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Premiership Rugby 21/22 - Rd 3

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Well Bristol turned up the Heat late on...but I still think Bath should have won this.

Hooper must be limited time now...as they have quality players all over the park...yet aren't a "team"
 
So once again Bath deciding that discipline is optional cost them the game. So ******* tired of the fact they have not addressed this in 3 ******* seasons now. Seriously, just get someone in the changing rooms screaming "discipline" at them for the whole of half time if that's what it takes because it clearly isn't sinking in.
 
Ragey Erasmus said:
So once again Bath deciding that discipline is optional cost them the game. So ******* tired of the fact they have not addressed this in 3 ******* seasons now. Seriously, just get someone in the changing rooms screaming "discipline" at them for the whole of half time if that's what it takes because it clearly isn't sinking in.
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See, I don't think our discipline was actually all that bad; but somehow, we managed to get on the wrong side of the ref; and once that happens, you have to be spotless - which we weren't. Yes, we gave away too many penalties; but a lot of them were 50:50s or the result of sheer pressure after already pissing off Tempest.
Either way, we had 4 tries go begging - one of which we also scored, but got called back for a non-existent knock-on.

There was stuff there to criticise (especially the scrum, which is quickly becoming a laughing stock), but it was an order of magnitude better than anything we've seen in the first 2 matches, both in defence and attack. It was also incredibly entertaining; and I just can't find it in myself to be upset after that one.
 
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Which Tyler said:
See, I don't think our discipline was actually all that bad; but somehow, we managed to get on the wrong side of the ref; and once that happens, you have to be spotless - which we weren't. Yes, we gave away too many penalties; but a lot of them were 50:50s or the result of sheer pressure after already pissing off Tempest.
Either way, we had 4 tries go begging - one of which we also scored, but got called back for a non-existent knock-on.

There was stuff there to criticise (especially the scrum, which is quickly becoming a laughing stock), but it was an order of magnitude better than anything we've seen in the first 2 matches, both in defence and attack. It was also incredibly entertaining; and I just can't find it in myself to be upset after that one.
Click to expand...
That’s a pretty good assessment IMO, I am staying with relatives in Bath in a couple of weeks time who have got me a ticket for the Sarries game, hoping for a good competitive one, have I missed something in the Refs changing maul infringement sanctions? seems like most of the time a few warning before hand (with exception to a penalty try) would be given however both games against Bris have resulted in two yellows with little to not pre warning, doesn’t seem like they would have been given in seasons gone by.
 
Which Tyler said:
See, I don't think our discipline was actually all that bad; but somehow, we managed to get on the wrong side of the ref; and once that happens, you have to be spotless - which we weren't. Yes, we gave away too many penalties; but a lot of them were 50:50s or the result of sheer pressure after already pissing off Tempest.
Either way, we had 4 tries go begging - one of which we also scored, but got called back for a non-existent knock-on.

There was stuff there to criticise (especially the scrum, which is quickly becoming a laughing stock), but it was an order of magnitude better than anything we've seen in the first 2 matches, both in defence and attack. It was also incredibly entertaining; and I just can't find it in myself to be upset after that one.
Click to expand...
I would have been more inclined to put it down to bad 50:50 calls if it wasn't for the fact Bath have had a history the last few seasons of being near or at the top of penalties conceded and yellow cards received each year. It's a theme. Generally sides that are perceived to be good as gold get penalised less whilst sides that have a reputation for being poorly disciplined get punished more. It's part of the reason England are on the wrong side of 50:50 calls many times and I feel it's the same with Bath. It's kinda the issue, when we need to be squeaky clean our tendency is to go the opposite way and infringe more.

Many things improved but Bath have had these flash in a pan performances before but then revert to type by the next game. Discipline is the opposite, our discipline is nearly always atrocious. If we can have a string of games with good discipline and good rugby then I'll be more positive about it but as it is, we played some attractive but poorly finished rugby against a side that has been struggling as much as us whilst shipping a fuckton of penalties again.
 
Reputations really don't help; and they become self-fulfilling; and opponents get to take advantage of that.
And I'll agree that we've deserved our reputation for indiscipline over the last few years; but yesterday, we were... averagely disciplined; but punished as if we were worse than that (which leads to frustration, which leads to actual poor discipline in the last 20).
IIRC, yesterday, the penalty count was 5 - 16; with 3 or 4 being a penalties based on Bath's reputation (and "picture", I guess) rather than events, especially at the scrum. Then you're in a match situation where the penalty count, instead of being say 6-8; is 4-10, and the ref's confirmed his bias that one side is cheating, and they get penalised more, or more harshly. You start getting yellow cards without any team warnings. From the players' perspective, you're getting penalised for not cheating; you're seeing knock-ons ignored for a try at one end (I don't mind that one, **** happens; but it affects the players' mentality), and invented to disallow a try at the other. Frustration kicks in, if you're getting penalised anyway, you have to try that extra bit harder, push the boundaries further. You lose a player (when a team without the reputation would get a warning), and the pressure mounts further; and the penalty count mounts further.

To address that mid-match takes a hell of a strong captain (which we don't have) and a hell of a strong leadership group (which we don't really have). To address it longer-term takes sacrifices most fans would be up in arms about.



It's a hell of a cycle to break - as you say, see England.

After England developed a reputation for poor discipline, we went about 18 months of being absolutely spotless, and soft, a full step behind in timing and aggression, often whilst being accused of being filthy, and still being pinged off the park.



Despite all of that yesterday, we had a try wrongly disallowed that would have given us the draw, and an easy conversion (though OB2 forgot his kicking boots). We also had 3 gilt-edged scoring opportunities that we couldn't quite convert. We had enough there to take the officials out of the equation, to win despite the penalty count.
We created 3-4 times as many chances as usual, with a new attacking plan, which looked very, very good - just not the finished product yet. We won the style match, we won the game-plan match, we only lost on the score-board - which yes is ultimately the bit that counts.
I was entertained - which ultimately is the bit that counts for me personally.
 
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Tigers gonna get spanked today

the simpsons paddle GIF
 

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