NICK

 

 

After last weeks dismal display I thought Morgan had given up winning for Lent and in the first 20 minutes of this game I was more convinced this was the case but credit to the boys out there on the park they got stuck in rode their luck and took the spoils. I am sure Justin wont be treating Terry Matterson to those 2pts just because he disagrees with a video ref decision! So will Mr Matterson receive a 4k fine after his outburst after this game? Will the Castleford fans ever take off their blinkers and actually understand the rule of a “Knock on”? Can Rovers ever play for 80minutes?

 Sure the team was full of character and did brilliantly to come back from 10pts and 8pts down in both halves. BUT the fact is had Castlefords pass’s stuck, had they not bombed so much good field position and had they just steadied the ship Rovers would have had yet another tough night at the office.  

Both teams would have been beaten convincingly by a lot of other teams in the Super League if they’d performed this way against them but luckily for Rovers we were the ones against this Castleford side. 

I would like to think we are going to improve week on week and the return of Benny Galea should be a turning point for Rovers with his handling and short kicking game giving us another attacking option.  

For a team that boasts a pretty decent pack now we are still not quite winning the ruck area and the domination in this area is something we need to work on ASAP. We are not finding it hard to dominate when we are making the tackles but we are getting too few quick play the balls especially while Fisher is on the park. 

Shaun Briscoe looked slightly shaky to start with in this game but soon found his feet and made the correct decisions, we missed his direction last week against Huddersfield and I worry that he will one day be out for longer than a couple of weeks. Out wide we are too slow and we need to start pushing up as a team in an umbrella defence rather than just hanging back waiting for the attackers to run at them.  

The pack on paper looked massive with Clinton making a steady debut, Lovegrove and Vella putting in overtime while Murrell was improving in his new role as our starting hooker. Clint Newton needs a mention too, his strong running out wide and his no-nonsense defending really got to Castleford. Matt Cook unfortunately isn’t standing out as much as he did against Salford. He does need to learn from Clint and when Galea comes into the side I would be interested to see that pack with Galea in place of Cook.  

Watts I think we can all agree is going to be the shining light this year with his strong powerful runs, his neat offloading ability and his alertness to what is going on around him on the pitch. His try may have caused a great deal of controversy but he was in a position that allowed the video referee to make that decision rightly or wrongly at least Watts played his part to win us the game late on. 

I called for Chaz I’Anson to be brought into the side and he certainly didn’t let us down.   I do think Cooke offers us a lot of options however under Morgans game plans I think he will be best sent on loan to Wakefield to keep up his fitness and regain some lost confidence.  Possibly they could give us a player in return that can help our defence out wide. 

They say the table only takes shape after 4 rounds but the way the league is set out I would suggest only after round 15 can we take any real notice of where we are sitting. We start the season in the depths of winter and with a mobile pack that isn’t going to suit our style. Dobson loves a dry patch and his running game will give us the edge over some teams but without those dry pitches for another few months can we really rely on a good middle of the year when injuries are likely to have taken their toll already?  

So what can we do to improve at the moment? Bleed a youngster such as Mariano who has shown up well in training? Take on a loan player if there are any available or just stick with what we have and try to grind out results here and there with the hope that we can hit a purple patch at some stage? 

More questions than answers this week I’m afraid and I guess there is no pleasing some but we do need to take a little reality into this season otherwise there will be a fair few disappointed faces come September! Hopefully more answers next week fellow Robins until then, stay safe and keep bobbing along!

Wigan 

Hello all, I would first like to thankSean Dickens who has asked me to do this column after reading my summary from the first week that was posted on the Hull KR message forums.  It would be nice to be writing my second instalment with jubilation and a fourth win at the newly named DW Stadium.  However it is in a much more sombre state of mind that I write this but it is only week 2 so let's not get too upset just yet and start making wholesale changes to the team remember we are beatable but we got beat last year too and still came fourth.

So week two and the wheels are a little loose!  Briscoe out for around six weeks, teams already sussed that Dobson and Welham cannot defend next to each other while a lack of invention in attack is sure to be a concern for Messrs Morgan and (Andrew) Webster.  The opening of the game was almost like watching a repeat of last Sunday against Salford although the boot was firmly on the other foot.  

 
An almost anonymous Cooke was quite plain to see and maybe Mr Mullan had jumped the gun on his "Must do better" section last week!  Cooke looked frozen out of the game and when he got a rare piece of the action the Wigan defence were so well drilled they smothered anything Cooke was able to offer.  Dobson looks like he could use a few weeks doing leg weights as his kicks were very average and not deep enough while Murrell's kicks were more often than not finding the ground but the chase lacked any vigour.

With half the game gone the score line was almost fair and I would suggest a couple of soft penalties in the first 10 were to blame for the Wigan onslaught.  The second half for HKR was error ridden and the short spells we spent in the opposition half lacked anything that Wigan were not able to defend.  An inside ball here, a long ball out there and we were met by three or four defenders almost as if Justin had sent over his game plan to the new Wigan leadership team to mull over while we decided what we were going to do on our next play.

We cannot judge our season on the opening two games and the exciting start made last week then being brought back down to earth with a bump this week may well be what was needed to show the "super stars" that we cannot rely on just showing up.   It was certainly true that if we single out the big Feka we are leaving ourselves open to other attacks from their impressive and pretty mobile pack.  Don't get me wrong our pack were pretty sound in defence but when we wanted to move the attack forward the speed of the defensive line met our attack with a ferocity that many would like to see Rovers replicate.

If ever it was needed a big tough and mean prop forward could do to get his Australian behind landed on British soil and start training with his new team mates.  If he's no previous convictions and the only problem is his bank details then surely this will not hold up his arrival too long?  Although if however the real problem is that Rovers need to make room under the salary cap and a release of Mills and/or Fisher is what the club would really like then why can't Clintons salary be offset season by season and take a lump sum on his departure 3yrs from now?  At this moment in time when we are bullied through a game it is needs must to bring in Mr Clinton.

Now to address the problem in attack, last week Cooke ran things out the back, his distribution to Dobson was quick and energetic, this week Dobson lacked ideas and Jake Webster regardless of his illness wasn't given the room to engage an attack and target a weak link in the defence.  With a good pre-season under his belt Chaz I'Anson should feel pretty hard done to if Jake did come down with a stomach bug that was affecting him, why indeed did Chaz not get his chance to shine in this game.  Not only would his accurate kicks and passing have been utilised he also has a youthful exuberance a little like Tomkins however he is slightly more mature in his performances.

I would certainly not take anything away from Wigan they defended anything we had to throw at them and to limit us to one try that was from an offload out of a tackle where three men were already involved in the tackle it was sure to be something they won't worry themselves too much about.  Wigan have speed, strength, determination and a very good depth that could see them finish in the top two this year and on performances like this one I would not hesitate to bet a silverware campaign is not too far away.

Looking to next Sunday where Huddersfield make their second trip to East Yorkshire in two rounds only this time they are a wounded animal and will be looking to avenge their defeat to Hull FC.  Nathan Brown has proven his worth as a Super League coach and he doesn't suffer fools.  He wants success and if his players make a mistake he seems to get them sorted before their following outing.  It will be another big game for our forwards and with Cockayne moving to full back I'd be inclined to move Webster back to centre with I'Anson coming in at stand off.  Obviously there is the option of Ratu returning to action which means much less shifting around however against another very well drilled defence could our attacking methods do to be given another dimension with I'Anson coming in?  

I wish Justin and all the boys a very good week in training and let's hope we can solve the issues so that we can go out and get back to winning ways next Sunday.