Sat 19th Mar: SL: Toulouse Olympique v St Helens KO 5pm (Local Time)

[Jim from Oz]

1 hour ago, The Daddy said:

Toulouse had at least 7 players out and still haven't replaced Jonathan Ford, so both teams were missing players

Can  somebody post the team lists? Thanks

[Scubby]

7 minutes ago, Jim from Oz said:

Can  somebody post the team lists? Thanks

[kiggy]

9 minutes ago, Scubby said:

No Stefani this week and Navarette was injured during the week. They lost Joe Bretherton, effectively after the 1st tackle when he won the ball back from the TO kick off....Toulouse scoring in the 1st minute from that.

TO finally tackling properly with some agression. Not too many stupid penalties also this week. Gigot kicked well in the 1st half. I thought at some point Saints would start to go through the gears, and it wasn't until half way through the 2nd half when Roby starting doing something different. Too many forward passes though which from this Saints side was a bit naff to be honest. 

Even with Marcon going over with 3mins left I still thought Saints would nick it. Fair doos to TO though, closed this game out much better than the Wigan game. Each game they are getting better and better. 

Week off then Castleford, week off then Catalans and then Hull KR at home. 2 out of those 3 winnable, especially when you see who we might be getting back into the team. 

Allez TO!

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

1 hour ago, Snowys Backside said:

Well done Toulouse. You can beat what is in front of you and Saints have a terrible habit of not performing away against the bottom clubs. 

Their home form won't be enough, but a double over Leeds might be!  

They gave us a shot at staying up when they came down and lost twice in 2019

[Anonymouse]

2 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

They gave us a shot at staying up when they came down and lost twice in 2019

Easy game for Whitehaven next week then  

[Morris Wanchuk]

Must admit initially thought Saints had put out a weakened squad today but on paper it looks a decent outfit. Last weak at Belle Vue, Toulouse never really threatened against a Trinity side that never looked like cutting loose.
 

Trinity today displayed a good kicking game today which I though was inspired by TO kicking game at Belle Vue last week, which was the best part of their game. 

[Waynebennettswinger]

Great result for Toulouse and SL.

Hopefully they can build on this, as for Saints it’s a loss to learn from.

[GUBRATS]

Well done Toulouse , nobody is now secure when visiting 

[GUBRATS]

3 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

A great victory for a great club, Castleford, Wakefield, Hull kr and Salford will all be worried they could be in a relegation battle this year 

You missed out Leeds 

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, Scubby said:

Both teams best available fully fit squads 

[Damien]

A great win for Toulouse against a pretty strong Saints team.

[meast]

Wow! Great result for Toulouse, I was almost tempted to go for a £1 free bet at 40/1 earlier but went for Warrington to win the grand final at 150/1 instead

[WN83]

A bit of talk going around that the Dolphins want Woolf as an assistant to Bennett. That would be undervaluing himself IMO. The job he’s done here has been superb. Yes Holbrook laid the foundations but he has taken this Saints side to a level an English club hasn’t reached for a good while. There are some really talented players in this Saints side but ultimately it’s the fact they’re willing and able to play at a greater intensity than their opponents that enables them to win comfortably most weeks. 

[Adelaide Tiger]

Just watched the Warrington v Wakey game this morning and towards the end of the program they showed this weeks results and outstanding fixtures with Toulouse and Saints to be played later that day.

So with great trepidation I came on this site to read through the Toulouse/Saints thread expecting a walk over for Saints.  But when someone posted ‘Toulouse win’ I said out loud to the wife ‘$##@# me, Toulouse beat St Helens’.  The wife just looked at me non-plus see and said ‘I know I saw it on Facebook earlier this morning’.

One day my wife will learn when to tell me the important things in life ……

[JohnM]

3 hours ago, Adelaide Tiger said:

 

 I said out loud to the wife ‘$##@# me……

And? Don't leave us in suspense.

[Harry Stottle]

12 hours ago, Jughead said:

I personally feel it still is bad. We could still lose Toulouse, we could lose an institution like Cas and the financial hit on anyone relegated could be direction changing for a number of clubs at a time where the game is at a junction that shapes the future. 

It's called competition Juggy, I really like this TO victory and hope they can get some more wins to create competition at the bottom of the league making it much more interesting than just the end of the season petering out, and unlike some I don't care that teams who are not expected to be there could be dragged into the dogfight to avoid relegation whoever they may be in fact it adds more intrigue.

I would also say that Sky would prefer the bottom of the comp to be contested as it adds variety to their scheduling, not to mention the Sky subscribers who will have more interesting games than just the few teams jockeying for position for the top 5.

Anyway relegation is not the end of the world is it? many supporters of the closed shop have said for a long time the Championship can be a great competition in it's own right and clubs and their fans should enjoy it, one thing is for sure come October one club in SL will find out and experience it next season.

 

[Adelaide Tiger]

30 minutes ago, JohnM said:

And? Don't leave us in suspense.

Let’s just say it was four letters and similar to a clothing brand …. and I don’t mean DKNY!

[Jughead]

47 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

It's called competition Juggy, I really like this TO victory and hope they can get some more wins to create competition at the bottom of the league making it much more interesting than just the end of the season petering out, and unlike some I don't care that teams who are not expected to be there could be dragged into the dogfight to avoid relegation whoever they may be in fact it adds more intrigue.

I would also say that Sky would prefer the bottom of the comp to be contested as it adds variety to their scheduling, not to mention the Sky subscribers who will have more interesting games than just the few teams jockeying for position for the top 5.

Anyway relegation is not the end of the world is it? many supporters of the closed shop have said for a long time the Championship can be a great competition in it's own right and clubs and their fans should enjoy it, one thing is for sure come October one club in SL will find out and experience it next season.

 

Even without relegation, it’s still called competition, as it is in the various sports and sporting leagues without it. 

 

[Adelaide Tiger]

18 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

It's called competition Juggy, I really like this TO victory and hope they can get some more wins to create competition at the bottom of the league making it much more interesting than just the end of the season petering out, and unlike some I don't care that teams who are not expected to be there could be dragged into the dogfight to avoid relegation whoever they may be in fact it adds more intrigue.

I would also say that Sky would prefer the bottom of the comp to be contested as it adds variety to their scheduling, not to mention the Sky subscribers who will have more interesting games than just the few teams jockeying for position for the top 5.

Anyway relegation is not the end of the world is it? many supporters of the closed shop have said for a long time the Championship can be a great competition in it's own right and clubs and their fans should enjoy it, one thing is for sure come October one club in SL will find out and experience it next season.

 

It depends what you mean by ‘end of the world’.  If a relegated club has to lose its better players is that considered OK? If the club fails to get promoted and ends up being part time is that considered a benefit to the sport?  If a promoted club spends up to its cap but is immediately relegated and suffers financial issues is that good for the game? Is watching the promoted club struggle to sign better players a sign of a healthy game?

P&R has only been an integral part of RL since 1974 and up to 1995 relegation was not seen as a big financial blow as virtually all clubs were part time and could afford to keep their players.

But, hopefully there may be a solution.  Rimmer recently stated that P&R will remain for the next couple of years.  So if the RFL quickly decide to retain P&R after that period then the newly created Joint Venture Company can hit the floor running looking at improving the investment and sponsorship deals that IMHO should initially be channeled to clubs in the Championship to close the discrepancy in the SC with SL.  This will enable more clubs to evolve towards FT status in a structured process or for some clubs to have more FT players in their squad.  This would help alleviate the issues I outlined in para 1 and then the game could have 2 divisions where P&R is not seen as a death knell but an opportunity to dust off and regroup.

P.S. I am all for P&R between the second and third tier but the game will probably never be able to fund the third tier beyond what they do now.

 

[Harry Stottle]

24 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Even without relegation, it’s still called competition, as it is in the various sports and sporting leagues without it. 

 

You may call it competition, but when there is nothing to play for what is the point, if my team got promoted I would still want P&R, I want to go to games and expierence all the emotions the excitement, joy, fear, happiness, pride satisfaction and pleasure and even the sadness of losing, I honestly wouldn't go if it did not matter if my team was in a position where the result of the game had no meaning, and and hand on heart Juggy you know that would be the case for a number of teams by the time the season is no more than halfway through.

And, what other sports and sporting leagues wherever on the planet they may be and how they organise their structures is up to them, in this country in a whole variety of sports we favour the P&R format and long may it be so.

[Jughead]

6 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

You may call it competition, but when there is nothing to play for what is the point, if my team got promoted I would still want P&R, I want to go to games and expierence all the emotions the excitement, joy, fear, happiness, pride satisfaction and pleasure and even the sadness of losing, I honestly wouldn't go if it did not matter if my team was in a position where the result of the game had no meaning, and and hand on heart Juggy you know that would be the case for a number of teams by the time the season is no more than halfway through.

And, what other sports and sporting leagues wherever on the planet they may be and how they organise their structures is up to them, in this country in a whole variety of sports we favour the P&R format and long may it be so.

It’s competition. No professional coach, chairman or player thinks it’s “pointless”. It’s a baseless argument from fans of tiny town that are frightened their club would be on the periphery. 

If you cannot feel emotion watching a game regardless of what the broader structure of the competition is, I would suggest it says more about you than the structure. 

[FearTheVee]

Congrats to TO!

I must admit having seen the teams I didn't think they would get within 20 but, although disappointing, I'm pretty chuffed they got their first win in such a statement way - it should do them a lot of good; certainly more so that it does us harm.

Here's hoping they can kick on from here.  Nice to put the potential unbeaten season nonsense to bed early too.

Sounds like we were really poor with some uncharacteristic bloopers, but if any side/coach has earned one bad day at the office it's this Saints side.

[DG70]

Might have to check the odds on Leeds to be relegated, by far currently the worst team in SL.

[Harry Stottle]

11 minutes ago, Adelaide Tiger said:

It depends what you mean by ‘end of the world’.  If a relegated club has to lose its better players is that considered OK? If the club fails to get promoted and ends up being part time is that considered a benefit to the sport?  If a promoted club spends up to its cap but is immediately relegated and suffers financial issues is that good for the game? Is watching the promoted club struggle to sign better players a sign of a healthy game?

P&R has only been an integral part of RL since 1974 and up to 1995 relegation was not seen as a big financial blow as virtually all clubs were part time and could afford to keep their players.

But, hopefully there may be a solution.  Rimmer recently stated that P&R will remain for the next couple of years.  So if the RFL quickly decide to retain P&R after that period then the newly created Joint Venture Company can hit the floor running looking at improving the investment and sponsorship deals that IMHO should initially be channeled to clubs in the Championship to close the discrepancy in the SC with SL.  This will enable more clubs to evolve towards FT status in a structured process or for some clubs to have more FT players in their squad.  This would help alleviate the issues I outlined in para 1 and then the game could have 2 divisions where P&R is not seen as a death knell but an opportunity to dust off and regroup.

P.S. I am all for P&R between the second and third tier but the game will probably never be able to fund the third tier beyond what they do now.

 

Evening Tiger, firstly bit of a cheap shot saying P&R has only been integral since 1974 that would have been very difficult to utilise with only having one professional division per se.

All of what you say in the first paragraph is the jeopardy that comes from ill preperation, bad management or even bad luck, but these days SL clubs all get an equal amount of funding, it is up to them how they use it.

I applaud your thinking in the third paragraph, but can you actually see that channelling more money below SL happening, not in a month of Sundays will that take place, it would be good if it did, but sorry no chance.

As for the last statement, if no funding is available for the third tier then it will be jettisoned from the league system.

[Harry Stottle]

13 minutes ago, Jughead said:

It’s competition. No professional coach, chairman or player thinks it’s “pointless”. It’s a baseless argument from fans of tiny town that are frightened their club would be on the periphery. 

If you cannot feel emotion watching a game regardless of what the broader structure of the competition is, I would suggest it says more about you than the structure. 

No need for the insults, 

So what does it say about me? only that I can get more involved in a game than you can.

Yesterday I went to a 3rd Division NCL game, I came away dissapointed that the team I favour conceded a try on the final whistle which meant they drew the game, I thoroughly enjoyed the game, but that lost point on the league ladder could be telling come the end of the season BECAUSE it matters and could result in promotion, if in your preferred static system it would not have mattered one bit as it would have took on no more than a 'friendly' fixture.