Red Bulls win again

Yesterday afternoon saw Newcastle Red Bulls take on Perpignan in the European Challenge Cup and it saw consecutive victories for Red Bulls, coming out 26-19 winners. Despite it being cold the sun was shining which made seeing from The North Stand in the first half difficult.

Solid Red Bulls

Red Bulls were solid yesterday, the set piece went well against a big French pack. One thing you can't fault is the effort and commitment from this Red Bulls side. Perpignan did take the lead through an early Yato try. Whenever he carried yesterday he was powerful and difficult to stop and was the standout Perpignan player for me in his time on the pitch.

Give Wade space

Christian Wade scored a well taken try from a cross field kick. He looked very dangerous in attack when given the ball yesterday, bouncing and turning off defenders and offers the Red Bulls attack something different to what we've seen so far this season. The problem is getting him the ball, if they can work that bit out he will score tries like we know he can.

Red Bulls lead into the break

Sammy Arnold scored a well worked try not long after the Wade effort followed by Devaux scoring, the score was 14-12 at half time. Perpignan came and gave a lot more than I thought they may've done and credit to them for that. For Red Bulls, there was probably a bit of frustration as the attack didn't look as good as it did at times against Gloucester the previous week.

Could Red Bulls kick on in the second half?

In a way, yes in that they won the game but it felt strange like the game was won on the score of the fourth bonus point try. I don't know what it was but it felt like Red Bulls had a bigger, more comfortable lead than what the scoreline showed. I never really felt like Red Bulls were going to lose the game but they didn't kill it off in the second half like I was expecting them to either.

Bonus point win

Elliott Obatoyinbo scored wide out early in the second half, luckily he did or Christian Wade outside him may've had a word! Then the Red Bulls pack went to work just before the hour mark and George McGuigan was in his usual place at the back of the maul to score the bonus point. This was just after Petaia had been yellow carded for a high short on Spencer. The score at this point was 26-12 and that's where the disappointment was for me, they didn't go and put Perpignan to the sword. Credit goes to Perpignan for not throwing in the towel and Granell scored which was converted to take the score to 26-19 which was how it ended.

Who impressed?

Oscar usher got the player of the match award at blindside. My player of the match was Tom Christie, I watched him for a passage of play in the first half and his work rate was immense in his defensive effort. Tom Gordon gave some acceleration off the base of the scrum, his game and form has improved massively since the arrival of Christie. Simon Benitez Cruz was his usual sniping self at scrum half. Sammy Arnold carried and worked hard at twelve, he might be lucky he didn't see a yellow for his part in starting the melee that broke out following the Petaia hit on Spencer. I thought Obatoyinbo and Wade both went well too.

Credit to the Perpignan fans

I want to give a shout out to the Perpignan fans who were colourful and really added to what was quite a quiet Kingston Park. Their pride for their region and the noise they made is exactly what Red Bulls fans should be looking to base themselves on.

Knock out rugby secured

The big thing is that knock out rugby in Europe has been secured now, Red Bulls will want to go to Newport next week and get a five point victory that basically secures a home last sixteen game. They'll want to be seeded as high as possible to be in a position to play at Kingston Park as far into the tournament as they can.

At some point players are going to need a bit of a rest as the front row, Usher, Gordon, Christie, Benitez Cruz, Hearle and Spencer especailly have all had big workloads. They need to go strong next weekend and I'd go strong against Saracens in The Prem the weekend after then roate in The Prem Cup.