Match thread: Championship Rd 18. London v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 10th July 2022.

[haskey]

Looks like you were right Phantom wore them down in the second half. But still some London scrappy tries. Good job we can score tries. 22 points can win matches. However 2 points in those conditions I will take.

[The Phantom Horseman]

Yes, a workmanlike win. Not especially inspiring again but we did wear them down. It was a brutally hot day so fair play to all the players on both sides, and Lodnon did have a dig. Still too many times we didn't make tackles stick and allowed offloads, and the defending for Parata's try was really poor especially as it was the first time we were trying to defend our line.

Probably the first time I can say this but I think Joey Leilua was our man of the match. Made a number of very good contributions and his second try was exactly the kind of barnstoming effort carrying defenders over the line with him that we were hoping to see. More of this would be great.

Thought Springer was good again, he does run it in with plenty of intent and the same with his tackling. Eseh showed promise again too.

 

[sentoffagain2]

   I thought London would trouble our defence hence my score prediction 42-16 which was not far out.And Parata did score their first try,in the hot weather a decent win against a London team who look better than the other three teams at the foot of the table.Enjoyed the Hull derby at Magic really good atmosphere.The Wire Catalan second half was the worst second half of rugby i have seen for quite a while.

[RobLambert]

6 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I think Joey Leilua was our man of the match. Made a number of very good contributions and his second try was exactly the kind of barnstoming effort carrying defenders over the line with him that we were hoping to see.

Some good news at last.  Maybe someone has told him that Hardcastle is fit again.

[sentoffagain2]

      Or threatened to play him in the pack when Hardcastle returns

[Tubby]

On 10/07/2022 at 18:50, The Phantom Horseman said:

Probably the first time I can say this but I think Joey Leilua was our man of the match. Made a number of very good contributions and his second try was exactly the kind of barnstoming effort carrying defenders over the line with him that we were hoping to see. More of this would be great.

 

Absolutely agree with this.  I've been critical of Leilua so far this season, but at London, he looked like he was looking for work.  It's the first time I've noticed him on the opposite side of the pitch looking for the ball and he defended far better too.  Hope it's a sign of things to come!