Fri 30th Jun: SL: St Helens v Castleford Tigers KO 20:00

[John Drake]

Discuss St Helens v Castleford Tigers here.

[Cw25]

St Helens 48-4 Castleford

[Thunder Road]

Saints by a lot.

[muckymunksy]

22-14 Saints 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Saints by 18.

[Josef K]

What a dreadful match, it lashed it down for the full 80mins which didn’t help. The Saints plan worked, that was too go the down the middle, or use a drop off pass to make their way towards the middle. Id have thought Wellens would have had Lussick on earlier during the game, but he only brought him on with about 17mins to go. Some of his substitutions have been puzzling in 2023 from him.
Hopoate isn’t the most popular of Saints players with some fans, especially when he’s carrying the ball up but he did make a good tackle in the 2nd half on Jason Qareqare (i think). 
The atmosphere was dead, even a mate said after 55mins “f—- this im off home” he made a wise choice. Cas tried but offered very little. Full credit to their supporters though who made the journey. 

[Chris22]

Man of the match tonight is the League Express match report writer if they can manage to get an article out of it! Pretty dire fare but back to winning ways so won't grumble!

[JonNgog]

8 hours ago, Josef K said:

What a dreadful match, it lashed it down for the full 80mins which didn’t help. The Saints plan worked, that was too go the down the middle, or use a drop off pass to make their way towards the middle. Id have thought Wellens would have had Lussick on earlier during the game, but he only brought him on with about 17mins to go. Some of his substitutions have been puzzling in 2023 from him.
Hopoate isn’t the most popular of Saints players with some fans, especially when he’s carrying the ball up but he did make a good tackle in the 2nd half on Jason Qareqare (i think). 
The atmosphere was dead, even a mate said after 55mins “f—- this im off home” he made a wise choice. Cas tried but offered very little. Full credit to their supporters though who made the journey. 

it was always likely to be a stinker, Saints completely dominant in the forwards but lacking confidence and attacking flair, the weather further killing any chance of expansive play. A match like that is never going to generate a great atmosphere, especially at the TW which isn’t exactly bouncing at the best of times.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

They haven't put the 'highlights' of this on SKY....maybe for a reason

[Josef K]

5 hours ago, JonNgog said:

it was always likely to be a stinker, Saints completely dominant in the forwards but lacking confidence and attacking flair, the weather further killing any chance of expansive play. A match like that is never going to generate a great atmosphere, especially at the TW which isn’t exactly bouncing at the best of times.

I don’t know a ground that is bouncing for every game. Some people still to go on about Knowsley Road and what a fantastic atmosphere it was. Yet they fail to mention the many times there was more atmosphere in space. 

[Chris22]

2 hours ago, Josef K said:

I don’t know a ground that is bouncing for every game. Some people still to go on about Knowsley Road and what a fantastic atmosphere it was. Yet they fail to mention the many times there was more atmosphere in space. 

Given it's my own club I probably shouldn't say it but the Knowsley Road atmosphere was the biggest myth in the sport. It always sounded bouncing on Sky because the commentary position and microphones were just above the loudest section of the ground, with the gantry being a lot lower and closer to the crowd than modern stadiums.

On its day, there was a hell of a noise granted but I'd say we generate just as much as the new stadium. For example, there was a good atmosphere at the Wigan home match the other week, that I doubt would have been any better than Knowsley Road.

[Josef K]

2 hours ago, Chris22 said:

Given it's my own club I probably shouldn't say it but the Knowsley Road atmosphere was the biggest myth in the sport. It always sounded bouncing on Sky because the commentary position and microphones were just above the loudest section of the ground, with the gantry being a lot lower and closer to the crowd than modern stadiums.

On its day, there was a hell of a noise granted but I'd say we generate just as much as the new stadium. For example, there was a good atmosphere at the Wigan home match the other week, that I doubt would have been any better than Knowsley Road.

It is a myth people only remember the fantastic atmospheres, not the flat ones. 

[Johnny Ringo]

I've said on here before that Cas are a poor team and could be relagated if Wakey put a run together. I still see it that way. 

[Cw25]

14 minutes ago, Johnny Ringo said:

I've said on here before that Cas are a poor team and could be relagated if Wakey put a run together. I still see it that way. 

They still have to play each other. I do think it will be Wakey that drop tbh. Cas will get away with it. But I tell you what, They had better get busy in Winter. Because next season the relegation battle will be between them and Fev. And I reckon it will be Fev that stay up. They will bring a lot to Super League. Actually looking forward to seeing them in it.

[Saint Toppy]

On 30/06/2023 at 23:01, Josef K said:

What a dreadful match, it lashed it down for the full 80mins which didn’t help. The Saints plan worked, that was too go the down the middle, or use a drop off pass to make their way towards the middle. Id have thought Wellens would have had Lussick on earlier during the game, but he only brought him on with about 17mins to go. Some of his substitutions have been puzzling in 2023 from him.
Hopoate isn’t the most popular of Saints players with some fans, especially when he’s carrying the ball up but he did make a good tackle in the 2nd half on Jason Qareqare (i think). 
The atmosphere was dead, even a mate said after 55mins “f—- this im off home” he made a wise choice. Cas tried but offered very little. Full credit to their supporters though who made the journey. 

Not great for entertainment value but Saints played the perfect wet weather game. At the end of the day their first priority is to win not to entertain and they executed a wet weather plan perfectly. Probably 90% of Cas sets were started inside their own 20m through a great kicking game and they rarely then got over half way. In fact i'd say the majority of their sets they were kicking on tackle 5 from well within their own 30m meaning the Saints backs were able to make easy yards on tackle 1.

So while I agree it was boring to watch you can't help but admire how well they executed Wellens plan for the game.