didn't make contact with the head. Not a shoulder charge even though arms didn't wrap. Just a good hit

Personally didn't see much wrong with the Amour tackle, just a big hit. Don't think the players liked it though JJB gave amour a little pastie in the tackle after

The annoying thing with our defence this year is that there is only really one root cause, our inability to control the ruck, even in tackles where we get 2 or three bodies in. If we can fix this, we'll be alright.

Both teams could have lost it and at times they both looked like they were trying to.

It was just a well timed and executed crash tackle resulting in what looked like a whiplash injury to the neck. On the replay you could see Amor going for the big hit, on the replay it didn't look as though Zak had been knocked out he raised his arms to the side of his head. We don't normally see big hits like these every week, it just shows the damage that can be done in a game of rugby for both codes.
The incidence certainly fired up the Leeds pack for the next 5 mins with some heavy gang tackles, in the meantime Zak walked passed us on the touchline trying to get some mobility back into his neck.

Some great pace by Lilley to catch Percival who had broken through

A very entertaining match and encouraging signs that our attack, attitude and confidence are much improved despite the ongoing appalling injury problems. Whilst there were defensive errors there was also plenty of excellent attacking play from individuals and team play from both sides which would have been too good for even the best defenses.

Saints's fast start was the difference in the end when we were at 6s and 7s. with Hardaker again in poor form. Once the very disappointing "proper hooker" Falloon was replaced our attack started to function with Burrow again leading the way and was our MOM. (207 metres, 8 Busts, 4 clean breaks, a try and even 10 tackles)

Other outstanding performances and never say die attitude came from JJB (42 tkls + 110m), Keinhorst (40 tkls + 2 tries), Galloway (36 tkls + 90m) and Garbutt (32 tkls + 134m) who really had to stand up in the second half with only Falloon on the bench. Also deserving of mention were Mullally too (30 tkls + determined individual try), Handley (great try and offload assist) Lilley (creativity and nice offloads even showed a bit of pace!) Sutcliffe (good handling and running, a great pass for an assist but was at fault for maybe 2 tries.) and Golding (despite dropping a bomb his linking & offloading were good and he scored and made assist)

On the debit side it is difficult to see what Falloon offers and Watkins seems so lacking in spark with yet another game without a clean break. With an injury free squad neither would make the 17 for me on their form so far this year.

Agree with this and biff's earlier comment. If we got same speed ptb that we concede we would be much better off. It was real hot and cold stuff last night and some defence was woeful. I can't see saints pushing for any honours playing like that on a regular basis.

I wish they did stats for collisions won - because whilst there may be some impressive tackle stats, the amount of times the opposition find their fronts and get a quick PTB is ridiculous - we're getting crucified on the back of it, with often 2 or 3 men still running back to get inside, facing their own line when the opposition hooker already has the ball in his hands and scooting out....

Keinhorst put in a real shift, Burrow looked dangerous and Lilley again showed he's a real creative little halfback - great effort! Sutcliffe had a few good touches, but mixed it up with some poor play too...

Falloon looks unfit and Galloway is a big, slow, plodding liability - he might do decent minutes, but his yards are cumbersome at best, his play the ball speed is worse than JPs was at the end of his career, and in defence he gets left on the floor nearly every time, or gives away a stupid stupid penalty.... Not impressed!

Saints were watching Watkins closely last night as others do because they know he is the threat. Agree his attacking form though is still way down. He put in another great effort in defence as another second row as achurch and jjb ran out of gas.

He made 23 tackles which is about par for the course for his position. With our severe injury list I would expect seasoned professionals to stand up and be counted. But Watkins never goes looking for the ball and compared with Keinhorst last night he looked lazy and has been less effective than Moon for the last two years which is disappointing for a player with such natural gifts.

If Keinhorst had Watkin's pace or Watkins had Keinhorst's work ethic what a pair of centres we'd have.

I may be wide of the mark but Watkins seems to lack enthusiasm this year. Yes, the spark seems to be gone and he looks to be just going through the motions a lot of the time.Some of the basic errors he makes you can only put down to lack of concentration. Only in the second half at Catalan when he ripped through for 20 minutes has he looked dangerous, that apart he has been ordinary for a player of his considerable talents.

Whilst not claiming to have any inside knowledge, Watkins' performances this year have reminded me of other great players when they were on the verge of leaving the club. I would not be surprised if it was announced that he is going to the NRL or RU in the near future.

There's a few in that boat - Watkins, Hardaker, Hall - who since last year have won everything in domestic rugby at young age. They need to get motivated soon though or their own stock will drop. Hall's a good example - if he hadn't have been injured I'd have benched him for Handley.