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Coach's fears surface in loss
By Wayne Cousins
Tuesday 26 June 2012 8:08 AM
Tim Sheens was always worried about playing two desperate sides over the past fortnight.
Facing a Sydney Roosters side after a controversial refeering performance followed by a road trip to hostile territory to face a side looking to restore pride was enough to worry the game’s longest serving coach.
His fears were realised at Hunter Stadium last night when Newcastle ran over the top of the Wests Tigers after trailing 14-0 to win 38-20\. The Knights went into the game on the back of a bye following a poor loss to Canberra at home a fortnight ago.
“I said it all week, being booed off by their crowd two weeks ago obviously stung them and they had a chance to pretty much get their full strength side on the field,’’ Sheens said.
“They were two very dangerous games. Games everyone expected us to win. Maybe there is an element of that in us but not from my point of view.
“I am always concerned about those sort of games. We’ve lost both of them now. We are treading water again and everyone is right behind us.”
Sheens said ‘everyone did their job’ early when Wests Tigers led 14-0 before a tough scrum penalty against prop Ray Cashmere following a flare up with Kane Snowden shifted the momentum of the game. The Knights ran in three tries in just over 10 minutes to lead 16-14 at half-time.
“We played well early and had some field position. From then on, we didn’t have many touches towards the back end of the first half. I think they had 11 sets on us,’’ Sheens added.
“In the second half, every ball we got we seemed to be playing out of our end. We only got three shots at them at their end, including the last one.
“It was 2-0 (at half-time) as far as we were concerned. Giving the momentum shift that happened and (what) I thought (were) a couple of tough calls, we were still in the game.
“Losing Timmy (Moltzen) shook our edges up a little and we were struggling a bit there. (Darius) Boyd took control of the edges and really worked us over so it was a bit disappointing.
“At the end of the day, that’s two weeks we have been lethargic in defence. I’m not happy at all.”
By Wayne Cousins
Tuesday 26 June 2012 8:08 AM
Tim Sheens was always worried about playing two desperate sides over the past fortnight.
Facing a Sydney Roosters side after a controversial refeering performance followed by a road trip to hostile territory to face a side looking to restore pride was enough to worry the game’s longest serving coach.
His fears were realised at Hunter Stadium last night when Newcastle ran over the top of the Wests Tigers after trailing 14-0 to win 38-20\. The Knights went into the game on the back of a bye following a poor loss to Canberra at home a fortnight ago.
“I said it all week, being booed off by their crowd two weeks ago obviously stung them and they had a chance to pretty much get their full strength side on the field,’’ Sheens said.
“They were two very dangerous games. Games everyone expected us to win. Maybe there is an element of that in us but not from my point of view.
“I am always concerned about those sort of games. We’ve lost both of them now. We are treading water again and everyone is right behind us.”
Sheens said ‘everyone did their job’ early when Wests Tigers led 14-0 before a tough scrum penalty against prop Ray Cashmere following a flare up with Kane Snowden shifted the momentum of the game. The Knights ran in three tries in just over 10 minutes to lead 16-14 at half-time.
“We played well early and had some field position. From then on, we didn’t have many touches towards the back end of the first half. I think they had 11 sets on us,’’ Sheens added.
“In the second half, every ball we got we seemed to be playing out of our end. We only got three shots at them at their end, including the last one.
“It was 2-0 (at half-time) as far as we were concerned. Giving the momentum shift that happened and (what) I thought (were) a couple of tough calls, we were still in the game.
“Losing Timmy (Moltzen) shook our edges up a little and we were struggling a bit there. (Darius) Boyd took control of the edges and really worked us over so it was a bit disappointing.
“At the end of the day, that’s two weeks we have been lethargic in defence. I’m not happy at all.”
