Worth noting that this match will be used as a tribute to Rycroft Foster. I'm sure you'll all be aware of his story (if not, link below) . Great gesture from the club His dad - AF to long-term RABers - will be there leading the tributes and everyone is encouraged wear Purple, Green and/or Amber. https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... y-rycroft/

Worth noting that this match will be used as a tribute to Rycroft Foster. I'm sure you'll all be aware of his story (if not, link below) . Great gesture from the club His dad - AF to long-term RABers - will be there leading the tributes and everyone is encouraged wear Purple, Green and/or Amber. https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... y-rycroft/

Really no excuse tonight, Barrow doing it tough at the moment and have a player from the amateur leagues at stand off.

In that case, Barrow by 20

Awful half of rugby by Bradford, compounded by a referee who has made some baffling calls which has added to the frustration. Only consolation is Barrow are only 8 points ahead so the game is still there if the players can sort out their mindset.

Keep mouthing off to the wally in the middle and giving away soft penalties and Barrow will punish us further.

Taufua looking at Grade F for biting. Minimum of 6 games. Idiot.

Replay shows nothing but obviously we know from previous that they will ban on an allegation without video evidence. Ref said he saw the bite, so that'll probably see him sat out for the foreseeable.

Some really dumb rugby again tonight, credit to Barrow they have played the conditions and kept to a solid gameplan.

But once again masters of our own downfall

Again own worst enemy. Just not prepared to do the hard stuff.
Credit Barrow played the conditions and ref (Jesus christ the late penalty at the end summed it up. Just pathetic)

Absolutely pathetic. Discipline a running problem again.

Another example of this team thinking they can just turn up and teams will roll over and let us have the points. As soon we meet resistance we freeze and bottle it. This team has no grit, determination or heart. Same problems year after year. Zero consistency and players that consistently phone it in.

Greenwood’s post-match comments were focussed on ‘mentality issues which have been there all season’.

Well weve well and truely f * * *ed it havnt we. I called it a make or break month and like a 3 legged horse in the Grand National weve fallen at the 1st.

We must be the dumbest side in the league. Our discipline was atrocious and the ref pinged us for it but instead of learning we mouthed off and compounded it. And we did that countless times.

When we played fast we went through Barrow with ease even with a man less but we didn’t do that nearly enough. A chance to solidify a playoff spot blown.

Only saving grace is the Cougars gloating without realising that result puts them closer to the drop!

Yep, show a bit of of discipline and tough it out and we win an ugly match last night. Unfortunately we have a few players seem unable to do that either through laziness or arrogance.

I think we all agree this side isn't going to be worrying Toulouse or Fev for SL promotion but we had a great opportunity to break into the top 4 over the next few weeks. And it feels like another game we should have had enough quality to win but simply out enthused by a side willing to work hard for one another on the night.

Only Taufua and the Barrow player know what genuinely happened in that tackle, but if he has bitten him he has massively let himself and the club down. No excuse for that kind of behaviour on a rugby pitch. He should be given a chance to explain what happened though as the Barrow player looked more bothered about waving his arm to the ref than the natural shock and pain you'd expect from being bitten. He certainly wouldn't be the first player to old man a young ref who looked to be struggling to keep control of both sides at times.

Barrow certainly knew how to play the ref and we never wised up to.

He gave a penalty for a high shot when he had his back to the tackle. Their No5 was jumping up and down like he'd stood on a lego brick barefooted and the whistle went straight to his mouth. It was that ridiculous it was actually funny.

We turned up on 60mins, went through them, believed the hype and let them come straight back. Most infuriating game I've ever seen thanks to our stupidity and the ref's playing up to the camera Ganson-style

Poor game management , silly penalties and lack of conviction.
I thought Scurr was outstanding coming off the bench , Lawrence carried strongly in the final quarter but the rest of the squad were poor.

Was there an issue with Matongo? He did one stint in the first half and then never returned. Did he pick up an injury?

On the biting incident, if he has bitten him he shouldn't play for us again. Horrible act.

But watching it on Viaplay just left me bemused. Barrows player arms around the mouth but there isn't a biting/clamping and then disappear behind the bodies. Barrow player then gets up waving his arm around for a good 2-3 seconds accusing of being bitten. Ref then calls time off (not give a penalty) looks at the arm then says he's seen it and sends off Taufua. Just bemusing how the camera angle showing the incident clearly didn't show anything, yet the ref saw the incident through all those bodies and yet didn't blow for a penalty and called time off after the player made a complaint. I think hes seen a mark on an arm and decided that's sufficient evidence. Again if he has bitten him, he shouldn't play again.

Just dumb dumb rugby. I have been a supporter of Patten in the past but I think he's getting to be a liability. I would let him go and offer Lawford his wage to try and keep him to play alongside Gaskell.

We've also got to move heaven and earth to keep Scurr.

On a side note why only one turnstile open in the car park and queues going back to Stadium Road. This just p****s supporters off. Come on Bulls it's not difficult and very un-professional.

On a positive note, I thought Myers looked the part!

Positives - Lilley off the bench (should've started), Scurr, Lawrence and Myers.

Negatives - The attitude. As mentioned above. Far too many of these players think they have a pre ordained right to win. We came out and went through the motions for the first half. No line speed, no marker defence, in attack it was aimless kicking and poor decision making and no visible gameplan at all. The discipline was non-existent. It was like watching a load of petulant teenagers getting "old manned" by a more experienced opposition, yet many of our players are old enough to know better. Getting on the wrong side of the ref means all the 50-50 calls will go against you.

Time to bin Patton off. He's far too inconsistent and when he doesn't fancy it like last night he's a liability. I feel similarly about Flanagan snr. He supposedly brings enthusiasm but IMO this should amount to more than clapping your hands and shouting loudly to team mates. When Lilley came on for him the line speed and marker defence improved 1000%.

I'm away on Holiday and by the sounds of it our performance was dire, just glad that I missed it.

Am I right in thinking that the ref didn't stop the clock on at least 2 occassions when Shaw was taking conversions? I'm not saying it would have made a difference but it's just not right. Aren't kickers allowed 1 minute before the clock is stopped?

Shaw took ages but the ref did stop the clock from what I saw.

Yes but well after aminute had expired.

Hmm. As has been said, that assumption that we would win came back again, like at York, like at Barrow & Widnes. And we lost. It’s got to be the playmakers that determine that with their pass/kick/run choices. And that’s on Patton, lesser extent Flanagan as age has caught him this season.
But that was retrievable at half time as we had played the worst half of the season but our goal line defence was ok, so we were only 8-0 down.
And there was a short period where we got quick ptb, due to running hard and direct and Barrow couldn’t cope. But then we went away from it and the chance was gone.
So, Patton has to go - definitely at the end of the season. Whether we drop him now is a risk, but Lilley/Gaskell or Jowitt/Gaskell or Lawford/Gaskell have to be considered.
Time has caught Flanagan up. No shame in that and we have other hooking options
That was a bad refereeing performance. Rodgers disallowed try looked perfectly fine from the direct overhead view from the Coral stand.
The bite. There wasn’t any video evidence. There were 3 options. An experienced ex- NRL player deliberately bit the forearm of another player. It was an accidental coming together of a forearm and jaw in contact. Or it wasn’t accidental and the Barrow player used his forearm to forcibly drive the opponent’s head into the ground.
9 times out of 10, a referee would put that on report or go to the video ref as generally its 1 players word vs another. But there was a mark, so he made a choice.
Batley will know they just have to do the basics, wind up Patton and suck up to the ref to win.