It is interesting to note how our defence has improved markedly under Smith. Taking all of Smith's 6 games (even including the hammering at Quins) we have conceded 142 points at 23.6 per game. Excluding the Quins game its 16.4. In the Lowes period we conceded 494 points in 16 games at an average 30.9 per game.



I know it is early days, and our attack has struggled, but this is a measurable improvement which should give us all encouragement that we are building a solid foundation. It clearly shows where his focus has been in his first 6 weeks.

Smith stated this in an interview I have mentioned. Basically, good defence brings consistency, consistency brings results.

Now i wanted to post on how our defence had improved but then i looked at the oppostition



Celtic, York, and Salford



2 were not in SL last year and are sat near the bottom with us and the mighty york



so i'll be honest until we play one of the big boys and keep them under 18 points then i'll start to think we have improved on our defence

good point there fellow...we did hold leeds but they were on a low after the wcc..lets see what monday brings against a cas team that got walloped at home by wakey...if we get walloped its back to the same old same old

Wouldn't Leeds want to bounce back afther their drubbing.

Totally agree.



Our structures held up well. We looked far more difficult to penetrate. Also, that left edge no longer has huge holes in it like it did, and we don't seem to all pull in, under the posts and look vulnerable to a switch back to the left.



The three tries we conceded yesterday, one was a one on one miss from a scrum, the other a mistake from a kick, and the last one I think a good play by Salford, we were intent on charging the kicker, we got done by a clever switch. None of the tries, were what you would call, we were 'exposed', the line looks better now, and we seem to go up in a line etc.



I think it's very much about 'building a house on solid foundations', there's no point spending the week creating fancy plays if we can't defend our line, get that in order, then we'll add the nice touches, plays etc. There's definate signs of improvement.

You would expect our defence to be a little bit better with only four or 5 backs in the squad.



Our defence was shocking for their last try, L Anderson was terrible for the try scoring play and the play prior to it. For me he has done very little, even when he scored a few last month I thought he was very poor.



I can see that defensively we have improved and are moving in the right direction.

Jwp you say that "There's definate signs of improvement"



but look who we've played, they are not exactly teams that open you up and rip you apart.

Frankly if we'd let more points in in these games i would have considered a trip to Celtic but not for the rugby

You could have said that about Quins.

i know, depressing roll on the tigers

our defence is improving each week , just are goal line defence is letting us down imo ,

I'd say Leeds and HKR are capable of ripping teams apart.