Really pleased I am not a Catalans fan tonight. I was looking forward to a good close match tonight and not concerned who won. However I found my enjoyment totally ruined by the incompetence of the officials. Silverwood mixes his incompetence with sheer arrogance.
Still the love shown to the Saints by the commentary team has been rewarded and can be repeated next week.

The officials were a disgrace tonight

Clearly in the big scheme of things, its not in the interest of Super League for The Cats to get to the Grand Final. Would never sell 10- 12000 tickets for the event and wouldn't look good to have empty seats at the showcase event. Good to have them in the competition but God forbid they should ever have the temerity to win anything.

I'd say that fatigue was more of a factor in Catalans losing than anything the officials did or didn't do

It was a joke, as well as a disgrace. How Silverwood let Cats first try go is beyond belief. He should resign now. And Richard Lewis. And that Dave Oxley, posh git.

I don't disagree. I'm not moaning about the result but the standard of officiating .IMO it marred the game and doubtful decisions (for both sides TT ) became the main talking point.

I don't agree at all that it became the main talking point, though it might have been with you, obviously I have no idea. Unfortunately it is symptomatic of the game, sport & society to concentrate on the negatives & avoid the real issues. If you want a critical appraisal of the game it was poor quality, a Saints team lacking 3 top players have developed a style that has got them to the GF but won few admirers & won't win them the final. Cats are showing the signs of a hard campaign, their most lethal & exciting player was knackered early on & they suffered other knocks. The officiating had no impact on the game & didn't alter my enjoyment one iota. What we should be discussing is the poor level of quality in the play-offs this year. Tonight's game is the only real stand out game. I fear the final will be turgid, it's the only way Saints will make it respectable.

To be fair, I thought les Cats got by far the worst of the decisions but I can't imagine there was any 'conspiracy'. Can you imagine that even the RFL would consider themselves capable of organising one? Unfortunate when you're badly done to in a play-off or cup-tie as it is terminal, and much as it's hard to take [tell us about it] but it's just how things go sometimes.

I'd be interested to see how bad the officiating was perceived to be if we had different commentators

The penalty count ended 7-7 according to the Super League website. The Dragons ran out of juice after 3 massive weeks of tough rugby.

Am I the only person that thinks that Saints look very ordinary?! Wigan or Wire will win the league in my opinion.

I think you would need different people picking the video replays to change perceptions.

No, see my post. How the feck Leeds, with the quality of their squad, failed to make the final, or even the semis, is beyond belief. In fact it's a joke & a disgrace.

Winning the play-offs or even getting to the final, is only a little to do with quality, even though having a good team obviously helps. Like most cup competitions it's much more to do with keeping most of your 'best' players available, the luck with the draw, bounce of the ball, being lucky with the odd decision [or two] and it just being your day.

Why do I suspect you knew that already..It is a J & D though..

The officiating of last nights game was nothing short of disgraceful - even "sky ref pundit" Cummins was perplexed by some of the decisons!!

Catalans did look knackered in the 2nd half but i didn't think much of Saints - i expect them to get well beaten next week by the winners of tonights game - i'm going for Wigan but it could be close..

Lets just hope the game is not spoilt with incompetence from the officials like last night!!

This play off series has been poor when you consider Leeds, the challenge cup winners, lost to Catalan who then went on to lose to a very ordinary Saints team, having beaten a very ordinary Huddersfield in between. Saints, although without three of their best players through injury, have the weakest squad to make a grand final that I can remember. I think whoever plays Saints in the final will beat them.