Wombles222 -

Were we terrible yesterday? Yes we certainly were, the amount of handling errors were unnacceptable for a premiership team, and brought to an immediate standstill any forward momentum that we were generating at that specific moment in the game! The missed tackles were downright abysmal! I would not of accepted that at minis at my local club. Also we never looked truely comfortable with ball in hand, and certainly we tried to force the offload in the tackle, when taking it to ground and rucking effectively to reset would of been a better option.

HOWEVER

Dai quite correctly at the start of the season told us not to expect miracles, and sometimes i feel that others still remember the "good ol days" when we were bringing home silverwear on a season by season basis.

We are a team in transition, rather than a team of journeymen, with a smattering of youthful talent and legendary players reaching the end of their glorious careers which has been the enduring memory of our squad since that wonderful afternoon at HQ in 2008 to the start of this season.

We have different coaching set up with a fantastic DOR, and backroom staff, however they have had a squad blighted by injuries, and thus forcing us to throw some of our younger squad members into the fray earlier than would be ideal. We need to give these guys our support and time to mature and gain experience, and this is a year for them to do so! Personally i find that they are doing well, certainly things did not work yesterday, but that is to be expected with a young team being forged from years of malaise.

I personally would of taken where we are at this moment in time at the start of the season, topping our amlin cup group, competitive in the league with it only would take a couple of wins on the bounce to be pushing for a HC place, (Dais sensible goal for this season). Yes we had a bad day at the office yesterday, but don't forget we masterfully controlled and beat a quality bayonne side recently! This is the definition of transition, good one week, bad the next sometimes, but always learning!

We are not the Wasps of old, however at last we have a future that looks bright in terms of who we have coaching us, and who we have playing for us. They need time and experience, and that will not happen overnight, and in a game so emotionally, mentally and physically demanding it takes a good season to establish a solid foundation which to work upon! I just hope we can get a owner who is ambitious as our club aspires to be, and who would love us to be topping the table and winning in europe as we have historically been. However history is there to be enjoyed, our lads now have to carve out a piece of their own. Time and support is what is needed! And i for one will certainly be giving the lads every ounce of mine!

Arquero:

We are up for sale; how long has the current owner agreed to bankroll the club whilst the search for a new owner continues? We are competing at the highest level of club rugby in the land with a diminishing, injury-ridden squad, with no evidence of using the money saved on departing players to strengthen that squad, instead clutching at straws by asking "When are the Namibians coming?" It was only a few short seasons ago that we continued to lead the way in the GP and cup competitions not only with the usual quota of players out injured, but also with a considerable number absent due to international duty. The reports on here by some of the regulars even point out that the ground constantly runs out of beer, surely an important source of match day income!

Dai Young:

“I thought they showed far more quality, experience and physicality in everything they did. We made fundamental errors and kept giving them the ball back. We lost the battle of the gainline in attack and defence whereas every time they carried they made yards easily and we were second best in every department. We didn’t help ourselves by making fundamental errors but physically, when they were carrying they were dominating the gainline, we missed a lot of first up tackles which then dragged in two or three people and then we were forced to scramble.

The game against Worcester is hugely important now. I need a reaction from the players. We have had our backsides smacked tonight and were beaten by a better team. We have to respond and show more quality and accuracy. It is a game we have to win now and probably Worcester think the same so it’s two teams pretty desperate for a win now.”

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon