On Saturday Shore had their worst defensive result in the 122 years of competition between Shore and Joeys, conceding 66 points.
If there is any "positive" for Shore, they scored more points against Joeys than they have since 2010 (when they last beat Joeys).
It was good to see Joeys secure their first win and there was some relief about that. The Shore boys tried hard and were even in the game for most of the first half so kudos to them hanging in there but let's not sugarcoat it. It must be frustrating for them that they can't put their best side on the park (they have their rowers out their choice) and to be honest were very poor and yet we leaked many points around the rucks in particular. It took Joeys way into the second half to realise they needed the ball to go wide and Kandalaft ran rings around them to score a well deserved hat trick. Joeys tactics each week seem to be to persist in hitting the ball up off the rucks with forwards in the backs when quick ball through the hands would have seen many more tries scored while the defense was scrambling. I'd like to see Chan the fullback hitting the line then as he's being a bit wasted. Quick ball worked for over 100 years for us but these days seems to have gone out the window. We used to be known as the Randwick of GPS rugby!
I would be surprised if the coaches cannot see this and point this out to the boys. There were 4 or 5 times at least when Shore were exposed but we didn't push the killer button and WLF set in.
In answer to SDW's query as to when Joeys will win again, well you can do this to sides like Shore but you can't do it to Scots and Kings if you want to win the competition. The effort is there but the tactics are amiss and we need more from the big men to do the hard work in and around the middle.
Kandalaft & Ryan were outstanding when they did get the ball. Houston was the pick of the forwards - what a season he is having.
Newington will be a great game and a very good test for both sides. Can't wait to see it.
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