We were better tonight, but still a way to go. Positives were:

- Better use of interchanges, even Fitzgibbon got a rest.
- We scored over 40 points.
- 2 or 3 of the tries were genuinely good rugby.

Negatives:

- We are still embarassingly disorganised at times. Silly things like our 2 props Moa and Lauaki stood only a yard apart at 2nd receiver not knowing who's getting the ball, or when following a break down one side and from the ptb we need to shift the ball quickly to the other wing, Radford is at 1st receiver.
- Still a few strange positional choices.
- Comments on here have been right; the play really does slow down when Fitzgibbon receives the ball, and he also threw a few bad passes out. Work rate is unquestionable and his tackling is phenomenal, but him receiving the ball early in the play is a weakness when we're in possession.
- Ball control is still sloppy, with some questionable decisions of when to offload.
- Kicking game still not good enough. Better than it has been tonight, but still only ordinary rather than good.
- Hard to get a read of how much better we really were, as the opposition were really poor. I was surprised at just how weak their pack was, first 10 minutes aside.

Fair comments

Discipline was superb tonight can count on 1 hand the amount of penalties we conceeded.

Our attack was pretty much the same as it has been for a long while the main difference is that in Obst we have a 7 who doesn't mind taking a whack and is actually a threat with the ball, was very impressed with the little fella my Man of the Match.

The winning the collision is still a poor area that still needs a ton of work as only Briscoe, Ogre and Moa tend to get a win for us. Wigan next week won't make the stupid reads in defense that Cru did tonight with a set line

TBH cant knock what he's said , some good fair points

Decent game from Thaler I thought. Barely noticed him.

Another true ish point.

Let the game flow, but was pretty lax with offsides and forward passes (although he did pull up a couple). Was the same for both sides though, so you can't complain too much.

got to agree the only mistake i can call him making was when briscoe and yeamen dragged a cru player into touch which technically is a penalty and whilst on the subject i think the standard of reffing this season has been very good

That rule is one of several that are applied very inconsistently IMO.

agree stupid rule but good to see the refs staying out of games and letting the game flow

right in front of us, correct call no penalty, cru player was still moving, both feet seemed to be on the ground

Positives:-

Goal line defence was very much improved, especially during one particularly tough spell in the first half.
We had a pari of halves who complimented each other.
Our attacking kicks were good.
Interchanges were better.

Negatives:-
Long kicking game was still poor.
We switched off to late two late tries in.
Fitz still being played out of position, he is too slow for the back three and needs to be playing prop.
Wingers still got no decent ball.

It should have been a penalty. It dosnt matter if his feet don't leave the ground or is still moving. You cannot drag a player into touch, that rule change started at the beginning of last season

My understanding of this stupid rule is that you can push them into touch as long as their feet are in contact with the floor at all times and it becomes a penalty if some one pulls them, feet come off the floor or momentum has stopped. I thought it was a penalty to be honest as I think it was yeaman who began to pull the player into touch but fortunately got away with it. To many grey areas to this type of penalty.

also if one of the ball carrier's teammates joins the tackle then held has to be called immediately, if it moves after held is called it is also a penalty apparently (not saying this happnened last night, just adding to your general point)

That confirms how confusing it is to control on the field. My 2 gripes are the point you've made as they should only call held if momentum is stopped by their team mate been involved and the feet off the floor, the tackling players will have no intention of lifting his feet off the floor but what's to stop the attacking player using the defenders as leverage to lift his feet and give the impression that he has been lifted. As I said to many grey areas,

Yes
Yes
no
yes
yes
Experience,probably Turner will be left out.

Now please stop shouting,I am a bit fragile this morning.

I'd pretty much agree with those point's , Also our Penalty touch kicks seemed to have vastly improved from the usual 10 meters gain to something that actually benefits the team.

No need. How do you think a comment like that makes you look ?

Westerman looked to put a couple of shady kicks to touch in. When Whiting took over the duties it looked like he was going to hoof it over the roof.

The whole team looked much busier and interested last night.

I can`t understand why they don`t use Whiting,he always seems to get decent lengths on his kicks to touch.

Good half back play throughout Horne and Obst very good.
Good goal line defence.
Very good attacking kicks.
Decent discipline.
Some good tries scored (and 8 of them in total

)
Improved but still patchy defensive line speed.
Average/poor ptb speed - regular "loss of collision".
Better and more logical bench rotation.
Most effective three performers - Horne/Obst/Whiting
Least effective three performers Manu (injured?)/Yeaman/Turner.

Think Manu wasn`t 100% ,he kept holding his shoulder ,and I noticed he seemed to say something to Fitz about it before going into a scrum.

Thought we were obviously much better and amazing to see us score so many tries from inside the oppos 20 metre area. crusaders were rubbish I thought and not a patch on the side when noble was in charge. Good to see us actually making some ground from penalty touch kicks too.

Unlike others, I thought his interchanges weren't that great again. He only brought moa on with 5 minutes left in the 1st half and could have given washbrook longer at hooker IMO once the game was won

expect crusaders to be bit stronger when their 3 players get clearance