Yes, lots of spilled ball but as has been pointed out, hottest day of the year so far must have something to do it.

Even without my primrose-tinted specs on, I thought it was a really good match, and a cheeky, undeserved win for Wire. Some great defence, some awful defence at times, some great individual efforts (Ryan Hall and Mickey Higham in particular). I wish Ratchford had had a better game, but we all have off days.

Not a classic- the Wigan Wire game the other week fits that bill, this does not, but a good close game like that made for good viewing on a Friday night.

It wasn't a good match.

The excitement was there because both sides were well below par and couldn't score against poor defence

That said I'd rather the sky teams talked up the game than gripe about it like they did the week before...

Commentators should be honest, otherwise they lose credibility, which in my opinion Hemmings and Mike Stephenson have. Commentators should be suggesting things that would improve the sport too. But I suppose RL in this country doesn't have enough followers for comms to be able to do that, Warren Smith et al can afford to be more honest in Oz. It's difficult, it's depressing, but we have to carry on and try and get more people watching and more children playing.

Chris Plume, one of Leeds assistant coaches, said the ball was very greasy. So much so that it was similar handling conditions to when it rains. Plus the heat will have made players more tired.

I doesn't matter how good the game is, it's never a good idea for commentators to bang on about it - it sounds almost desperate like we (the sport) constantly has to justify itself. Just bleedin' commentate! A couple of comments on the quality is fine, but stop droning on and on about it.

Oddly enough, whilst it probably wasn't a 'good' match in terms of quality of play, it was entertaining enough through being close. The high quality of the RL product is IMO, paradoxically, a major component of why we fail to grasp the issues around marketing. The product is good and we can't understand why the profile isn't higher. Well, here's the thing...it aint got a great deal to do with the product ( otherwise why is Twickenham always full ).

Of course not. It was just an idea as to how to sell tickets to international games.....it's something I have done over here with a local professional netball club who this year hung the SOLD OUT sign on the door to their stadium for all but one of their home games.

The RFL have gone down the route of employing a marketing guru, who thus far has failed to deliver anything tangible other than a few cartoons.......
7,926 bothered with the Exiles game. 36,000 bothered with the last 8 CC games and the play-offs are terribly attended.......the RFL need to engage the fans more and doing so through the amateurs selling tickets and gaining funds for doing so is just one of the ways this can be done.

As I say, RL isn't a complicated game and neither should marketing it be either.......if you give a club 100 x 50 quid tickets and tell them they can keep 10% of the sales, there's new post covers, or a couple of new Kits etc.....selling to family and friends introduces new fans to the games.....the clubs benefit from the revenues, the RFL sells more tickets to internationals and you don't need double headers to attract respectable crowds to games.

It was a close game with a bit of drama. I don't see what the big deal is yes there were mistakes but there are mistakes in any sport I would urge anybody to watch the standard of defending in the premier league it's full of mistakes but its just ignored for the most part.

The match was close and because of that it was exciting. That's EXACTLY why international RU is a major event, as most internationals remain in doubt until near the end. The first two Lions games here were pretty poor quality, but the excitement they generated was palpable. Both won/lost by last minute kicks.

Would fans prefer to watch the respective Wire and Leeds teams available play to their absolute best, and therefore a Wire win by 30/40 points?

I genuinely think a lot of RL fans sometimes struggle with the entire concept of what sport as a whole is supposed to be about. Having a go at the sports' commentators for bigging up a game is laughable. No, far preferable if they were as negative and doom-laden as so many fans seem to be.

funny thread this.

Rubbish.

Poor game with loads of errors - I'm all for talking the game up but lets equal it out, if Widnes and Salford had served up that game would Eddie be wetting himself NO!

IMHO they had decided their commentary before the game and were determined to make it fit no matter what.

of course you do, it fits with your victim mentality.