Leeds Rhinos v St Helens

[hindle xiii]

Did i miss something in the grand final last season or were both pryce and eastmond playing ?

You have to admit Saints held their own yesterday.

[3owls]

You have to admit Saints held their own yesterday.

Saints played very well considering they were without two exceptional players but it's just a bit presumptious to assume that having pryce and eastmond on the pitch would have meant a saints victory. I was just pointing out that last years grand final was won by leeds with both eastmond and pryce in the saints team.

[bewareshadows]

Saints played very well considering they were without two exceptional players but it's just a bit presumptious to assume that having pryce and eastmond on the pitch would have meant a saints victory. I was just pointing out that last years grand final was won by leeds with both eastmond and pryce in the saints team.

Yeh but last years grand final was a Leeds team who finished top of the league by some points and also Saints had others such as long, gilmore, fasavalu playing. I think the point made is that Saints with a half back would have been a much more difficult challenge for the Leeds side of this year not the Leeds side of last year.

As for playing the young lad, I guess it depends how much notice they had on pryce, I did not hear of it until the day so throwing a boy in who may have already played that week may have been a bridge too far.

[Exiled Wiganer]

I must say that Leeds effort has made me re-visit Wigan's win the week before and wonder whether they would have been much better had they had to win that. Their ablity to find a way to win depsite being mostly below par shows a champion team.

Well done to the Loiners.

I am hoping they put so much into winning the Cup they will be off the boil if they visit the Piedome.

[Cofi]

Diolch yn fawr iawn

Cymraeg da! I'm looking forward to the final, it's going to make for an interesting battle. May the best team win.

[foozler]

Did i miss something in the grand final last season or were both pryce and eastmond playing ?

Yup, they did indeed both play last October and only one of them really turned up on the day.

Since then, Pryce has struck a rich vein of form and Eastmond is always dangerous; in my view, had they both lasted at Headingley in July and been on the field on Saturday, Saints would have come out on top on both occasions. They weren't and we didn't. Too bad, we move on.

Leeds had the stronger team available on Saturday and played some quality rugby. Needless to say however that you would have suffered considerably had you been missing both Burrow and McGuire.

[foozler]

Yeh but last years grand final was a Leeds team who finished top of the league by some points and also Saints had others such as long, gilmore, fasavalu playing. I think the point made is that Saints with a half back would have been a much more difficult challenge for the Leeds side of this year not the Leeds side of last year.

As for playing the young lad, I guess it depends how much notice they had on pryce, I did not hear of it until the day so throwing a boy in who may have already played that week may have been a bridge too far.

Indeed my point was that with one fit half back and a decent kicking game, Saints would have come out on top IMO.

I take your point about throwing Gaskell into the mix at short notice but after Pryce and Eastmond the cupboard seems to be pretty bare, certainly where the kicking game is concerned. This much was clear to see at Headingley last month once Eastmond and Pryce had gone off.

I wonder about giving Foster more kicking responsibility. He has a good boot on him and you would think he could certainly kick out of hand for penalties and gain more ground than Roby. I know he's working with Tommy Martyn, surely he could learn a few tricks for 5th/ 6th tackle kicks near the line or a few 40/20's.

[terrywebbisgod]

Cymraeg da! I'm looking forward to the final, it's going to make for an interesting battle. May the best team win.

Thank you, we will!

[Saint Toppy]

I'm sure had Saints known the seriousness of Pryce's injury earlier in the week then they would have named Gaskell in the 19 as cover. By the time Pryce's scan results came back the squad had been named and Saints had to go with the 19 they had named.

Gaskell isn't in the same class as Pryce (not yet anyway) but he does have a pretty decent kicking game and if he'd played i'm sure Saints would have stood a better chance of winning. It was our poor kicking & last tackle options that ultimately cost us the game.

[Loiner]

Saints by 20.

Ha Ha Ha