rower- just doesn't strike me as a prop at all.

As for yesterday's game, made a change to see some smiles on faces and players talking to each other- particularly Tui dragging people to where he wanted them. Nice couple of touches from him on short sides etc- think he will sharpen up as the year goes on and Myler will be asked to be the "steady head".

Whilst our front row might be a bit lightweight I think that's going to have less of an impact during the season than it is in friendlies - only having 8 interchanges is going to play havoc with teams who are reliant on big units - it's going to make the end of games a very different proposition. I think over the course of the season lighter, more mobile props who are capable of longer minutes are going to provide real value. I'm hopeful that that's the thinking any way.

i honestly do not think we miss Singleton, think he has flattered to deceive for too long now, think we have better players in the squad and better prospects coming through. Needs a big season or should be looking to offload him.

If the argument is making metres, then as bad as it sounds, Mullalley should be before Singleton. If that is not the case, then Singleton is in for another reason, but like I you, I just can't see what. His constant running the ball in straight to the ruck, easy to tackle, and two or three yards made, is the old McDermott tactic and it doesn't work.

I think that singleton gives us a bit of nastiness that we don't have any where else. Our pack is too nice. i think he does a lot of work defensively too, seems a leader of the pack.

Singleton? He doesn’t strike me as nasty at all nor does he seem to have that much bite in defence. He certainly doesn’t make much impact when he runs the ball in. He’s useful because he’s relatively quick for a prop. But we still need some bigger, nastier fellas in the middle to create the space for him to be useful in my opinion.