It was great to see Mal Reilly on Superleague's Supermen with Brian Carney this week. What an absolute gentleman and legend of the game.

One of the key parts that stood out for me during his interview was when Brian Carney asked him what he thought about the SL and the British game at the moment. I'm not going to try and quote exactly what he said, however he basically said that the defenses of SL teams are pathetic!! He went on to say that everyone likes to see tries being scored however these 50 point margins are an embarrassment and until teams and players have more determination and pride in their approach to their defense we will remain a long way behind the Aussie game.

On the back of todays result at Catalan 54-20, and 2 or 3 other results that we've had this year, we have an absolute desperate need for some of that very same pride and determination in defense that Mal Reilly referred to.

Bottom line being it's alright playing the flamboyant 'Classy Cas' way, however until we get our defense sorted, we are often going to find that we are on the wrong side of yet another good hiding!

I was talking about that very same program and in particular that comment from Malcolm with a friend last night before kick off. We then watch the game and everything he said was spot on. We were pathetic. We then sit and talk about Reillys same comment again this morning.

You simply can not play like that and expect anything less than an embarressing defeat. I would very much doubt Reilly will be coming to Cas to magically sort out all our troubles but we do need someone like him, who demands, commands and deserves the respect of players and board of directors. As a Cas fan i'm tired of the pathetic performances we put in every now and again because they happen too often. At the start of the season, the most pleasing thing for me was our ability then to play the game for a full 80 and actually compete with teams. That's all dead and gone now and all we can hope for is the odd decent performance.


On the show, it was good to see Reilly on. He's one of the true legends of the game, a Cas great and a player we can only hope to see the likes of again at Cas. I enjoyed some of his tales, even though I've heard them before off my old man who knows Malcolm a little. The only down side to the show was that it ended so soon. I wanted to sit and listen to his tales of Cas, GB and life down under all night long.

In a way we are like the Alfa Romeo of the rugby world!!! From some angles we can look very sleek, stylish and with enviable potential performance figures on paper....ideal if you are a poser of this world.

However, in reality to own one, you've got to be able to turn a blind eye to the rattling, bits falling off and the general build quality. Never mind the time you spend broken down at the side of the road wondering what the hell has gone wrong with it this time, and how long it is going to be before it's fixed again.

All I can say is whilst ever we struggle to do the basics in defence (basic build quality), we had better keep our RAC membership paid up in full, because each time we go out for a drive we might be losing oil, quicker than we can top it up!

Malcolm is a dino im afraid and couldnt cut the mustard either here on in aus nowadays.
Very very good in his day but that was then and its a totally different game now.

C'mon....the need for a team that can tackle and form a strong defence, is NOT something that is extinct!!! Whether or not everyone can face up to it or not is a different question, however the basics which Mal talked about are absolutely relevant to todays game.