16 Feb: SL: Hull FC v St Helens KO 3pm

[Harry Stottle]

It must be painful being a HFC fan they seem to make a habit of promising so much then when they get a fixture where they all have to show up together they somehow seem to blow it.

But hey I am looking from afar just reading the scorelines they may have all performed well and had bad luck. 

[Ullman]

Very clinical from Saints in that spell after Connor's kick went out on the full. Don't think Hull touched the ball for the next 15 minutes. Hull had their opportunities but came up with too many errors early in the tackle count in the opposition's 20 whereas the game was out of reach before Saints came up with an error on Hull's line in the second half.

On the positive side, Hull would have thrown in the towel last season. The team stuck at it and came up with a couple of excellent tries to give the home fans some encouragement, which is more than can be said for any of the three games against Saints last year.

[Old Frightful]

I said at half time that the first 40 looked like a cup final, both teams seemingly nervous about playing decent rugby for the fear of making errors.

Come the second half and Hull appeared to still be of the same mindset whilst Saints got their act together and looked very good, Lomax was superb.

We conceded some dumb penalties, although none quite as stupid as the one LMS gave away, and this cost us field position we were struggling to obtain anyway.

Why we persist in using the two wingers to take the first couple of hit ups in every set I'll never know. Naulago picked up an injury after one such hit up and missed the rest of the game.We have six forwards and only half of them are used to take the ball up first man when we're in possession.

Saints had a few players back, we were missing a similar number, and our bench looked fairly ordinary I'm afraid. They looked like what they are, a good side and we looked like a side that crawls into it's shell a bit when fringe players are asked to step up.

Never mind, I'll be wandering over to the DW next Sunday to see what happens there.

[Ullman]

3 hours ago, MZH said:

Bruising first half. 6-2 at HT. 

Pretty sure Ellis has played the whole half.

Very impressive stint from Ellis. Even at his age the team seems diminished when he goes off.

Also thought Ligi Sao was superb again. Looks like a great piece of recruitment.

[Jarv]

Was delighted to be winning 6-2 at half time as I thought Saints had dominated 90% of the first half on the back of silly mistakes/penalties and basically winning the forward battle (I didn't know until after the game that Bowden had dropped out in the warm up and we did seem a bit "light" missing 4 forwards).

Thought we would have kicked on in the second half until Connor hit it out on the full (not quite as spectacular as his banana kick in the first half that defied physics) and that started a bit of a disastrous 15 minutes. At that point I expected a cricket score which we seem to have become specialists at but at least we fronted up to a degree and didnt let that happen.

Bit hard to judge anything this early in the season with both teams missing players. I am not sure Radford would have been using Fonua for a couple more games had he the choice for example. My top three players for FC.. Swift (didn't do a thing wrong for me), Sao (aside from a bit of niggle) and Ellis - we still defensively looks miles better when he is on the pitch.

 

 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

Didn't get to the game or even get to listen to it until the last 20 mins (had to meet the step daughter's boyfriend's parents. Bloody family commitments!)

Turned on just as we scored our second try. We seemed to give away loads of penalties in that time. Discipline an issue again.

Injuries have hit us already. We were supposed to have the strength in depth this year. Forwards are lacking it seems. Matongo only played the last 18 minutes I was told. Not using our squad very well there if true.

Everyone other than Huddersfield have lost at some point now (and they may have been beaten by Leeds had that game gone ahead, and nearly lost to Salford). Everyone has had a dip already. Can't read too much into this yet.

[Chris22]

Only listened on the radio but seemed the game changed on Connor's kick out on the full. Then Lomax took control.

A couple of worries about our discipline which looks far worse than last year.

But Hull were 2 from 2 and to go there and win is hugely impressive. Pleased we didn't panic when it took us a while to break Hull down, which is more than can be said for me!

[Old Frightful]

4 hours ago, Jarv said:

My top three players for FC.. Swift (didn't do a thing wrong for me)

Just goes to show how people see things differently.

I'm being patient with Swift as he's new to the squad and will no doubt take time to fit in, but from what I've seen over the last two games we've wasted our money. He's not done anything more than what an enthusiastic kid out of the academy might have managed, apart from perhaps made less errors due to his experience.

With a fully fit squad, he'd be fourth in line for wing selection for me.

[Jarv]

11 hours ago, Old Frightful said:

Just goes to show how people see things differently.

I'm being patient with Swift as he's new to the squad and will no doubt take time to fit in, but from what I've seen over the last two games we've wasted our money. He's not done anything more than what an enthusiastic kid out of the academy might have managed, apart from perhaps made less errors due to his experience.

With a fully fit squad, he'd be fourth in line for wing selection for me.

Yep.. to put it in context I was more judging him against the general performance. I just thought he looked "solid enough"

Must admit I am not sure of the winger situation. The one thing I am wondering about Swift is that (unlike the others - Faraimo, Ratu and I also include Fonua who I think is a better winger than centre) he may not be as dynamic going forward but may be a bit more solid in defense. I think even against Leeds and KR we still look to have a slightly soft underbelly out wide...