Fri 18th Aug: SL: St Helens v Hull KR KO 20:00

[John Drake]

Discuss St Helens v Hull KR here.

[Josef K]

Id love a Saints win but i can’t see it.
More importantly Coote will be at the ground for the very last time(perhaps). When Saints signed him most of the fans said “who” i didn’t have a clue who he was, but what a fantastic player and a really nice lad.

It’d be great if he could walk around the pitch before KO and then he would know how much the Saints supporters loved him. One of my daughters really liked him but it was nothing to do with RL.
I wish him & his family nothing but luck . 

[sam4731]

10 hours ago, Josef K said:

Id love a Saints win but i can’t see it.
More importantly Coote will be at the ground for the very last time(perhaps). When Saints signed him most of the fans said “who” i didn’t have a clue who he was, but what a fantastic player and a really nice lad.

It’d be great if he could walk around the pitch before KO and then he would know how much the Saints supporters loved him. One of my daughters really liked him but it was nothing to do with RL.
I wish him & his family nothing but luck . 

I'm not sure I can see Hull KR winning. I know I'm biased but how many teams post Wembley, win. I know rovers lost so not many celebrations during the week but they threw everything at LL which must have taken a lot out of them. Anybody actually got the stats on post Wembley wins, for both the winners and the losers?

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Saints by 30.

[Saint Toppy]

HKR by 10.

Saints dominated the opening exchanges against Hudds but tired badly as their lightweight pack struggled to make much yardage as the game went on, and they relied heavily on Lees putting in a big shift up the middle. Neither LMS or Batchelor looked remotely fit and with Norman plodding round like a 3 legged carthorse that only leaves 1 decent prop out there and he's just a teenager.

[Andrewj]

Hopefully a HKR win and then the standard post game Wellens meltdown to deflect from the bad job he is doing.. 

[Johnny Ringo]

Saints grind it out but sail off in the last quarter by 14

[daz39]

Can see KR snatching this, Saints foul play will be seen by the officials this week and Wellens will be too busy constructing the appeal for after the game to keep up with his coaching, with the Robins taking advantage of another sin-binning to take the spoils late on.

Edited August 17, 2023 by daz39

[Chris22]

I struggle to call this one as I'm not sure how Hull KR will react to last week's defeat. I'll call us to win by 10 with limited confidence!

What we can be sure of is if Saints win, it'll be because we cheated. Boo! Hiss!

[Reliant Robin]

Finding this one really difficult to call. Saints down on numbers Rovers with massive challenge cup disappointment. Going for Rovers win by 1, Schneider drop goal in golden point.

[Tippytoe]

I genuinely want Rovers to beat the St's from a purely rugby perspective but beware Wello will want to dish out more pain and go silent because only St's players matter. 

[Josef K]

11 hours ago, sam4731 said:

I'm not sure I can see Hull KR winning. I know I'm biased but how many teams post Wembley, win. I know rovers lost so not many celebrations during the week but they threw everything at LL which must have taken a lot out of them. Anybody actually got the stats on post Wembley wins, for both the winners and the losers?

I’m not confident Sam, we have our two strike props in Walmsley & Paasi missing which means making any big yards is a problem. Davies in the centres doesn’t fill me with much hope either. 

[sam4731]

1 hour ago, Josef K said:

I’m not confident Sam, we have our two strike props in Walmsley & Paasi missing which means making any big yards is a problem. Davies in the centres doesn’t fill me with much hope either. 

I genuinely think we've played better when we've lacked numbers in the forwards. Pre forward crisis, we'd play everything down the middle, very route one and we simply don't have the pack that we think we do (especially in depth). Whereas now we are being forced to move the ball around, something we are actually good at.

[Harry Stottle]

Hull KR to get into the faces of the Saints player's give them no time and rattle them is their best option, maybe a bit of inside sledging wouldn't go amiss. Saints are under the microscope and they have put themselves there with their disciplinary record this season and will be careful not to overstep the mark, it is up to Mr Peter's to 'legally' come up with a game plan to take advantage of this.

[GeordieSaint]

12 hours ago, Josef K said:

I’m not confident Sam, we have our two strike props in Walmsley & Paasi missing which means making any big yards is a problem. Davies in the centres doesn’t fill me with much hope either. 

I’d be tempted to give Bruines a run out at centre and stick Davies in the pack/bench. 

[2Cents]

Whoever plays left centre, let the ball flow and give Ritson a freaking pass for crying out loud....

[Saint Toppy]

16 minutes ago, 2Cents said:

Whoever plays left centre, let the ball flow and give Ritson a freaking pass for crying out loud....

We only have 1 centre fit in Percival. He was switched to the right last week and no coincidence it contributed to Makinson scoring a hat-trick. Poor Ritson got lumbered with Davies as his centre and I think probably only got 1 pass from him all game (which he nearly scored from just putting a foot in touch as he put the ball down)

[WN83]

A CC final defeat can work two ways the following week. HKR will either be demoralised and get stuffed or they'll want to come out fighting and if they do that, I can see them pushing Saints close. I think they may do the latter because they've been gritty all season and even in the cup final, I thought it was only really their steel/gript kept them in it because I thought they were off their best and some sides could've fell apart. 

Saints by 8

[Chris22]

On 17/08/2023 at 09:07, sam4731 said:

I'm not sure I can see Hull KR winning. I know I'm biased but how many teams post Wembley, win. I know rovers lost so not many celebrations during the week but they threw everything at LL which must have taken a lot out of them. Anybody actually got the stats on post Wembley wins, for both the winners and the losers?

If I'm not mistaken, the side that loses at Wembley tends to win their next match and the side that wins at Wembley tends to lose their next match.

[GeordieSaint]

Do we have any props this evening? 

[Harry Stottle]

2 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

Poor Ritson got lumbered with Davies as his centre and I think probably only got 1 pass from him all game (which he nearly scored from just putting a foot in touch as he put the ball down

Shah, don't let Paul Rowley hear you say that.

[Liverpool Rover]

Saints pack has been weakened a lot which gives me confidence that Rovers can get the win tonight. Last week will still be fresh in the minds of the players but the best way to put it behind them is a good performance and and get a win as a result of it.

[Harry Stottle]

16 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

Do we have any props this evening? 

Haven't you got a reserves and an academy, so the simple answer is yes you have some props this evening.

Just pretend it is a game like those in the past when you have chosen to use 'squad rotation' when the Saints fans have argued that is OK to do.

[Saint Toppy]

3 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Haven't you got a reserves and an academy, so the simple answer is yes you have some props this evening.

Just pretend it is a game like those in the past when you have chosen to use 'squad rotation' when the Saints fans have argued that is OK to do.

Yep and of the props in the reserves, 1 is injured, 3 are playing already but unfortunately 2 are pretty useless (Norman & Baxter) leaving only 1 good one in Delaney. The props in the Academy are only 17/18 and nowhere near ready for 1st team yet.

[sam4731]

Come on then, what's Tom Grant done to favour Rovers in the first half then?