Falcons sink in Bath of mediocrity
By Leipziger
September 4 2011
Well, we were promised a new style of play. Nobody mentioned that it would be a return to the “If in doubt kick, if not in doubt kick, and only if you're in serious doubt should you even consider chasing” rubbish so beloved by Steve Bates though.
Has The Master been snuck back in through the side door while we weren't looking?
I doubt that when James Hudson was having a post-match chat with Paul Moriarty on the pitch at The Rec back in May he was saying “We need to kick it more and let the opposition run at us”.
I hope Alan Tait has realised our lack of imagination how easy we made things for Bath in the second half, until the last 10 minutes when we were stuck on their 22 with seemingly no way to make any further progress bar Tom Catterick being tackled inches from the line, is not going to bring in crowds nor get us as high up the league as I don't doubt he wants us to be.
Jamie Helleur, Greg Goosen, Ashley Wells and eventual man of the match Richard Mayhew made their competitive debuts for the Falcons from the start, though Jordi Pasqualin and Dan Frazier had to be content with places on the bench.
Bath opened the scoring in a competitive first half through Matt Carraro, his marker inexplicably leaving a gap in the defence by drifting towards an already-covered runner, allowing the winger an easy try under the posts. Jimmy Gopperth cut the deficit with a penalty, one of few we were given as referee Martin Fox seemed intent on allowing the visitors to tackle around the neck with impunity.
Sam Vesty's drop-goal restored his team's seven-point lead, and he exchanged further penalties with Gopperth to leave the score at 9-13. The Falcons broke and roared on by an otherwise-subdued 3,650 in Kingston Park, Andrew van der Heijden was one of those who almost forced his way over the try-line, but in the end the play was brought back for a penalty in front of the posts, which Gopperth easily scored.
The second half was predictable, Bath scoring an early penalty and preventing the Falcons from getting any real attacks together. Two more Vesty penalties meant we needed a converted try just for a bonus point. Replacement Catterick almost scored in the far right corner but was tackled into touch close to the line, and the chance went begging.
So as we wake up this morning we are bottom of the Premiership as the only team that has played not to register a point yet. Lovely.
The most frustrating thing is that we have so many good players and yet they turn out and produce dross like that. Is it rocket science to realise that dropping a kick-off 10 metres shorter but potentially winning the ball is better than being 10 metres closer to the line but with the opposition having the ball, probably with no opponent near him?
Is it the equivalent of brain surgery to think that even if you must kick to the opposition back three, they are more likely to make a mistake if you put pressure on them, reduce their options and give them less time to think?
Maybe I'm wrong and neither of these things would help.
One thing I believe I am right about though is that if yesterday is what the management think is going to get us up to even 9th in the table come May, they need a serious rethink.
On the positive side, those who were going to go to Exeter but will now not be are probably not so annoyed by that now.
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My text to a fellow fan who was on holiday was "same old, same old"
I had been encouraged by what I saw at both the Leeds and Edinburgh friendlies, but this was just dross.
Our tactical obsession with kicking long and deep doesn't make any sense to me at all. Unless Gopperth and Goosen were totally off the mark - which I doubt - it was clearly a deliberate ploy to give the opposition possession in their own 22 in the hope of winning penalties.
That might be playing `results rugby', but it sure ain't entertainment. Why was I paying good money to watch that sort of dross? I gather the late Saturday kick-off was to allow the Bath supporters to travel to the match (there couldn't have been more than 150 there) so that may have had some impact on the home support....but the three-quarters empty main stand, and a worrying attendance of just 3,600 suggests we have already lost a lot of supporters who are fed-up with watching such negative fare.
I wonder if Alan Tait will be asked to publicly explain our defensive, defeatist tactics? I'd rather go down fighting, than via the current, preferred route of blackboard coaching.
I was so very disappointed last night.
It was low, far too low, but perhaps no worse than some last season, when we had less than 2,000 in reality for one European game.
OHNE MICH
It does not matter how many are in the crowd, how many or how few signings are made, or how good those signings are lauded to be (and I suspect that i shall wait a long time before I hear a Director of rugby say 'the new signing is not much good, but hey, ho').
What matters is what happens on the pitch.
I have been to rugby matches at all levels of the game - including my beloved Coarse Rugby of Fifth XV versus Old Boys (with a few missing and one gone for a fag) - where the ability to see that what you are doing is getting you nowhere has been recognized immediately and tactics changed (usually by stuffing the ball up the shirt and not letting the opposition near it).
Every single person in the crowd could see that the Falcons were giving the ball away at re-starts, were not putting Bath under any pressure, and were going backwards everytime they passed the ball out.
So why couldn't the players on the pitch and the coach in the dug-out see it?
And more importantly why did they not do something about it?
Whatever, the buck stops with the coaches who can get messages on whenever they want let alone at half time.
More and more evidence that Tait isn't up to it.
His first instinct in games where there's a bit of pressure always seems to be to kick. I don't know if it's that he doesn't trust his outside men or what, but I can't get my head around the lack of chasing if the deep kick is a tactic that's discussed.
His points kept us up last year no doubt. But I think he escapes a lot of criticism because of his goal kicking...and I suspect we'd have scored a few more tries last year if Jezza was playing 10.
Is he being told to play percentage or terrority?
Do the defending team know they don't have to worry about our No10 because they know he will kick or pass straight so can drift and close the space for the outside backs?
The simple fact is we need to get going forward and that starts with the N010. (at times).
Jimmy does need to mix it up and (re)find that pace and purpose shown at the end of the season.
The players we've got in the likes of Mayhew, Tui'fua, Wells, Helleur, Goosen, Uys, Pasqualin etc are more than good players and I believe over time will be show their worth to the club.
On paper we also have, I believe, a better first fifteen than the likes of Exeter and Worcester but we dont have a coach or coaching team that can get the best out of the group of good players we have.
The bulk of the current Exeter side came from the championship but the togetherness,aggression and physicality they bring to the table is something to behold.They also it seems have a coach who obviously knows how to put together a winning game plan. Why can't we at least show this?
I dont think it's the players because most of our players have done well previously or at other clubs. With that in mind, I dont think it will be irrational now to give Tait and his team four more games to see if they can give us something different. Otherwise, I think this might finally be the year we go down.
I want to see effective winning rugby. If that comes initially without audacious, elegant back moves etc then so be it. Winning builds confidence.
I agree that there is no sign of a plan A let alone plan B or C! We do not seem to know how to break down a team/create and exploit space going forward. There is little point in having a strong defence if we put nothing on the board ourselves save the odd kick.
We need an attack coach now. Even Rugby RFC have Ben Gollings as attack coach!