He’s my type of player
Confident and not afraid to try something a bit left field

One kick tonight Crabtree criticised him for the wrong kick option
It wasn’t the the wrong option but a kick not executed to perfection
I want maverick plays and accept sometimes it doesn’t work

Our fitness as a squad looks to have moved up quite a bit
Again really encouraging

Really chuffed tonight with Byrne’s performance

Seen it a few times, still looks forward.

It’s not a criticism some go for you some go against you.

He hits the deck and throws it up but it goes slightly forward. Great play non the less.

Crabtree was talking out of his backside there. It was very nearly a piece of magic but he just got slightly too much on the kick. He seems like such a nice guy Crabtree but he has to be the worst commentator there’s ever been.

As for Byrne, he’s having a good start to the season. I’ve just seen our props stats last night though and it’s still a huge area of concern. Tony Clubb carried the ball 3 times! Bullock made 5 tackles and 4 carries and the top metres gained from any of them was Havard with 64. We grow and grow as games go on but the ground is all being made from the outside backs and the second rowers. The young props do well when they come on but the way things are going we’re going to need to rely on them more and give them longer minutes because the more senior ones aren’t producing the goods.

It was the wrong option in that we didn't need a magic play, we'd been under a bit of pressure, but from regathering the ball on our own 10 we'd frog marched them 70 yards up field in 5 tackles and he went for the magic play alone.
Last thing we needed was to give them easy ball back, 7 tackles and time to recover and find ourselves back in our own 20 coming out next set, and that's what happened.

He had a good game, but we don't need to be afraid to learn from things. I knownwhats vomit next, we like players who try something etc etc, play what they see, yip, fine with that i.e. Hastings kick for French. But big difference in timing of when it happened, game scenario at the time, execution, end result (even if French doesn't take the ball or someone beats him to it, never going to happen BTW, ballndoenst go dead etx.)

As for BFUT, TERRIBLE

Wasn't forward

He was a couple of inches off at least trapping Evalds in goal. I thought the option was absolutely fine but the execution was slightly off. I know what you’re saying about a magic play in that situation but that kick had two potentially positive outcomes. He can score from it or he can get you a repeat set by trapping Evalds. He just needs to execute it better but I’d rather him take a positive option. It’s refreshing to see a kid prepared to back his skills.

We can agree on Clubb anyway. How has he got in to a starting shirt from not even being in the side?! It’s as though we’ve decided to get the spells of the props who make the least ground out of the way early doors in the knowledge that things can only improve.

I personally thought that Singleton was average yesterday. A couple of really dumb pens and then the walking back, finger point threatening at Watts must be something he's learnt from Clubb.

I don't think that I've ever seen a team, crying out for a prop more than this one is.

I like Singletons aggressive side but we’re never going to get much ground out of him. Sadly that’s the same for Partington and Clubb and we can’t have all three in a starting side. I looked at the Saints stats from last night and whilst our top metre making prop was Havard with 64, they had Walmsley on 170ish and Passi on 125 metres and even their lowest metre making prop was higher than our best. We’ve got them covered in all other areas for me and our back rowers and outside backs are making more ground than there’s in general but when we come head to head again, it’s difficult to see how we do anything other than play the game from our own half more often that not.

Looking at the packs it was an area that we expected there would be a struggle, although the lack meters made is a big issue the defensive line speed was up a couple of notches from the earlier games.

The defence has carried on from last year, due to injuries the attack is disjointed but will improve when we have the players in their usual positions.

We will have to agree to disagree
When the ball went dead he wasn't a couple of inches away, the bounce may have been slightly unlucky etc. But it was a 2 in 10 play for me.
A minute or so later and us defending our own line im thinking if they score here it goes back to the Smith kick.
Cue Crabtree saying "It shows how quickly a game can change" or words to that effect. He was right.

I have no problem with him backing his skills etc. But he has to learn "When, where and how". For me it wasn't the right time, it wasn't the right location and the execution was off.

Overall I thought it was one of his better performances, he was prepared to challenge the line which I like to see (as soon as I saw george Williams at 18/19 you could see he loved testing defenders and was prepared to take the ball in where it hurts).
Hes toughened up last 6months or so and his defense his far better.

It was just the the wrong play at that point in the game IMO

Pretty much summed up my thoughts there.

Singleton has a place in the side. He plays a good part in what we try to do with our defence, as does Partington, but you can only have so many of those types of players.

Saints front row is standalone imo, but like you said we've got them beat in other parts of the field. That's a SC sport really, no one team is dominant from 1-18. I do think that one top prop, tips the overall balance in our favour if not dead even. It's just getting that guy.

Looking at the match stats we actually made 140 metres more than Cas. Significantly we shut down their two main playmakers, Trueman and McShane who only made 14 metres each. Niall Evalds also only made 37 metres.

That's really impressive and is a real life example of how hard we work in defence. That's why I'm not overly concerned that Saints have 2, maybe 3 better props than us. I wouldn't, for example swap Lees for Byrne as Byrne is just perfect for our system/approach. I would however swap Clarke & Clubb for Walmsley or Thompson as they'd only improve us and not compromise one of our biggest strengths.

Cas are very similar to us in how they make their outside backs and back-rowers make all of their hard yards.

Defensive attitude and line speed was a major factor in us getting over the top of them.

Hardaker bringing the ball back was sensational as well. Amazes me that people mention Evalds' name for international reps when we have Hardaker and Tomkins around.

May be harsh here but Joe Shorrocks continues to underwhelm me off the bench. Maybe solid in defence but brings nothing with the ball in hand and we already have Isa, Partington and Smithies in the back-row who already play that role and can tackle all game. Plus Faz and Bateman who are much stronger carrying.

Hope to see KPP given a chance soon as I think he has more raw talent with ball in hand. Not too dissimilar to Gareth Hock, although probably less of a destructive runner.

I just thought in the area of the field he found himself it was worth the chance, especially with the space in behind and giving yourself two chances of getting a result. If you do go for it though, it needs to be spot on and it wasn’t. I know it’s the sort of play Wane would hate for example and I get it but if Lam openly admits he likes to play attacking rugby and he does talk a good game on that front, then we’re going to see more of that and less of us just turning it over in decent position to save having to defend an extra tackle.

Absolutely agree with you that Smith does need to learn when to stick or twist. I thought that was an opportunity to go for something more risky but there were opportunities outside of that where he could’ve tried to get a repeat set but he went for the ultra attacking option. It’ll come in time with age and experience though. I’d rather him work from a base of taking too many risk plays and feel out a good balance, than being that nervous of making errors that he just totally goes in to his shell.