Lacklustre display at Tredegar Ironsides

The Sec · Lacklustre display at Tredegar Ironsides

Abertillery nearly came a cropper at Tredegar yesterday in a lacklustre display that saw the green and whites conceed four tries. Down 17-3 at half-time and then 22-6 a few minutes into the second half at least they then galvanized themselves and at least came away with a 22-25 draw.

We seem to be playing currently with little confidence which makes no sense as this team is more than capable of holding its own in this division. The players need now to examine what's going wrong and lets turn the corner and the results will start to come again. Confused

Some match photographs are available at http://davidmason278.fotopic.net/ as usual

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Match report now up.

I agree, the boys were woeful in the first half, although credit to the Ironsides who did the simple things very well. Against a better side (perhaps the like of Nantyglo or Gwernyfed) we would not have come back as we did. However, again credit where it's due, we did come back with some more focused and committed rugby.

I was surprised we didn't go for the kickable penalty with about 10 to go. For the neutral, it was highly entertaining encounter, but for the Green & Whites fans and the players no doubt, they will want to see a much better display in future games.

We are more than capable of doing well in this division as we have shown in the first five games, but if we want to be in the promotion mix at the end of the season, we will have to play better and be much more consistent. Still having said that, well done to the team for showing the guts and character to come back yesterday. Smile

Graham Riley · Team strength

Nothing really to add to a excellent match report.
One point however which is abundantly clear, we need to strengthen the squad. Last season we had few injuries to our first choice 15, this masked our lack of player resources. We won't be in the promotion mix if we are not able to address this problem during the current campaign.
Finally I am not sure about moving Darren from fullback. He is more dangerous there coming in on the angle and at speed. This is no reflection on Buzz who had a good second half.

SteveO · Are we rushing?

I agree with Graham's post on the strength of our squad. The way we are bound by the rule that governs the composition or our bench hasn't helped us either. However, I still think the boys are good enough to finish near the top of the table.

From the touchline it seems that there is a nervousness in our back play, not helped by injuries and having players filling in out of their normal positions. This seems to have made our backs try too hard to produce game breaking moves when kicking for position or simpler passing would allow us to keep pressure on the opposition. The same seems to apply to the lineout. Last season we were dominant in this area but we seem to have lost our way this year. I know the boys will be working hard on this in training.

I am sure that the players know they can do better and I am sure they will if we stick together on and off the field and cheer the boys on in every game. They showed us last year how good they can be and I'm sure that with a little more confidence and patience we can have a successful one this year too.

Lacklustre display at Tredegar Ironsides

Team strength

Are we rushing?