Match thread: Championship Rd4. Featherstone Rovers v London Broncos. Saturday 19th February 2022.

[RobLambert]

18 hours ago, Squidward said:

Personally I don't think some of our players "just thought they had to turn up" I can't really fault anyone in particular. I just think London defended well, individually and as a team and in pretty poor conditions points were never going to be easy to come by. 

I remember a game against Rochdale a few years ago played in similar conditions. On this occasion we still won fairly comfortably. 

I left contented.

Bang on

[The Phantom Horseman]

18 hours ago, Squidward said:

Personally I don't think some of our players "just thought they had to turn up" I can't really fault anyone in particular. I just think London defended well, individually and as a team and in pretty poor conditions points were never going to be easy to come by. 

I remember a game against Rochdale a few years ago played in similar conditions. On this occasion we still won fairly comfortably. 

I left contented.

Yep, that game against Rochdale if it's the same one I'm thinking of was in 2017 under Jon Sharp, we lost by a point to a late penalty after turning down three or four kickable penalties in the first half.

That game had a big influence on us as for the rest of the season we went for goal on nearly every penalty we were awarded in the opposition half!

[Fevrover]

2 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Yep, that game against Rochdale if it's the same one I'm thinking of was in 2017 under Jon Sharp, we lost by a point to a late penalty after turning down three or four kickable penalties in the first half.

That game had a big influence on us as for the rest of the season we went for goal on nearly every penalty we were awarded in the opposition half!

And so we should in tight games.

[The Phantom Horseman]

2 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

And so we should in tight games.

Yeah, it's a tricky one, but people tend to moan more after the event if things don't work out and we lose.

For instance, yesterday we were awarded a penalty 5 metres out in front of the posts when we were leading 18-12 with less than 20 minutes left. Normally that's an easy decision to take the 2 points, but we tapped the ball instead, got a repeat set and then scored. If we'd lost the game after that, that incident would be the most-discussed of the game, but I haven't seen it mentioned.

[Fevrover]

2 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Yeah, it's a tricky one, but people tend to moan more after the event if things don't work out and we lose.

For instance, yesterday we were awarded a penalty 5 metres out in front of the posts when we were leading 18-12 with less than 20 minutes left. Normally that's an easy decision to take the 2 points, but we tapped the ball instead, got a repeat set and then scored. If we'd lost the game after that, that incident would be the most-discussed of the game, but I haven't seen it mentioned.

I thought we should have kicked  the penalty at 18 -12 so they had to score twice ,no one knew we would get two sets. Forget who it was but one of the players indicated to go for goal.

[The Phantom Horseman]

2 hours ago, Fevrover said:

I thought we should have kicked  the penalty at 18 -12 so they had to score twice ,no one knew we would get two sets. Forget who it was but one of the players indicated to go for goal.

Yes, the percentage call was to go for 2 in my view as well.

[Adam B]

4 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I thought it was a workmanlike win but the conditions were not at all conducive to free-flowing rugby, it was impossible to do anything quickly because of the gluey surface, when the whole pace of the game is slowed by conditions it's much more difficult to create openings or get on a roll in attack.

Their try came after Pickersgill dropped a kick on his own 20m line and they scored after getting a repeat set. That was the only time in the first 70 minutes that they had a play-the-ball inside our 40m line which tells the story of how dominant we were in terms of territory, it's just so difficult to drive that advantage home in those conditions especially when the opposition defend as determinedly as London did.

We scored five tries, had three more disallowed, job done, we move on.

Think that's a reasonable summary, particularly re London's defence, which I thought was well organised and dogged all game - they clearly came to have a real dig and you have to give them credit for their effort.

Enjoyed seeing Parata again, even turning out for the opposition, as he's such a great player, however as for that first London try, to me he looked to have grounded it about half a yard short of the line then tried to scuttle over, but by the time he made the line our lad looked to have him and the ball wrapped up. Could be wrong, especially given the lighting at that end.

[Adam B]

6 hours ago, gazza77 said:

The sound system does need looking at, which I'm sure the club will be doing. As with the floodlights, it's hardly a secret however everything can't be resolved instantaneously. I know that we've now potentially got the council funding to invest (I don't know what the rules are around what we can and can't spend it on) but personally I'd prefer to see a plan drawn up to maximise the benefit of it rather than just rushing out to spend straight away. The volume on POR terracing is also far quieter than it was previously, which I'd actually see as a benefit because it's not so loud that it's damaging everyone's hearing. 

Hopefully they'll be looking to use the funding to improve both the sound and the floodlights. I'd also be aiming to renew/ rebuild the terracing all around the PO Road end.

6 hours ago, gazza77 said:

For the mom issue, could I suggest that rather than trying to get a presentation arranged, that we just keep it as a lighthearted online discussion. Trying to formalise it feels overkill to me at least, for what is supposed to just be a bit of fun. 

I think that's a reasonable suggestion. Would certainly save Col the trouble of constantly banging his head against what appears to be a bit of a brick wall trying to get the club to recognise/facilitate it. I'd be happy for it to be a forum only thing and should extend my thanks to Col once again for his coordination of the thing, and his regular nudges to get as many of us voting as possible.

[The Phantom Horseman]

One thing that I'm sure most of us will be quite pleased about, we're 4 from 4 without using Dual Reg at all (other than the hybrid reserve team). It does seem, for now at least, that we are using it as a safeguard in case of injuries/suspensions- a bit like loans used to be used.

A lot of the other leading teams have already dipped into the DR/loan market - Leigh, for instance, used 3 St Helens players yesterday (one loan, two DR) despite their loanee Aaron Smith being out injured, Halifax called up Oliver Roberts on dual reg from Huddersfield for their postponed game this weekend, York signed James Clare on loan from Cas and Widnes signed Eribe Doro on loan from Warrington.

Am sure at some stage we may need reinforcements but it's good to see us going with our own so far.

 

[Fevrover]

1 hour ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

One thing that I'm sure most of us will be quite pleased about, we're 4 from 4 without using Dual Reg at all (other than the hybrid reserve team). It does seem, for now at least, that we are using it as a safeguard in case of injuries/suspensions- a bit like loans used to be used.

A lot of the other leading teams have already dipped into the DR/loan market - Leigh, for instance, used 3 St Helens players yesterday (one loan, two DR) despite their loanee Aaron Smith being out injured, Halifax called up Oliver Roberts on dual reg from Huddersfield for their postponed game this weekend, York signed James Clare on loan from Cas and Widnes signed Eribe Doro on loan from Warrington.

Am sure at some stage we may need reinforcements but it's good to see us going with our own so far.

 

And we are the one's who get slated most by other club's fan's lol.

[The Phantom Horseman]

4 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

And we are the one's who get slated most by other club's fan's lol.

I think we'll use DR/loans at some point this year so am not saying we are any different to most other teams, but yes, we did seem to get more attention when we used it.

[Fevrover]

2 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I think we'll use DR/loans at some point this year so am not saying we are any different to most other teams, but yes, we did seem to get more attention when we used it.

We certainly did!

[Guest]

12 hours ago, Adam B said:

Hopefully they'll be looking to use the funding to improve both the sound and the floodlights. I'd also be aiming to renew/ rebuild the terracing all around the PO Road end.

 

And a new  hybrid pitch of grass supported by artificial fibres, 

4 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

 we did seem to get more attention when we used it.

That's because we did it/got it right 

[Fevrover]

48 minutes ago, POR said:

And a new  hybrid pitch of grass supported by artificial fibres, 

That's because we did it/got it right 

Yeah yer right i suppose if it hadn't worked in our favour other fan's wouldn't have been bothered.

[jamescolin]

21 hours ago, Adam B said:

Hopefully they'll be looking to use the funding to improve both the sound and the floodlights. I'd also be aiming to renew/ rebuild the terracing all around the PO Road end.

I think that's a reasonable suggestion. Would certainly save Col the trouble of constantly banging his head against what appears to be a bit of a brick wall trying to get the club to recognise/facilitate it. I'd be happy for it to be a forum only thing and should extend my thanks to Col once again for his coordination of the thing, and his regular nudges to get as many of us voting as possible.

Thanks fofr that Adam B. Just trying to get what I thought we needed. It was interesting that our MOM for last season was the one the Official Selection voters also picked. I will continue, pleasae vote and add comments as desired.