Quote: knocker norton "I dont think it was the extra effort in defence by Catalans in the first 20 mins but more a poor Hull attack.
At no point did the Catalans defence become stretched or look desperate they handled a pretty poor Hull attack comfortably. We attacked like a team with no confidence for the first 20 mins. Also the Yeaman scoot from dummy half is only acceptable in our own 20 clearing the lines when under pressure imo it offers nothing other then a wasted tackle and breather for the opposition if done in their half of the pitch!
The 2nd and 3rd tries gave Hull the attacking confidence and you could visibly see the players suddenly want the ball more with Jordan Rankin starting looking like the full back we knew he could be.
Thought Rankin was very good linking into the attack and Lineham will hope he stays at fullback for the service. Thompson is really impressive with his pace and aggression in the middle and I like how Pryce controls the game in the middle.
Would still be tempted to find a place for Shaul on the wing in a similar vien to Russell at Warry and move Talanoa to centre or even Curtis Naughton if Talanoa gets a ban.'"
That's how I saw it. It wasn't particularly impressive defensive efforts from Catalan, it was pretty standard stuff to swallow up a naff attack. Our only idea for half an hour was to chip over the top if barging at the line failed (I don't know why people are saying 20 minutes either, we were still poor after the opening try, which was a gift. As you rightly say, it wasn't until the Rankin & Michaels tries that we actually settled down & started to play rugby).
