Match Analysis - Harlequins

Ill get my whinges out the way first:

No pre match entertainment - Whats that all about?
No half time entertainment - Again why not?
Some fans travelled hundreds of miles, least the club could have done was provide a few good looking half naked legal lasses for the blokes to perv over and a half decent warbler to belt out some classics the women could enjoy.

The game;
The first half will go down in history as one of the boringest snoozefests i have ever sat through. Maybe it was Benthams complete lack of control over the game, or his baffling penalties or the fact Quinns were offside at just about every play of the ball. Either way a boring first half.

Second half was much better, for the first time in months it looked like we had a definite game plan and the players were playing as a team - Not looking for the one man wonder 100m tries.
For me the stick out players were the usual new lads and Raleigh et al. Yet again Lawrence proves his worth and i sincerely believe we have within our ranks a star of the future.
Still knocking on near our own line - 2 went to Snitch i think.
That said, we were great in the second half and have finally realised that a tackle isnt complete until the ref calls held - i.e we started to offload and really move the ball about.

Hemmingway did exceptionally well with his kicks against such strong wind and he imo deservedly got man of the match.

All in all a good win, great to see the lads back on form and i hope we can keep it up.

26 - 16 Giants

I disagree that the 1st half was boring. It was spoilt by incinsistent reffing by Ms B.

We defended well against a poor Quins side and strong wind & rain. We moved the ball about quite well and had a good game plan for the conditions.

2nd half Ms B let the game flow more, but still let Quins off a lot. We moved the ball about well with some excellent flowing rugby.

Hemingway was outstanding. We've taken the field in the past with 5 ball-players and done sod all. Today we took the field with one ball-player and threw the ball about.

Eorl was almost as outstanding. He ran hard every time. He was looking to offload every time. A very close 2nd to MOM.

Every single player did his part and tried his best. To see Snitch's face when he took his 3rd pass and didn't spill it!! [1st drop was on the half-way line, Stu.]

Considering the fickle nature of our fans, a predictable, crap crowd.

That's all for now, folks.

Ivor C&G Scarf wrote:

I disagree that the 1st half was boring. It was spoilt by incinsistent reffing by Ms B.

We defended well against a poor Quins side and strong wind & rain. We moved the ball about quite well and had a good game plan for the conditions.

2nd half Ms B let the game flow more, but still let Quins off a lot. We moved the ball about well with some excellent flowing rugby.

Hemingway was outstanding. We've taken the field in the past with 5 ball-players and done sod all. Today we took the field with one ball-player and threw the ball about.

Eorl was almost as outstanding. He ran hard every time. He was looking to offload every time. A very close 2nd to MOM.

Every single player did his part and tried his best. To see Snitch's face when he took his 3rd pass and didn't spill it!! [1st drop was on the half-way line, Stu.]

Considering the fickle nature of our fans, a predictable, crap crowd.

That's all for now, folks.

You're right about the fans. There was practically no atmosphere there today. And Eorl, what did i say last week! When he runs hard with the ball he is awesome.

Attendence was 4000 and something i forgot to add.

But still, the first half imo was a snoozefest.

I'm quite happy with that all things considered, Hemmingway deservedly MOM (what a shame that lad was held back for so long) Cudjo solid and best i have seen from Crabtree for ages, Snitch and Mason need to pick their game up a bit but all round a good effort, Disappointing crowd yes ,But we still have 4000 solid fans which when you look at results could be a lot worse, Good to get a win.

Going against the general opinion here but Think Hemingway has only got one string to his bow, kicking. Other than his kicking game he offers nothing to the team. With ball in hand he's the worst half back we have at the club imo. I'd let him go at the end of the season myself and bring in someone who is creative cos the other half backs have been as bad this season. We've got Robinson who's an individual, Tom with a good kicking game but nobody who has both and creative.

ponner wrote:

Going against the general opinion here but Think Hemingway has only got one string to his bow, kicking. Other than his kicking game he offers nothing to the team. With ball in hand he's the worst half back we have at the club imo. I'd let him go at the end of the season myself and bring in someone who is creative cos the other half backs have been as bad this season. We've got Robinson who's an individual, Tom with a good kicking game but nobody who has both and creative.

now now ponner
tom hemingway proved me right today,that we need to get rid of robinson(not a team player).
sorry ponner but the way tom marshalled the team and linked play today was awsome,just what we have been missing all season
get thorman at 6 with tom at 7 and watch us go.

bostock wrote:

now now ponner
tom hemingway proved me right today,that we need to get rid of robinson(not a team player).
sorry ponner but the way tom marshalled the team and linked play today was awsome,just what we have been missing all season
get thorman at 6 with tom at 7 and watch us go.

I didn't see he marshall or link the team at all today mate. His kicking was 1st class but a top side needs more than that from a scrum half. Maybe if we had an outstanding stand off in the team we could accommodate him but if we want to be a top 4 side then we have to look elsewhere. He's ok as a stand in i suppose but that's all.

ponner wrote:

bostock wrote:

now now ponner
tom hemingway proved me right today,that we need to get rid of robinson(not a team player).
sorry ponner but the way tom marshalled the team and linked play today was awsome,just what we have been missing all season
get thorman at 6 with tom at 7 and watch us go.

I didn't see he marshall or link the team at all today mate. His kicking was 1st class but a top side needs more than that from a scrum half. Maybe if we had an outstanding stand off in the team we could accommodate him but if we want to be a top 4 side then we have to look elsewhere. He's ok as a stand in i suppose but that's all.

will you ever be happy?

I've been happy ever since JS was given the boot

ponner wrote:

I've been happy ever since JS was given the boot

to true

Thought the performance overall was good today. We certainly appear to have more agression on the field in the last two games. Why was this not evident earlier in the season?

ponner wrote:

bostock wrote:

now now ponner
tom hemingway proved me right today,that we need to get rid of robinson(not a team player).
sorry ponner but the way tom marshalled the team and linked play today was awsome,just what we have been missing all season
get thorman at 6 with tom at 7 and watch us go.

I didn't see he marshall or link the team at all today mate. His kicking was 1st class but a top side needs more than that from a scrum half. Maybe if we had an outstanding stand off in the team we could accommodate him but if we want to be a top 4 side then we have to look elsewhere. He's ok as a stand in i suppose but that's all.

I thought he had a decent game all round to be honest, but i do know what you are saying, I would have been a lot happier to see the club trying really hard to keep Hudson with Hemmingway as backup and have a go at the kind of SO you are talking about, What we need is a Hardisty or Milward, not a lot of them about.

As I've said somewhere else, we only had 1 recognised ball-player on the pitch yesterday - Hemingway.

Considering the fact that we won - and won handsomely - says a lot [IMHO] about Hemingway's ability.

We agree on his kicking - long, short, high, etc. But his passing was also excellent - again both long and short. Remember it was his long, accurate pass to Lawrence who then fed **** [can't remember, too many exam papers!] to score.

He's a team player, which is more the Robinson appears to be. I'd really like to see Thorman & Hemingway given an extended run together as half-backs.

Ivor C&G Scarf wrote:

As I've said somewhere else, we only had 1 recognised ball-player on the pitch yesterday - Hemingway.

Considering the fact that we won - and won handsomely - says a lot [IMHO] about Hemingway's ability.

We agree on his kicking - long, short, high, etc. But his passing was also excellent - again both long and short. Remember it was his long, accurate pass to Lawrence who then fed **** [can't remember, too many exam papers!] to score.

He's a team player, which is more the Robinson appears to be. I'd really like to see Thorman & Hemingway given an extended run together as half-backs.

I agree that Hemmingway had a good all round game yesterday, I dont think any one has seen him play enough in the first team to give a proper judgment on his game overall, thanks to JS who did nothing for him at all. Where i suspect i may well disagree with you Ivor is ,i dont rate Thorman as highly as i suspect you do, Again Sharp has done nothing for the lads game and i rate him a lot higher at SO than at fullback but i reckon he is a bit too predictable, I dont reckon he is the weakest link in the team but i would like to see us going for a real quality SO, If there is any to be had. Thorman has been great for the club, i just feel we need to be looking for his replacment now, and i think that is perhaps what Ponner is looking for as well (someone to organise and controll the game ) If Hemmingway had been treated even half right we would probably never have needed Robinson.

Spot on Bo, Tom has spent the last 4 seasons on the sidelines and on loan.
He has the talent to progress further and he has only had the opportunity to show this a handfull of times.
Many of our guys just need some right guidance and unlock the potential of a great set of players.

reidy@work wrote:

Spot on Bo, Tom has spent the last 4 seasons on the sidelines and on loan.
He has the talent to progress further and he has only had the opportunity to show this a handfull of times.
Many of our guys just need some right guidance and unlock the potential of a great set of players.

Hopefully we will get a coach who can do just that and will pick players on form and in their best places whenever possible, instead of the tripe thats gone on for the last few seasons.

A real good in-depth analysis from Tony Rea on Boots`n`all tonight. He gave plenty of raps to Hemingway, and how he steered the team about the pitch.
And he thought as I did, it was a very good team performance overall from the Giants, especially being so short of troops.