Up Front with Paul Rauhihi

Firstly an apology to everyone for my poor sin binning against Hull, it was bad of me to vent my frustration in a "discussion" with the referee and cost the team a player out on the field. Once again the character of our players to take on the extra work was there and we managed to get away with a win.

Some might say three from four is a good thing and after the wins we've had this year I'd have to agree. When you consider the way we've had to fight for those wins it hasn't exactly been easy for us. Four games with four separate lots of setbacks to hamper our efforts in each, with injuries and illness the main culprits (sin binning aside).

Then there's the way we've let teams get way too much ball turning over possession too cheaply and giving away way too many penalties (I know I'm one of the main offenders here). Although things haven't been as we planned the character of the team has seen us come away with some very close victories. For those who made the long journey to London on the weekend I'm sure it was evident the way things turned around in the second half. After a poor start and letting the Quins get away to a 12-0 start we had made it hard for ourselves by falling into the same trap for the first twenty minutes or so of poor decision making, giving away penalties and not completing our sets. With the introduction of our bench things started to turn around with Steve Pickersgill, Rob Parker, Little Gleese and Bridgey changing the momentum in our favour. Yet again another setback hit us with Johno succumbing to illness before half-time, however luckily Brent Grose was able to return to the field after having his face zipped back up due to a nasty cut he received in an earlier tackle and played like he hadn't missed a beat. With the start of the second half there was a noticeable difference in the side's execution and most importantly discipline with us not giving away a single penalty (even I didn't give one away). This resulted in better completion of our sets and better field position leading to more points and eventually the win.

As we all know the Saints come to town on Friday and as always this is a very big game for not only the team but the whole Town as well. After their well drilled performances against Bradford last week and against the Broncos before that, I'm sure their confidence will be quite high right now. Close games seem to come hand in hand when the Wolves meet the Saints out on the field, but luckily for us we've managed to squeeze out some close wins so far so we know what's needed in those types of games. That with the way we played the second half against an unbeaten Quins side at the weekend should put us in good stead for Friday.

So see you all on Friday as the Halliwell Jones stadium rocks under the cheers of Wolves fans.

Rah