I suppose Keighley were always going to show a reaction after last weeks drubbing and they were dogged throughout. I suspect some of our lads thought it was going to be an easier game than it turned out to be, but they stuck to their task. I guess we've seen last year's side capitulate at 18 a piece, with momentum shifting, so at least they rolled their sleeves up and finished the game off.
What disappointed me most was a seeming unwillingness to put the ball through the hands in the backs. We clearly have two very speedy wingers and whilst its great to see Dixon helping out taking the ball up, I'd prefer to see him in open spaces being put away. Millar showed the benefit of being on your wing ready to receive the ball even if most of the balls he got were from miss passes!
Clearly Gilmore's organisation and game management was missed. Craven is probably as good as we can get at this level, at 6, but he can be predictable (to be fair his show and go worked for our opening score!). His other major play, of the turn inside to a forward, usually at half pace, was less successful. I hope we can bring someone, of a decent level, in as cover, or maybe give JJ a go at "7", as Brown seemed to cover OK at 9.
Not sure who we could have back for Bradford, Lawton, is one presumably, not sure where Farnworth is up to, but his return would be welcome (a bit more grunt than Field!). Mixed messages about JJ and his fitness, but he'd be very welcome too! I think a fit Evans may give us more go forward in the backs, Fleming defends well, but seems to jog into the tackle with ball in hand, rather than go full tilt.
As has been said Millar's tries were a high spot and I also enjoyed Joe Edge's series of sidesteps, reminiscent of the late Phil Bennet, pity we couldn't back him up. Likewise the break near the end by Jack Owens, which deserved a try!
Keighley were no mugs when it came to finishing, their fullback was very elusive and Gale backed up well. If we had scored those tries (and still won of course!) I'd have been happy! Onward and upward!
The unwillingness to put the ball through hands is John Kear rugby.
It’s watchable if we’re winning but tedious if not.
Keighley have recruited well & have some good players.They are no mugs. They will not be relegated imo. I cannot understand the dissatisfaction of some of the previous comments. We had 4 first 13 players missing including 3 of our best forwards. I thought the performance was good considering that. They have a lot of pace & it showed for their three long distance tries. Last season we would have lost that game. Apart from his poor goalkicking I thought Owens was very good today.
Some of the criticism of Craven is a tad harsh imo. Think his performance needs to be taken in context of not having played last week or in pre-season. He’ll be fine given a decent run in the side which is obviously going to be down to avoiding injury.
@viking25 I had heard that and that he's a forward dominant coach. I guess last season we were grateful for the improvement he brought. Lets see if we can keep winning, maybe if we do we'll get a bit more expansive!
@mt Wasn't saying he played badly MT, just a bit predictable, from what others have said he is no doubt playing to orders! I appreciate that he might not have been risked today if Tom Gilmore was available, but I think we need a better organiser with him!
I thought Craven played well, he didn't have any pre season games, and other than a blood bin substitution he did the full 80 mins. That was his first game for about 5 months.
His show and go for the try was really good, from the stands I even thought he passed it! Also what's not been mentioned is his kicking game, I thought he kicked very well. The meters gained from kicking to touch for penalties was massive.
Not sure that he outclassed him, but CHISHOLM and GALE with a huge pack to move around the field will always be a threat with the likes of CROOKES in the quarters to add some quality. I thought KEIGHLEY were much better than many expected today, and they have some pace and power. I did notice that CHISHOLM appeared to spend a lot of time out on the wing when they were defending, so that perhaps we couldn't tire him out tackling. They had him more central when he was orchastrating the attack in the centre of the field. I think had the ref not have brought them back into it with a series of blunders with the whistle (being polite to him there) with consecutive poor decisions and penalties to swing the momentum from 18-6 to 18-18, we would have won more handsomely. He even only spotted one fwd pass all afternoon to disallow our very first try to set the stall out for the afternoon! We just had enough firepower and quality to overcome all of that, and should be happy with the win, I suspect. Their pace in the middle of the park on broken plays and the second phase seemed to expose us a bit, which I found more worrying than anything else tbh.
Craven has never been a good organizational player so I guess Lyons needs to step in to that role if we aren’t looking to bring someone in to cover Gilmore
how did Lyons play I didn’t hear his name once on the radio
From listening on the radio I believe
Owens 7
dix 6
edge 8
fleming 6
millar 9
craven 6
lyons ?
amor 8
fozzard 8
Walker 7
grady 8
davies 7
bent 7
subs 6
Not too bad really considering the players we were missing, when walker went off we stagnated a little, that’s where Lawton would help. Think our chalked off try was for crossing ? And we deffo need another half back if Johnstone out for a month, if we get another injury there we will struggle, brown did ok
Lyons delivering four mis-passes to score tries would have been brilliant if he was Brown!!! He has big boots to fill but he is developing fast imo.
Notice that JK gave Gilly credit as a match 'reader' delivering tips to the bench! That way Lyons will gather more ideas fast. As it was the simple notion of handing over within their 10 worked well and will improve Likewise a recovering Craven showed what he has by his 40+ metre penalty gains (shades of Jiffy!)
We need to work out how we were opened up in the middle and shut the door but with a substantial number of first choices out of contention we took on a pretty big and aggressive pack and team and outlasted them.
Amor showed that JK's choice was a wise one, he organised our last 20 mins and allowed fitness to show.
