Totally agree with you from the St Helens viewpoint a point against the champions is great and shows we are still competitive this season. Relieved Sam Tomkins drop goal missed and delighted the wire lost... respect to Wigan!

Not totally disheartened from a Wigan perspective. I thought we had to defend our line rigorously during the opening encounters and did extremely well in keeping Saints at bay and then getting points on the board ourselves. Unfortunately fatigue kicked in in the second half and we let in some lazy tries and gave away too many penalties but as the season wears on I think we'll improve on this aspect and become a much better side.

Like I said in my report, we cut saints up out wide a few times - Saints never really did that to us and looked too heavily reliant on the forward pack. So I'm happy overall.

Blowing a 16 point lead is definitely a point lost - you can't look at it any other way. The sooner Finch, Richards and Fielden get back the better.

To be honest at the end i didnt know whether to be gutted or relieved.

Look at it this way. Deacon limped off 20 mins in and we already had Pat, Amos, Fielden and Finch injured. If Saints lost the equivalent, say Eastmond (Deacon), Meli (Pat), Wellens (Amos), Graham (Fielden) and Pryce (Finch) do you seriously think they'd have competed with us yesterday? Let alone build a 16-0 lead up!

That performance yesterday showed the strength of our squad. Five big players lost and we still competed with an expected title rival.

After booting a poofie (of the foot rest variety, before anyone ss!) at my saints supporting brother in laws head and booting my sofa so hard that i am struggling to walk today. Then throwing a massive tantrum infront of the aforementioned brother in laws new girlfriend and storming out the back for an angry cigarette, with expletives ringing out.
It is fair to say that i was and still am gutted.

TBH i would not have cared if Eastmond had stuck the penalty over.

I am happy enough with our performance as for 65 minutes it was one of the best defensive displays i have seen in many a year, but it still feels like a loss to me.

We had Pryce missing for the match, plus Eastmond playing his first 80 minutes since August. We also had Flannery missing and Josh Perry. We had James Graham playing with a back injury. We lost Wello during the match. So you have no excuse. And definitely no sympathy.

I know Perry and Flannery were missing but Wellens played most of the match, whilst Graham played all of it didn't he? Swap which five you want and I don't think you would have competed like we did. Also point made just above we built up a 16-0 lead recieving just 1 penalty! I'm amazed at that stat. Saints needed 5 pens during their late rally in comparison. I'm not looking for sympathy or excuses. I'm absolutely delighted with the way we played yesterday.

Bilko, without looking through your site - when was the last time we played Saints for the first league game of the season, if ever?

1901/1902. Wigan 8 St Helens 2.