Another try denied
Irish fail to get annual KP win
Another try denied
By Leipziger
February 21 2010
In another game of two halves at KP, the Falcons could have beaten London Irish at home for the first time in almost five years, but instead had to settle for a fourth Premiership draw of the year following probably our best second half of the home season.
Another try denied
February 21 2010
In another game of two halves at KP, the Falcons could have beaten London Irish at home for the first time in almost five years, but instead had to settle for a fourth Premiership draw of the year following probably our best second half of the home season.
A first half in which there was precious little of the “kind support” the announcer thanked us for due to another dreadful Newcastle performance made way for a great second half in which only a forward pass denied us the win.
The Falcons made only two changes to the team that started at Northampton, with Will Welch and Pete Browne coming in to form a new back row with Brent Wilson. Although Irish went on the attack initially, the home scrum held up well thanks to some great work by Jon Golding and Jimmy Gopperth had two chances to give us the lead, though both penalties went wide.
On a night of strange refereeing decisions as Rob Debney repeatedly allowed Irish to infringe at the breakdown with immunity, it was no surprise that the visitors' first try, after 20 minutes, was controversial. A rolling maul collapsed over our line, and the referee went to the TMO. On the big screen there was only one angle from which the ball was visible, and it looked like it had been dropped by George Stowers. Surely the only decision was which team should receive the scrum?
But no, the try was awarded, and though Tom Homer couldn't convert, the lead was increased as Steffon Armitage powered his way over and this time the full-back added the extra two points.
The Falcons' game was characterised by slow ball from Micky Young and wasted possession – I promised someone that I would put in this report what I shouted in the first half “kick the ball away, don't chase it and let them run back at us, that'll help us win” or similar – and though at least Gopperth's first successful penalty just before half-time gave us hope, it wasn't much as Irish had dominated overall. The loss of Charlie Amesbury to injury early on didn't make things any easier.
Another poor home game then it seemed, and I can only think the lack of boos at the end of the first half was because nobody could even be bothered to do that.
The second half was shocking in that as I've said it was probably the best we've seen at Kingston Park all season, as the Falcons played with an enthusiasm greatly lacking in the first half. There were a lot of silly errors, not least that which allowed Irish to escape with a draw, but still the visitors would have been relieved with that at the end.
Gopperth kicked two penalties to reduce the deficit to just three points and Irish were rattled, seeming content to just defend as we had in the first half. Danny Williams looked more dangerous than he has for most of the season and but for some loose passes and slow ball our backs might have been able to find a way through.
With a quarter of an hour left, Gopperth hit the equalising penalty from long range and now our thoughts turned to a possible win, but the quick Irish defence negated any possibility of a drop-goal and when Alex Tait did finally get through a gap and steamed for the line, he was (rightly) pulled back for Young's pop pass being forward. Gutting!
Any hope of a win evaporated when Tait inexplicably kicked for touch with a minute to go, giving Irish the lineout and of course the probability that they would just run down the clock and kick the ball out to save the draw. And that is indeed what happened.
I think four draws in one season is the Premiership record, so we've now equalled that for whatever it is worth. I guess the team deserves credit for coming back from 0-12 down and getting a draw but it is disappointing that we couldn't get more, especially with Leeds having won on Friday night and the bottom places in the table getting tighter. Fortunately we are still only three points behind Bath in sixth, so a top half position is still a possibility but only if we start winning again, quickly.
The backs really need sorting as well, Micky Young shouldn't need to look around the whole of the pitch once he gets the ball out before passing it, so either he needs to be more aware or he and Gopperth need to work very hard on understanding each other. Otherwise our strong pack is just going to waste most of the time.
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Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: FalconsRugby.org.uk (IP Logged)
Date: 21/02/2010 10:16
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Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: TouchLine (IP Logged)
Date: 21/02/2010 13:32
Stowers try looked fair on TV.
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: citizen-slacker (IP Logged)
Date: 21/02/2010 15:13
I thought the slow production of the ball from the ruck was so frequent, it had to have been a tactical decission, to try & encourage the Notnots to stry off side, thereby letting us kick them to death. Shame it didn't work.
This isn't the first time this season, nor even this month, where the ref allows blatant ruck infringements & does nothing about them. The amount of bodies going over the top was reminiscent of the Somme circa 1915. Once more, we needed a bit of streetwise edge & not always rely on MY to to be the enforcer, at some point one of the front seven has got to swipe his oppo, the closest we got last night was a friendly exchange of slaps between Golding & Sowers.
A good second half showed what the team can do to raise the temprament of the crowd, shame those performances have been so few & far between.
Touchy, small point of order, if the ref allows a quick penalty it doesn't have to be from the exact point he indicated, just in front of the ref & on or behind the mark, the advantage being the quick, rather than posistion. Just another example of pernickity refs demanding exacting standards in some areas & not others.
Hey ho.
This isn't the first time this season, nor even this month, where the ref allows blatant ruck infringements & does nothing about them. The amount of bodies going over the top was reminiscent of the Somme circa 1915. Once more, we needed a bit of streetwise edge & not always rely on MY to to be the enforcer, at some point one of the front seven has got to swipe his oppo, the closest we got last night was a friendly exchange of slaps between Golding & Sowers.
A good second half showed what the team can do to raise the temprament of the crowd, shame those performances have been so few & far between.
Touchy, small point of order, if the ref allows a quick penalty it doesn't have to be from the exact point he indicated, just in front of the ref & on or behind the mark, the advantage being the quick, rather than posistion. Just another example of pernickity refs demanding exacting standards in some areas & not others.
Hey ho.
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: TouchLine (IP Logged)
Date: 21/02/2010 15:19
Fair comment slacker but as the ref is usually standing on the mark it's difficult to be behind the mark (as MY always was) and in front of the ref at the same time.
I would suggest that very rarely does a quick tap comply with these requirements.
I would suggest that very rarely does a quick tap comply with these requirements.
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: citizen-slacker (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 09:31
Up to the ref to follow the ball unless he is going to dish out a talking to to the offending team, which he only did once.
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: TouchLine (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 09:38
True but not when the ball is dead after he's blown his whistle. He then has to indicate where the penalty is.
Up to the player to take it from the correct position.
Up to the player to take it from the correct position.
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: Falconfan (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 10:10
I hope our backs have apologised to our forwards for failing to capitalise on the hard-won ball they continued to serve up in the second half. Must be very frustrating to be a Falcons forward! Mickey Young needs to deliver much faster ball - he seems to have gone 'off the boil' in recent weeks. And the referee and his assistants should have been much stricter on Irish when they were consistently strung out in off-side positions when defending rucks in our favour.
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: pityacker (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 10:35
First half was the awful dross we have had to endure all season but the second half had me on the edge of my seat and apart from the result was highly enjoyable.Fully agree Mickey youngs service from the base is poor,slow ,looping and often innacurate, despite all the good other attributes he brings.Jimmy Gopperth at 10 plays with great courage and a good defence but his kicking from hand at times is woefull.Cant count the number of times he has kicked directly to touch or straight down the opponents throat.He is not running the backline at all and his distribution and accuracy is often poor.He is a much better player than he has shown up to now and perhaps he is trying too hard but until he gets his game sorted our backline will continue to fire blanks.
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: telfs123 (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 17:57
Micky has also developed the really annoying habit of taking two steps then passing the ball. Rather Grindal like, annoyingly
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: TouchLine (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 18:09
Seeing as our DoR is a former international scrum half it makes you wonder where they get it from.
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: Toonfalcon (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 19:54
Someone please explain to me why:
a) Micky Young persists with slow ball or is otherwise too caviliar with sniping runs that inevitably end up with little or no territory gained. Gary Armstrong was a master at this tactic but he was IMHO also in a different class to our current no 9.
b) Tulip seems to prefer solo runs rather than passing to outside centre or other players around ?. He is too slight of build to make any impression and opponents have sussed what he will likely do ?
The pitch resembled a horse field and well done Jimmy for the second half points especially the long kick to equalise.
I agree that either Micky Young changes his game or Batesy uses Hall Charlton more often
a) Micky Young persists with slow ball or is otherwise too caviliar with sniping runs that inevitably end up with little or no territory gained. Gary Armstrong was a master at this tactic but he was IMHO also in a different class to our current no 9.
b) Tulip seems to prefer solo runs rather than passing to outside centre or other players around ?. He is too slight of build to make any impression and opponents have sussed what he will likely do ?
The pitch resembled a horse field and well done Jimmy for the second half points especially the long kick to equalise.
I agree that either Micky Young changes his game or Batesy uses Hall Charlton more often
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: alas (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 21:06
Unfortunately Hall Charlton also takes an age to get the ball away. When Micky Young first came into the side he did whip the ball away and did not take sideways steps and throw poor passes. If he could do it 12 months ago, why not now?
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: TouchLine (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 21:08
Coaching?
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: DGNTR (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 21:37
I reckon that Bates is fan of the Flappyarms approach that he taught Grinders for so many years.
What other explanation could there be that Bates has taken a perfectly good scrum half that was turning into a potential England player and butchered his game so much in 12 months that the supporters are now calling for Hall Charlton to be back in the team. The very same Hall Charlton who makes a snail look like Usain Bolt with a firecracker up his @rse.
What other explanation could there be that Bates has taken a perfectly good scrum half that was turning into a potential England player and butchered his game so much in 12 months that the supporters are now calling for Hall Charlton to be back in the team. The very same Hall Charlton who makes a snail look like Usain Bolt with a firecracker up his @rse.
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: falcon phil (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2010 22:22
I think the confusion in the backs stems with Gopperths lack of game management. It is obvious he gives us very little direction and all the backs don't know if their coming or going. He has to step up to the mark and start bossing his backs & call the plays!
Re: Irish fail to get annual KP win
Posted by: citizen-slacker (IP Logged)
Date: 23/02/2010 09:56
I think the slowing of ball on Sunday was a team tactic, the sides of the ruck were defended by the front row, but then the rest of the forwards took up attacking positions in the line. This is because Irish have a good defensive line & the Falcons were looking to bring Irish in to offside positions, either to create a gap or to get a penalty.
As for Gopperth not being a a good game manager, that's arguable, but it doesn't always have to be the 10 calling the shots, it makes more sense for Tulip to do it as the more established player in the team. As for Tulip being too slight, not sure I agree. If you can't get the ball away cleanly, don't throw crud passes - that's why the central chanel gets attacked so frequently.
As for Gopperth not being a a good game manager, that's arguable, but it doesn't always have to be the 10 calling the shots, it makes more sense for Tulip to do it as the more established player in the team. As for Tulip being too slight, not sure I agree. If you can't get the ball away cleanly, don't throw crud passes - that's why the central chanel gets attacked so frequently.
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