2011/12 Results & Match Reports

Unfortunately we were subjected to a good old fashioned humping yesterday by the league leaders & favourites for the title. The Northern forwards were huge & totally dominated the scrums & breakdown. We could not match their physicality or commitment & we were fire fighting on the back foot for the entire match. This had the result of wearing down our forwards & by the last quarter they were totally dead on their feet.

Injuries as well were sustained in our attempts to stem the flow. The Northern backs were very well organised too & their execution was excellent, cutting us apart sometimes at will as we were struggling to find any momentum. We could not find a solid platform to work off & as a result when we did get possession, we were on the back foot or flat at best.

We struggled to get over the gain line with enough quality to threaten our opponents line. Sometimes when you play a better, bigger, stronger side you struggle to come up with any answers on how to break them down & this is what happened today & we were nilled for the first time in a long time.

There was a few positives, the line-outs were evenly contested & there was some great individual tackling by a few, particularly MOTM Stuart Cluness, Jack Cowan & Chris McCombie. It looked like Taylor had broken away with a good interception near the end but alas he was scragged by the last defender.

We must now quickly put this performance behind us & move forward positively. We will not play a better side in the league this season. Lets make a real effort to try & get everyone at training both Tuesday & Thursday's & we can work on our frailties & improve as a squad.

AC