I thought it was a good effort by the team. They were quite nervy and uptight which understandable given what was at stake. The game itself was pretty close for long periods as we never applied any pressure in the first half until just before half time. Gale’s try was a peach and Sidlow showed how much it meant to him when he scored. In the second half we threatened to cut loose at times without ever really doing so.
I thought Addy, Donaldson and Olbison (in the second half) had great games and worked their backsides off. Mulally certainly offered a lot, particularly at the beginning of his stints but he played some big minutes. . Gale again organised us well. Less impressive was Kearney who had a bit of a mare and Foster who made a shocker under the bomb. All in all it was a win but we’ll have much sterner tests to come.
The game as a spectacle was pretty awful. Both sides were allowed to stand well offside and it was the slowest play the ball I’ve seen in years. For some reasons the ref did nothing to address this. It was a baffling performance from him and he needs to address this. Roby has never been one of the better refs but this was just woeful. Both teams were allowed to get away with all sorts of messing around which should never have happened. Cummins said in his interview that the PTB speed reminded him of the 1980s!
I thought London tried hard and with a bit more composure might have sneaked it. They have some honest toilers but no real cutting edge. They also had to contend with a injury which meant they ran out of steam a bit.
We’ve got some much tougher challenges ahead and we’re in for some thrashings that’s for sure as we’re seriously short of power up front. It’s a shame Mulally can’t play versus Hudders, we’ll be seriously outgunned in the forwards in that game as we only have 2 bona fide props and a light backrow.
That said nobody expects us to win those sort of games so the lads can go into them under no pressure at all.
