Nathan Brown: Grapple tackle row took the gloss off a good win

Mar 19 2009 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Nathan Brown answers the questions put by Examiner Rugby League writer CHRIS ROBERTS

HAVE you had any more thoughts on Castleford coach Terry Matterson’s accusations that your team is guilty of ‘grapple tackling’, or have you drawn a line under it?

As far as I’m concerned it’s all gone now.

I’ve spoken to (RFL referees’ chief) Stuart Cummings and he acknowledges the club doesn’t have a problem.

As long as the referees are made aware of that fact, that’s the main thing.

But how disappointed were you with the comments Mr Matterson made and the fact it somewhat overshadowed what was a gutsy effort from your team?

The disappointing thing about it was the fact that what was said was rubbish.

As Stuart Cummings said himself, the comments weren’t true.

But what’s equally as disappointing is that there are also a couple of others out there who have been ringing around coming out with similar comments about us.

What was another disappointment was that it was unfair that the players who put in such hard work at Castleford the other night were penalised 14-5.

However, the pleasing thing about that was that we were still good enough to win.

And how good a win was it?

It was a great effort, and everyone tried really hard.

Another good thing was that we had limited goes down their end, but executed well and took those limited chances we created.

That was obviously pleasing, although we would have liked to have spent less time defending our own line.

Fortunately, the players all worked really hard for each other defensively, and I was delighted all that effort paid off.

But I still felt we were guilty of allowing a couple of ‘soft’ tries, which came as a result of people still learning about the new defensive system.

It takes time to take something like this on board, especially for younger players, but we’ll get there.

Judging by the way Harlequins have been playing, it’s going to be important to get the defence right for Sunday’s game at the Galpharm, isn’t it.

Definitely. I’ve already had a very reasonable look at them.

In their last two games they’ve scored well over 100 points and conceded very few, and that’s pretty damn impressive!