I thought Bentham had a poor game & missed too many straight forward spots. Lomax should never have been penalised, he got it wrong. Lomas clearly got his hand to the ball before hacking it downfield, he got that wrong. Sutcliffe didn't strip or knock the ball on late in the game from the Saints player (not sure who it was) he just lost it, he got that wrong. I thought all three of those should have been spotted by a first grade ref & while ref's do make mistakes he was not good enough yesterday IMO.

It was a great performance from Saints last night. I think had we not met at this stage we might have seen another Leeds v Saints final TBH. I think Saints have showed how valuable momentum is when it ones to he business end of the season.

I think against a team with decent halves, we where always going to come unstuck. But to come unstuck by one point exceeded my expectations.

Maguire looked poor last night. I'm a big fan of his but I think he's on his way out. They got great replacement in the young lad who covered him when he was out.

The refereeing was very strange last night. I felt there were a few calls which he got wrong last night, though not major ones. What surprised me most was the sheer amount of holding down he allowed, both from Saints and Leeds. As the final 3 minutes dawned after our Drop Goal I was shouting at my own players to stop trying to slow down the PTB as I felt sure we were going to end up giving away a penalty. In the same way, I was shouting at the referee to penalise Saints when we'd make a break and players would deliberately hold down the man in order to get their defence back. That's not an attack on your players as we did the same, but I didn't think the referee would allow us all to do it as much as he did.

That all being said, I didn't notice Bentham too much. In some games you feel like the referee is a third team you're against (Not necessarily 'siding' with the other team, but just being on his own causing problems) and you notice his presence (James Child, that one is you). Whereas Bentham didn't have a good game but he also didn't change the course of the game, I don't think? I guess subconciously you certainly look at it differently if you won or lost.

Unimpressed by Bentham for quite a lot of bad errors and the fact that he let a lot of high tackles go.

The lomax incident was very strange. I thought he'd done him for back chatting at the game but if he's given a penalty then that is annoying.

An absolutely riveting game, but I do think Saints should have gone for the two from half way when Sinfield put the kick-off into touch. I thought Saints could have been the dark horses this year and they almost did the biz last night, hard lines to them. I must say that there did seem to be some very strange refereeing decisions though.

Maguire it was clear was injured last night and Leeds risked playing him, but you have to give him full credit, he laid on an amazing pass for one of their tries and the drop goal from the moment it touch his boot it was clear to see it was amazing, now when Wilkin has his dropped goal attempt, it was never on.

The Wilkin drop goal was done very late. Our boy was already tackled before Wilkin started dropping back and he dropped back almost directly behind Roby making the pass very awkward.

Where as the halves where setting up for Leeds on the tackle previous. Sinfield back and to the right of the ruck, maguire a little further across.

The tackler was tackled just to the left of the posts, leaving Sinfield in perfect position in front but a good 20m away from the defensive line. We rushed him well from marker, but Maguire although not in perfect angle. Was in a perfect secondary spot.

All that is down to halfback play.

They know where they want to be for the kick and so direct the drives 3 or 4 plays ahead. Where as we played for the try only remembering on the last tackle.

I also thought the ref cocked up with one of the drop outs. He said Turner had knocked it out, but from reply it looked like Turner had knocked it back initially but that Hall had then also got his hands to the ball.

Should therefore have been a tap 20 restart.

However overall I thought the officials controlled the game well and helped create an enthralling contest.

Normally I find that when decisions "go your way" its because you as a team are creating chances. The law of averages therefore dictates that sooner or later the referee or touch judge will make a mistake in your favour.
Create few or no chances and the refs wont have the opportunity to make a mistake in your favour.

That's why IMO the so called Big teams tend to get the "Rub of the Green"

The refs always allow lying on in the big playoff games. It's been going on for years. You have to really really really take the michael to be penalised for it.

I don't why they don't ref all games like that. During the season they'll penalise someone for farting, but as soon as the big guns face off in the playoffs you have to practically take a sledgehammer to someone to be penalised.

Home advantage also helps.

Nobody in the pub I was at in Warrington thought that Watkin's try was put down cleanly and howled when it was given.
I have to agree with them but said nothing as it would look like sour grapes.

It wasn't put down cleanly, if by cleanly you mean that he was in full control of the ball and grounded it with his hand? So that's true. He did have fingertip control - well, as much control as you can have with your fingertips - and had downward pressure with 1/2 fingers, which as per the rules is all you need for a try to be given. I see the annoyance with a try like that, but the correct decision was given.

These things happen in every game; we just tend to dwell on them a lot more when it's a big game.

No I didn't mean that - I meant it appeared to be fresh air between the ball and his hand as it went down.
Certainly the sky mob had serious doubts.

Still its all history and I wish you good luck against the pies.