Roy Haggerty

I think that’s the 3rd ‘try’ this weekend which has only been given because the video ref didn’t want to contradict the (incorrect) on-field instant reaction!

I didn't have an issue with the try as I knew I'd be calling it a try if the shirts had been swapped. My main beef was that the quality of the picture on the slo-mo was really bad. I don't know if I'm mis-remembering, but I thought we used to have much clearer frame-by-frame pictures than that blurry mess. But that may be just age withering my memory.

Byrne was very similar to the challenge Percival himself was carded for against Salford. So I expect a similar 2 match ban.

And also, he didn’t score - he was caught by the defence and no supporting saints players were fast enough to get into position for a pass before the break was ended. I was as relieved as any saints fan when we scored, but we scored two very close range tries in the last 8 minutes of the game against a side who’d played 20 minutes with 12 men. We can’t rely on cards to knacker out an opposition enough to allow us to barge over!

God, that was difficult to watch. My heart rate hit 120 in the last 5 minutes. A very good example of how cards can change a game, though. If Byrne bends his back, I don’t think saints win.

Here we go. Heart attack time for 7 minutes.

70 minutes of saints not looking remotely like scoring. 20 of those against 12 men.

Saints have chosen this game to have their worst completion/error rate of the year!

There is no substitute for speed. If saints leave a single gap, Wigan will score. If Wigan leave a gap, there’s no guarantee Saints will score simply because Field and French are so fast. Saints must either learn this lesson or settle for runner-up for the foreseeable future.

Saints’ game is based on the grind. Get the territory and possession and tries will follow. Against 8 teams, with standard SL defence, that works. But against the other 3 teams with good defence, you need more than that. You need actual attacking plays. And Saints simply do not have that. Last year was a year too far for one legend in Roby. This year, imo, is a year too far for another in Lomax. We need someone with more creativity, speed and organisation to allow us to break down good defences.

Agreed. I thought the decision was the right one. Saints still look incapable of scoring against 12.

This choice to kick tells you that Saints *know* their attack isn’t good. All that pressure and they didn’t have confidence they could cross with yet another set inside the 20. It’s been a problem for 18 months now.

Seen this against Salford and Leeds too. Loads of possession and territory. Inability to score. Opponents then go the length and score to make saints chase the game.

We had the same problem in previous games too. We’re not good at turning pressure and territory into points.

Saints’ attack is awful. Possession and territory is fine, but look remarkably incapable of actually crossing the line.