So close yet so far.
I guess another way
of saying it, what do we have to do in order to get our first win of the
season?
Personally I had a
weekend away celebrating my eldest son's 15th birthday climbing walls and
running assault courses in mud and water, so I did not get to live the game
blow by blow, but did follow tweets and very delayed notifications from the
BBC.
I for one was in the
hope, based on the half time lead that we would finally win at the Rec and
would claim our first win of the season.
Sadly injuries seem to have bitten us once again.
What was of more
influence following the half time restart - 3 substitutions due to injuries or
some interesting refereeing decision?
The story of our
season to date seems to be that of challenging the best with the youngest of
our players.
It is common
knowledge that we are missing some of our key players, Pennell, Heem, Hougaard,
GJ and many others. That kind of quality
and experience missing from any team, outside of the top 4, would be crippling;
but our young replacements are shining through.
Perry Humphries
obviously caught the eye last weekend against Gloucester. Replacing T'eo and playing the game of his
life. Who would have thought that would
have been followed by Shillcock making his premiership starting debut and
looking every bit the experienced professional.
In times gone by
Pennell getting injured was fairly frequent, Ben Howard would step in, play
pretty well but then Chris would come back and all was in safe hands
again. This time, we have got used to
Chris not getting injured anymore so him being out for months is painful.
Usually this is
where Ben would step up and save the day, but he is injured too. In came Willison, who sadly is not a full
back. This is when Perry was brought in
and was outstanding.
Really did take his
opportunity.
Jamie Shillcock, you
may remember had to take his history A-Level before being put on the bench for
the final against Bristol, making him our 4th choice scrum half. He has since played age group and
representative rugby at 10 and now seems to have slotted into the 15 position
very well.
He has certainly
grown into his shirt since the Championship final, shows some of the 9
tenacity, can kick like a 10 but also seems to cope well under high balls and
can certainly run. The funny thing is
that Perry playing so well at full back
last week and getting a start on the wing has given Shillcock this
opportunity to shine and shine he has done.
As a team we are
second from bottom. We managed a great
first 40 against Sarries which ended in a big defeat. We put in a great first half against
Gloucester, which ended in a draw and we had an amazing first 40 against a team
we beat rarely at a ground we are yet to win at - sadly we lost without even a
bonus point.
The irony is, most
fans seem happy with the season so far.
Before the season
started there were massive influxes of doom and gloom. After losing to the best side in our
hemisphere you would think we had been relegated already, but since then
positive thoughts have returned to the Sixways faithful and I for one love it!
Newcastle are going
to be a pain for us this season, Quins seem to have dropped into our dog fight
and Bristol are taking a beating - they are not the next London Welsh but they
are keeping the gap between us and relegation wider than some had feared.
All is looking good
so far this season and Hogg should be pleased with the performances but lets
not kid ourselves - a win is massively needed. 4 points this weekend and we
start looking up again. Another defeat
and we will continue to look over our shoulder at the Bristol results for
months to come.
Come on You Warriors
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