Here we go, here we go!

Will not be missed by us
By Newtfish
April 5 2011

So here we are again … again. As it is the first time I have committed fingers to keyboard in this way, I hope you will indulge me if I ramble on a little before coming to the matter in hand. I have largely kept out of the debates on here about optimism versus pessimism/realism so will chuck in my two penn’orth now for anyone who has nothing better to do for a couple of minutes.

It seems to me that supporting Leeds is not dissimilar to continually banging your head against a brick wall in the hope that, eventually, it will stop hurting. That there are even four thousand of us who regularly turn up knowing that, more often than not, we will see our boys lose, shows admirable spirit.

Being an active subscriber to these forums is an additional challenge to the blood pressure and the ticker. I freely confess that I am temperamentally in the glass half-empty camp. After close to five decades on this earth I have come to the conclusion that if you expect the worst, you are rarely disappointed and any surprises tend to be pleasant ones.

Whilst I begrudge no-one the right to hold to a more optimistic view of life in general and Leeds’s affairs in particular, a few of the posters on here carry me back to my A-Level French studies, which included an examination of Voltaire’s Candide. If you have read it you will doubtless remember the character Pangloss, whose motto was “Tout est au mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles” (all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds). Voltaire’s idea was, of course, to point out the daftness of this proposition given the amount of evidence to the contrary which was as apparent in mid-eighteenth century Europe as it is today.

I can understand, I think, why players and, especially, coaches have to veer towards the optimistic end of the spectrum and seek to block out those advocating a more tempered view. As supporters, however, a healthy dose of realism, pragmatism and empiricism seems advisable. Could we win every match we play, or even most of them? In theory, yes. Is that the most likely outcome given the composition of our teams and evidence of past performances? Unfortunately, no. Can we garner enough points in the remainder of the season to survive in the Premiership? Well, possibly, but Newcastle having a match in hand and more home games to come than us suggests to me that this is still not the most likely outcome. All the more reason, then for pints and singing if it does happen.

I can already hear (in a virtual sense) some saying that these views mean I am not a true supporter because I accept the possibility of failure. I would say that I am a supporter in that I consider Leeds to be my team, I try to help out by being a season ticket holder, I turn up to as many home games as I can and travel to away games when family ties and finances permit. But it is, when all is said and done, a game, and the social side is as important to me as what happens on the field.

So does it matter whether we survive for another season in the Premiership? Certainly, I would like my team to be playing at the highest level it can sustain. And we all love an underdog and a bit of Dunkirk spirit, so another survival in adversity would be commendable. Would it be the end of the world if we were relegated? Well, no – visiting more old-style rugby clubs has its attractions and since we were last in what is now the Championship the British and Irish Cup has been set up, with the possibility of trips to Connacht or Ayr (either of which, frankly would score ahead of Bucharest or Bourgoin for me).

But what if we go down and don’t come straight back up? That, for me, is a rather different kettle of scaly beasts and comes back to the vision thing, which has been questioned elsewhere. I offer no criticism of Gary Hetherington or, especially, of Paul Caddick, who has sunk millions into the club, other than perhaps to question some of the squad changes last summer. (Even then, we will never know how many and which players may have been targeted but, for whatever reasons, chose not to come to Leeds). It does seem to me, however, with my pragmatic head on, that there isn’t a long-term future in being a club that is always likely to be battling at the wrong end of the table. Given that the search for new investors doesn’t appear to have yielded much, I do think that the board would be well advised to explain their vision for the club once the outcome of this season is known, and ideally before the deadline for discounted ST renewals has passed. And let it be a realistic one – talk of a top six finish this season always seemed highly fanciful to me.

And so to Newcastle. History is not on our side as we have beaten them only three times in fifteen attempts in Premiership rugby, with two draws as well. However, two of those wins did come at Kingston Park, most recently in the chill-fest which those of us who were there on the day after Boxing Day in 2009 are unlikely to forget. The matches have generally been close affairs, with the exception of the away game played, unusually, in the Newcastle sunshine in May 2006, which I was also unfortunate enough to attend. On that day the Falcons scored eight tries, including a hat-trick by Anthony Elliott, and a certain J Wilkinson kicked six conversions in a 54-19 victory.

The 22-5 home defeat a few weeks ago is probably best forgotten. Sunday’s win should certainly provide much-needed confidence, though it appears that it may once again have cost us the services of our captain. I don’t think Exeter played at their best, and at times their willingness to cough up the ball whilst in possession was very reminiscent of our own generosity, but the defensive effort was generally excellent and it was good to see that the idea of scoring a try every now and again continues to find favour. We will need the same again come Saturday, with bells on. The handling errors must be minimised and we know that with Gopperth around we can’t afford to offer kickable penalties. Playing the referee with nous will be vital, whether we agree with his interpretations or not.

We should be aiming to get on the scoreboard first and exert maximum pressure from the off. For me, that means putting our best props on first, even if that might expose us later on when Juan runs out of puff. That apart, and subject to Marco’s and any other injuries we don’t know about, I would expect the team to be as last weekend.

Backy reckons we need to win two more games to stay up. I’m not sure that will be enough (Ladbrokes have us as 7/1 on to go down with Newcastle 4/1 against) but if we lose or even draw on Saturday I think we can definitely start looking up the train times to Nottingham, so players and supporters have to give it everything. I shall be there, with every item of Thinsulate I can muster, and I hope that many others will make the trip north. Here’s hoping that the pragmatism and realism are put in their box for the afternoon and that we will have a victory to cheer come 5.00 – though that will, of course, only be a battle won and not the war.

Here we go, here we go!

Posted by: TykesRugby.co.uk (IP Logged)

Date: 05/04/2011 19:09

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