Sat 10 Apr: CC3: St Helens v Leeds Rhinos KO 14:30 (BBC)

[Man of Kent]

Well that’s that but a tremendous effort by Leeds. Wouldn’t have been surprised if Saints had won by 20+ but Leeds have a habit of dragging better sides down through their forwards. 

[Mr Frisky]

2 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

Barnsley game is also pretty sheeite. But I've been used to fev, Barnsley and partick thistle all my bloody life so I'm used to.sheeite most of the time

Though you had gone lad.... well you did take the time to announce to us you were going so can you formally announce when you come back?

[GeordieSaint]

Well done Leeds. Fantastic effort. 

Saints through but we were really poor.

26-18. FT

[Bleep1673]

Makinsons place kicks have been very good.

[Dunbar]

Enjoyed that.

Well done Leeds for showing so much heart from the start and in particular after the red card.

[Mr Frisky]

1 minute ago, Johnoco said:

Leeds last kick has been poor all game and that last one ultimately cost them the game.

I wonder why that is?

[Futtocks]

Huge effort by a depleted Leeds, and it came very close to working. But St Helens go through.

[Futtocks]

See you on BBC2!

[Hela Wigmen]

The win is all that matter in a cup competition and we’ve won ugly there. Very ugly. 

[Jim Prendle]

34 minutes ago, Wollo Wollo Wayoo said:

Willie Isa hit on Tom Johnstone last week being a good example.  Player off after HIA and not even a penalty.  Todays ref was on the video ref spot too.

Here we go again. You just can’t help yourself can you?

[The Hallucinating Goose]

After that first quick try from Saints I thought they were gonna run away with it but Leeds stayed in right through even after going a man down, tremendous effort by them. Really enjoyed that! 

[jannerboyuk]

Really enjoyable 2nd half for the neutral, unlucky leeds 

[graveyard johnny]

is brad dwyer in the england squad?- always looks good- didn't even realise lachlan coote was playing!

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

Paasi looks remarkably like Kurt Sorrenson close up.

[graveyard johnny]

1 minute ago, Wollo Wollo Wayoo said:

Paasi looks remarkably like Kurt Sorrenson close up.

luckily i haven't been close up to kurt sorrenson

[Rupert Prince]

47 minutes ago, graveyard johnny said:

luckily i haven't been close up to kurt sorrenson

Ha ha.

Many years ago I remember seeing on TV Brian Hogan get sent off for a horrible stiff arm.  Later that evening in our packed pub I was standing behind my chair and someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and there was a really fed up Hogan in my ear. "Is that chair free?"   I had to whisper with dry mouth, "No".   "*%$#@¥₩" he replied.  But I survived.

[Chris22]

Continued our record of struggling in Cup games. We were fortunate that Leeds had nothing close to a half back on the field and that Tetavano made a stupid challenge or we probably would have lost.

Thought Leeds did as well as they could have but understandably struggled badly with their kicking game.

Paasi the highlight for Saints. Really strong runner and great impact off the bench. 

We did the job just about. In the Cup especially it's all about winning. On to the next one!

[paulwalker71]

Decent effort from Leeds there, made for a good watch.

I'm still not sure exactly why Leeds had Smith and Martin in the halves? Do they really not have anyone at all in their entire squad who is a) fit and b) can make a passable attempt at being a half back?

They'd probably have looked more balanced if they'd played either Leeming or Dwyer as a half.

[Chrispmartha]

1 hour ago, paulwalker71 said:

Decent effort from Leeds there, made for a good watch.

I'm still not sure exactly why Leeds had Smith and Martin in the halves? Do they really not have anyone at all in their entire squad who is a) fit and b) can make a passable attempt at being a half back?

They'd probably have looked more balanced if they'd played either Leeming or Dwyer as a half.

No all our players who could be called a half were injured

Gale

Myler

Lui

Eastmond

Sutcliffe

Mclelland

 

Smith has played 6 before, I did think they may have tried Leeming at halfback at somepoint.

[M j M]

53 minutes ago, paulwalker71 said:

Decent effort from Leeds there, made for a good watch.

I'm still not sure exactly why Leeds had Smith and Martin in the halves? Do they really not have anyone at all in their entire squad who is a) fit and b) can make a passable attempt at being a half back?

They'd probably have looked more balanced if they'd played either Leeming or Dwyer as a half.

It's hard to say but I actually think we may have been worse had we tried to find a lightweight player to try and play as a sort of half back, at least for the first two thirds of the game. Trying to play conventional alternatives in the usual positions would arguably have been less effective than largely disposing of those positions entirely and essentially having an eight man pack. Whilst that didn't offer much creatively for most of the game it did wear Saints down and put us in the position to challenge towards the end. Bringing Dwyer on any earlier I think may have similarly been negative - Agar has got quite adept at finding the right time for him to come on the field to do his headless chicken stuff.

In terms of working out how to use what he had available to give Leeds the best chance, this struck me as very much an Agar coaching masterclass, up there with how very he built a very specific plan to deal with Wigan in the CC semi last year.

[MADREDNIGE]

3 hours ago, Mr Frisky said:

Though you had gone lad.... well you did take the time to announce to us you were going so can you formally announce when you come back?

Sheete or not we won, same cant be said of Rovers, huge difference in SL and Championship. 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

4 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

is brad dwyer in the england squad?- always looks good- didn't even realise lachlan coote was playing!

Needs to be, those scampering runs are deadly

[Josef K]

5 hours ago, Wollo Wollo Wayoo said:

Yellow yes but RED!  Bloody ridiculous

I thought a yellow was enough. 

[Josef K]

5 hours ago, Robin Evans said:

I gave up.when thaler got the red mist.

Watching barnsley v Middlesbrough now

I’ve only been to Barnsley the once when Saints played Wakey there. A nice stadium, especially the old stand with the tv gantry. Although it doesn’t match the other three stands. 

[Josef K]

5 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

is brad dwyer in the england squad?- always looks good- didn't even realise lachlan coote was playing!

It was quite clear Coote wasn’t match fit, if only we had a reserve competition