I don't really want to be called Statto, but let's get a couple of facts out the way first.

Andrew Hoggins equalled the club appearance record and will surely break it next week.
Luke Gardiner played a competitive game for the first time for Oxford. He's the 62nd player to appear for the club.


(Disclaimer for what follows - I have watched a lot of games but I am just a spectator who has never played one minute of rugby league. And I have absolutely no intention of ever starting - it's looks far too much like hard work.)

The pitch was very heavy and got heavier as rain fell steadily during the game. So not a day when handling was easy, and I would have thought the obvious way to play was to have the big props on from the start and use our superior weight to batter the opposition with a lot of one-out stuff. However, instead we had Ed Hayles at prop, Andrew Hoggins in the second row with Kyle Danns on the bench.

All four of the interchanges made an impact when they came on. But did we use all our interchanges? For a change near the end of the game the reserve official held up the number 7. A couple of players went off injured and didn't come back, but I didn't get the feeling that we had run out of players to bring back on.

Ben Jones-Bishop was moved to centre and I don't think he ever had a chance to run with the ball. Also, the line-up swapped Nathan Kitson and Andy Speake from their normal positions, although I'm not sure how long that lasted.


If the scoreboard was correct, then the first half ended early. Given that the score part of the scoreboard was wrong several times, then I'm not sure how reliable the clock part was. However, I always keep a stopwatch going during games, and I thought there was still time left at the end of the half. It was significant because when the hooter went Oxford were camped on the Coventry line and a half-time score of 20-12 would have made things very different after the break. Even so, I think we missed opportunities to score in the second half and could have won the game despite the final scoreline.


Finally, the Coventry PA guy. Before the game he clearly didn't have a copy of the Oxford team sheet, because he just read out the 19-man squad in the programme. In the second half he started trying to gee up the crowd, and not very effectively. "Come on Bears fans, let's make some noise". "Shout on every drive." And so on. In football this would be illegal, but I don't know if it is in League 1 Rugby League. To be honest there was plenty of enouragement anyway so I didn't see the point.

Dark Blue Rover - if you're reading this I expect you to do the same in future. Not.

good work Mr Statto

great to read

The scoreboard is an unofficial clock and wasn't started at kick off in the first half. It also listed the score as 5-0 for a while whilst Coventry lined up their first conversion.

The loss of Jordan was huge to me. Probably didn't alter the overall result but made it much harder to us. The other factor I'd cite was open field kicking. They put testing balls up on the air and kicks along the ground to start us behind / near our try line regularly. We often put the ball straight into the arms of a defender.

The blunt truth is that if you combine the three games I have been at, missed Newcastle, we have looked sub League One standard for chunks of all three matches. I suspect some personnel changes are required, whether that is a realistic option or not is a moot point. We're not a million miles off and don't need a total rebuild but a little tweaking looks necessary.

If their scoreboard clock is anything like ours, (and I suspect it is as a pretty standard RU model of such things) then It only shows in whole minutes so you have to reset it every so often to take into account breaks in play and the input device isn't simple.

I sympathise re: the teamsheets, we had similar against Newcastle where the kit they wore didn't match the lineup we'd been given. (And in football I've been had cases of a number coming on to be substituted and not be on the sheet at all)

Personally I normally find I'm too busy to do anything more than scorers and interchange, and frankly people are normally close enough to the pitch to see for themselves. Also, I once nearly caused a riot at a football match with a wayward announcement (albiet a factual one) so tend to shut up unless I'm absolutely sure nobody will reasonably object.