Another Fun Night At Castle Grim...
That’s it for another season and we’re spared the humiliation of failing in the play-offs by  not even managing to get there. If you were a neutral then the match was an entertaining one, full of the intensity and passion that makes the Guinness Premiership the great competition that it is. If, however, you’re a Glaws fan then it was just another 80 minutes of frustration and disappointment.
The first thing to say is that the team DR sent out at least wanted it and, unlike Saturday, it was hard to fault attitude and commitment. Having said that, Wuss ain’t no Cardiff, and even their deeply limited game plan was too good for the Cherry and Whites.
For me this game was ‘Debney’s revenge’. Not too long ago he locked himself in the changing room at Sarries to get away from a rampaging Dean Ryan – our head coach got a touchline ban, and Debney presumably remembers that. I rarely criticise referees but I thought he was deplorable with, in my opinion, every 50:50 decision going Worcester’s way. Was it deliberate? Of course it wasn’t, but Glaws got not a single favour from him. Let’s hope that the assessor spends a lot of time reviewing  the DVD of the game and sends Mr Debney for a spell in NL1 where he belongs.
In the first twenty minutes Glaws were constantly on the attack but never really looked like scoring – I kept getting drawn back to the latter days of the Melville regime when our journeymen backs kept moving the ball laterally, without ever actually going anywhere. I guess that’s because we had our fair share of journeymen backs out in this game too – Foster and Watkins tried but simply aren’t good enough for even this level, while Sinbad looks like a fish out of water at 13.
Someone said wouldn’t we rather he had the ball ten times at centre, rather than five on the wing. Now we have the answer, ‘No’, I’d rather he had the ball once on the wing but with some space. In the centre he just gets closed down too easily, and his lack of physicality means that he simply gets dumped – to see a great finisher repeatedly  getting wiped out in that way shows a total lack of understanding of how to play him.
I didn’t think Barkley did too badly, and it’s to his credit that his attitude couldn’t be faulted – whether that’s down to professionalism or the fact that he’s escaping from the coaches is open to conjecture. Similarly, Spencer tried to get things going and to those who ask what he offers that Lamb doesn’t, the answer is ‘a lot’. His kicking from hand is much better and, in my opinion, so is his pass – he also kept going to the end and vainly tried to get things moving.
At scrum-half Cooper was OK and, in fairness, so was Lawson when he came on, but neither of them are delivering what a top-flight international 9 should, and that has to be laid fairly and squarely at the door of our former top-flight 9 who coaches them.
As for the pack: we were solid in the scrum and the line-out functioned OK, but in the loose were poor. Too often forwards were in the way out on the wings – another echo of the Melville days – and we simply seemed to want to take the ball to ground rather than off-loading it as the better teams do. Once we had gone to ground we got turned over far too easily and Worcester’s only threats came from counter-attacking off turnover ball – but that was more than enough for Glaws to handle. Because they didn’t have to commit in numbers to the rucks, the Worcester drift defence was allowed to stay organised and we lacked anyone who was able to straighten things up to create space.
So, what should be done. Dean Ryan is rightly under pressure, but I’m more bothered about the coaches beneath him than the man at the top. The failings at half-back have been obvious all season and that has to be down to Brian Redpath – in my opinion he should go as soon as Saturday’s meaningless game is over.  Similarly, the pack has been a weakness most of the time, either in the set-piece or in the loose, and our forwards coach has to take the blame – he needs to go too. As for the man at the top, I’d be happy for him to go if the owners decide that’s right, or if circumstances mean that he has to stay, then he needs a fresh set of coaches under him, and he needs to take personal responsibility for the forwards.
As for the players, I stick with my view that a thorough clear-out is required. Of the front-line players I’d want to keep Morgan, Tindall, and Balshaw amongst the backs, with Sinbad added as long as he and the coaches see him purely as a winger, and I’d keep Watkins, as long as he was seen as a centre! If Vainikolo recovers and is available (!) then I’d keep him too, but beyond that I’m not too bothered.
At 9 we have Lawson and Lewis – presumably a new name will be added, but a new  coach is what we need. I’d hope that we wouldn’t lose too many from the pack – I refuse to believe that those players can’t deliver if they are properly coached. I’d also want to see an end to the nonsense of playing players out of position – Mr Ryan, decide on what a player is, and then play him there. I’ll help you out: J-S-D at 11, Watkins our second-string 13, Qera at 6, and Haze at 7.
Captaincy remains a problem. Sanderson is a total pain in the backside, but there was no doubt who was leading that Worcester side. The Wuss players were combative, nasty, right on the edge, and totally ‘up’ for the fight – all the things I want to see from Glaws. I suspect that comes from their coaches and the captain simply reflects it – can we please have some of that spirit?
Finally, to the muppet who threw the bin on the pitch: don’t bother coming back. Anyone who knows who he was should tell the club and he should simply be banned for life – we don’t need that kind of stuff at Kingsholm or at any rugby ground.
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