Thu 10th Feb: SL: St Helens v Catalans Dragons KO 20:00 SKY

[Man of Kent]

Welcome back, Super League. We’ve missed you. 

[Josef K]

Back to the 7.45pm KO’s i think. 

[Hvy wg]

It's right that we are very slow. With Mourgue out we lack the only blitz player we have.

 

[Scubby]

13,,108 at Saints tonight. Great crowd!

[WN83]

10 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Some valid points perhaps but Tom Davies ??? The guy is 25 years old and just had the season of his life.

Not writing him off as a player at all, simply saying he’s lost half a yard after that horrific broken leg. He was exceptional last season for sure and he’s probably Catalans quickest player but that’s my point, even their quickest player isn’t a flyer. His engine is amazing, his work rate even better but as he showed tonight, he can be chased down over a distance. 
 

To beat Saints your going to need to go around them and when you get in the clear, you’re going to need a couple of players who can hurt them with sheer pace. 

[Damien]

1 minute ago, Scubby said:

13,,108 at Saints tonight. Great crowd!

Yeah a very good crowd against Catalans.

[Scubby]

Just now, WN83 said:

Not writing him off as a player at all, simply saying he’s lost half a yard after that horrific broken leg. He was exceptional last season for sure and he’s probably Catalans quickest player but that’s my point, even their quickest player isn’t a flyer. His engine is amazing, his work rate even better but as he showed tonight, he can be chased down over a distance. 
 

To beat Saints your going to need to go around them and when you get in the clear, you’re going to need a couple of players who can hurt them with sheer pace. 

Morgue is a big miss. Agree they need zip against the big boys

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

36 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Braces, I think. 

Yeah.....funny age to have braces

[WN83]

2 minutes ago, Hvy wg said:

It's right that we are very slow. With Mourgue out we lack the only blitz player we have.

 

Mourgue will help. No way am I daft enough to write Pearce off after a game but I do wonder if we could be sat here later in the season debating if Catalans may have been better served moving Sam Tomkins up to six and getting Mourgue in at fullback. You could then use that cap space on some more pace in at hooker to interchange Micky Mac.

 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

3 minutes ago, Scubby said:

13,,108 at Saints tonight. Great crowd!

Oy!!!! There is a thread for that 

[overtheborder]

31 minutes ago, WN83 said:

I said pre game I want to see a couple of months of Catalans to help ease my concerns that last year could be a one off. They tried to go toe to toe with Saints tonight but couldn’t keep their intensity and discipline up and their errors down, which is everything (plus plenty) Saints did in spades. 
 

I don’t think Catalans will have the pace to get over this Saints side in a big game (not that I’m convinced they’ll make any) Tomkins has lost much of his, Pearce has none, McIlorum the same, Drinkwater doesn’t and even a guy like Tom Davies isn’t as quick as he was. They don’t have the guys to play any other way then trying to slug it out with Saints and nobody will beat them at that IMO. 

I think they looked like they had some of the makings of a top side tonight. Fair enough that looked nowhere near their best but if they nail the discipline and they get it right it'd take a great performance to beat them IMO.

[Hvy wg]

10 minutes ago, WN83 said:

Mourgue will help. No way am I daft enough to write Pearce off after a game but I do wonder if we could be sat here later in the season debating if Catalans may have been better served moving Sam Tomkins up to six and getting Mourgue in at fullback. You could then use that cap space on some more pace in at hooker to interchange Micky Mac.

 

Mourgue is out for 3 months...

 

[Ray Cashmere]

Only 1 game but I don't think Saints had to play that well to beat that Catalans side.

Do worry they've fallen back to their old ways relying on big name antipodeans again rather than building on the French core that gave them some identity last season.

May & Pearce were anonymous, Mcilorum just doesn't have the zip anymore and Tomkins was poor. One of the few bright spots was Dezaria. 

[Hvy wg]

I wonder if the antipodeans just got smacked after thinking they were here for easy holidays. Oh its actually hard there, pity me!

Drinkwater also hiding in defense leaving Langi alone fronting up with Hurrel.

 

[DoubleD]

36 minutes ago, Damien said:

Yeah a very good crowd against Catalans.

You lining up another away fan’s argument?

[DoubleD]

Saints weathered the storm and showed composure, unlike Catalans. Pearce was anonymous, he looked like a bystander. Tomkins and McMeekan also had poor games by their standard. Napa doing what I expected. McNamara has a job on his hands, but he very competently coped with it last year and I expect them to be top 4 again this year 

[The storm]

42 minutes ago, Scubby said:

13,,108 at Saints tonight. Great crowd!

Really good crowd

 

Very positive 

[Jughead]

In fairness to Catalans, Bousquets got injured, Napa was, to be kind, stupid and Dudson spent ten minutes in the bin and was otherwise anonymous. Their best prop was Dezaria, who people seemed to have written off prior to the season starting. The ill discipline was, frankly, a disgrace and they fall into that trap all too often as a club and when you’re forwards put in a collective performance like that, you’ll struggle to win many games let alone a game against Saints so it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see a lot less of Pearce and Drinkwater tonight.

They’ll go reasonably well but need more from their forwards and need that sort of performance to be a one off. 

[Padge]

56 minutes ago, The storm said:

Really good crowd

They're scousers* 50% must be bad.

*plastic.

 

'

[Josef K]

5 hours ago, meast said:

Pleasantly happy to see the teams enter the field separately to cheers and boos respectively, better than the slow walk out together 

Football always seem to kick off on time, why do RL games kick off 3-5mins later ?. 

[Loiner]

So what have we learned from that game apart from it was garbage? Catalans cannot create anything  Pierce and Drinkwater were anonymous and if we can get a referee to get Saints onside other teams might have a chance.

[Josef K]

I thought it was a good hard game, Catalans in spells looked dangerous and their try was a cracker. The time wasting going on was ridiculous at times something needs to be done about it. Batchelor improves with every game he has been a cracking signing. Roby still ceases to amaze me with his fitness.

I did witness a correct PTB by Paasi in the 2nd half but there wasn’t many from the other 33players. Take Walmsley out of the saints side and we’d be knackered, but we might need Walmsley to take over kicking duties after Dodds pitiful efforts.

I expect both sets of players will be carrying a few knocks into next week. I can’t see Percival playing, Hopoate looks like he’s done a rib or something. Matautia was limping when he came back on. 

[Just Browny]

5 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

 

Saints are a neutral’s delight. They play rugby the right way. 

Saints are certainly effective but this is hilarious. Four drives up the middle and a six again, followed by four more drives.

The Entertainers were the better side but for 35 minutes in the 2nd half all they could muster was 2 points from a penalty, where they chose to kick the goal 10m out when eight points ahead (i.e. almost useless). The Twickers lot would have cringed at that.

Lots of work to do at Catalans, including practising with a rugby ball.

[George Watt]

3 hours ago, Josef K said:

I thought it was a good hard game, Catalans in spells looked dangerous and their try was a cracker. The time wasting going on was ridiculous at times something needs to be done about it. Batchelor improves with every game he has been a cracking signing. Roby still ceases to amaze me with his fitness.

I did witness a correct PTB by Paasi in the 2nd half but there wasn’t many from the other 33players.

One  player in SL who plays the ball correctly every time is Welsby. Tonight Hopoate was also faultless in this area. One of these days I will see Walmsley at least attempt to touch the ball with his foot!

 

[WiganBooney]

Unfortunately I think Catalans this year have too many players past their best, the signings didn't look great and seem to gave gone more Anglo-Aussie.  

They won't struggle but can't see them as serious contenders, I know it's only one game.