I thought the opening by Leeds was about as good as it gets for us. I was certainly nervous that we hadn't had the game won after 30 mins as we'd done absolutely nothing wrong, played with great skill and speed yet were only two scores up. Make no mistake, Saints did really, really well to absorb the amount they did and then change the game's momentum. However, we had - just - done enough as it turned out.

Can't really imagine us playing at that pace of that opening while making zero errors every time we meet. If we were capable of turning it on at will we'd be nailed on certs for every trophy going. But of course we aren't.

It did feel a bit like the south Sidney game in that 30 minutes. I don't know if that's a fair comparison but Leeds looked unstoppable.

Leeds were front-loading their effort and gambling on running up a big enough lead to put Saints out of the game by the 20th minute. The point is such tactics are unsustainable. You can't play at that pace all game.

Which means you've just got to concentrate on matching their workrate on defence whilst keeping mistakes to an absolute minimum in possession.

Play out your six. Concentrate on making as much yardage as possible in the forwards, find touch with your kicks and play out the time.

It's the Rugby League equivalent to Muhammed Ali's "Rope-a-dope" technique. Allow the opposition to burn themselves out and then come on strong between the 20th and 60th minutes.

To be honest I thought Saints coped with it all rather well - BENDING but not BREAKING - with the exception of a scrum half who's so completely crocked he contributed to half of Leeds' points.

We didn't play out our six, we kicked early. We didn't kicked to touch, we kicked straight at the full back. We didn't play out our time, we gave it back to Leeds ASAP.

Not sure that's "bending"

We certainly played some really dumb football going forward. But our scrambling defence (aside from Walsh) was not bad. It performed well enough to keep us in the game - which was not the case in the previous two encounters.

What you are really looking for is to be level on points or ahead. If the opposition piles extra effort into trying to establish a first quarter lead and then finds itself behind, that's a major psychological battle won.

Hardaker has got to be ahead of Tomkins for England.

I agree with that. I think he will pick tomkins tho unless he plays tomkins at 6.

Or Hardaker in the centres with Watkins

The answer to this question was a yes! I was wrong.

We played with a positive attitude last night and we looked a different team.

Although we played well there is still a lot of room for improvement and Leeds were under strength and were pretty poor.

1. We've been under strength all year.
2. Leeds had 3 missing. We've had that many missing all year but you haven't allowed that to be used as an excuse.
3. Leeds played poor ONLY because we didn't let them play well.

I see the glass half empty brigade are out in full force again!!!!

Except we had 6 missing - Aiton, Sutcliffe and JJB are all first choice players. And i don't think you can give too much credit to Saints for McGuire gifting you your first try or Childs regularly giving you the benefit of the doubt where knock ons were concerned.

Don't get me wrong, much better performance from your lot but Leeds helped you a lot.

They had Hardaker, Watkins, sutcliffe, Aiton and JJB missing off the top of my head so they had some serious strike players missing. Plus the Wembley hangover to take into account so let's not get carried away.

We can only play what's infront of us so that's not our problem but last night wasnt a top quality performance but a good win and a win we needed.

Sky really make me laugh. They totally wrote us off (fair with the way we played) but with one win and now we the best thing since sliced bread.

Obviously injuries to key players (on both sides) will always have an effect on the outcome of any match. Leeds are really missing Aiton...and one more injury blow to either McGuire or especially Sinfield will have a huge impact on who finishes where and with what come the season's end.

From you perspective I believe you may be potentially looking like peaking as a team at the right time. Better to have had the slump when you did rather than over the next few coming weeks !!!

An apparent back-to-form Walsh and Wilkin make a huge difference to your side. Walmsley is a belter.

Rather you guys win the GF again than the Wigan spoliers. (IF Leeds don't of course).

Blimey, well you could say Saints helped you out massively in them first 2 games through substandard performances and injuries to key players.

Leeds are stronger this season and this performance suddenly doesn't mean we're better, however, in a one off game anything can happen.