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| Bates Rues Missed Opportunity |
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| Falcons lock Filipo Levi |
| 7 February 2010, 4:32 pm |
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| Falcons boss Steve Bates spoke of his frustration on Sunday, as his Newcastle side failed to turn pressure into points against London Wasps at Kingston Park. |
The hosts ended their LV= Cup campaign with a try-less 9-3 defeat, despite having made much of the running in difficult conditions.
“There’s a lot of frustration in the dressing room after that one,” said the director of rugby.
“We had done a lot of the hard work with some of our mauling game and a couple of line breaks, but we just couldn’t find the killer instinct to get over the try line.
“Ball retention was an issue, and we weren’t hitting the line from enough depth.
“Those are both areas the players have recognised themselves from the chat in the changing room after the final whistle, and whilst it is good that they are identifying the right areas for improvement, it obviously doesn’t make it any more bearable to have lost the game.”
With Wasps having kicked two second-half penalties to win the game after a 3-3 interval scoreline, Bates said: “They took their chances, so fair play to them.
“We opted by-and-large not to kick our penalties, having already been knocked out of the competition, because we wanted to have a crack through the forwards from the driving maul.
“Having scored four tries via that method down at Cardiff we were itching to have another bash there, and whilst we put in some decent technical drives we just couldn’t finish them off.”
Summing up a game which was ultimately a dead rubber, the former England scrum half said: “Ultimately this was a close game between two fairly evenly-matched sides, and a couple of penalties have seen them nick it.
“Over the 80 minutes there wasn’t much between the teams, and despite having been knocked out of the LV= Cup this season the competition has been a useful exercise for many of our players.
“It was always going to be somewhat of a development vehicle, but a number of guys have emerged with great credit and really taken their opportunity having been given game time at this level.
“Players like Chris Pilgrim and Mark Wilson, to name just two, have done themselves no end of good with the way they have performed, and now we go back into the Guinness Premiership with a trip to Northampton next weekend.”
Looking towards that Saints clash, Bates said: “We’re in the top half of the league and we secured a home quarter-final tie in Europe having won our group, so we have a great foundation on which to build.
“Northampton will be a tough place to go, no doubt about that, but the boys will relish taking them on and playing on a firmer surface. Our best performances this season have tended to be when we are under big pressure on the road, so hopefully we can continue that and really set ourselves up for a strong finish to the campaign.”
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