Fair play

Well I thought that was a really good match to watch - apart from the last 15-20 minutes. Lots of hard running and tackling and definitely not a friendly. And it looks to me as though the starting 13 were picked with a view to the Leeds match, barring one or two changes due to injury etc. Russell was due to play FB but he must have picked up an injury or illness as he was replaced by Penny. Gidley and Sandow were leagues better than what we have seen for some time, and Gidley looked a standard above most of the team, despite his age. He has put on a bit of speed since Widnes and carved up the defence a couple of times, not to mention his distribution and kicking, both of which were immaculate.

As already mentioned, Rhys Evans and Ben Currie were very good value. Evans has put on a lot of speed, in fact I don't think I have seen him run as fast as this for a long time. Gone are last seasons plaster strips up the side of his legs, and he looked hungry and aggressive in defence as well. Currie was all 'rugby brain', picking clever angles to run and timing his passes to draw the defender. He also produced one brutally fast run down the left flank for a well earned try. In contrast Jack Hughes looked as solid as a rock in defence and seems to have put on a fair bit of muscle from last season. I have not seen him make many breaks as yet but hopefully that will come.

The bloke next to me said he thought it was a very young team, but that was before the youngsters managed to finally get onto the pitch - King, Philbin, Dwyer, Jullien. They defended well but didn't have too much time to impress. From what little we saw however, Dwyer failed to make one of his characteristic scoots and was swallowed up by the big leigh pack several times. Julien's defence is very, very good. As for the old lags, I thought Hill was still a couple of weeks away from game speed and fitness, Ben Westwood perhaps also, or was he showing his age ? Atkins was Atkins with some wishy washy defence, although he did take the ball up a fair bit.

Finally, Westerman made an appearance. He is my pick (guess) for the 'best buy of the year award' ( after Gidley). I just feel he is at an age where a player thinks he has mucked around for too long and decides he is going to fulfil his potential - I don't have anything else to go on. Anyway, he looked big and strong both with the ball in hand and in defence, in the short time he was on the field, but he still has a fair bit of fitness work to get through following his pre-season op.