Hats off to Saints. Any team that can turn standing offside at ptb into an art form deserves to be top of the league. The officiating was pathetic once again.
Having said that ,for most of the game we matched them toe to toe & snuffed out the Saints attack that has done so much damage this season to most teams. As a forward battle it was a sight to behold from both teams & needed some special or fortunate plays to produce a winner.Was that Thompson who scored Saints second try ? Excellent effort.

I'll try to make this as straightforward as possible.

Yes

I thought there was very little impact from the bench players, Hopefully when BMM returns he will find some form.

The forward pass try gave them what they needed, which is quite embarassing for a team so far ahead of 2nd place. And against 12 men too. Thought our forwards near decimated theirs overall and St helens want to be thankful they have Tommy Makinson to make their metres.

I was at the game, so what did the sky team make of the forward pass.
Before the game i said to win we had to make no errors, how many of their points came from cock ups ?

Cummings tried to make out like the pass was fine because apparently it left the hands sidewards. Barrie was having non of it and said he doesn't care how it came out it went a mile forward. Every one of their points came from our errors. Sin binning. Mamo knock on. Philbin knock on.

And the winner is......................Ben Thaler.
We live to fight another day as the result counts for little. Hopefully, we'll get a fair crack of the whip in the games to come, when there's a lot more at stake than just two league points.

Agree, you battered us and we were really hanging on with all that goal line defence we had to do . . . .

Also agree that winning a game to go 8 clear is quite embarrassing for us.

Give over.

Your forwards decimated ours? Are you sure?

You were on top initially, the line speed was great, you were aggressive and we were disjointed with Smith departing so early. You had the majority of the ball but made very little ground and didn't threaten our line at all. At the end of the first half, a half you were well on top your completion was 83%. Ours was 63% or thereabouts but despite this you'd only made 60 more metres than we had.

You went in 4 nill up from penalties. Sean Long called it on Sky, you needed to be three scores up by then given how you'd controlled the general play. It was clear then that Saints were the likely winners.

For all the huff and puff in the first half, you were poor in the second. You aren't fit enough to go toe to toe with Saints like that and win. You can't keep it up for the 80 and as soon as we brought Thompson and Walmsley on towards the end the momentum shifted dramatically our way. The sin binning helped of course, but we were always going to be too strong there. Your pack was done and Walmsley and Thompson were busting holes everywhere with players flooding through in support as you back peddled.

How to fix it for Wire? Get fitter and be more disciplined is one idea. But team selection is key. You can't start games with deadbeats like Akuaola in the pack and you can't have two impact players in the same team. It leaves your front row woefully exposed when Saints had four tireless workhorse props, all of whom can do an hour with ease and the likes of LMS, Knowles, Peyroux and Lees who can do the 80. Eventually there will come a point where you just collapse. Have Clark at loose and one impact player on the bench and three big forwards that can put in a shift not just fat comedy impact players, academy players if they have to be, or use old Westwood and tell him to not give penalties away.

Walmsley & Thompson 252 metres
Hill & Cooper 153 metres

You got 99 problems but an impact prop ain't one.

Hey come on now...you can't deny a fella his kabab after a night out.

St Helens under 19s have beaten Warrington 82-16

Nonsense, your only forward who’s metres gained were respectable was Hill with 116. The rest were absolutely appalling, Cooper with 37 metres was particularly bad. Walmsley and Thompson tore you to shreds, particularly in the last 20 minutes.

Your defence was exhausted because the team had played at an intensity they couldn’t maintain for the full game. Your intensity and line speed in that first half was outstanding and had you been able to maintain for the full 80 you might well have won. Instead the whole team was running on empty and were only 6 points ahead which was never going to be enough.