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Match Thread: Championship Round 22, Featherstone Rovers v Sheffield Sunday-19th-September-2021


marklaspalmas

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Last league game of the season, and it's been a tremendously successful one. 19 wins out of 20 so far, a very consistent show.

After Sheffield, we will have a week off before a home semi-final in the playoffs, so perhaps there'll be some clues with Sunday's line up about what Webster counts as his best XVII.

With Day, Harrison, Minns and Bussey the long term absentees, Rovers will run with a 21 man squad from here on in.

For Sheffield, Ferguson is suspended and Moors is waiting for news of a scan on his pec. That'll leave Doyle and another youngster to make up the 21. Which two regulars miss out?

Parata has now missed the last two.

Ferres and Blackmore were both rested at London, Hardcastle and Cooper the week before, Brown, Hall and Davies the week before that.

I'm no pundit, but I think we'll see.....

1. Ferres for Moors straight swap.

2. Holmes over Parata off the bench.

3. Gale-Hardcastle-Welham-Hall the 3/4ers which means Blackmore misses out. Big call to make there.

TBH I think we should have far too much for Sheffield whichever combination we put out, but the playoffs are next.

Halifax at home then Toulouse away will probably be the fixtures.

Here we go.

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I seem to remember Webster saying a few weeks ago that Minns might be ready for this game, and Bussey for the play-offs.

For this late in the season there are lots of question marks over who's going to play, partly because at no stage of the season have we had what is probably our best 17 available all at the same time.

I suspect MLP is right about Holmes being in serious contention to be on the bench for the rest of the season. After the Fax game Webster was talking about how he was experimenting with someone on the bench who could cover if one of the halves went down and said that the only reason they had played 2 hookers all year was to give them both playing time rather than that one couldn't play 80 minutes.

For me Parata was our standout hooker earlier in the season whereas Jones has been the better of the two in the last few weeks, maybe he's also seen as the one best able to play 80 minutes if needed. It also has crossed my mind that he might want to have another half on the bench for the play-off games with the Hull cup game still in his mind in case Chisholm's defence isn't up to scratch.

Tought to know our best back line especially if Minns is fit again. Chisholm and Hall are both great players but they have played on that left defensive side which has struggled recently and they both have a tendency to try and wander into the opponents' attacking line to go for the intercept rather than sticking to the system. That's fine when you're four or five scores up but against the better teams you can be vulnerable.

I can't decide myself what we should do with our back 5, Walker has played very well but there's still the option to move Hall back to full back with Blackmore and possibly Minns in the frame.

It's hard to see a way back to the team for Fergie barring injury given Webster's comments after the Halifax game that although he could have played in that game, with his 2 week ban and then the week off he wanted to prepare some people with "a more realistic chance to be fit come the end of the season."

As Mark says, whatever 17 we announce we should have far too much for Sheffield who have been very poor recently.

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I had also heard the rumour that Minns could be ready for Sunday, but given where we are in the season I think it would be a big call to ask him or indeed Bussey to drop straight back in at this stage, fully match fit. They are both good players though and Webster may think that's a gamble worth taking.

With Fergie, he'll be ready for the playoffs and the coach knows what he can offer, 20 minutes of explosive, destructive running. If that's what's needed, he's our man. Given he's only played about 80 mins all year in his four sub apps, we haven't really seen the best of him.

Webster seems happy with Walker at FB. But, if removing Hall from that leaky left edge defence is the solution to that problem, we have to find a place for him somewhere, so FB it would be.

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1 hour ago, lingaro said:

most of those tries on that side were either good kicks or a mess up, hardly structured plays breaking us down.  

Yes but before that all four tries down that side against Halifax (albeit one from a dropped ball), all three tries down that side against York, even Oldham caused us plenty of problems down that left hand side, and in the second half at London they made plenty of inroads down that side as well apart from the tries. It's definitely been an issue in recent weeks, as Webster has acknowledged more than once.

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Having not seen all the games, how much is the leaky left due to poor defence and how much is because opposition teams only attack down their right? I accept their may well be a link between those two things if opposition coaches are doing their homework but I wouldn't want to mix causation and correlation. 

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Since being defeated by Toulouse we have won our six games at an average of 47-15. Surprisingly keeping four of the opposition scoreless in the second half. Not bad in the season where there are no time consuming scrums. The Halifax game was a little quirky in the fact that both sides scored some lucky tries from mistakes and by the good grace of a crossbar. The players know that they have to be tighter when the play offs come around and I think Webster will have that under control.

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12 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

I think the whole question of questioning the left side of defence came from direct comments made by Webster himself.

Quite right Mark so he knows where the problems lie and it's his job to fix it. I'm confident that he knows how to remedy any weaknesses. I think we need to get a plan on how to break down Toulouse if and when we are fortunate to meet them in the final. If we can score 48 against them then problem solved🙄

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11 minutes ago, J Phil Loxton said:

Quite right Mark so he knows where the problems lie and it's his job to fix it. I'm confident that he knows how to remedy any weaknesses. I think we need to get a plan on how to break down Toulouse if and when we are fortunate to meet them in the final. If we can score 48 against them then problem solved🙄

I totally agree with all that Phil. 👍

Doesn't stop us armchair "experts" chipping in our twopence worth on this forum.....🤣

 

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6 minutes ago, Michael Bates said:

Getting Bussey back for the playoffs would be a massive boost. I've got conflicting thoughts about him playing in what should be a glorified training run. On the one hand it's a bridge between training and a full intensity game, but on the other hand how much does it build him up for the playoff games.

Indeed. Historically Webster seems to have named players returning from injury in the 21-man squad a week before they actually play...but there's no game next week. If he's ready to go, I'd play him, no question.

A fit Bussey definitely gets included in our best 17 for me.

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Interesting 21 f we'are going with flavour of the month then Dean P is sat in the stand and with Ben B back then Jacob D is sat with him  and I would  give Kris W a rest

Now we come to the jack B conundrum if fit we play him from the start and keep him on until he decides to take a breather 

IF he does play then I would give Frankie H a rest and have Callum F next to Brett F

That leaves me with a bench of  Gadwin JD Coops and any one of the 3 HB's

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