Napper
Bencher
Dunno if it's been spoken about on here, but over the past 2 years I've noticed when we play the top teams(dogs especially last year), we've gone out in the first 20 minutes and completely destroyed them in defence. Overly aggressive, every tackle is devastating, as enjoyable as it is to watch, we'd concede a few penalties then end up on the back foot defending our line, knackered, with not much effort in attack which I'm sure is due to the defence in the first 20.
Against the Storm last week, we didn't do that! It was good hard solid tackling, put them on their backs and get on with it and I'm sure that was the difference in performance compared to the other times we've played a top 4 team.
I hope to see a similar defensive performance this week for the first 20 mins. Dominating their pack is key obviously, but as the old saying goes I hope they work smart not too hard.
Against the Storm last week, we didn't do that! It was good hard solid tackling, put them on their backs and get on with it and I'm sure that was the difference in performance compared to the other times we've played a top 4 team.
I hope to see a similar defensive performance this week for the first 20 mins. Dominating their pack is key obviously, but as the old saying goes I hope they work smart not too hard.