Match 2: Toulouse (Home - Championship)
fevnut's musings
Joyful!
Joyful, yes full of joy. That’s what it felt like leaving
Post Office Road last Sunday. Joyful to be back watching a competitive match.
Joyful to have beaten Halifax who will almost certainly be one of our
competitors for a top four spot. And joyful to watch some of the skills on
display from our new signings, something that I am sure will get even better
when we get into warmer weather and faster pitches.
There were so many good things in mind to take home. That
Ridyard try and some wonderful play by Tom Holmes and, particularly, Connor Farrell
to create it. I was a bit dubious about Farrel when he arrived towards the end
of the season but now it is looking as if the second row combination of Farrell
and John Davies is the best we have had for many years.
Then there was the amazing attacking defence, particular
in the early minutes of the match. How good was it to see a Rovers pack
bullying the opposition like that! Too often over the last few years it has
been our team that has been subjected to strong arm play from opposition
forwards.
Highlight of
the match
I suppose, for many of you the Ridyard try would have been
the highlight but for me, great as that was, it was a different moment that
really grabbed me. It came in the first half when Jy Hitchcox picked up the
ball in the Halifax 20 and started a great break down the field. Misi was the
first to get near him but he held off with some fans screaming at him to make
the tackle. But he showed real intelligence in olding off because at that
moment, had Hitchcox managed to beat his tackle, a try would have been a certainty.
Misi caused him to slow down looking for a route through when the tackle was
effected by Richard Moore. All hail a 37 year-old prop forward who has the
speed and determination to get back and tackle a break by a really speedy
winger. Richard Moore and Misi Taulapapa we salute you for what was our
highlight of the match.
And what an impact Mitch Clark made when he came off the
bench. Wow! I just hope that we can keep him for longer than his initial one
month loan. It is quite emotional watching a player whose father used to be
such a favourite when he played for Fev. And, did you know that New Zealander,
Mitch was actually born in Pontefract where Trevor was still living although,
by that time, he had moved on to join Peter Fox and Deryck Fox at Bradford.
Doing it tough
We now enter into a really tough period. Three out of our
next four matches are against full-time teams. Toulouse will be a rather bigger
test than Halifax so it will be fascinating to see how we cope. We all remember
that terrible first half at home to Toulouse last year when Cook Islander, Johnathon
Ford, was brilliant and tore us to shreds, bossing the game from stand-off.
Well, Ford didn’t play last week because of a wrist problem. I wish him well
because he is a really fine player but will admit that I hope the wrist problem
takes a little bit longer to get him ready to play! Toulouse were unfortunate
to miss out on the top four last year. It was Fev in the end that kept them out
- by losing to Halifax in the last Championship. But even if Ford is missing
and, of course they no longer have try scoring Minga, Toulouse have a very good
squad. It should be a great game, especially if we start like we did last week.
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