Sharpy was on the radio (recorded of course) yesterday morning saying the structures and plays were complicated this year and the team would need a few games to get it all straight in their heads.



Based on those comments I think the pairing looked pretty good.

I hope he's right because the structures and plays looked non existent to me last night

so, to recap... it was a freezing cold night, first league game in whcih our half-back pairing played competitve rugby for the first time together ater the number 6 had missed practically the whole of the previous season (and who also scored a try) and the number 7 has been recovering from a close season operation and you're all still moaning? Feck me!



Oh and didn't we win against a team that many of the pundits are telling us are candidates for the grand final?

That was before they lost to a depleted wakey side last week

whatever

Add to that; Berrigans first game of the season, no creative loose forward, pivotal fullback, impact prop etc etc.



I am very pleased with what we did last night and we will improve.

That sounds far too logical & fair minded for this message board!!

Sorry - won't happen again

I think the Horne/Thorman partnership is looking like an appetising prospect for this season. Both have a good running game but in different areas which means opposition defenders will be kept on their toes.



One of the biggest positives from last night was Thorman's kicking. The difference between find a player and finding space might only be a couple of seconds but they're vital. Thorman found the gaps very well last night.



Already in just one game, I've seen as many highlights as I did all season last year !! A 40/20 (albeit doubtful to some who post), the tackle of the season, determination & grit for the full 80 minutes with no heads down, Danny Tickle's quarterback throw forward pass for Radders to score and Yak rampaging through the Wiggin danger zone leaving defenders thrashing around like fish out of water and then carrying fourteen players over the line with him (that's right, you count 'em).



It's easy to get carried away with the opening win of the season but remember this, we played a very good Wigan side who were smarting after the Wakey defeat with a squad full of star players & internationals who will be top 4 this season. We managed to do the basics well which set up the win, despite the efforts of Mr Bentham to slow the game down, we forced the Wigan errors and played them out of the game.

corrected

that was one of the biggest improvements of the night, he was finding gaps between players, unlike last seasons tame kick to the full backs arms.

It was touched in flight.

I thought it was a steady start for a new half back pairing. Obviously the kicking game has improved drastically from what we have been used to. Still need major improvement when we are attacking in the 20m area, thought that too often they looked like 2 individuals taking turns rather than a partnership (this will change with gametime).



Overall, I thought we looked promising. Defence was really good and I thought the forwards played really well against a much bigger pack, with the exception of King, who I think owes us a huge season.

Tom Briscoe was outsatnding and is only going to get better, great to see Horney back and Berro will be back to his best with some more game time.



All in all....encouraging with room still for improvement.

That probably sums up the whole performance.



Despite a few poor kicks, Horne and Thorman showed glimpses of what we have missed over the last couple of years.

Glad he got 80 mins under his belt but have to ask why Houghton wasnt on the bench on reflection in place of Washy to give us some zip around the ruck. Other than his play to put Horney in i didnt notice Berro TBH. Its nice to win comfortably when our star men like Manu and Berro dont play well, cant wait to see when they do!

Did fine with his first game back. Made a couple of handy breaks but was very busy defending around the ruck.

Did fine isnt what we expect from me which i guess is my point. Its nice to do fine and win, but i think we all expect more from him.

True enough but for his first game of competitive rugby for 2009 season, he didn't let anyone down.

agreed. bring on celtic!

WOULD SOONER HAVE PIGGY RIDDELL



bet the wigan fans have been impressed with him.

Even the most blinkered Wigan fan can't be impressed with what Piggy 'in the' Riddell has offered so far, he was still walking back to get behind the ball on tackle 3 of one of our defensive sets after a kick chase, that was inside the first 8 minutes. He also looked slow with his distribution and just generally lazy/unfit.

who was that guy in the yellow top barking out orders behind theplay of the ball ????????? thought that was stopped

Was it Mick Forshaw, not sure if he's on their staff but it looked like him (from about 50 yards away).

In terms of the structure of the team I didn't really notice any big changes from last season. The major difference was a decent kicking game which will give us a better chance of winning the close games we always seemed to lose last year. Hopefully as the season progresses we will see a bit more from the team with ball in hand.

Berrigan was probably confused as to why he hadn't being moved position / interchanged.