27 Jul: CCSF2: St Helens v Halifax KO 4.30pm (BBC)

[Rupert Prince]

What the Saints game reminded me of was how the game was before the switch to summer rugby.  A wet ground, wet weather, a hint of greasy heavy conditions.   Conditions being something of a leveller.  The old addage was that you needed a good pack to set you to Wembley,  but good backs to win it.  It the winter game, lower clubs can come up with supposed upsets.

Should we go back to winter?

And would that save a few ACLs ...?

[Davo5]

26 minutes ago, Bod said:

Sadly for most I know it's the travel cost that stops them attending the final.

Surely there will be supporters buses laid on by the club that travel down on the morning of the match and return after at a reasonable cost.

[Rupert Prince]

8 minutes ago, DavidM said:

When’s the draw for the final ?

On the red button...

[JohnM]

17 minutes ago, EssexRL said:

I know. London is stupid expenses. Plus travel costs. 

Coach Travel is also available and is priced at £40 for Members and £43 for non-members and can be purchased online alongside your match ticket. The coach will depart the Totally Wicked Stadium at 8:30am on Saturday 24 August.

 

https://www.saintsrlfc.com/2019/07/27/we-are-going-to-wembley/

 

[redjonn]

1 hour ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Anti-Rugby at its finest from Halifax. A bit of heart and effort in defence but they actually have not made any attempt to actually win this game here. I’m not sure what the thinking behind this was, really. Did they think they could keep us scoreless? Did they think they’d tire us out and then as we’re battling exhaustion, push us over ala Homer Simpson’s boxing career? Who knows?

Anyway, that’s one demon somewhat exorcised. Lose-lose this one. We lost and it would have been the biggest shock in RL and win and it’s only Halifax. 

I really hope Danny Richardson enjoyed playing Halifax. He’ll be there for most of his career now. He’s sub standard. He’s regressed beyond belief. Championship bound. 

I assume your being "tongue in cheek"... Taking short kick offs was a prime example of Halifax trying to win the game or at least score try.  

Saints defence was just too good for Halifax, whom made too many errors early on, maybe because they were trying to create opportunity. As I say Saints defence was the stand out and keep Halifax pinned down and with very little opportunity. Although they tried to create opportunity, not least with some attacking field kicking.

I guess you are just trying to get a reaction or genuinely assess whats happening differently.

Anti-rugby I guess means taking 2 points very early on rather than apply good rugby pressure against a team much lower...

[Trojan]

15 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

Why was this game even played? It was clear from minute one that Kendall was going to give everything to Saints. The second Saints try, where Saints got a penalty for throwing the ball away after Halifax should have had a repeat set, climaxing with Peyroux knocking on over the line, really brought the game into disrepute.

I thought he lost control too, but the video ref gave it.  But then the video ref was Childs, say no more

[Trojan]

1 hour ago, fieldofclothofgold said:

Hope the final is a good game by two good teams and a good Wembley crowd 

I hope Saints win by millions

[Scubby]

I do hope all those Saints fans reselling tickets in previous years, due to "family commitments" will be able to attend this year?

Would be horrible luck if it happened again.

[redjonn]

9 minutes ago, Trojan said:

I thought he lost control too, but the video ref gave it.  But then the video ref was Childs, say no more

yep, me too.... I thought he lost control... and dropped it,   hence the Halifax player so keen to apply his own pressure on the initial lose ball.

[hullste]

1 hour ago, Davo5 said:

Yep,must be classmates 

Typical pie eater, Rose tinted glasses, watched both games and it was clear that the refs had been told to allow slower rucks which helped Fax in the conditions. Anyway Fax where closer to us than you were in the 3 attempts you've had this season

[Davo5]

10 minutes ago, hullste said:

Typical pie eater, Rose tinted glasses, watched both games and it was clear that the refs had been told to allow slower rucks which helped Fax in the conditions. Anyway Fax where closer to us than you were in the 3 attempts you've had this season

You don't do irony then,Saints got every big call today,yes they were never really in danger of losing but the fact you blame the ref for not running up the expected cricket score rather than praise a brave & gutsy Halifax team is quite frankly a little sad and embarrassing,but at least you do have company in that department.

[hullste]

3 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

You don't do irony then,Saints got every big call today,yes they were never really in danger of losing but the fact you blame the ref for not running up the expected cricket score rather than praise a brave & gutsy Halifax team is quite frankly a little sad and embarrassing,but at least you do have company in that department.

Did I not say Fax were closer than you have been? That is praise enough now be quiet and watch the best two teams in SL compete in the final. 

[Rupert Prince]

2 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

Why was this game even played? It was clear from minute one that Kendall was going to give everything to Saints. The second Saints try, where Saints got a penalty for throwing the ball away after Halifax should have had a repeat set, climaxing with Peyroux knocking on over the line, really brought the game into disrepute.

I did not have a dog in this right.   Well OK, actually i wanted Halifax to win. 

But I did not see any dispute about the tries, none of them in either game, and they looked OK. 

Just being just a try still makes it a try.

[Moove]

Well first off much credit to Halifax. Whilst I don't think the result was ever in doubt, they showed the nerve to try something different with the short kick offs, and had guts and determination in abundance. They certainly didn't lack effort and I'd suggest they fronted up better against us than a number of SL teams so far this season and put in quite a few big hits. Credit also to the Fax fans who were superb. The whole club can be very proud of their efforts today.

As for us, I thought we showed Halifax plenty of respect with the team selection and taking the two early on as we would in any other big game. Given the conditions I thought it was a professional performance more than anything else.

Percival and Roby were excellent. Walmsley and Thompson seemed to be contained fairly well in their first stint but making yards wasn't the difficult part today. We lacked creativity, partly the weather but also I think the fact Richardson hasn't really been playing all season showed. It's disappointing that he didn't take the games by the nuts given the dominance of field position.

Anyway as it's the cup, a win's a win, pre-match predictions from some Fax fans of a 70+ win were always a bit daft given the weather. They aren't exactly languishing near the bottom of League One either. It hasn't improved my confidence in semi finals much though.

[longboard]

It was a pity that Fax didn't get over for a try or two but they tried manfully.

Congratulations to Saints. 

[Phil]

46 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

I did not have a dog in this right.   Well OK, actually i wanted Halifax to win. 

But I did not see any dispute about the tries, none of them in either game, and they looked OK. 

Just being just a try still makes it a try.

As a Fax fan I thought the ref had a good game, no problems with most of the calls, he certainly didn’t influence the match at all 

[Chris22]

The game was almost identical to our home match against London earlier this season. Halifax, like London in that game, tried the unusual with short kick offs and were successful with that tactic.

We were far from our best, which was a little bit of a worry, but we were never in any danger of losing that game, with Halifax never seriously threatening a try. That being said, Halifax played the conditions well and were very much in our faces. I haven't seen too much of them this season, but probably played to the best of their ability and will rightfully be proud of their efforts.

That game highlighted the importance of Coote and Knowles for me. Knowles' role in bringing play together is vastly underrated and we did miss him today. Similarly, we missed Coote, partly for his own influence, and partly because it brought Lomax back to full back and limited his attacking organisation.

It will be interesting to see if Lomax returns to 6 next week and Welsby gets a shot at 1 instead. Very satisfying to reach our first Challenge Cup Final in 11 years. Not spectacular, but got the job done. Bring on Wembley!

[yipyee]

3 hours ago, Davo5 said:

Surely there will be supporters buses laid on by the club that travel down on the morning of the match and return after at a reasonable cost.

Just looked...

Ticket for the game from 5 pound junior.. adult from 20

Coach ticket.. 43 pound each! 

[yipyee]

3 hours ago, Trojan said:

I thought he lost control too, but the video ref gave it.  But then the video ref was Childs, say no more

The video ref can't give a try just correct the wrong on field decision.. the try was given on the field and there was no clear evidence to suggest it shouldn't be.

Rules also state benefit of doubt to attacking team. 

[Trojan]

1 hour ago, yipyee said:

The video ref can't give a try just correct the wrong on field decision.. the try was given on the field and there was no clear evidence to suggest it shouldn't be.

Rules also state benefit of doubt to attacking team. 

Well there you go, for me he clearly lost control. I could see it, why couldn't Childs. There was no benefit of the doubt, because there was no doubt.

[deluded pom?]

9 hours ago, Moove said:

They aren't exactly languishing near the bottom of League One either. 

They are well off the bottom of League 1 

[Harry Stottle]

13 hours ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Anti-Rugby at its finest from Halifax. A bit of heart and effort in defence but they actually have not made any attempt to actually win this game here. I’m not sure what the thinking behind this was, really. Did they think they could keep us scoreless? Did they think they’d tire us out and then as we’re battling exhaustion, push us over ala Homer Simpson’s boxing career? Who knows?

Anyway, that’s one demon somewhat exorcised. Lose-lose this one. We lost and it would have been the biggest shock in RL and win and it’s only Halifax. 

I really hope Danny Richardson enjoyed playing Halifax. He’ll be there for most of his career now. He’s sub standard. He’s regressed beyond belief. Championship bound. 

On Richardson, in the games he has played at Leigh this season - and this is my opinion only - if someone did not know him or of his reputation and performances of last season they would/could not pick him out as anything other than an average player, in the televised Saints games he has performed immeasurably better than what we saw of him at Leigh, if offered his services again by Saints in DR format I doubt that John Duffy or indeed the Leigh fans would wany him back other than in an emergency situation.

As for your other comment "Anti- Rugby" Halifax? Have a look at the league tables with Saints being top of the elite and Halifax in 8th place not even in the top half of the division below, have you any idea what you are actually spouting. If Halifax were the attacking force you expect them to be, If they were full time pro's who did not have to go work and only train a couple of nights a week to hone and fine tune their game and strategies, if they as individuals or collectively had the required skills to attract SL clubs, and if they had the fitness levels to match full time professionals, they might have just done better!

Your comment Oliver is nothing other than juvenile, have you ever walked over the white line to peform on a Rugby League island, if you have, your pseudonym must be hiding a 'World Class' performer who looks down on those without the same skills sets, other than that having actually expierenced playing the game you should know better than criticise a group of player's who couldn't have given any more, they walked of that field not leaving one ounce of unused effort in their bodies well done to them for the performance they displayed, and total discredit to you for your elitist attitude of 'I support Saints'

[yipyee]

6 hours ago, Trojan said:

Well there you go, for me he clearly lost control. I could see it, why couldn't Childs. There was no benefit of the doubt, because there was no doubt.

He had his hand on the ball with downward pressure before he lost control? 

The ref talked through what he saw...

It hardly made a difference to the scoreline

[yipyee]

17 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

On Richardson, in the games he has played at Leigh this season - and this is my opinion only - if someone did not know him or of his reputation and performances of last season they would/could not pick him out as anything other than an average player, in the televised Saints games he has performed immeasurably better than what we saw of him at Leigh, if offered his services again by Saints in DR format I doubt that John Duffy or indeed the Leigh fans would wany him back other than in an emergency situation.

As for your other comment "Anti- Rugby" Halifax? Have a look at the league tables with Saints being top of the elite and Halifax in 8th place not even in the top half of the division below, have you any idea what you are actually spouting. If Halifax were the attacking force you expect them to be, If they were full time pro's who did not have to go work and only train a couple of nights a week to hone and fine tune their game and strategies, if they as individuals or collectively had the required skills to attract SL clubs, and if they had the fitness levels to match full time professionals, they might have just done better!

Your comment Oliver is nothing other than juvenile, have you ever walked over the white line to peform on a Rugby League island, if you have, your pseudonym must be hiding a 'World Class' performer who looks down on those without the same skills sets, other than that having actually expierenced playing the game you should know better than criticise a group of player's who couldn't have given any more, they walked of that field not leaving one ounce of unused effort in their bodies well done to them for the performance they displayed, and total discredit to you for your elitist attitude of 'I support Saints'

What job does Grix do?

[Moove]

1 hour ago, deluded pom? said:

They are well off the bottom of League 1 

I know, that's what I said