Lessons to be learned from French defeat says Bulldogs boss

BOSS MATT Diskin says Batley Bulldogs have to learn their French lesson.
Matt DiskinMatt Diskin
Matt Diskin

Bulldogs gave a spirited account of themselves in a 42-26 Betfred Championship defeat at Toulouse Olympique, but old failings cost them any chance of victory, according to their coach. Five tries in 21 minutes before the break handed Toulouse full control and Diskin said: “For 60 minutes we were the better team.

“We played some really good football, but in the second quarter we were really ill-disciplined. Every time we gave a penalty away, they scored in the next set.

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“For long periods of the game we outplayed them with ball in hand, but we put a gun to our head in the second quarter and gave the game away.”

Batley are seventh in the table, seven points outside the top-four.

The coach added: “There were lots of positives, but the issue we’ve got as a group – and we are trying to address – is that our ill-discipline is costing us games.

“We can’t seem to back up double efforts, we give away a penalty and then concede straight away.

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“We have given too many points away. If we had picked up all the points we should have done, we would be in a really good position.”

Admission to Bulldogs’ home game against Sheffield Eagles on Sunday will be free as the club celebrate the life of murdered local MP Jo Cox.