Lynn Howells

By James Oliver.

“Well, I don’t want to sound negative but there were a few parts of the game last week that weren’t very pleasing. Our set piece struggled which didn’t give us the chance of any go forward rugby, it then became difficult to regain possession and then it doesn’t give the game any chance to have any fluidity.” Was the opening statement by Lynn Howells as we sat down, and I had the suspicion that it wasn’t going to get much more fun than this.
Lynn then continued somewhat more reserved.

“We lost the ball taking it into contact too easily and our discipline wasn’t good enough. Saying that, some of the decisions made in the game by the referee & his assistants were hard to understand.” Lynn paused for thought “This week we have the chairman of the referees society and a Premiership referee coming down to a training session which will hopefully try to help us eradicate this.” He finished.

It had been obvious since Friday night around the club that the squad and management had accepted a need to work with referees even more, and the involvement of a Premiership referee and the chairman of the society shows an understanding that only positive action gives results.

Not wanting to discuss referees further, as I always find it an uncomfortable topic, I asked Lynn for a good point about Friday night’s game.
“I was pleased with our defence on Friday night.” Lynn Began “It was very good as with all the Doncaster sides, it wasn’t a lack of effort that was the problem.” He ended.
Wanting to draw a line under Friday, I asked for an ending, “An apology, that’s what comes out of Friday night from me. It comes from me, but is from the heart of all the management and players to all of those people who turned out Friday. That was not the quality fans deserve”.

Last night the A Team travelled to Leicester to play their ‘A’ side, so I asked the obvious question.
“ I was very pleased with how we played. We tried a couple of players in different positions to see how they’d get on. Stevie McColl played at full back and did well, he showed he’s capable of playing there and showed his kicking ability with two long range kicks.” The Knights Director of Rugby enthused. “Matt Williams who we’ve had on trial played on the wing and he showed plenty of speed and pace. He also showed that he’s quite comfortable with the physical side of the game which was good to see.”
Lynn continued.
“At 17-12 at half time we were in the game, but in the end fitness told with some of the younger players who aren’t full time.”

The final question I asked was simple, can we win at Moseley....
“You know me better than that, I don’t give predictions “was the usual Howells answer.
“What I will say is that Moseley isn’t an easy place to go as last season proved. It wouldn’t matter if the next game was Moseley or Bristol, the key is to go into the game giving it full focus.”