By Mark H
June 1 2005

The choices have been made, the opinions have been shared, and now it’s time to hand out the gongs in the site's first annual poll.

We start, therefore, with:-

 

Best Opposing Team

1 Leicester 65.63%

2 Stade Francais 21.87%

3= Wasps 6.25%

3= Sale 6.25%

 

Is this really a surprise?  For me, the best team in the country all year, whatever the result of the championship final may say, and at their destructive best against Falcons in both league matches.  Now if Sky could only remember not to show those matches…

 

“…Leicester in the league - Stade Francais in the cup…”

 

 

Worst Opposing Team

1 Harlequins 25.00%

2 Leeds 18.75%

3= Bath 12.5%

3= None 12.5%

 

Others – Dragons, Saracens, Pertemps Bees, Edinburgh, Gloucester.

 

So if the team that finishes top are the best we’ve faced, then logic must say that the team that finishes bottom should be the worst?  Even so, Leeds were the only ZP side that Falcons beat twice all season.  I also wonder how much the shocker of a game at Kingston Park influenced the votes for Bath.

 

“…Quins by a mile…”

 

 

Best Opposing Player

1 Martin Corry 25.00%

2= Neil Back 12.50%

2= Bruce Reihana 12.50%

2= Mark Cueto 12.50%

 

Others – Jason Robinson, Joe Worsley, Martin Johnson, Nicolas Mas, Olivier Sarramea, and “lots of them”.

 

So the ZP player of the year wins again – what a pity that the fledgling years of Newcastle Gosforth couldn’t have kept him up in the North East.  Elsewhere, in a way they’re predictable votes for Back, Reihana and Cueto, although the best comment on the players faced this season was from the voter who said “lots of them”.  It’s been commented that Falcons turn good players into great ones, it’s just a pity that sometimes they seem to be wearing the wrong coloured shirt at the time.

 

“…Martin Corry.......please come back…”

(Neil Back) “…true class and still the best OS in the country at 36…”

(Bruce Reihana) “…despite the binning…”

“Billy Whizz (for that awesome try in front of the South Stand)…”

“Lots of them - cos we simply don't cut it up front.”

 

 

Which one player (money no object) would you sign?

1 Duncan Bell 20.00%

2 George Gregan 13.33%

 

Others – Andre Vos, Daniel Carter, Matt Giteau, Richie McCaw, Sylvain Marconnet, Trevor Leota, William Servat, Keven Mealamu, Chris Jack and Al Baxter.

 

Hardly a surprise that the list is almost full of forwards.  Duncan Bell, finally having got an overdue international call-up, takes the top spot, closely followed by George Gregan.

 

“…recruiting from the ND1 front rows would make sense it seems…”

“…any decent front row would be nice…”

 

 

Most Missed Player

1 Marius Hurter 28.13%

2= Colin Charvis 25.00%

2= Jonny Wilkinson 25.00%

4 Hugh Vyvyan 15.62%

5 “All the forwards who have left” 6.25%

 

And equally, if we want to sign forwards, then it goes without saying that we miss the ones that have gone, Marius being the biggest loss of all.

 

“…after watching Sarries v Worcester last Friday - gotta be Vyvyan…”

“…all those once dominant forwards who have left and not been replaced…”

 

 

Best Referee

1 Tony Spreadbury 57.14%

2 Ashley Rowden 21.36%

3 None 12.50%

 

Strangely enough, only two names mentioned; the referee who talks to everyone on the pitch, and the one who talks to everyone off it.  The high regard that they’re held in though was reflected by the answers of “there isn’t one”.

 

“Everyone seems to like Spreadbury…”

“…Spreaders re Stevo's broken leg…”

“…give us technology in every decision making process and it'll be better than we have now. On the other hand - the game would slow to a crawl. On balance - find a balance!”

 

So…

 

 

Worst Referee

1 Roy Maybank 45.21%

2 Alain Rolland 21.36%

3 Chris White 14.29%

4 David Rose 9.50%

5 “All” 7.14%

6 Sean Davey 2.36%

 

I think that the Irish game did it for Mr Maybank!  Alain Rolland, considered by his fellow referees to be one of the best, is considered by Falcons supporters to be one of the worst (and Leipy and I would like to apologise to anyone sat near us in the Parc des Princes for continually pointing that out); likewise Chris White (who in fairness I thought had just about the perfect game at Sarries in the Powergen Cup, but has been awful every other time I’ve seen him this season).  One referee even e-mailed me to say that if he won it’d be a fix – I’ll let him admit to who he is!

 

“…can’t really comment, but no-one appears to like Mayhem…”

“Rolland for Stade's 2nd try…”

“All...the standard of refereeing is getting worse..”

 

 

Best Away Trip

1 Paris 46.43%

2 Edinburgh 14.29%

3 Leeds 10.71%

 

Others – Northampton, Ireland v England, Bath, Worcester

 

I would guess that it was inevitable that the three biggest travelling supports of the season would make the top three; those of us in Paris will not forget the trip, even if the result was a bad memory.

 

“Paris (total), Worcester (domestic)”

“I only did Leeds, Paris and Glaws. Paris gets the nod for the best all round trip, Leeds for the game itself.”

(Northampton) “…despite the result…”

“Ireland for the England game what a weekend…”

“Really enjoyed the Worcester game, their fans are awesome…”

 

 

Best Try

1 Mathew Tait v Sale at Kingston Park 56.25%

2 Jonny Wilkinson v Sale at Kingston Park 18.75%

 

Others – Matt Burke v Dragons at KP and v Gloucester in the Wildcard, Michael Stephenson v Leicester at KP, and Mathew Tait v Perpignan at KP

 

I thought that this would be the tightest category.  How wrong can you be?  Spud walked it, helped no doubt by the fact that to score the try he had to bounce Jason Robinson out of the way.  Jonny’s try to win the game came second, which should give an indication to out next category.

 

“…Spud giving Billy Whizz some shoulder, 2nd January at KP…”

“…Spud's hand off to Billy Whizz…”

“…Taity on Jason made me smile most…”

 

 

Best Match

1 Falcons 30 Sale 29 53.33%

2 Bath 18 Falcons 33 13.33%

3 Dragons 6 Falcons 10 10.00%

 

Others – Worcester 9 Falcons 30, Falcons 29 Wasps 28, Falcons 19 Perpignan 14, Falcons 25 Dragons 16

 

Two best tries, one of which was in injury time; national focus on the Jonny-Charlie duel; and an absolute stormer of a game – is it any wonder that over half of you considered the Sale home game to be the best of the season?  It’s also comforting that the second and third spots are taken up by away games for the team that can’t play away.

 

“Guys stood up that day and everything clicked and was probably JW's best display of the season…”

“…looked pretty promising!”

“…the first game of the season, all the pent up energy from over the summer released in glorious sunshine at Sixways…”

“Can't split the two Newport games…”

 

 

Most Improved Player

1 Geoff Parling 43.75%

2= Andy Buist 12.50%

2= Jamie Noon 12.50%

2= Mark Wilkinson 12.50%

 

Others – Cory Harris, Joe Shaw, Mathew Tait

 

To me, a shock, as I was expecting Taity to win.  Geoff Parling has shone whilst he’s been in the side, particularly in Paris, and looks to have a very promising future in front of him.  Andy Buist may well have took the honours had he not got injured in Perpignan, Noonie’s finally had his reward cap-wise, and whatever else Sparks did, he did the business against the odds in what was then the biggest game of the season.

 

“Parling - well done to him…”

(Andy Buist) “…pity he got injured…”

(Mark Wilkinson) “…don’t laugh…”

(Cory Harris) “…had a good second half of the season after not quite looking the part early on…”

 

 

Best Signing

1 Matt Burke 87.50%

2 Colin Charvis 12.50%

 

And that’s it.  The only two to feature in the voting were outstanding whenever they played, and it’s been a pleasure to support them.

 

(Matt Burke) “Why bother to ask?”

(Matt Burke) “…by a long way…”

(Matt Burke) “True world class…”

(Colin Charvis) “…if he stays fit next season really could be a huge difference…”

 

 

Best Player

I worked on a 5-3-1 points basis, so that their percentage is a percentage of the maximum score they could have got.

 

1 Matt Burke 92.00%

2 Colin Charvis 50.67%

3 Jamie Noon 17.33%

4 Mark Mayerhofler 10.67%

5 Mathew Tait 6.67%

 

Others – Cory Harris, Mike McCarthy

 

So an overwhelming vote for our Aussie, the only player to be mentioned in every selection.  Colin Charvis missed out on only one selection, but was still a long way back.

 

“…really only between Matt and Charv, and if Charv hadn't been out for so long

it would have probably gone the other way, but Burkey has been outstanding

all season and has made a huge difference to the side. Just imagine how we

would have done without him…”

 

 

Marks out of 10 for the season

Well, they ranged from 3 to 7, but the average score came out as 5.37.  Definitely a case of must do better.

 

 

General Comments

Over to you…

 

“…injuries have not helped!”

“…RA and Thumper's inability to attract quality forwards to an underpowered pack is a huge disappointment to so many loyal fans, some of whom I was lucky enough to meet in Paris. This head in the sand buy unproven players attitude could see the club relegated. A sorry state of affairs…”

“I’ve given six out of ten because of the Heineken Cup, although if that

hadn't have been there this season it could well have been lower. We were

7/10 before Christmas and we were 3/10 afterwards. Disappointing, with no

apparent sign of recovery for next season!”

“…the amount of injuries…”

“…Hooker and scrum half are the two positions where we need to be recruiting.....critical areas where we under performed and led to our slide…”

“…the injuries haven’t helped at the end part of the season, since Christmas but as a team we have all stuck together and no-one has left the club when times got bad. The good thing about this club is that the fans and the team get on really well and a lot of supporters may have "dis-owned" the team after bad results week in week out, (this happened at the local ice hockey, you see) but our club is different, and I’m proud to be a part of it! Just roll on next season!”

“…any chance RA can stop rolling his eyes when being interviewed?!”

“…the lineout has been a shambles and even we fans can see what the problem is yet if anything it has become worse. Absolute disgrace and the guy organising that should go, nice guy or not…”

“..we did well in the Heineken, but have no opportunity to build on it next year. Not very optimistic that we will in 2006/07 either…”

“…promising start but as soon as we got hit with injuries our season was over. The squad was too small and still is…”

“Dreadful last four months. All the promise of the run up to Christmas evaporated with a string of the worst performances since I started watching the Falcons. We'll be relegation fodder next year if we can't start winning some ball, which is an enormous waste of one of the more talented squads in the league…”

“…end of season report.... must do better renew front 5 to win ball and utilise quality of the backs with said ball to win more games…simple isn’t RA…”

“…disappointed again, but looking forward to next season…”

 

 

And finally…

We asked for comments about the site.  I won’t repeat all the nice ones, but thank you very much for those, it helps to keep us going.  In response to two comments though – the statistics section will be vastly improved next season, because I’ve got a new toy now to do it; and we’ll be asking for more feedback on classic matches throughout the summer.