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I’m not going to dwell too much on the final result, as it was clear Warrington had much better of the day. As recent results have shown, they clearly were a side that had the ability to score plenty of points. As we all know, we are in a tough run at the moment, having played plenty of our games away against strong opposition.

 

I hope that it is visible to the players that played this week, and also against Wilmslow 2 weeks ago, that although the scores have been very much one-sided, the margins actually on the pitch are not as large as the final scores are suggesting. Warrington were a side that appeared to have been together a long time, and their attacking structures gave them the ability to move the ball quickly, off-load in the tackle, and find their speed out wide.

 

When you break it down, we conceded 9 tries over 80 minutes. The second half ended four tries to one. I know it is easy to apportion blame, but in the 2nd half, it seemed we were on the wrong end of a few decisions. Our driving maul was going well, and Warrington gave clear penalties in defending these, which went unpunished. So if we’d scored a couple more tries it brings the 2nd half much closer.

 

Our try also came from sustained pressure. We took the ball to Warrington, got into their 22, forced a mistake, and a nice bit of skill from Luke O'Shea took him over under the posts. We need more of this. There were, however, definite positives from the game. This season it has been nice to see young players coming through the club and playing 1st team rugby. Well done to Lewis Owen, who stepped in and deserved the MOTM. He got stuck in, defended well and couldn’t be faulted. The maul is starting to improve, and giving us some go forward now. We have been working on this, so nice to see. If call's had gone our way it could have given us a couple more tries.

 

Finally, in the scuffle at the end of the game, everyone got stuck in, so good to see us backing our fellow players. We talked at the end of game, after the final whistle, about coming together more. It is difficult right now, and it’s a case of pushing through, and backing each other. We play Wigan (away!!) this weekend, which is very much a winnable game.

 

Photo courtesy of Ian Rogers - Lewis Owen Player Of The Match for TMV on making his 1st XV debut.