20 Feb: WCS: Warrington Wolves v St George Illawarra Dragons KO 8pm (TV)

[UxbridgeBunny]

Great game but some silly errors second half which kept handing initiative to SGI, once again it's not that the Australian team were more skillfull but they do the basics so well. Second half very disappointing after wire generally being better team 1st half. gorgeous George roses physique never ceases to amaze me!

[back to the future]

Superb game

NRL better than SL? My ######

St George lucky to stay at 13 men

St.George finished 11th

[JohnM]

Not really true. Dragons are 2 weeks away from the start of their season so haven't had a competitive game yet, are a long way away from home and had to compete with a vocal crowd. Add to that that they are a mid-table NRL side, where Warrington are one of our top sides, plus they led from the second minute to the end.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo#t=29

[terrywebbisgod]

Not much in it.Thaler was consistent as all refs should be,maybe not correct but cosistent.Sets up the weekend nicely.

[Just Browny]

Extremely frustrated at the mistakes we made in the second half, you cant afford to do that in a big game. The knock-on by Higham, the horrific offload by Atkins, the failure to find touch from a penalty (no idea who, Sky were a shot of some random people in the crowd). All crushing.

But it would have been nice to have a referee who wasn't prepared to let the opposition do whatever they wanted for 80 minutes.

[Padge]

Warrington can feel hard done by, they shouldn't have been playing 13 men.

 

Then again they weren't good enough at times with very basic mistakes, knocking on behind the play the ball is a real sin at this level, as is not finding touch from a penalty.

 

Why did Warrington persist with the high kicking game when it obviously was not working?

[terrywebbisgod]

The NRL fanboys will be out of Kleenex soon!

[RLDave]

Will the firmer grounds of Australia make them fitter than the SL players here trudging up and down in wet fields all preseason? I thought St George might drop off abit late in the game but if anything, Warrington did. Although they did have to defend alot of errors.

[Padge]

Shaun Wane will be demanding Thaler is switched to reffing tomorrows game now.

[gavin7094]

Warrington can feel hard done by, they shouldn't have been playing 13 men.

 

Then again they weren't good enough at times with very basic mistakes, knocking on behind the play the ball is a real sin at this level, as is not finding touch from a penalty.

 

Why did Warrington persist with the high kicking game when it obviously was not working?

Because that's all they've got.

[Padge]

Because that's all they've got.

 

Possibly

[Guest]

St George were the better side and deserved the win. The reffing was very much in Warringtons favour. I don't think either high tackle was a red card, I think the first was off the shoulder and a yellow at most. For all people think St George got away with, Warrington did just as much, maybe even more.

[Copa]

Having an Aussie ref would've made it fairer for Warrington.. :-)

[Lounge Room Lizard]

Great game for me with some good passing and attack and defence. The Dragons are one of the worst teams in the NRL and wont make the 8 maybe not even the top 10 and are still in Pre Season, but proved too strong for one of the top teams in SL who have already started their season. Warrington wasted too many chances and allowed the likes of Marshall too much space and allowed the Dragons to offload too easily. Marshalls kicking was quality at times. The NRL is a higher standard than SL and tonight showed it when a lower NRL team beat one of the best in SL on their own patch. Even if the Dragons had gone down to 12 it doesnt mean Wire would have won as often the team that has only 12 seem to lift.

 

Thaler had a poor game and the PTB was way too slow. Chris Hill was one of the worst culprits. Both sides slowed the PTB to a joke. 2 head high tackles that were neither red or yellow cards really just players that were caught out for me. I think too many people want to see sinbins. I think Thaler struggled to control the game at times. I would like to see intouch goal judges as gives Refs a further often better viewpoint rather than just always going to Video ref

[absentee thoughtlord]

Not really true. Dragons are 2 weeks away from the start of their season so haven't had a competitive game yet, are a long way away from home and had to compete with a vocal crowd. Add to that that they are a mid-table NRL side, where Warrington are one of our top sides, plus they led from the second minute to the end.

 

I don't think the "competive game" stuff holds water as you could look at it either way ("fresh" Dragons side, etc)

 

Also, the referee made a couple of errors that would have changed the flow (though I don't believe we should be too disparaging as the match flowed well). Very tight game as I expected, and no one could possibly think that St. G were in any way clearly the better team.

 

Honours-even except on the scoreboard!

[MrFussy]

Great game for me with some good passing and attack and defence. The Dragons are one of the worst teams in the NRL and wont make the 8 maybe not even the top 10 and are still in Pre Season, but proved too strong for one of the top teams in SL who have already started their season. Warrington wasted too many chances and allowed the likes of Marshall too much space and allowed the Dragons to offload too easily. Marshalls kicking was quality. The NRL is a higher standard than SL and tonight showed it when a lower NRL team beat one of the best in SL on their own patch. Even if the Dragons had gone down to 12 it doesnt mean Wire would have won as often the team that has only 12 seem to lift.

 

Thaler had a poor game and the PTB was way too slow. Chris Hill was one of the worst culprits. Both sides slowed the PTB to a joke. 2 head high tackles that were neither red or yellow cards really just players that were caught out for me. I think too many people want to see sinbins. I think Thaler struggled to control the game at times. I would like to see intouch goal judges as gives Refs a further often better viewpoint rather than just always going to Video ref

Well time will tell won't it. I maintain that we, meaning British RL, have a lot to be positive about tonight.

[bobbruce]

Great game really enjoyed it. Thought after Wires play in the first half they deserved to go in at half time well up. A couple of silly errors giving cheap field position cost them Then in the second half early mistakes and then the tackles they had to make because of that really hurt them. Also think wires attacking kicks were poor

[jannerboyuk]

Hope this format develops, just hard to know what format and when would be best. Personally speaking top four versus top four, straight knock out would be tempting, but can't decide what part of the season

[GeordieSaint]

Warrington were very plucky and I enjoyed the game. But it had a similar feel to an England vs Australia match. We compete but eventually are worn down by the superior Australian game plan and too many errors whilst not helped by a referee unwilling to clamp down on Aussie spoiling tactics. Deja vu once again...

[jannerboyuk]

Warrington were very plucky and I enjoyed the game. But it had a similar feel to an England vs Australia match. We compete but eventually are worn down by the superior Australian game plan and too many errors whilst not helped by a referee unwilling to clamp down on Aussie spoiling tactics. Deja vu once again...

chin up, two to go

[UxbridgeBunny]

Possibly

The kicking game frustrated me too, I don't agree it's all they've got, it was just Lazy. myler at times has a great rugby brain and can do something unorthodox. shame ratchford was injured as he can pull something different out of the hat now and then.

[MrFussy]

My doubts about Kevin Penny were misplaced. He performed very strongly tonight. It's great to see a player given a second chance after taking some time out to address his shortcomings. I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of him this season.

[Saintslass]

Because that's all they've got.

Not true.  O'Brien has a neat short kicking game.  I've seen him use it to our advantage when he was at Saints.  That was clearly a game plan.

 

Aside from the two high tackles that would have both seen yellow cards brandished in a Superleague game (some of our refs tremble at the thought of facing up to Aussie teams), Warrington gave the game to St George in the second half by their inability to hold on to the ball for a set.  That would have given any opposition a chance and St George needed that chance because they weren't getting that far without such chances. 

 

I was well impressed by Kevin Penny.  That lad has transformed himself.  He was my MoM for Warrington and I never thought I'd see the day when I would put Penny and MoM into the same sentence.  Well done to him for his total turnaround.

[Saintslass]

Warrington were very plucky and I enjoyed the game. But it had a similar feel to an England vs Australia match. We compete but eventually are worn down by the superior Australian game plan and too many errors whilst not helped by a referee unwilling to clamp down on Aussie spoiling tactics. Deja vu once again...

You're out of touch with Australia versus England games GS.  The last one was decided on a fingernail.

[Copa]

I hope the wcs develops and grows in the future. It could become problematic though if the NRL starts having 3 or 4 times the salary cap of sl as the money keeps flowing into the game here in Australia.