Exeter Rhino wrote:
It isn't the first time that Bailey has been held up over the try line. IIRC it has happened at least twice in the last couple of seasons.
I think it is fair that Bailey takes some of the flak from Saturday's game, along with Leuluai. As our most experienced props they knew they had big shoes to fill in JP's absence but their performance was very disappointing. Without a forward platform there was no chance for the likes of McGuire, Sinfield, Burrow etc to show their skills. I would be very interested in seeing the stats for the game - it wouldn't surprise me if Hall, Delaney and Senior made more metres than our two first choice props for the day. IIRC the BBC see put a stat up late in the game showing metres made, and it looked like Warrington had made twice the metres as Leeds. Disgraceful. It was obviously a tactic to use the backs to share the workload but neither Leuluai or Bailey seemed to spend that long on the field.
Otherwise, Eastwood showed up better than the other heroes deemed fit to wear the badge by certain posters on this board. Kirke has come in for some unfair stick for THAT missed tackle, especially considering that Hall was the first one to miss (perhaps he was knackered from all the extra hit-ups so that Bailey and Leuluai could get a break?).
Anyone who thought Bailey was going to give us go forward on Saturday is deluding themselves, since he never has and never will show that ability. He was in there for a defensive job, which to all intents and purposes he did, and 29 tackles with zero misses would back that up. The fact that he was starting was more down to experience than to make expected yards, a decision IMO that was short sighted by the club, and would have preferred the yards option to start.
A professional rugby player from the position he was in and running at, should score every single time from that opportunity, but he really just does not know what to do with the ball in his hands, so it was hardly a surprise that he failed to score.
I don't think the props should take the blame for Saturday though. Our backrow (all of them) were quite frankly very dissapointing. They offered zero opportunites for the half backs from a running point of view, and each did their fair share of poor tackling. When you then take into account Senior stood watching for two of their tries and been at fault for the position they got for another, I don't see why the props should take the blame for the game.
I honestly don't think JP would have really made that much difference to the result on Saturday.