The Tigers jumped on the bus yesterday and journeyed up to Edinburgh in hungry pursuit of two great outcomes – sunshine in Scotland, and a victory against reigning premiers the Edinburgh Bloods.

 

We got the first objective, but unfortunately not the second, losing to the Bloods by 38 points (10.10.70 to 14.24.108).

 

From the outset of the game the skill and class of the Bloods was evident. The precision of their kicking to team mates was first class, their hand ball was creative and opened up many passages of play, their running in support of team mates meant that we often had one Tiger trying to beat two or three Bloods opponents when contested ball was there to be won, and all in all they were simply the better team on the day.

 

But again, there was lots to feel positive about if you’re a Tiger player or supporter:

 

• The Bloods kicked 14 goals, but 24 behinds, and the fact that a big part of that behind tally was because the Tigers never stopped working hard to apply pressure to the Bloods players. At one stage late in the third quarter the Tigers had fought back from being roughly six goals down earlier in the game to being only 6 points behind, so there was lots in yesterday’s efforts to be proud of and to take forward throughout the rest of our season.

 

• Our general efforts in that third quarter. Coach Chris Roger felt that we played well below par yesterday, but despite that and the fact that the Bloods are a very good side and their skills strategies on the ground are top shelf we were still in the game until about half way through the last quarter.

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• Rog couldn’t fault anyone’s attitude or endeavour, and knows that if we can bring that effort and intensity over four quarters and just get a bit more polished at linking one passage of pay to another we can more than mix it with the best teams in our league.

 

• The new faces around our club. Jake Tucker was fantastic in his first game in Tiger colours, Paddy Cain and Ieuan Rees continue their impressive growth, and we look forward to seeing a few of our other new tiger ‘cubs’ (all of whom are contributing hugely to the positive energy around the club) run out for the first game in due course.

 

• The calming efforts of some of some of our more experienced players. Our backline became a lot more solid when Travis Barber–Sperling joined Cam Armstrong and the other guys holding the line down back, and it was fantastic to see Joe Robinson back on the field for the first time after sustaining a long term injury last year, and to see David Hodgson back on the field after a month out as well.

 

For all of that, well played to the Bloods – there’s a reason why they are the reigning premier – and we have work to do to close the gap as we turn our thoughts to our next game against the West Lothian Eagles up in Linlithgow on Saturday June 24th.

 

Two last things: No excuses, but was it just me or did that ball simply not want to bounce our way in the first half of yesterdays game? And isn’t parking in Edinburgh a nightmare?

 

If you know, you know! Carn the Tiges!