Coyle: We need to cut out defensive lapses
Whitehaven coach James Coyle believes his team’s recent 30-28 defeat against Workington Town was because his players switched off during key moments in the match.
“It’s the story of our season so far,” Coyle said.
“Over the 80 minutes we had some really good patches where we created a lot of chances, unfortunately we didn’t take some of them, which cost us.
“Defensively it didn’t look like they were going to break us down, then a lapse here and a lapse there gave them the opportunity to score tries.
“We’ve got to bounce back from the weekend because the way we lost that game takes a lot out of the players mentally.
“Our challenge this week is to get ourselves ready and focused on what’s coming up and not what’s gone.
“We can’t dwell on it. Our focus this week is being that little bit better and a little bit more clinical and a bit more ruthless than we were against Workington
“Sheffield are going through a bit of a purple patch at the minute and causing problems for teams.
“The two Frenchmen, Thibaut Margalet and Stan Robin are really good players and have added a lot to the team. It’s going to be a tough challenge for us.”
Sheffield might have also suffered defeat, against Leigh Centurions, butcCoach Mark Aston couldn’t see much between the sides.
“I thought we were very unlucky to be honest. If we’d have handled the play on the fifth tackle we’d have gone on and won it but we didn’t,” Aston said.
“I actually thought we’d done enough to win the game. We’ve just got to be a little bit smarter on closing the game down.
“But there’s certainly been a massive turnaround in our performances over the last month. Whitehaven have had a bit of an indifferent season and they’re a different team at home, where they are very spirited and play well.
“There’s no doubting our ability, we’ve got to hit the mark that we hit last week. If we do that, then we can get the performance and get the result.
“But if we don’t then we know we can go into the dogfight again. It’s all about us.”