Quote ="captaincaveman"I think we played into their hands in the first half.
Our defensive line sat back instead of moving up, allowing Cas to move the ball right across the field (probably would have worked better had Chase been playing HB).
Selecting Williams ,Miller and Wood to all start was a major error as they are all too similar and none has any compusure or can take control of the game.
Grix had a shocker as he was trying to force high risk plays early in the tackle count.
losing our centres at different points in the game didnt help our cause either.
not sure why we moved away from our back 3 taking up the early tackles as this has been working well for us.
positives for me were Fifita and Allgood played really well and the team never gave up.
all that said, Cas are playing great rugby and are the best team in the league at the moment and are rightly top of the table. It was always going to be a tough task to beat them at Cas.'"
Been away all weekend, so have just watched and agree with most of that. I said before the game that intensity and our defensive line speed had to be on point from the first minute, plus we couldn't give away any errors or penalties. It'd simoly allow Cas to get into the rhythm they've been playing so far, with quick PTB, which allows their forwards make good yards down the field & thus it happened in the 1st half.
We just didn't get to grips with their speed both in defense and attack. The other thing we couldn't do is start slow and hope to come back in the 2nd half, like we have in a couple of other games,. Cas are too good, especially at home for any chance of that happening. Although we did play better in the 2nd half, it was a too little too late, although encouraging that we didn't roll over and get our bellies tickled.
Has as been mentioned, I'm not sure why we didn't start FInn again. I think we've looked our best when we've started with Finn and Williams and when Miller has come on as an impact player. On the topic of Williams, if you watched him play in the NRL, everytime he played they'd mention he's the best back up half in the League. His game was all about accurate kicks, his short and long passing game and spotting a gap to put players through. He's shown glimpses of that this season but hasn't done so consistantly. Don't know if he's still settling in and finding his feet over here like some Aussies do or what.
As for finding our level lol, I don't know anyone that thinks we'll be better than in and around that 6th to 8th positions.
