It’s irrelevant, Halifax never got close to scoring.
It’s irrelevant, Halifax never got close to scoring.
Can't stop the spirits when they need you.
This life is more than just a read through.
Can't stop the spirits when they need you.
This life is more than just a read through.
Well I thought we weren’t quite on it and Halifax were exceptional. They played the conditions better than we did but lacked the quality to take advantage of it. In any case, who cares? We’re going to Wembley.
I don’t think we were a disaster at all. We were disjointed in attack (not entirely surprising given Coote’s absence) and played a team of players who were playing the game of their lives and scrambled heroically throughout. But at no point did we look like conceding a try. Job done.
Why do we take games to a ground that uses what looked like hospitality lounges as dressing rooms?
Delighted we won obviously, that was what counted today.
One concern for me though and I don’t mean to sound negative as such but I do think though that today is yet another warning that we need to adapt quicker in these big games, realise when things aren’t working and what needs to be done to address it. They were jamming in constantly in the first half and we kept trying to force it constantly, we kept playing out the back even when it was never on and it took us 40 minutes to figure out we needed to be more direct. When we did that we scored tries and took their line speed out of the game. It was the same in the Catalan semi-Final last year, it took us 40 mins to realise we needed to be more direct and we needed to complete some sets, unfortunately by that point it was too late because they were too far ahead. Good teams have and will punish us for it. IMO for us to win a trophy this year, the players need to be better and faster at making tactical decisions for themselves on the field. Do that and we’ll have some success this year. It’ll be the only thing that will hold us back if it isn’t addressed.
But as has been said, brilliant to be in the final.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
We certainly need to finally address our handling of short kickoffs.
Only good thing about today was that Saints won! Getting to the ground on a Saints coach was a nightmare. No directing of traffic with bottlenecks everywhere, shocking organisation. After first semi ended, I queued for 50 mins to get 2 coffees, missed the Saints kick off and was then told when I got to the counter that there was no coffee!!! I was fizzing and I made my views clear to the staff. 5 mins after I got back to my seat some guys came back and said the bars had run out of lager and there was only cider left. NEVER going back to that venue! Watch on tv in comfort with whatever drinks I want.
Had the same probs last year but hoped it would’ve improved. That’s it for me unless the RFL pull the plug on the whole idea.
I thought that this year we have tended to prepare and play to the opposition, what I mean is that we tend to lift our game when we face stronger opposition e.g, the first Cas game when they were flying, the Wire Games, and drop off a bit for less stronger teams. This isn't complacency since we alway have been able to step up if required.
I think (and hope) our team prep and overall is better and we aren't showing off all our plays every week.
Completely agree and I was going to post a thread about it. In all our recent Semi finals under Holbrook we've started slowly. We've also had warnings against Wire and Wigan recently in the league. We won both games in the end after hanging in there a bit earlier on but the warning signs are there.
Our forwards need to start with more intensity and we need to control our sets better. We tend to force passes and lose a bit of shape sometimes in big games. We won't get away with it at Wembley like we did yesterday.
Delighted to be at Wembley though, the Semi Final hoodoo has ended and that's all that matters. Maybe this result will relax us and allow us to play our natural game in big games.
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave
Thought we looked a little nervous at the start of the game and rightly so with our recent semi final record. Early on we went wide too much when the conditions didn’t really suit and if we’d have kept it tight down the middle we maybe could’ve scored a couple of more tries to settle us down quicker. As the first half went on and it was only 2-2 we panicked a bit with the ball. 2nd half we were much more direct and we dominated field postiion which gradually wore Halifax down.
I thought both half backs were poor and didnt really put us in the right areas behind a dominant pack. It was left to Robes to sort it out. But after saying all that it was just about winning and getting the semi final hoodoo off our back. We could’ve won by 50 and the end result is still the same.
Lastly a special mention to Halifax who I thought were superb. They’ve been waiting for this game and this was their cup final. They were never going to win but the trick plays and short kick offs really threw us and put us on the back foot. They defended superbly for 80 mins and never gave in. Conditions certainly played into their hands but take nothing away that was a great effort from them.
Half full stadium? near to the end, well was that why it was moved to BBC2, credit to Halifax they gave it all they could, and especially for over 20 minutes, it's a big climb up from the Championship and of course working during the week as well as training! Many Super League club players who play on a Thursday or Friday night are seen the next day in Ibiza the next day on Instagram! never forget Cliff Watson working for Greenall Whitley delivering barrels of beer, Ray French on holiday from school went out with him one day and Ray reflected the problems he had even lifting the barrels.
This is bang on the money why does it take us till half time and a chat with the coach to fix things up. I thought we hammered them going forward but we just couldn't adapt to them closing us down when we went wide. If we do that against a better side we will have the same result as the Catalan semi last year with us chasing a game we can't catch.
Fair play to fax they had a real go at us and they should be proud of getting to that game and the performance they gave. It was good to see from a neutral perspective. From a saints perspective I was expecting a lot more from them and I think it shown the 1,6,7 combination we had yesterday is ok as a backup but you'd have serious doubts about them getting us over the line in a final and the leadership when things aren't going the way we want.
Seeing how Warrington have struggled a bit without ratchford and we've had a slight dip in form without coote, it could well be the team that fields the fittest side when it comes to the finals wins the pots.
Our defence is superb so why we moved Jonny out of the 6 position is a mystery to me. It is our attack that misfires when under pressure and taking Jonny out of the halves and swapping Theo to 6 to put Danny in only resulted in a clunky attack especially with LMS and Paulo coming in.Too many changes for a big game we were bound to be a bit off the pace. Just an opinion but we needed to get over the semi final wobbles and we may have just done that now. Hopefully Coote will be fit soon and composure can return.
Costello or Welsby or Swift would have been fine at FB yesterday.
Learned comment from The Don
I think if we’d have had Welsby at full back yesterday Murrell would have peppered him with kicks all afternoon and the conditions would have made it really difficult for the youngster. I agree Lomax is far more effective at full back but yesterday was not the game to put Welsby in at full back. I would be inclined to play Welsby in the Wakefield game where we can afford to experiment a bit.
I agree it would have given the opportunity for Halifax to put pressure on an inexperienced Welsby in the hope he would spill ball in those tricky conditions. Don't think Lomax at 6 would have made a lot of difference Halifax swamped our first receivers and thats why we played a lot of one man rugby, there wasn't much creative play from Richardson and Fages. Lomax to me looked out of sorts and had 2 verbals against Grace for some reason but it was Lomax who was giving slow lobbed passes to our centres and wingers instead of the quicker direct passes that Coote executes.
Hopefully Coote is back sooner than later before we start to lose poor form from laboured attacking options. We need a big response on Friday just to put the LLS to bed and build up some freshness to this business end of the season. Lastly if there is the slightest doubt that Coote might not make the final we don't want to be experimenting with Welsby, Costello, Makinson to see who will be the better option on the big day.