Rowley's thoughts on Whitehaven loss (From Leigh Journal)

Rowley's thoughts on Whitehaven loss

12:23pm Tuesday 30th June 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

LEIGH coach Paul Rowley’s comments on the team’s defeat at Whitehaven on Sunday.

“Any sustained pressure from ourselves and Whitehaven would cave in. We showed that in the patches we did.

“I think at the end of the day our guys deserved a medal for the effort. That is the hardest bit to get and they had it in abundance.

“We probably lacked a bit of common sense in the first half but at the end of it we had players totally out of position.

“We had forwards in the centre, a hooker on the wing and a half back at full back. We were decimated with injuries and we did it tough.

“I’m proud of every one of them really, tremendous effort.

“We were forced to put second rows in the centres. I don’t think some of the tries Whitehaven scored were particularly well worked, they just spotted a weakness – that we had players in positions they were uncomfortable with and were a bit alien to them and that’s what happens.

“They did their best and I can’t knock it.

“It will be an interesting video with regards to some of the things that went against us.

“It was 9-2 in penalties at half time.

“We felt the trend had changed but it did not, right down to the final try that cost us a bonus point.

“The touchie gave a knock on and the referee overruled him. I’m not one to whinge about officials but it was an interesting performance to say the least.

“It was disappointing not to win and it is hard to take positives out of not coming away with any points.

“The lads deserved more than what they got but credit to Whitehaven, they had a winger in Calvert that scored four tries, they’ve come through, they played tough and won the game.

“You know what you get when you come to Whitehaven, a tough uncompromising game and you never expect the rub of the green decision-wise away but I feel it had a massive influence on the game with some of the things that were going on.

“I thought Tom Hemingway went really well.

“He took a lot of pressure off Ian Watson. Unfortunately we lost Ian for a time. We’ve waited the full season to have options both sides of the ruck and then we lose a player with a bad injury.

“It’s a credit to Tom how he’s slotted into the side and been so dominant in the short time that he’s been here.

“For a lad who has come in on Thursday and picked up a whole new terminology and the way things are done, he’s done really well. That’s what good players do.

“Many of our players went beyond the call of duty, Dave Armitstead out there, they were out on their feet at the end.

“When you are asking the likes of Chris Hill, Macgraff Leuluai and Armitstead to play on an edge and defend against your Calverts of this world, it’s a total mismatch, it’s credit to him that he handled it so well.

“We got in a position where we could have won but I always felt if they got possession of the ball we were vulnerable on both edges due to players being out of position.

“People are emotional in our dressing room, you put so much in and come up with nothing when everything seems to go against you. Sometimes you need a bit of luck to win games and we didn’t get it.

“Dave Alstead has had a long rest and his calf has been fine then it’s just gone again. It was a disaster for us. All year we’ve said how we lacked strike on edges and when we finally just start, we are struck with injuries.”