Missed Opportunities

SATURDAY PREVIEW

To win a game of rugby it isn’t about how may good moments you have, how much possession or field position you earn, it is simply about getting over the white line. When I review our last two games, if I put our best two halves and our worst two halves together there is a very different and contrasting picture. On Saturday by half time we should have put the game to bed. Going in 18-0 isn’t a bad score line by any means but the number of opportunities we failed to convert left the game closer than it should have been. Regardless, our second-half performance falls into the same category as our first half against Barnes, well below what we expect from ourselves. Some poor individual tackling and inaccuracies in the attacking 22 left us within one score going into the final 3 minutes. Getting turned over at the final scrum is something that a top four team can’t afford to do and a different outcome in this moment would have given us the platform to close the game out.

This week has all been about reinforcing clarity in our plan and understanding the behaviours that make us successful, the ones that we exhibit when we are at full flow playing our best rugby. We know that recent results are not because we were outclassed, or not from creating opportunities to win games. It is down to our ability to stay on task and finish. When your back is against the wall you find out about the character of people and teams, tomorrow is a day we will learn what this team is all about.

Matt Corker, Head Coach