That first half is inexusable. I don't care how many injuries we've got, you want the players out there to make the effort and not let players waltz through them.

And the worst part is, that fightback will make the players think they've done enough to make up for it all. No. I want an absolute leathering of someone. Losing to Toulouse is not good enough no matter how much we've scored in the second half. That was not good enough. We only had Lee Doran and Thackery making the effort. Whatever the reason for our performance, be it under preperation, be it not having a great start, draw a line under it and improve.

I am so disappointed. We've got a lot of work to do this week.

Welcome to my World



Frustrating isn't the word is it?

Chris, I dont think there is a lack of effort in defence. Lack of cohesion and structure - Yes.

We are just undone far too easily on our own line and even more so by kicks over the top or through. In some ways though that is Cull's style. Score more than the opposition and he will live by that.

The fightback would probably have covered over things until next week like the Dewsbury result did.

The truth is that at the moment we cant cope with the injuries and we dont have the cover or depth in the squad to cover some key injuries nor even interchanges at the moment.

The halves is becoming a key area for us because Thacks is good but he cant do it all alone. Im not having a dig at Chris Gerrard who I think has done reasonably well fitting into an unfamiliar position but we need Webbo back A.S.A.P .

Tough month ahead too in the Championship..............................

Sun 25 Apr
Batley Bulldogs V Widnes Vikings

Fri 30 Apr
Widnes Vikings V Featherstone Rovers

Thu 6 May
Barrow Raiders V Widnes Vikings

Agree with the comments about teams finding it too easy to score near our line. I do think thought, that that 17 was more than equipped to beat Toulouse. Was surprised Cull took Doran (who is our leading defender) off after only 20 minutes when it was 12-12. It was 12-30 when he came back on. Too much turnstile defending and shoulder grabbing.

Problem is though that we've probably only got Webbo and Ford to come back soon. Gaskell is at least a month away, Allen 6 weeks at the last count and Pickersgill and Haggerty long term. Webbo should help the organisation, but I just can't see either player making that much difference. Says it all really that James 1st run and he got smashed. Gannon got smashed quite a few times and pretty much all of the forwards struggled at times. I know we can't just keep going out and sign forward after forward but it appears to me that unless a couple of new players, plus getting a couple back from injury I can't see us going anywhere this season. IMO we have too many players who just aren't good enough. Age is one thing but I get the feeling with a few of ours that even if they were 3 or 4 years older they still wouldn't be good enough.

Not sure how much of our form and poor defence comes from the coach though. Even if we did have everyone back, would we defend any better? Ironic reallly that PC analyses every SL game every week and tells the viewers and I suppose the coaches who watch the show where they are going wrong, but yet can't seem to get it right himself.

You need to blame Cullen and O'Connor if your "squad" is not up to scratch.

You assemble one at he beginning of the season to cope with the injuries that may be thrown at you during the course of the season.

We had our problems early doors and came through relatively unscathed. Why? Because our coach and Chairman had assembled a "squad" to cope with the season ahead.

At the moment we are fortunate to have just one player unavalable but 4 weeks ago this was not the case but we came through it with just one defeat at York and a draw at home to Barrow.

Cullen and O'Connor maybe talk the talk, however do they walk the walk????

Maybe if win these games the mood will change again.

I know alot of doom here but if we can get players fired up and motivated we have the ability.Time to improve defence for the next few games.All about attitude.

Our defence was a real worry last night every time the Ausise Frogs got anywhere near our 25 they scored with ease.
I was surprised when the Aussie Frogs came onto the pitch how much bigger and athletic they seemed than us, they looked like a SL side.
I would honestly say that was probably the most professional performance I have seen from a team in this division this season.

The Attitude of the Widnes players stank in the first half last night, Toulouse ran harder and tackled stronger and we were pathetic in every area. The comeback in the second half was noted but it still leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Not good enough.

What a complete crock of !!!!
At one point we had something like 10 squad players unavailable and the situation is only marginally better now with some players playing through the pain barrier at the moment.

The only solution would be to have a larger squad and when you are trying to stick to a cap of £300k that is nigh on impossible.

Agreed, i would like to see another championship squad cope with 10 missing.

VM,

I don't really disagree with you but there are a number of factors that went into that display... the implosion happened when our two senior players went off the pitch at the same time. Smith and Gannon go off and the rout began. It wasn't until these players came back on that we looked anything like ourselves again. We have three 'leaders' Smith, Gannon and Webster... last night for 30 - 40 minutes none of these guys were on the pitch... ordinarily it might not have mattered too much but Wynn had an exceptional game last night.
There are also a number of players who are playing with knocks and injuries.. I know Houghton (hand), Koe Love (shoulder) and Coyle (hand) are still some way short of fitness but have stepped up to offer themselves for selection.

I'm surprised by the overreaction on here...
Toulouse performed very very well last night and a lot of teams would have struggled against them. They were quick and aggressive in attack, their kicking game was immaculate and constantly put us under pressure and they slowed the ptb down when defending and defended well as a unit. It didn't help that there were so many individual errors from our side and we were undone to an extent by some sloppy play.. I think this will be a one match blip and we won't be so complacent again.
I certainly don't think it was as bad as some are making out.

I'd agree with that... they looked very good indeed.

I would go along with that mate, Webster is back in training so will probably make a show next week, we have Heckenberg to come in and having both of them fit and ready will be a huge bonus. Gerrard can then move back to loose forward and we will start functioning as a team again.

Personally I think that would make a huge difference. We are really struggling at full back and Webbo is a massive organiser for us. Thacks is good but he can't do it all by himself (although he's having a bloddy good go of it).

Gerrard is next to no use in the SO position... he just doesn't have the nouse or the guile. Plus... At the moment we have a bit of an issue on the 20 minute mark when Smith and Gannon are rotated off. We lose our two on-field leaders. With James playing the full 80 minutes we have at least one old head out there for the full match directing things.

Plus I think Ford will lend himself to the attack quite well.. pre-season he linked up well and turned up on quite a few occasions in the line just when we needed that extra man.

If Allen can get back fit too I think we will look in good shape again.

We had six missing and caned them 50-6

I think toulouse had players missing when played halifax.It is swing and roundabouts mate.

Sure is

Ive got to say it was the worst we played so far this season, didn;t seem like anyone wanted to play in the first half, Gardner is awful drops to many balls and to drop it falling over the line is a sin, can;t wait to have dean gaskell back.
Toulouse played well last night did the basics right and had a good kicking game, hope for a few more players being brought in this week as the forwards did seem to struggle aswell.

You had conceeded shed loads of points before yesterdays game though hadn't you? Even in victory. So it shouldn't come as that much of a suprise. Cullen can't seem to coach defence particularly goal line defence. Teams finding it far too easy to score when attacking the line was a big problem for Warrington under Cullen also.

Scoring tries is never a problem though. But saying you score 30, we'll score 32 will only get you so far.

Completely disagree about Gardner.. so far he has been very good. He normally takes high balls very well but it is always more difficult when the on-rushing player can jump from a run compared to a jump when you are standing still. Especially when the kicker is having as good a game as Wynn was last night.

Personally I think reaction or over-reaction is because of Toulouse previous results. Before they played us their results were pretty awful and on that form they looked like they'd be a bottom 2 or 3 side. I don't know what the handicap was but everyone I knew was expecting a 20-30+ win. For us to be 30 points down to any team in this division is unforgivable and just not good enough. They did surprise me how well they played, but you don't know how much of that was taking advantage of our mistakes and lack of determination.

Personally I think we've been crap all season. We've been playing poor for 60 minutes and then coming back at the end. Your Leeds, Saints etc don't do that, they steamroller teams off the pitch and just keep going. In games we've been into the 2nd half and we've been behind at Batley, Sheffield, Barrow, Toulouse, Halifax and Dewsbury. Think the only teams we've beaten comfortably have been Wigan St Judes, Gateshead, Swinton, Keighley and lastly Whitehaven. Every other game has been a struggle and possibly only won through sheer will and determination. Not a lot of skill or professional displays going on. IMO we need some experience and get the likes of Strong and Yates out of the team - easy said than done based on our luck with injuries.

To be fair to Gremlin she hasn't been to many games this season.

We’ve just got too many injuries and too many youngsters playing as a result.

We were battered by their pack and kicked to death by Wynn. What frustrated me most was, despite clearly losing the forward battle; we kept playing one or two passes followed by a drive up the middle. We didn’t start throwing it out wide until the last half hour and scored try after try. We actually matched them try for try with 7 trys each. If only they had thrown the ball out wide earlier, Grady wouldn’t have been rushing to beat the clock while taking his kicks.

We definitely missed Webster too. Time after time we looked clueless on their line, and I think Webster would’ve made a big difference here. Gerrard just isn’t the answer, but I suppose we had little choice.

We were out enthused and out experienced by Toulouse’s Aussies; Nathan Wynn in particular. I wish we had someone who could kick like that. Their Centre, Duport was also outstanding imo.

Whilst it is disappointing to loose to what appeared to be one of the poorest sides in the competition, I’m sure things will improve as we get players back from injury.

No need to panic just yet.