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Coaches Comments

Jon Hill18 Feb 2018 - 10:19
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Points lost or points gained ... That is the question

Points lost or points gained ... That is the question

On the back of last weeks disappointing loss , three league points look pretty positive , but the long and short of it was that our defensive game was poor and let us down in another winnable game.

The recovery in the last ten minutes was excellent and showed good team spirit and work rate , but the reality is that we did not work hard enough without the ball to win the game , which is a real shame.

Our severely depleted forward pack were very good at the set piece and provided excellent go forward ball. We weren't quite accurate enough inside their 22. On three try scoring occasions , we were turned over. Playing without five back five forwards , we utilised a dynamic back row, which limited our line out , but improved our work rate around the field. Missing the likes of Captain Jack Fahy , Ben Hawley, Lewis Cooper, Max Keen (who was set for debut!) and Dan Armstrong (who pulled out on the morning of the game through illness) , we competed manfully at scrum and line out , dominating the early scrums and winning almost all of our line out ball.

Defensively we were picked off a little at times in a fast paced game . We will be bitterly disappointed at conceding at least two very easy scores , but credit to Bracknell who finished them off well, and created space as a back line. No excuses, we will be working extremely hard in training this week , and will have to improve our defensive game against Newton next week. We worked hard for our scores, but didn't make Bracknell work very hard for theirs. Highly frustrating , and something we have to be better at.

It was also very disappointing to lose key play maker Tom Whelan after just 20 minutes to an off the ball blow to the face, missed by the official. Another call out for appointed touch judges in a competitive league that would have been more likely to see such foul play and would have seen us have a man advantage for 60 minutes of the game.

Lloyd Watkins (pictured) gained the man of the match award for an industrious display at 9. Dave Bargent was full of energy at number 8, and gained the all important Ladies Day vote ! A special mention to the front row , who accumulated three scores between them with Tom Brown coming off the bench to bag a brace , and the impressive Nick Halse also crossing the whitewash.

#OneClub

Regards

Jon
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