I went to the game looking for a performance, ended up walking away disappointed not to win. Plenty of positives but I was disappointed that our big men seemed to be getting the ball when standing still especially when we had the huge periods of pressure in the second half. Plenty to work on but plenty of promise.

Well I am going to differ with some people and I thought Brough was very hard done by. Right from the start of the game it was obvious Hicks was his usually pedantic self with some of the penalties he blew (for both sides).
The Brough incident unfolded in front of me and again it looked like he said little if anything at all and all the trinity players that were close by also argued with the two officials over the decision.


If he did say something then fair enough award a penalty but a yellow straight away was over the top. I honestly feel that if any other player had said something it would have only been a penalty but brough was punished just because of past reputation. Also lets be honest here, I watch most games on Sky and the ref abuse from some players (usually stars in the so called top clubs) is far worse and nothing ever gets done.

It must be difficult to move onto the ball when you don't know where it is going to hit you when it arrives. Saints showed the benefit of much superior passing accuracy that allows players to take to ball on the move without checking, turning or breaking their stride.

Makinson scored from two stunning passes from Lachlan Coote while Lynn received several passes in their 20 which were so badly directed he had to stop to gather then was forced inside as his only option. No reason at all why this can't be sorted out with intense skills work.

I can't agree - Brough is old and ugly enough to know that backchat is pointless and risky; when has a ref ever changed his mind because a player shouted at him?

He invites this kind of response by shouting and waving his arms around - he should know better - and if he keeps it up, it will cost us.

To be fair to Brough last week the RFL he had no case to answer.... therefore the official made an error. St Helen’s was different but I can appreciate his frustration to be fair after watching Regan’s diving antics to con a penalty instead of a knock on.
Also how many other times do you see players mouth at officials and not even give away a penalty let alone a sin bin. McShane would never be on the field. I don’t agree with dissent but you have to apply it equally and consistently and unfortunately Danny appears to have been singled out.

Completely agree with this, its those split seconds that make or break an attacking play. Saints looked more clinical in that department while we often looked disjointed, especially in their 20 when we need to make it count. Not pin pointing Broughy as he got us in that position in the first place but I felt his attacking options with ball in hand wasn't great yesterday, passes not hitting the X therefore players having to adjust to catch the ball which gives the defenders the upper hand.

Still think if Saints drop kick goes dead we have a pop ourselves and they dont score off the next set. We were pinned under our posts for 5 tackles!

Presumably you watched this back in Oz, it would be interesting to know who was showing it for you to talk in so much detail about the game, not only that and correct me if I'm wrong and I'll apologise in advance if I am, but you posted the above at 10 mins to 10 on here, isn't Australian time some 10 to 12 hours in front of us.

It's okay saying they sin binned him on reputation but they did so rightly, why does he have that reputation ? Because of so many previous offences, therefore the officials rightly so show very little patience with him. Thought he went really well from a kicking perscpective which is worth having him on the field just for that..but strangely thought we looked better with ball in hand in the period he was off the field and everything had to go through Miller who was my man of the match yesterday.

Might have read things wrong at the game but I thought brough chelped at the ref when saints kicked up field virtually off their line and the ball went out at the 10 mt line but the linesman stood on the 30 hence giving saints a 20 mt foot up .where I was stood you could clearly see the ball was nowhere near the 30 or 20 for that matter .

Both wingers defense were awful just shows what a limited knowledge of the game you really have. On a number of occasions yesterday we got the numbers badly wrong, in fact on 3 occasions we got it that bad they had 5 men to 3 on the blind side. This is either Hampshire getting it wrong or the 12 men in front of him not listening.

Quite a few saints fans on Red Vee putting the tight game down to our "small pitch".

I CBA registering on there to tell them BV is the full size 100x68 metres. It's simply the proximity of the crowd that makes it "cramped".

Back to Brough, lets see if the next offence of referee abuse from any player in any team gets an immediate yellow, I bet they don't.


Its not up to Hicks to make a decision on past reputation, if it was broughs second or third offence in the game then fair enough. Or if he was warned and continued then fair enough. But awarding punishment on past reputation is the job of the disciplinary committee. I therefore believe Hicks acted unfairly and let past prejudice effect his decision.

Agreed but,

It wasn't 'No Case to Answer'' it was 'Sin Bin Sufficient'

From RFL Site: 'Player approaches referee to appeal decision. Does not use foul or abusive language. Sin Bin Sufficient.

At London a number of players were chelping at the ref's decision, the ref turned and saw Broughy assumed it was him and binned him, so he was binned on reputation. My question would be, If he did'nt use foul and abusive language in appealing a decision, why bin him, just tell him to go away and get on with it. Harshly done by I reckon.
As for yesterday binning let's see what it says on the RFL site before we start grabbing the pitchforks. Having said that he's been around long enough to know to keep his gob shut, yet we see 'stars' from other clubs get away with it.

The linesman cocked this up by telling Hicks to award a penalty for a tackle in air which wasn’t the case. Still doesn’t justify mouthing off though. BJB for one try was practically touching Reece and should have been a few feet wider.