Exactly, How many on here thought we would have 2 from 3 over the easter period?



We were excellent fist half, Second half we just seemed to stop playing but honestly the only stat that counts at the moment is the 2 points on the table.

Yep wins a win at the moment and 3rd game of Easter period is usually a mare.

Know how you feel its deflating when we collapse like that.

Hoepefully can get a result at Salford and back to back wins for first time this year.

Much better from Tui, Watkins is becoming a real concern though, pace gone completely. I hate to say it and hope I'm proved wrong but he looks finished to me

He seems to be playing as though he suspects it himself.

Aye. Looks like some costly injuries today too. Thought Dwyer had broke his arm, happened right in front of us. The missus was sure she heard a snap. Watkins didnt look happy going off. Could be a setback and Walker didnt look too cracking.



Tui’s looking more and more dangerous in attack every week.



3/4 weeks ago, we lose that game. Somethings building. Yeah, i said it.

I thought the same about Dwyer from his reaction, he stayed on though but of course we were out of subs, walker hamstring gone again, he was very good today.

Second half I think the last 2 games caught up with them and we hardly finished a set. Newman showed his inexperience being put into touch 3 times on first tackle, albeit one was going for the line.

Overall just happy we have another win, and was pleased that Watkins looked angry being subbed with 5 mins left. He took a heavy bang on his knee earlier but wanted to stay on although was struggling at end.

Watkins should have been dropped. He has not been 100 percent for weeks

Dwyer = shoulder, Walker = hamstring, Watkins a bump, nothing structural according to Furner in the post match presser.

Delighted for the lads. Worked hard all game and hung in for the win. Cracking two points.

just need to play smarter at times.

2 games at Easter is a joke. duty of care? player welfare?

Why on Earth weren't we putting high balls up in the first half when KR had the sun in their eyes?



They weren't as stupid, and caused us problems in the second half.

Seems odd as we were playing to the "wrong" end in the first half (given we usually play towards the Western Terrace in the first half).

Agree regarding Lolohea, his best game for us by quite a distance.

The team still look so fragile in defence, even a 20 point lead is not enough to feel comfortable. You can see the confidence ebb away from the side when the opposition score.

Still, a win and 2 points are the main thing atm

Yep. And we’re not getting quite far enough away to put the game completely out of sight. Teams know they can score 4 tries in a half against anyone these days if they put they mind to it. If we’d scored another couple of the chances we had I think we’d have been fine.



However obviously the issue is defence and game control. We should win comfortably after the lead we had. Was it 22-0 at half time? We should be winning something like 32-12 or 32-16. Not desperately hanging on at the end.

And that's down to a lack of a quality half back. Myler just doesn't have it. Watkins is also not a great captain and I meant that with the greatest respect to the lad because I rate him as a man and a player. Praying he gets back to something like.

The last few minutes were made more desperate because Dwyer, Walker and Watkins were all injured and we had no more substitutions to make.

Newman bombed 2 tries due to his inexperience and had those been scored it was a comfortable win however we didint and were left hanging on. Disruptions to the team shape in the 2nd half didnt help. Watkins is still struggling for speed but can take 12 months or longer after that sort of injury to get back to full fitness/speed. He took an interception and struggled to get to KR 40, 18 months ago he strolls in under the sticks. TBH i think a month or two on dual reg would do him some good. Glad of the 2 points, need to keep grinding out the wins

Whilst a win is a win and plenty more of them will get us in to the top 6 it is the manner of the win that bothers me.

To say we need to be further ahead than 20+ points to feel comfortable says a lot about our mental strength.

We lost narrowly to a depleted Wakefied team and we beat an even more depleted HKR team just.

Yes we are building but we are still at least 4-5 players short of something decent.

An 8th or 9th finish would be an achievement this year.

I think if someone had offered 3 out of 5 wins in the league following the Catalans game, we'd have chewed their hand off. In fact, I reckon 3 from 6 following the London game would've been a decent return given the general feeling around the place.



No, we're not going to challenge for the league or probably even the play offs but I don't think that was ever the aim this year.

Yep agree with that. 4 or 5 players in addition to Ava imo

Don't forget Merrin dropped one over the line too in the first half.

Take the 2 points and move on, there was a lot of pluses in the first half and we could have had more points, second half was disappointing, again we were masters of our own downfall. Not to worry if we learn from some of the mistakes, Newman running to the corner and put into touch, he will soon learn to move infield and take the tackle. I don't mind kids making mistakes when we end up with 2 points, so lets move on. Hopefully the injuries are not as serious as they looked. Something not right with KW, he was a angry chap when he was taken off the field, heard he got a bang on the knee, but he seemed OK walking off to the dugout, maybe just what needed to happen, even the captain can be subbed at any stage of the game.

Agreed, Newman will learn from that and the rest of his game was good, Handley alluded to it in his post match interview, he said he told Newman, he would score those trys in the academy or in the Championship but not in SL, the only way for him to learn is to play in SL.



I would give Watkins a week off, play Newman and Hurrell in the centres on Friday.



If Walker, Myler, Mclelland & Dwyer are all out, maybe we will have to bring Golding in to play Scrum Half? Or will he play Smith there?

Sounds like Hurrell will still be missing on Friday from what Furner said post game. Lord knows what that 19 man squad will look like!



As for Newman, backing himself to the corner is exactly what I want to see young players doing. Some round us screaming for the pass back inside a millisecond before he was tackled. Very difficult skill to run on the angle at full speed and then pass back the other way.



Oh and also, I've been Walker's harshest critic but I thought he was quality for us yesterday- particularly defensively. Couple of very important last ditch efforts. Maybe seeing Tui offer a different dimension in us has made JW realise he has a battle on his hands which he hasn't really had with Golding effectively frozen out. Long may it continue.



Dwyer will be a big miss but I think we saw a good Parcell yesterday so hopefully he can rediscover some form. No surprise for me his good form tends to come when Cuthbertson's does and I thought his first spell was very good. Ran hard, looked a threat and got away some neat offloads to get us rolling in that first half.



If all those bodies are missing and Ava makes it over in time I'd expect a team to look something like:



Tui



Briscoe

A Sutcliffe

Newman

Hadnley



Sutcliffe

Smith



Peteru

Parcell

Oledski



Trout

Merrin



Cuthbertson



Singleton

Albert

Donaldson

Ava



Some relatively decent depth in the forwards now so the recruitment focus will shift the halves I'm hoping.



EDIT: Bench looks a bit top heavy but can't see us pulling a back in from somewhere to go on there.