Yorkshire Carnegie
This season starts with Jersey!
Skipper
By WW
August 27 2015
The long summer break is over. Pre-season has finished. This weekend the main event starts in earnest. The Championship competition begins with the first round of matches. If you support Yorkshire Carnegie or Jersey then events at 3p.m. on Sunday at Headingley Carnegie stadium may be of interest to you....
Last year at this time we were wondering about the short-notice change of coach and the lack of preseason games. Today we are looking back on the first five months of Bryan Redpath's tenure as coach with hope and expectation that the progress he has made with the squad will continue into the new season, starting with a good performance against Jersey.
Our visitors had their best season ever last time out, finishing seventh in the table just one place behind Carnegie. This was seen as a breakthrough after several seasons battling to stay in the division. However the coach did not rest on his laurels and brought in fourteen new players for the coming campaign. Carnegie old boys Sam Lockwood and Pierce Phillips are still in the squad though Johnny Bentley has moved back to New Zealand.
Yorkshire Carnegie finished sixth, one place above Jersey so Sunday's game could be seen as a measure of which team has recruited better and/or had the better pre-season. Brush has brought in players with premiership experience to supplement last season's squad, most of whom were re-signed. The exception was the headline crossover signing of Kevin Sinfield who will not feature in the side until November.
Pre-season has appeared to have gone well although not all the players are 100% yet. Brush certainly appears to be happy with the way things are progressing. At least we have the luxury this campaign of having competition for every shirt. The big questions need answering this week ( we will know most of the answers on Friday) not least what is the starting lineup and is this our best team? Will the academy graduates get a chance this season? Who is the backup 10?
Our first runout against Romania was a tough fixture but the starting pack did front up and more than matched the visitors eight. Beech and O'Donnell looked excellent in the tight and would be my first choice to start. However we also have Imiolek, Tideswell, Hooper and Boyce in the mix so I think they will all see action at some time this season. We have four hookers! Jack Walker would be my choice but Asbo had a cracker against Romania and may well start on Sunday.
In the back five we have more options than you can shake a stick at. Jones, the new skipper, must start. Dean Schofield, for me, is a shoe-in jumping at two in the lineout. We will also have Ryder, Smith, Myerscough, Beck and Edwards in contention. Will Jones be considered a lock this season? The backrow throws up even more questions. Only Buzz would be certain of his place when fit with Williams as second choice 8. However Jarad is mightily effective at blindside( as is Beck!) and Mike Myerscough has played in this position. Beck and Myerscough are also superb lineout technicians giving Asbo another target option. Chris Walker is a reliable 7 with a knack of scoring from mauls but we now have Andy Saull who gives other options. Bainbridge and Barnard will also come into the mix at some point. I would start with Wakker with Saull on the bench this week.
Halfback has been the talking point for years now and this shows no signs of abating. Chris Pilgrim is first choice 9. He will be playing behind a dominant pack in most games so he has everything going for him. We need him to make good, quick decisions and get the back division moving. Leonard will start at 10 but he needs the ball delivered in front of him at pace. Holmes, Goss and Dudman can cover 9 but we are limited at 10. Hodgson is a 10, when fit. Until then we have the Doc and Georgiou as cover which is not much cover at all!
We have recruited two experienced centres, Casson and Forsyth. They are competing for places with Lucock, Fitzpatrick and Clarke so perm two from five. Fitzy was on fire against Romania so would get my vote for a start. Competition for the wing spots will be intense this season. Stegman is a class act. Holmes is a match winner on his day. The Doc, Goss and Prell will all be pushing them for a starting shirt. Chris Georgiou is the man in possesion of the 15 shirt and deservedly so. McIlwaine and Forsyth will both want that place but will have to wait their chance.
I think the game will be won and lost up front. I am not sure of Jersey's strength in depth but I do know that we will have a strong bench with lots of good players waiting in the wings behind them. Chris Jones will need to keep the game plan fluid if things are not going right during the match. I am hoping that the experienced "newbies" will help in that respect. I would like to see a reduction in the number of handling errors and the penalty count against us. Both of these factors contributed to our miserable performances last season. Bryan Redpath has had time enough to shape the squad. He seems happy with the way that pre-season has gone. Now it is up to the players to start the season - with a win!
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31/08/2015 06:58
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:09:11:07:03:31 by Wildwillie .
Clearly having strength in depth in the squad is important- but this highlights the flip side (which has been alluded to on other threads) that keeping players motivated who are not getting a game every week, is a challenge.
In a 9 month season, unless we are very lucky, injuries to key players will happen, we have to have people who can step in.
Will be interesting to see the team selection this weekend. To me the Captain has to be the first name on the team sheet, this is still not how I see Chris Jones, but I would be happy to be proven wrong.
Yorkshire Carnegie vs Jersey
Referee: Andrew Jackson
Assistant referees: Philip Watters, Darryl Chapman
Assessor: Peter Farrell
Coach: Stephen Leyshon
If I recall correctly we had Jackson in our last game at Headingley.
All the best cc
Don't kick it pick it up and GO FORWARD
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:09:01:13:30:33 by corporalcarrot.
