Echo that!

Take a bow Justin Holbrook.
Very gracious in defeat.
Less whinging than Wane - even when he says the other side were better and deserved to win theres always an element of 'something' that detracts from his comments

I've waited a few days for the euphoria of Thursday to calm down and for my feet to find terra firma before commenting on the match.

My take -
We won despite being under the kosh for long periods. It was our resilience in defence that won it.
To keep Saints to one try was top draw - even though I think Saints were a little off key. (I'd argue that was as much down to us as them).
Saints should have scored 2 tries after clean breaks but took the wrong option (not to pass).
At other times someone managed to hang on to their top or shorts. (Hughes and Hill in particular did that on a number of ocassions).
Thought Toby King had one of his best games for us and really handled Barba well.
Lineham got the majority of the credits which is a little unfair on others, but those 2 tries took some scoring. He looks so much more assured with Price. And is general involvement was good.

But we need to cut out the stupid mistakes otherwise we will lose on Saturday.
1. Ratch missing the kick off going dead.
2. Ratch not claiming the ball at the kick off ( but apart from these he played really well - and I thought the 'hand in the ruck that gave Saints their 1st 2 points was harsh).
3. Hughes obstructing Lomax (2 points)
4. Philbin late tackle on Richardson (penalty - could have been 2 points and on another day would have been).
5. Westwood tackle /knees incident - penalty, could easily have been a yellow
Basic stuff that'll cost us.

Wigan will be another step up as their defence is exceptionally well drilled and they have excellent structure in attack.
Our attack isn't the best (not enough from the halves).
But I seems to remember we won 23-0 not so long ago with total commitment and desire.

Overall fantastic effort and team performance. We thoroughly deserved to win.

Turning point was the decision to take a penalty to go 3 up to 5 by Saints.
At that point knew 100% we'd win.
To run a try in there would have clinched a win for Saints.

Some great scenes here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doG2zCEWfwU

Some great scenes here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doG2zCEWfwU

Love the kid waving his top over his head near the end

For whatever reason when I heard Fages wasn’t on the bench I felt happier. Whatever his strengths/weaknesses he brings energy and potentially an element of panic in the opposition.

This, always seems to cause trouble particularly against tiring defences

We did not bring Patton on either, I think price knew early enough to save him, means both sides had an ability to change the dynamic of the game on the bench they didn't need to utilise.

Me three - I’m stuck abroad and would love to see the entire match!

rumour has it, eddie hemmings STILL hasn't spoken since the hooter.