I thought we'd lose today, but I expected a better performance than that. Rovers were far more enthusiastic in every aspect and it showed.
Our front row was very ineffective. Cooper was decent but not great by his standards and Singleton was good for his standards (which is just about decent) but there wasn't much from Havard, Byrne or Ellis. Farrell was the quietest I've ever seen him. I'm a little concerned that he might actually prove to be human and maybe have a quiet year and that would be real bad news for us because we're noticeably weaker without him at his best.
Our right edge was pretty shocking. It's a concern but worth remembering that King is new to the side, Cust was defending on the left edge last year and KPP hasn't had as much experience in the back row as the man he's replaced. At least KPP was a threat from kicks.
We certainly tried to play without earning the right to as Matt Peet said. There wasn't enough work down the middle and we started snatching at opportunities and putting in wayward passes when a bit more composure and willingness to do the tough stuff could have created some easier openings.
There's a lot of improvement that can be gained from that team, but I'm a little concerned about the fact we've gone into this season with a weaker pack than last year and are seemingly perfectly happy with that. Maybe it is a bit knee jerk, but you look at Paasi at Saints, how well Vaughan and Kasiano did for Wire on Thursday and then look at Ellis being very much 5th choice prop, Isa, Mago and Miski not even in the team and you've got to wonder what we're doing with our recruitment and use of the quota spots.
