Yes we lost but just to sum things up even when Catalan were not doing well at the start of the season it was still a big ask for any side to go and win over n their home turf.Heavens above Wigan only beat them last week because they imploded in the second half due to indiscipline.Yes we looked as if we had taken a step back in terms of effort and game plan but even at our best it was a big ask with them regaining form and the heat.

Think you can add Sykes to that list. Showed every one of his 40 years in todays performance.

Remember Catalan beat St.Helens 42:0 on the 14th June this year! We got blown away by a very strong powerful Catalan pack and we've signed one of their best forwards on a 2 year contract!

Despite having 4 forwards on the bench it wasn't enough and we were still clearly out muscled.

Get Walshaw (in second row) and Anderson back to freshen things up and send Gilmour back to Cas.

I agree with this. When he was signed I had assumed it was as cover for the centre positions as we were very short there at the time. I certainly think in the back row we have better options than gilmour, ie. walshaw, Molloy or annakin for starters.

well we might as well pack it in then if that's what you think, what's ridiculous of thinking if your within reach of a play off spot, have you no ambition

After such an awful season Trinity don't deserve to play the extra match. It would simply paper over the cracks. Blood the players who are likely to be here next year and concentrate on making the 8 next season.

Which players do you want to blood ?
How many of our youngsters are even close to being ready for SL ?

We should certainly be looking forward to next season but getting beaten in Perpignan shouldn't mean that we write off our last 6 games.
WE should still be looking to beat Salford, KR and maybe Huddersfield this season and finish as strongly as possible.

Let's find out whilst it doesn't matter.

I'm not overly enamoured with the two wing options, give Tom Johnstone a shot, Annakin has missed a lot of game time. Get him back up to speed.

From my entertainment point of view and as a vehicle for selling season tickets I would argue that every game matters.
It may well be that there are players lined up for next year who aren't even signed up yet.
Think Gilmour can be sent back but we probably have to suffer Riley and Owen till the season end.

The stats of the game yesterday re-affirm that Raleigh was one of our better forwards in a clearly well beaten pack (27 tackles but only 59 metres gained) with Kirmond topping with 37 tackles. Wonder if it'll be Raleigh's last season?

Mikael Simon was their top forward as expected with 102 metres but only 8 tackles which is similar for their other front rows.

Gilmour did 24 tackles but in 8 carries could only average 3 metres per carry.... Walshaw/Annakin if fit could do no worse than this surely? Time to give youth a chance and those on loan go back (unless we maybe want to sign for next year? e.g. Riley & Owen).

The tone of the game was set in the first 10 mins, we had enough ball to put some real pressure on Catalan but poor kicking cost us any pressure.
Catalan then clicked on that we weren't kicking to score, just to contain.
Their forwards got a roll on and the first time they had any real pressure on our line, they scored.
Game over from here.
I can understand the quote about forgetting about the top 8.
It will only cause unnecessary optimism that we should be making the top 8 every year, would rather miss out this year for the sake of one extra game.
Think one of the Sky team mentioned other week about Peter Gentle at Hull, he was get praise for leading them into the playoffs and having a decent season.
They get pumped by 70 points and he is shown the door.

Right up to Thursday I was still pondering wether to go or not,luckily,I stayed at home to watch it.Most of the tries came from unforced errors,which went against the grain of the previous games but strangely the refs decisions seem to have stayed the same Like someone said earlier,bad day at the office,games gone re group,move onto the Warrington game and hope we all turn out to support the Trin.Regarding playing the young ones,I said to the wife that the only good thing that might come out of le Cats game is Jordan and others may get a sniff in future games.At the end of the day,JW knows the players and I will back him whatever direction with the team he takes.

I'm not advocating that we just concede the last 6 games and if you think that playing Crowther, Johnston, Jowitt, Walshaw, Annakin and maybe even Shulver or Swann is just giving up then that's a bit of an insult to those lads. They'd bring new energy, commitment and freshness to the team. I don't advocate playing them all together that would be stupid but maybe 2 or 3 in the 19/17 to give them a feel for the dressing room and or a match at first team level, that would stand them in good stead next year.

well from somebody who was there sat in the shade with a vest and shorts on sweatin me balls off and reading most of the comments on this thread makes me laugh..the humidity was very high that is the killer not the temp .. our lads were knackered..yes mistakes were made but they have only lost 2 games all season at home..the pitch is big and they know how to play it.. we didn't get water on also like catalan did..when mathers was injured les cats were all taking water on board ..nobody took water on for our players!

Quote: tamargrace "well from somebody who was there sat in the shade with a vest and shorts on sweatin me balls off and reading most of the comments on this thread makes me laugh..the humidity was very high that is the killer not the temp .. our lads were knackered..yes mistakes were made but they have only lost 2 games all season at home..the pitch is big and they know how to play it.. we didn't get water on also like catalan did..when mathers was injured les cats were all taking water on board ..nobody took water on for our players!'" Good point well made. Let's learn some lessons from this and try to play the conditions better for next season down there, hopefully it'll be played March/April. Getting water on at every opportunity as Dragons did. That hit on Mathers was with the shoulder no attempt to wrap arms around and tackle.... On another point from the Owen thread it was Owen that clattered Escare in the first half causing a head injury preventing off load as they had a man over, preventing a try although they scored from kick a minute or so later. Scruton (who it was thought caused the injury) wasn't even on the pitch. m.youtube.com/watch?v=0YgRfbSPxF4 19 minutes 15 seconds into the video (or 12 mins into the match) The Lynne penalty was also rubbish 21 mins 29 seconds.

Quote: tamargrace "well from somebody who was there sat in the shade with a vest and shorts on sweatin me balls off and reading most of the comments on this thread makes me laugh..the humidity was very high that is the killer not the temp .. our lads were knackered..yes mistakes were made but they have only lost 2 games all season at home..the pitch is big and they know how to play it.. we didn't get water on also like catalan did..when mathers was injured les cats were all taking water on board ..nobody took water on for our players!'" Good point well made. Let's learn some lessons from this and try to play the conditions better for next season down there, hopefully it'll be played March/April. Getting water on at every opportunity as Dragons did. That hit on Mathers was with the shoulder no attempt to wrap arms around and tackle.... On another point from the Owen thread it was Owen that clattered Escare in the first half causing a head injury preventing off load as they had a man over, preventing a try although they scored from kick a minute or so later. Scruton (who it was thought caused the injury) wasn't even on the pitch. m.youtube.com/watch?v=0YgRfbSPxF4 19 minutes 15 seconds into the video (or 12 mins into the match) The Lynne penalty was also rubbish 21 mins 29 seconds.