Five Minutes Too Far For Glos
In the greater scheme of things, a losing BP at the Stoop isn’t that bad, but I’d hoped for more and can’t get away from the feeling that with a bit of luck we’d have got it. The most positive thing to come out of the past three weeks is that the pack finally seems to have sorted itself out.
The return of Delve and Hazell has been key, but I think that it would be dangerous to overlook the role that Somerville has played – you don’t get that number of AB caps without being something special and I think he adds a solidity under pressure that we’ve long needed – so far he looks like a great signing by DR. Haze says that he isn’t yet back to his best but he was monumental again yesterday, winning Sky’s man-of-the-match despite finishing on the losing side – the lesson is that we need a genuine 7 in the team, and I dearly hope that Qera is made to fight to take the shirt from Haze when he finally comes back. Delve and Narraway were both impressive and the Glaws back row was, overall excellent.
Titterell started at hooker and, cruel though it is, I’m struggling to see what he brings to the team – on current form his line-out throwing is no better than Olly’s, and we’re a lot lighter with him there. The best that can be said is that his presence allows Azam to have a rest – the change to our scrum when Olly came on was obvious for all to see.
The worry is the back line, but it would be wrong to panic unduly about this – Tinds is sorely missed, and Barkley has been cast in the role of the crash ball merchant, which isn’t what he’s about – it’s called taking one for the team! We also had two talented but raw 19 year-olds in the side yesterday, and I wasn’t the only one to think that Sinbad didn’t look his normal self. Add in a below-par effort from Balshaw and it’s amazing that we were as competitive as we were.. Once we can field Morgan, Balshaw, Tindall, Barkley and Sinbad I think we’ll see a return to the high-scoring rugby we all love.
King Carlos did OK for 60 minutes and then DR stuck on Ryan Lamb, and in doing so stuck up two fingers to those who believe that the younger man is in the Kingsholm doghouse – if that was the case then we wouldn’t have seen him at the crucial part of the game. The problem was that neither 10 could get us playing in the Quin’s half after the break.
Rory Lawson once again divided opinion: his fans praise his defence and his energy, while his critics point to the missed tackle that led to the first Quins try, and to some ‘variable’ passing – let’s just say that the 10 needs to have good hands when Rory’s at 9!
So, overall my cup is half full after the trip to the Stoop. To finish in the top two in the league you need to win all of your home games, and beat the bottom six away from home – we haven’t quite done it that way, but on balance we’re in pretty good shape. Next week’s game is massive, and not only because it’s B***. They have two games in hand of us and we have the chance to neutralise their advantage if we can beat them – it’s going to be a cracker! |
