Bath vs Newcastle

[Banquo]

In fairness the opening sentence is quite tricky to decipher

[Banquo]

JK personally had a decent game, scored one try on his own, and was vital in Week's. He's definitely kickng more this season, and that bit didn't work too well yesterday; his distribution was neither great nor dire. He seems to be the only Bath player who's adapting his tackle technique to the new laws, more trying to push the player to floor without going off his feet himself - which gives up more ground, leaves the carrier free to offload, but allows himself to go for the ball more quickly. I don't think it's working. Oh, he also gave away a penalty when Bath were in a try scoring position for side-step... because a Falcon's player was busy standing in the gate on Bath's side - harsh but accurate.

Bath as a whole seem to be trying to play last year's laws and interpretations, and just trying to tinker with what Todd was brining in for us anyway - but the game has moved on.
We either committing too few players to the ruck, and almost forgetting to actually co plete the tackle, or prevent the offload, or were putting too many in, leaving the defensive line under-rated.
Newcastle were very good at manipulating our fringe defence, SH carrying widish and pulling the guard defender onto him, then popping the ball inside to the support runner.

Beyond that, we were asleep for the first 15 minutes, really strong in the scrum, and finally have a functioning line-out. Rhys had a poor game though, he gave up on a Falcon's kick through to allow their 3rd try, a couple of restarts straight into touch, too willing to boot the ball away in attack, and a decision to go for the corner that I don't really understand. In a high scoring match, against a team who have scored 3 tries in 15 minutes against you, 22 minutes left to play and 13 points up... Go for the sticks, 3 points pushes you to a 3 score margin, whilst a try.... also pushes you to a 3 score margin. TBP was already secured, and whilst we had the momentum, it never felt comfortable, and Newcastle were still breaking through our line too frequently

Surely Freddie has to be starting at 10? Priestland looked ok at the start of the season, but subsequently has been taking the ball standing still too much and acting as a pivot, which makes the outside backs timing challenging as it seems to be random

[Digby]

Priestland looked ok at the start of the season, but subsequently has been taking the ball standing still too much and acting as a pivot, which makes the outside backs timing challenging as it seems to be random

Travelling without moving.

Though providing they know who the ball is going to it shouldn't make timing too difficult. Priestland does have the option of a wider pass than most, and I suppose that could be causing the problem if he's picking his targets at random (or based on what he sees the defence doing), and worse still if his decision making is slow/or to some degree inept

[Banquo]

Priestland looked ok at the start of the season, but subsequently has been taking the ball standing still too much and acting as a pivot, which makes the outside backs timing challenging as it seems to be random

Travelling without moving.

Though providing they know who the ball is going to it shouldn't make timing too difficult. Priestland does have the option of a wider pass than most, and I suppose that could be causing the problem if he's picking his targets at random (or based on what he sees the defence doing), and worse still if his decision making is slow/or to some degree inept

as I said, its the randomness of whether he moves or not that seems the timing problem; plus if you are not moving, no-one is marking you.

[Digby]

Priestland looked ok at the start of the season, but subsequently has been taking the ball standing still too much and acting as a pivot, which makes the outside backs timing challenging as it seems to be random

Travelling without moving.

Though providing they know who the ball is going to it shouldn't make timing too difficult. Priestland does have the option of a wider pass than most, and I suppose that could be causing the problem if he's picking his targets at random (or based on what he sees the defence doing), and worse still if his decision making is slow/or to some degree inept

as I said, its the randomness of whether he moves or not that seems the timing problem; plus if you are not moving, no-one is marking you.

Ah, gotcha. I read that as acting as a pivot caused a timing problem and I didn't quite follow. I have though had a couple of glasses of sherry and no food yet today, which is impairing already low levels of mental acuity

[Banquo]

Travelling without moving.

Though providing they know who the ball is going to it shouldn't make timing too difficult. Priestland does have the option of a wider pass than most, and I suppose that could be causing the problem if he's picking his targets at random (or based on what he sees the defence doing), and worse still if his decision making is slow/or to some degree inept

as I said, its the randomness of whether he moves or not that seems the timing problem; plus if you are not moving, no-one is marking you.

Ah, gotcha. I read that as acting as a pivot caused a timing problem and I didn't quite follow. I have though had a couple of glasses of sherry and no food yet today, which is impairing already low levels of mental acuity

I was burbling a bit. Might need an edit

[Digby]

Might need an edit

A manifest destiny

Also i'm about to sit down to some roast lamb, so even with a few glasses of red will soon be back to low levels of understanding

[Puja]

No-one daring to comment on the fact that, not only did Banahan play full-back, he also did a pretty good job of it?

I've got a lot of time for Banahan actually. He was pretty effective just as a big boshing winger, so he didn't really need to learn to do anything else, but he's really worked on his overall game. To be able to play 11-14 at a good Premiership level, and now apparently 15 too, is no mean feat considering where he started from at the beginning of his career and it's a shame that he doesn't get a bit more respect than he does.

Puja

[bitts]

No-one daring to comment on the fact that, not only did Banahan play full-back, he also did a pretty good job of it?

I've got a lot of time for Banahan actually. He was pretty effective just as a big boshing winger, so he didn't really need to learn to do anything else, but he's really worked on his overall game. To be able to play 11-14 at a good Premiership level, and now apparently 15 too, is no mean feat considering where he started from at the beginning of his career and it's a shame that he doesn't get a bit more respect than he does.

Puja

He also steps up to the plate whenever Bath need someone too.

Wonder if he was capped a year or so early when he should have been working on his game.

[Puja]

No-one daring to comment on the fact that, not only did Banahan play full-back, he also did a pretty good job of it?

I've got a lot of time for Banahan actually. He was pretty effective just as a big boshing winger, so he didn't really need to learn to do anything else, but he's really worked on his overall game. To be able to play 11-14 at a good Premiership level, and now apparently 15 too, is no mean feat considering where he started from at the beginning of his career and it's a shame that he doesn't get a bit more respect than he does.

Puja

He also steps up to the plate whenever Bath need someone too.

Wonder if he was capped a year or so early when he should have been working on his game.

People deride him and Andy Goode, but they were actually some of England's best performers in that era. Granted, that's a really, really low bar, but they were effective at what they did, limited though it was.

Puja

[Banquo]

No-one daring to comment on the fact that, not only did Banahan play full-back, he also did a pretty good job of it?

I've got a lot of time for Banahan actually. He was pretty effective just as a big boshing winger, so he didn't really need to learn to do anything else, but he's really worked on his overall game. To be able to play 11-14 at a good Premiership level, and now apparently 15 too, is no mean feat considering where he started from at the beginning of his career and it's a shame that he doesn't get a bit more respect than he does.

Puja

He also steps up to the plate whenever Bath need someone too.

Wonder if he was capped a year or so early when he should have been working on his game.

People deride him and Andy Goode, but they were actually some of our best performers in that era. Granted, that's a really, really low bar, but they were effective at what they did, limited though it was.

Puja

Yep great club servants, not sure anyone has said otherwise.