Sun 12 Jun: SL: St Helens v Hull Kingston Rovers KO 15:00

[Old Frightful]

26-18.

[Old Frightful]

Skints 26 Rovers 18,

full tarm.

[Saint Toppy]

Some really poor officiating throughout that game from Griffiths, just about the only things he got right were the 2 sin bins . The amount of whistle just ruined the whole game.

Rovers struggled to make yards all day and all their points came in the back of penalties that gave them field position. As strange as it may sound I think they will come away from that game fairly happy. 
I also think this will be the last Sunday afternoon game Saints go with, first sub 10k crowd if the year and virtually no away fans.

 

 

[Old Frightful]

2 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

Some really poor officiating throughout that game from Griffiths, just about the only things he got right were the 2 sin bins . The amount of whistle just ruined the whole game.

Rovers struggled to make yards all day and all their points came in the back of penalties that gave them field position. As strange as it may sound I think they will come away from that game fairly happy. 
I also think this will be the last Sunday afternoon game Saints go with, first sub 10k crowd if the year and virtually no away fans.

Must have been the Saints fans cheering when Rovers scored then was it?, sounded like a healthy number of them.

[Old Frightful]

1 minute ago, Saint 1 said:

They were loud, but I'd have said only a couple hundred. 

I wonder how many games in Hull Toppy has been to in recent years.

[Chris22]

Entertaining in parts and scrappy in others. Hurrell made some poor reads in defence but was devastating in attack.

A couple of nice touches from Welsby, his attacking kicking game is coming along nicely. 

A little bit chaotic, unlike most matches we play in, but pleasing to keep that lead at the top.

[Old Frightful]

2 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

I also think this will be the last Sunday afternoon game Saints go with, first sub 10k crowd if the year and virtually no away fans.

From a Saints fan on Facebook :

It's very rare that Saints have a Sunday home game, but for a while some people have been telling us that the key to improving attendances would be to have those games on Sunday afternoons. Today's attendance was the lowest of the season and some 3,500 below the average (although admittedly that average did include crowds from games against Wigan and Warrington). We were also told that we'd see a big increase in the number of away supporters. However, Hull KR must have had no more than around 400-500 following them, and probably brought less than Hull FC did on a Friday night for a televised game. We've seen nothing today to prove that Friday is the wrong choice. The Rovers fans had a chance to make a statement to us in terms of what we could get in away numbers by moving games away from Fridays, but failed to do so.

So, your assertion of "virtually no away fans" seems to be inaccurate not only from hearing Hull KR fans singing on live radio but also an account from a Saints fan who was at the game.

[Saint Toppy]

17 hours ago, Old Frightful said:

Must have been the Saints fans cheering when Rovers scored then was it?, sounded like a healthy number of them.

No idea where people think there were 400+, there were around 150-200 Rovers fans, the away end was virtually empty. This end is split into 5 sections and sections 1,2 & 5 were completly empty with the Rovers fans grouped together in a small part in the middle of sections 3 & 4 and then maybe around a dozen of them stood at the front fence. The photo below was taken at the warm up before the game. While it unfortunately doesn't show the whole of the away end you can clearly see just how empty it was.

The whole point I was making was Saints picked this game as Sunday afternoon one in the hope of increasing the crowd, and in particular giving HKR a chance to bring more fans without having to brave the chaos of the M62 of a Friday evening, but it backfired. Not only were there very few away fans but the home support was also well below what they get on a Friday night.

It was an experiment that just didn't work.

Edited June 13, 2022 by Saint Toppy

[Josef K]

It was the quietest atmosphere of the season so far and it was a strange atmosphere. I don’t know if it was the continual stop start for most of the match. I thought Welsby Roby Hurrell played well for Saints, but the stand out was HKR’s fullback he setup tries, scored them and kicked goals from the left & right touchlines. I think another prop for HKR and another centre and they could challenge for trophies next season. They’re entertaining to watch. 

[Saint Toppy]

55 minutes ago, Josef K said:

I thought Welsby Roby Hurrell played well for Saints, 

Not convinced by Welsby in the halves, he took quite a few wrong decisions in that game and he didn't really take much control or lead the team around.

Roby is... well just Roby. We're so used to seeing him put in phenomenal performances week after week that he doesn't always get mentioned.

As for Hurrell, For me that was his best performance for years, he was virtually unstoppable at times. The run before the Davies try where he literally trampled over the top of a couple of HKR players was like watching the Hurrell of old when he burst onto the NRL scene, and I don't think they laid a finger on him for his try.

Another disappointing show from Hopoate again IMO. He's a solid enough player but he just doesn't get involved enough from FB, and on kick returns I can't think of anything more frustrating than a FB who refuses to take the ball in. Most of the time he just ambled forward and then waited until the winger came across and passed to them to take the ball in. He could have made an extra 10-15 yards every time of he'd run it back himself. And then to cap it all it looked like he's injured his hamstring again and spent the latter part of the game limping around bandaged up like a mummy.

Hurrell looks like he's out to prove a point and earn a new contract, Hopoate looks like he's here for a holiday

[Chris22]

 

To try and settle this debate about away followings, here is a picture.

[HKR AWAY DAYS]

On 12/06/2022 at 17:16, Saint Toppy said:

Some really poor officiating throughout that game from Griffiths, just about the only things he got right were the 2 sin bins . The amount of whistle just ruined the whole game.

Rovers struggled to make yards all day and all their points came in the back of penalties that gave them field position. As strange as it may sound I think they will come away from that game fairly happy. 
I also think this will be the last Sunday afternoon game Saints go with, first sub 10k crowd if the year and virtually no away fans.

 

 

I disagree. I thought he had a good game, especially first half.

Sending Welsby for 10 was the right call and one he could easily have just given a penalty for.

We tried to slow your rapid attack down by spoiling at the play the ball and he gave multiple six again calls; he knew exactly what we were up to and responded appropriately.

We gave away 3 six agains in 30 seconds and rightfully binned Parcell.

When Parcell was down getting treatment the shot clock ran out and we hadn't packed the scrum, so he correctly penalised us there too. 

A lot of our lot thought it was wrong but he was obviously told Parcell was fit to continue so another player had to step in and they didn't.

The decision to call a forward pass for one of our tries was arguably harsh as we were in the game and were the better side for good periods of second half, so that was a big call. 

There wasn't much I could criticise him for from our end. 

Was a very good, entertaining game. 

[Old Frightful]

14 hours ago, Chris22 said:

 

To try and settle this debate about away followings, here is a picture.

Thanks for that Chris.

Makes the "virtually no away fans" remark laughable and confirms the Saints facebook fan's estimate of 4/500, I would say.

Once again I find myself sticking up for Hull KR fans, I need to go and have another lie down.

[Old Frightful]

"Virtually no away fans"

[Josef K]

On 13/06/2022 at 20:26, HKR AWAY DAYS said:

I disagree. I thought he had a good game, especially first half.

Sending Welsby for 10 was the right call and one he could easily have just given a penalty for.

We tried to slow your rapid attack down by spoiling at the play the ball and he gave multiple six again calls; he knew exactly what we were up to and responded appropriately.

We gave away 3 six agains in 30 seconds and rightfully binned Parcell.

When Parcell was down getting treatment the shot clock ran out and we hadn't packed the scrum, so he correctly penalised us there too. 

A lot of our lot thought it was wrong but he was obviously told Parcell was fit to continue so another player had to step in and they didn't.

The decision to call a forward pass for one of our tries was arguably harsh as we were in the game and were the better side for good periods of second half, so that was a big call. 

There wasn't much I could criticise him for from our end. 

Was a very good, entertaining game. 

Who is the flag of at the Rovers end ?. 

[Josef K]

Just now, Old Frightful said:

"Virtually no away fans"

As soon as the hooter went i was out of the exit like a shot. Even i couldn’t be arsed hanging around to applaud Roby or Coote, i thought it was a poor match. It felt like a five day test, but not with the ending of the Eng/NZ test today. 

Saints discipline can be shocking at times. Our kicks in general play haven’t been much cop either, Mako is really hit & miss with his goal kicking but at least he is willing to come forward and give it a go. I can’t make my mind up on Lussick, Woolf doesn’t seem to want to give him much time on the pitch. But when he is on he is virtually invisible. I would’ve loved Matt Parcell at Saints i think he’s great. 

[Josef K]

19 hours ago, Old Frightful said:

Thanks for that Chris.

Makes the "virtually no away fans" remark laughable and confirms the Saints facebook fan's estimate of 4/500, I would say.

Once again I find myself sticking up for Hull KR fans, I need to go and have another lie down.

I don’t think it matters how many away fans travel, because it’s up to the home club to fill up the empty seats and terracing.
How much would the cost be for petrol to St. Helens & then back to East Hull. What was the price for those that came by supporters coaches. 

[Old Frightful]

6 hours ago, Josef K said:

I don’t think it matters how many away fans travel, because it’s up to the home club to fill up the empty seats and terracing.
How much would the cost be for petrol to St. Helens & then back to East Hull. What was the price for those that came by supporters coaches. 

My "Virtually no away fans" comment with a photo of plenty of away fans was simply a swipe at Toppy who seems to have been rather mistaken in his calculations, but then again, I feel he does seem to let his love for his club get in the way of facts sometimes.

I can't speak for Hull KR coach charges but when I travelled across to watch Hull FC a few weeks since it was £18. As for going in car, well it's a round trip of about 250 miles so even the most miserly car would need 5 to 6 gallons at something approaching £8 a gallon so between £40 and £50.