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Faithful City
Administrator
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Posted: Monday Oct 27th, 2008 14:33 |
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Firstly some basic stats
Worcester had
- 11 players who had made 10 or less appearances.
- 9 players who had come through our own Academy
- 3 Current Internationals
Swansea Had
- 0 players who had made 10 or less Magners appearances
- 15 Current Internationals
Backs
- 351 1st team appearances, 111 tries
- 164 Caps 74 tries
Backrow
- 157 1st Team Appearances, 13 tries
- 2 Caps, 2 tries
Locks
- 103 1st team appearances
- 52 Caps
Front Row
- 279 1st team appearances
- 70 Caps
Bench
- 372 1st team appearances
- 105 caps
A total of
- 1,262 1st Team appearances, 159 tries
- 393 Caps 82 tries.
Swansea put out a very good side.
JP
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Faithful City
Administrator
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Posted: Monday Oct 27th, 2008 15:35 |
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The above stats give a feel for what we were up against, but does not tell the whole story.
This season we have never put out the same team twice, our club Captain has not physically been involved in training since the Season started, 2 of our main strike players have played only 1 game between them and one new recruit has not stepped onto the field at all.
We have been plagued with injuries and some indiscipline, at the moment we have the following players unavailable
Gear
Horsman
Horstmann
Sanderson
Rasmussen
Benjamin
Garvey
Bowley
Luscombe
Wood
Collins
That is 50% of a starting 22
We have had a good last 3 games Irish A, Pertaca and Bucarest but they were not in the same league as The Swansea Ospreys.
How would we fare?
It was always going to be difficult to hold back such a star studded attack that had scored 185 international and Magners League tries, some of their strike rates are phenomenal.
The front row was incredibly experienced with over 70 international caps between them, so to hold them was going to be a difficult task on its own.
In the backrow we had 2 very inexperienced players in Cox and Abbott, just how much pressure were they going to be able to exert on Hook and the Ospreys midfield., Whereas at flyhalf we had a player still recovering from injury and had only played 5 games at this level over the last 3 seasons.
To say it was going to be tough was quite an understatement.
However Mike and Clive had a confidence which had spread throughout the players and was evident in their approach to the game itself
I thought the front row of Dave, Aleki and Mullan were outstanding they not only competed but equaled the Ospreys front three and in some parts of the game clearly outstripped them. Matt Mullen at such a young tender age (for a prop) was magnificent. He was up against a player vastly more experienced and in my eyes he won the challenge. Once he and Dave had been substituted the front row did not perform as well. Ruwers was pinged immediately even though Rose had clearly told him not to continue to bore in. There is a gulf of ability between Dave and Ruwers
Staying with the “big boys” the very young back row of Cox, Abbott and Talie played really well, their support and workrate around the field was incredible. Young Jake Abbott really took the game to Hook and did not allow him to dominate the game as he can. The reason we saw very little of Hook was due entirely to the pressure Jake applied supported by Ryan Powell making a real nuisance of himself at the set pieces. We turned over a couple of balls which in this company is a good return. I know Swansea took more off us, but they seemed to be when we had become isolated.
I have to say I thought Craig a long time favourite of mine did not seem comfortable all day in loose and open field play, he is however still a great asset in the lineout and as we come to terms with the new ELV’s he will come back into his own.
Matt Jones had a very good game! 100% with his kicking, but he did not get his backs moving at all. Is the ball to slow to him if so why, is it the clearing out or the scrum half’s hesitation. Every flyhalf needs good fast ball with space to enable him to force the defence to have 2nd thoughts on what he is going to do.
I thought the whole backline gave it everything they had. We had 3 Academy lads in there with 1 playing out of position and I never once saw them drop their heads they tried and they tried and they tried. Clive Griffiths, Sam, Chris and Rico have to impart some of their skills and experiences to these guys and they will all become very good players. (Charlie could do with some upper body work though).
From the start of the game the team had made up their mind they were not going to be over awed by the international stars in front of them. They were all constantly trying to offload and look for ways to keep the ball alive it failed at times but if you do not try it in game situations you are never going to pull it off. It may be seen as crazy harem scarem rugby just flipping it around but you could see that the players were looking not just throwing it around aimlessly. There were a couple of times it looked bad as the one Netani flicked it over his head but he knew he was going into touch, there were players up in support and we needed to score points.
I thought the team overall played really very well indeed.
The following stood out, Matt Mullan, Sam Tuitoupu, Jake Abbott and Aleki Lutui
JP
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