Well that was fun wasn't it????

I made a tongue in cheek comment last week after the Hull KR game saying that I pray we don't defend as bad as that again. However, where Saints' defence at Hull KR was like a slow leak that was consistent over 80 minutes, this week it was like a small crack then all of a sudden the dam wall was smashed down.

I've no problem in Saints getting beat and Catalans are a very good side, well drilled and well coached. But to be honest it's the manner of the defeat that worries me. The same things are happening over and over again!! It was deja vu - basic tackling again just non-existant. Catalans didn't do anything special and the worrying thing is that they didn't need to. I'm boring myself lately highlighting tackling technique but it's such a vital component if the defence wants to stay solid and dominant in the game. Saints' is shocking, they lose the collison in the tackle time and time again causing an already fragile defence to look even worse. By slowing the tackle down with good technique - dominating the ball carrier, it's a extra 3,4,5 seconds that at this level is so important. The gaps were huge and the defensive slide was so lazy and slack that for Sa's try you could see it being scored a mile off!!! It makes me wonder what they do in training.

Sia had another really good game and him along with Lomax, Gaskell, Makinson deserve some credit for their performances. I personally thought Lomax was mom, he took the line on and was our primary offensive weapon -really hope he can build on this performance. It was no co-incidence that he played well with Gaskell at the side of him. I've always thought that Gaskell is more of a typical scrum half than Lomax. Gaskell is controlled in his play he does the little things well which gives Lomax the chance to express himself - they have to play together for the rest of the season. It's the best combination we have in the halves at present.

But special mention has to go to Tommy Makinson who is one of the brighest prospects we have. In fact I'd go as far to say that he could be like a Roby or Graham - I think he is that special. Doesn't seem to get much media attention he just gets on with his job and excels whenever he takes the field. Flawless under the high ball, great hands, rugby brain, fast, he has all the attritubes needed to take himself into international recognition. I'm pleased he played so well infront of the sky camera's so others can see his abilty.

His mate on the other side of the field could learn a thing or two. Jamie Foster is beginning to become an enigma. He scores points which at the end of the day you need but is he good enough in general play to become a Saints regular for the future? Where you can say yes for Makinson you can't say it Foster. The mistakes he made tonight were bad he himself will know that but it's not the first time he's done it. Being a good goal kicker doesn't mean you are a good rugby player - I want him to suceed at Saints because his desire to play for Saints is obvious and he is a product of the youth system but I can't help feeling that there is something missing from his game to take him into the Lomax, Makinson, Gaskell category of potential.

Anyway roll on Huddersfield next week

I agree with this.

Something that irritated me after the GF was that Rob Burrow's try was glorified - when actually he just ducked and ran, like he always has done - whereas Makinson's try got no recognition at all but was in fact one of the most audacious, skillful and incredible tries I have ever seen, made more incredible by a few facts: he was the youngest player on the pitch, he was the least experienced player on the pitch, he was playing in a position he hadn't played in until he came into the first team and he did it in a GF when we were losing. All of that was tremendous and he seems to have just picked up where he left off. Some of his work tonight was outstanding but he never gets MoM.

Saints players faces were a picture at the end ,that defeat hurt them you cant win them all ! Well done the Frogs .

I think, for once, Roby was outplayed by his opposite number last night - Ian Henderson was absolutely magnificent!

Also, the re-introduction of Lopini Paea and the brilliant Remi Casty 10 minutes into the second-half proved the turning point. They punched big holes in your middle and kept you on the back foot.

Anyone agree that Casty would have been the ideal replacement for James Graham?

Robinson hasn't achieved a thing yet, by the criteria most Saints fans go on, so I don't know why he's getting the raps. He's actually achieved less than Simmons.

Great game last night and a great advert for rugby league.

When you do a player for player comparision with a few of the respective players on each team it's no surprise what so ever you got beat.

Greenshields vs Wellens

Pryce vs Gaskell

Duruea vs Lomax

Paea, Casty, Ferriol, Fakir vs Laffranchi, Puletua, LMS, Clough

The back-rowers and centres were fairly even but elsewhere Catalans had the better players.

The loss of Gidley, Cunningham & Graham in successive seasons has heaped extraordinary responsibility on Roby because the harsh reality is that your players are no-where near as good as what you think they are and blaming Simmons is nonsense because he just does not have the players.

Funny how everybody was saying exactly the same thing about us last season too! But we still got to a GF.

neither did Potter - Robinson is a class above Potter in coaching ability - that's not me saying that but some of the players who have played/still playing under both...

Yes, you did. But crucially you were found wanting when it came to the crunch because of a lack of individual class which Leeds had even though they were less consistent throughout the season.

In today's modern game I'm coming to the opinion that the props and hookers account for well over 50% of determining a team's performance and the Cunningham/Roby/Graham enabled the rest of your team to play on the front foot to make them look far better than they actually where.

Now there's only Roby left, as soon as Catalans stopped giving away penalties and put their foot down, your team was found wanting in a really big way.

You've got to remember that your playing with a full strength squad where as Rovers last week and Catalans this week have quite a few injuries (particularly Rovers) so I don't think everything is going to be rosy when the grounds harden up.

yeah,Catalans are missing Simon,Anderson ,Stacul not to mention Pelissier who,for me is the greatest thing since sliced bread,without any disrespect to the reliable Ben Fisher

We can look at players, combo etc etc, but all was well for over 50 mins. We shut them down, possession and territory were in our favour. OK TP went off, which was unfortunate, however from 20 minutes to 50 minutes all the 5 live commentators could talk about where how we where dominating Catalan. How Catalan where struggling to get out of their half, how their forwards were not making it back to the attacking line until the 2nd or 3rd tackle. So for half an hour we had signs that their forwards where shot.

Did we employ our fastest player at this point? No. Instead we ground on with the same players, thinking momentum would not change. As a coach you have to watch both sides and make desicions to take advantage. Take the GF, Brain Mac see's our forwards tired, he throws burrows on and runs our forwards ragged. All we did we spell our forwards less and let their energy levels drop, catalan kept rotating and eventually as in all teams when 17 are playing 16 their energy levels evened out and started to surpass ours.

We can say it's sloppy tackling technique, but that was not evident in the first half. It's tiredness. Roby is doing 80mins each week no rest at all. He maybe great but he is human and he will tire.

The fact Royce had a go at the ref last night is a worry too. For me fans can moan all day about the ref. that's their one eyed ness.

But when a coach does it, it's an indication that he has run out of ideas. He has tried what he knows and it did not work and so he lumps the blame elsewhere.

This is not a call for him to go, but to get a grip. A back on the bench is an over precautious approach that will look great in 1 match out of 10 when a back gets injured. But in most games it means sharing more workload over less players. It should be a utility player who can play multiple roles, which lance could have done last night!! Or it should be another forward.

We had 3 half backs on the field last night ffs. If one goes down, 2nd row to centre job done.

A loss to Catalan is no problem, I lost to Catalan when we were 24/26 - 8 ahead with 30 minutes left is a problem, not in terms of us fighting for the top 8, but certainly fighting for a top 4 spot.

For me Flannery, Foster and Wellens shouldnt be near the starting line up (not saying there bad players just atm they shouldnt be in. Lomax and Makinson are more than capable kickers.

Dixon has been doing well in the first few matches really looks like he's a good, solid player but a level up from seasons gone by.

Granted Simmons was going to rotate for the first few matches to find his best 17 but the chopping and changing is going to cost us in the long run. Fair enough in his Saints career he's never really had a choice on the team he picks due to injuries and etc but if the chopping and changing carries on i'll probably say i preferred us playing in the middle of an injury crisis.

Yeah whatever. That's why the GF followed the pattern of the league games until we lost our third player to injury in the second half. And that's why our totally untalented winger/fullback scored the best try of the match to get us in a winning position. Sure, we have no individual class at all.

It wasn't tiredness. They were exactly the same at Hull KR, but after only 15 minutes when in a 14 point lead (which should have been more had Jamie converted all the tries). So it has nothing to do with tiredness.

IMO it has everything to do with the attitude of some players, who need to get a grip and start working hard for the full 80 minutes. It was so sad to see our young guns tackling their hearts out and Wello nowhere in support and our forwards having a chat under the sticks, so to speak.

I do agree about whinging over the ref though. That made it all look like sour grapes. The last try shouldn't have stood due to Pryce's ball carrying arm being on the floor when tackled but we shouldn't have to rely on the ref. And the coach should have criticised the people who were to blame: the players; in particular the senior players.

I was getting really annoyed with Wello and his arm flapping last night, not to mention LMS and a few others who wanted the glory of the big hit instead of buckling down to a team effort. I didn't applaud them, I walked out as qu8ickly as I could after the final hooter and I don't want to see that kind of 20 minutes again by our team. They let the fans down big time and were unprofessional. As Mark Flanagan said on Twitter, the fans deserved better than what they threw out during the second half. Damn right. So give us better.