Fri 9th Sept: SL: Catalans Dragons v Leeds Rhinos KO 20:00 (Sky)

[redjonn]

It seemed a typical play-off game for the first 20mns. Leeds playing conservatively and dominating the game and winning the arm wrestle. They failed to score but caused Catalan to do a lot of tackling - the tackle count showing a huge difference at half time. That was always going to tell and is typical of RL with a dominant team.

Catalan struggled and to me did what again is a typical tactic of trying to ruffle Leeds and as part of that targeted Bentley.  That tactic worked causing Leeds to lose focus and thus Catalan came into the game. Lets be honest it is a tactic typical of RL. Unfortunately for Catalan whilst it Leeds lost focus at that stage it didn't unnerve or cause them to not be fairly aggressive. 

The best team won on the night.

Catalan lost their discipline by being too aggressive which further hindered them. It was the only way they could see of winning back control of the game which Leeds for the vast majority of the game Leeds maintained.

Can't understand the fuss I'm reading above and to repeat Leeds played a good play-off game controlling the most of the game and where it was played. The frustration this caused Catalan led to their indiscipline.

A not unusual game of RL where one team can't gain control of the game. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by redjonn

[Chrispmartha]

4 minutes ago, redjonn said:

It seemed a typical play-off game for the first 20mns. Leeds playing conservatively and dominating the game and winning the arm wrestle. They failed to score but caused Catalan to do a lot of tackling - the tackle count showing a huge difference at half time. That was always going to tell and is typical of RL with a dominant team.

Catalan struggled and to me did what again is a typical tactic of trying to ruffle Leeds and as part of that targeted Bentley.  That tactic worked causing Leeds to lose focus and thus Catalan came into the game. Lets be honest it is a tactic typical of RL. Unfortunately for Catalan whilst it Leeds lost focus at that stage it didn't unnerve or cause them to not be fairly aggressive. 

The best team won on the night.

Catalan lost their discipline by being too aggressive which further hindered them. It was the only way they could see of winning back control of the game which Leeds for the vast majority of the game Leeds maintained.

Can't understand the fuss I'm reading above and to repeat Leeds played a good play-off game controlling the most of the game and where it was played. The frustration this caused Catalan led to their indiscipline.

A not unusual game of RL where one team can't gain control of the game. 

 

 

 

 

Excellent summary.

Leeds were by far the better team, Catalans lost their rag.

[StandOffHalf]

39 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Child didn’t lose the players. The Catalans players lost the plot, they couldn’t control themselves in the emotion fuelled environment 

I think both of these things happened.

[Ragingbull]

1 hour ago, DavidM said:

Do we still see Samkins as a shoo-in for England ? Im not sure nowadays

Hes gone from man of steel to man of tin foil this season. 

[Hvy wg]

I still find some guys in the stadium telling me Dudson and Napa were good. They were not.

The whole pack of recruits this year was subpar. 

Were an aging team. The era of McIlorum and Tomkins is gone. Wigan understood that, we did not.

 

[SalfordSlim]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

Tomkins tried to wind Bentley up all game, backfired massively 

Does Bentley need winding up? He comes across as the sort of guy who'd wake up bleary eyed, see his face in the mirror and want to punch himself before he belatedly works out it's his own reflection.

A sandwich, scotch egg and a bottle of Merrydown short of a picnic is that lad.

[Chrispmartha]

3 minutes ago, SalfordSlim said:

Does Bentley need winding up? He comes across as the sort of guy who'd wake up bleary eyed, see his face in the mirror and want to punch himself before he belatedly works out it's his own reflection.

A sandwich, scotch egg and a bottle of Merrydown short of a picnic is that lad.

And yet he’s come out on the winning side and not been penalised.

 

[SalfordSlim]

4 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

And yet he’s come out on the winning side and not been penalised.

 

In which case all good then. I look forward to some of his antics costing England at some point in the World Cup.

[GUBRATS]

4 minutes ago, SalfordSlim said:

In which case all good then. I look forward to some of his antics costing England at some point in the World Cup.

No chance , if he's anywhere an England shirt , we've had it before we start 

[Jughead]

Catalans’ losing their heads on and off the field. Quelle surprise. 

[Chrispmartha]

6 minutes ago, SalfordSlim said:

In which case all good then. I look forward to some of his antics costing England at some point in the World Cup.

Im pretty sure Bentley won’t be in the England squad so not quite sure what you’re on about?

[SalfordSlim]

4 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Im pretty sure Bentley won’t be in the England squad so not quite sure what you’re on about?

My bad.... for some reason I've got a picture of him in my head wearing an England shirt in the past but I'm obviously getting him mixed up with someone else.

TFFT.

[clogdance]

Only got to see the last 20 minutes (due to dog walking because it finally wasn't  raining) but it seem quite a feisty affair and the Catalans fans didn't seem to like some of James Childs refereeing decisions.

Edited September 9, 2022 by clogdance

[Snowys Backside]

16 minutes ago, SalfordSlim said:

My bad.... for some reason I've got a picture of him in my head wearing an England shirt in the past but I'm obviously getting him mixed up with someone else.

TFFT.

That's probably John Bateman.

Got that Similar looking 'Squishy Yed'.

He's significantly overrated too !!

[Loiner]

On 07/09/2022 at 13:14, Saint Toppy said:

Close for an hours but Cats by 20 in the end

Yeah and what did you say earlier, " if Leeds get in the play offs they will go no further than the first game.

[Loiner]

5 hours ago, LeeF said:

Leeds are appealing and his Dad is upset on Twitter

Pathetic 

[Loiner]

5 hours ago, DavidM said:

Dylan Napa is either a dirty git or just braindead 

Both.

[Loiner]

4 hours ago, Dave T said:

Both teams are a disgrace 

From a wire fan oh the irony.

[Loiner]

4 hours ago, Ant said:

Both sides were awful, but once again Leeds won with spoiling, niggle, !@#£house tactics with an appallingly one sided ref

What a quote from a complete idiot. Catalans had a man sent off and 3 sin binned.

[Josef K]

I thought it was a great win for Leeds. Catalans looked shattered and gasping for large parts of the game, they just didn’t really click all night. What they need to sort out is their discipline, it seemed the last thing on their mind was playing RL. 

[FearTheVee]

Very much hoping Hudds beat Salford now as I don’t see any way that Leeds side beats saints at saints.

A really poor game and Catalans were (again) a joke.

People keep telling me how important Tomkins will be for his leadership in the World Cup . . . .

[David Dockhouse Host]

7 hours ago, StandOffHalf said:

Not necessarily, but they need to be decisive, consistent and authoritative. Child lost the players, especially the Catalans players.

Catalan players are responsible for their actions, you cannot blame the ref for what they did.

What is 'be authoritive'? What can the ref do, shout at them, yell, tell them off, ask them not to be petulant? 100% players conduct is the responsibility of the players.

I wouldn't accept a players excuse for I'll discipline in their review by saying "its the refs fault I stole a ball, stepped offside, tackled high etc."

If people are blaming the ref get again their focus is in the wrong place IMO.

[gingerjon]

8 hours ago, M j M said:

Seriously though the way it kicked off at the end with the last few minutes played in a rain of bottles and beer cups, Child having to be manhandled off the pitch amongst a shower of  missiles, the Leeds players dodging similar as they celebrated and then the brief bit of fighting on the stairs leading to the away seating was all a bit intense.

I switched off before the very end so missed this.

That sort of thing should see Cats - and any club where similar happens - playing games behind closed doors for a spell.

[David Dockhouse Host]

8 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

It was plainly clear both sets of players were going out of their way to niggle the opposition , so as a ref you've a choice , let them run the game , or you run the game , Child's took too much ' chat ' from both sides , it needed nipping in the bud , he didn't do it , he's experienced enough to know this , poor game from him , poor from the players 

The only thing a ref can do is take a firmer stance, which means blowing more and sending more to the bin.

Then we would have....

Ref is ruining the game, it's stop start, refs not letting it flow, players getting frustrated with the ref being unnecessarily harsh.

Players are responsible for their actions, not the ref. Control your emotions, focus on your game and your more likely to play better. Or get worse have a strop  and blame the ref. 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, David Dockhouse Host said:

The only thing a ref can do is take a firmer stance, which means blowing more and sending more to the bin.

Then we would have....

Ref is ruining the game, it's stop start, refs not letting it flow, players getting frustrated with the ref being unnecessarily harsh.

Players are responsible for their actions, not the ref. Control your emotions, focus on your game and your more likely to play better. Or get worse have a strop  and blame the ref. 

I'm not sure anyone is saying that Cats losing is the ref's fault.

What people are saying is that we got a very ugly game where for very long stretches it appears that the ref was not in control.

Now, you can, as you have, say that there was only one option available to the ref and that would have caused more moaning. But we know that's not true because there are multiple different ways to referee a game but whichever approach Child led with last night did not work either in reducing offending or creating a spectacle.

I'd assume that's something that Child and the RFL will want to review to minimise the chances of it happening again.

Related: the video ref was an embarrassing process and the Match Review Panel will be hilarious.