Well that was unexpected. Possibly the least friendly, 'friendly' I have ever seen and tremendous entertainment because of it. Amiens came with a game plan that involved excessive use of sticks and sly digs and I think we now have an answer as to whether we will be bullied this season. Every action from an Amiens player resulted in an escalated action from a Devil and the brawl at the end felt inevitable from early on. Having 'bigged up' the Amiens NM before the game, he had a very poor game and although the scoreline flattered us a bit, it was still a very comfortable win.
There were so many takeaways but for me the key one was what a difference PR has already made. The PP is still not the finished article but there was a clear plan and two pp goals was a decent return, the transition play no longer depended on stretch passing and the transformation of certain players (most notably the excellent Crandall and an old school Josh Batch) was fantastic to see.
My first look at the newcomers and I loved Arniel's vision, Rymsha's ability to focus on defence and Barrow's physical play. The real surprise though was Mosey who threw two monster checks, was at the centre of a lot of the physical confrontations and won all his battles. I really don't remember this side of him before.
No idea if supplementary discipline kicks in for pre-season but if so then Brandt will probably sit for a couple but.... happy enough with that as he certainly made a statement and happy enough with all aspects of the team at this stage. On this evidence there is a purpose to the team that has been missing since the Lordo years.
Roll on 4pm.
There were so many takeaways but for me the key one was what a difference PR has already made. The PP is still not the finished article but there was a clear plan and two pp goals was a decent return, the transition play no longer depended on stretch passing and the transformation of certain players (most notably the excellent Crandall and an old school Josh Batch) was fantastic to see.
My first look at the newcomers and I loved Arniel's vision, Rymsha's ability to focus on defence and Barrow's physical play. The real surprise though was Mosey who threw two monster checks, was at the centre of a lot of the physical confrontations and won all his battles. I really don't remember this side of him before.
No idea if supplementary discipline kicks in for pre-season but if so then Brandt will probably sit for a couple but.... happy enough with that as he certainly made a statement and happy enough with all aspects of the team at this stage. On this evidence there is a purpose to the team that has been missing since the Lordo years.
Roll on 4pm.