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Super League 2007 - official thread

I maintain that when everyone settles you'll be a force to be reckoned with.
 
good win by Saints but they need to start playing like they did during most of the second half for the entire game, gave away far too much ball in first and were lucky that Warrington didn't do anything with it and usually handed it straight back - nice classic length of the field try by Pryce though - good piece of work he put in the defense leading up to it, good to see Gardner continuing to finish well - good burrowing strength by Meli to get over, may not be the fastest but has power in the tackle -Fasavalu also had a stormer and many of his runs set up things for Saints - really would've expected Warrington to give it a better effort though they have the personnel and talent, if they would have kept things simple and just plowed through their sets they might have had better chances with Briers' kicking game to build a platform on.
 
Hull FC get their first win of the season 16-12 away against the Giants who stay at the bottom
 
Results so far this weekend:



Friday, 16 March 2007Engage Super League



Salford 6-25 Wigan

Wakefield 26-32 Leeds



And now I'm off to Hull - see you guys later!





Saturday, 17th March 2007

Engage Super League



Hull FC vs. St Helens

Catalans Dragons v Huddersfield

Harlequins RL v Bradford
 
wahhh - i'm supposed to be listening to the Hull game right now but I can't I hate this - it was ok to listen last week now there are "contractual obligations" FFS what else can be thrown in my way
 
Saturday/Sunday results.

Saturday

Catalans 23 - 22 Huddersfield

Harlequins 22 - 36 Bradford

Hull FC 24 - 12 St. Helens

Sunday

Warrington 30 - 12 Hull K R
 
well done Les Cats real cliffhanger - Hull seem to be on the improve...hmmm...i don't know about this season STHRLFC we might do well to win one of the comps, call me a skeptic...then again you've got better seats than me what do you think? anyone?
 
I don't think we're going to sweep the board again. This season, for me, is bringing through some of the kids and seeing how good they are or aren't. We have a big job on at the end of the season as we decide whether or not to retain or replace Long, Cunningham and Sculthorpe. At the moment I'm undecided on all 3. They have been the spine of the decade of destruction we've had but they are all the wrong end of their careers now. Some big calls to be made. I think we'll win something, hopefully the Super League, but we're not as consistent as last season.

I'm not getting too worried yet as there is no shame in losing to Hull whatsoever as they are a good team but we weren't great at all on Saturday. Hull were short of confidence and belief going into that game and I think we should have given them a pasting. Give them their due though they tackled us to death and stopped us doing the basics. We lack punch since Paul Anderson retired and we aren't as dominant in the pack as we were last season, which is of course having a run on as we don't force repeat sets enough.

We're also making a lot of horrendous, basic errors and our defense has been relatively poor. We need to work hard and start doing the simple things right. We have a tough run of games to come - we need to ensure we get ourselves set or we're going to miss the top 2. We'll need to find some consistency as it is.
 
Yesterday's results:

Friday, 23 March 2007

Engage Super League

Hull 20-30 Wigan
Leeds 28-16 Harlequins RL
St Helens 42-14 Hull K R


Fair play to Hull KR. They were tough opposition tonight and it was only after 50 minutes or so we pulled away. They are still adjusting to the fitness levels and once they get that in the bag they will do alright. They have some clever players and they'll be fine. Be very surprised if many teams have an easy game against them, they do make their lives much more harder by silly penalties though. High shots in particular are going to cost them because they can't seem to keep them low. Fair play though.

From our perspective it was nice to put away one of the league's weaker teams as we have come unstuck against Wakefield and Harelquins, who we should be beating. It was also important to come bouncing back after the debacle against Hull FC last week when we were very poor. We're capable of much better than what we produced tonight but it wasn't bad by any means. We were a bit slow to get going but once we did we were always going to win the game. We didn't half have a job on in the first 15 minutes of getting out of our own half.

Nothing to get too excited about but it was a good win. Great to see Maurie getting back to last season's form (poor Chris Chester) and Scully also looked quite sharp. Lets hope they're all on the ball for the 6th!
 
good win by Saints - looks like Scully's back in smooth form - good team effort as well.
 
Sunday, 25 March 2007

Engage Super League



Bradford 22-29 Catalans Dragons

Huddersfield 16-18 Salford

Wakefield 30-24 Warrington



And those were yesterday's results.
 
Sunday, 25 March 2007

Engage Super League



Bradford 22-29 Catalans Dragons

Huddersfield 16-18 Salford

Wakefield 30-24 Warrington



And those were yesterday's results.
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Impressive result from the Catalan Dragons... I thought that they would be trashed as they were the two last times they played the Bulls.
 
It was a very good result for them - it just shows that anyone can beat anyone this season.
 
Yes, this season does seem very open after the first few rounds. It would be a shame after great starts from smaller teams (except Huddersfield) if they sliped back into their usual losing streaks. Another plus is that it looks as though Wigan will do much better than last year and actually become contenders again :D
 
Thursday, 05 April 2007

Engage Super League



Bradford 14-18 Leeds



Friday, 06 April 2007

Engage Super League



Harlequins RL 30-28 Hull

Huddersfield 56-12 Wakefield

Hull KR 20-34 Catalans Dragons

Salford 32-34 Warrington

Wigan 14-32 St Helens



I did think that the scoreline should have been wider yesterday because we were much the better team except for maybe the first 5 minutes when we gave away a silly try and looked like it was going to be a roll back to the early 2000's when Wigan used to stick 30 or 40 points on us every time we went near the JJB.

After we gave them a 6 point start (Matt Gidley is too experienced to do something so stupid, I still can't believe he did it, you NEVER pass when you can't see) we settled down and bossed the game from there on in. Wigan are a good team, and they will still be in the 6 at some point even if they lose both games over Easter but we showed all too easily yesterday what to do to keep them quiet - move up as a line and get tight on Trent Barrett. if you do that, Leuleuai isn't good enough to create massive openings that Wigan's quick backs can exploit.

We also battered them in the forwards. We came off with the bloody noses because Fletcher and Hock kept going high, but we well and truly won the war. Fozzard was huge, Graham with some good yards ans Fa'asavalu is becoming one of the biggest forces in Super League. Fielden did nothing - we didn't let him. What we do so well, and better than anyone in Super League, is gang up on people. 3 or 4 men go into one tackle and it makes the offload so hard and tough to make yards. And I wouldn't want to be tackled by any of our forwards.

After falling behind our reply was swift. Gilmour made the break and put Meli away. The mutants were screaming for a forward and I agree, maybe it was slightly forward but the momentum rule would defintely be in play in that call. I won't lose any sleep over it regardless, I think it was benefit of the doubt myself and that should go to the attacking team. Loved seeing Roger Meli make a mug of Calderwood not once, but twice. Dazzling footwork, great try.

From that point they couldn't cope with us - emphasised when smoking Bill Withers got carried back 20 yards by Cayless, Wilkin and Graham. BOOM! That's the best bit of defending I've seen in Super League. WHATCHYAGONNA DO when Saints run wild on you like that?

Well, in Withers' case, get yourself sinbinned. Wilkin made a break (I don't know how someone so slow does it so often!) and he was held down. 10 minutes and rightly so. Not even Ashley Klown could miss that one. We made a couple of daft errors at that point in the game and it looked like our bad habit of not punishing teams whilst a man down was going to continue but another Wigoon knock on saw Talau crash in at the corner. That wing looked a bit weak and we continued to attack it. We continued to take it to them but we got our reward 10 minutes before half time when Roby scooted 40 yards from the play of the ball to brilliantly touch down. It was a fabulous try from one of the brightest prospects on the planet. If he keeps injury free there's no reason why he can't win Man of Steel. Immense, huge player even if he's only dinky. Stunning footwork and great finish. It took some scoring. With that cushion, Wigan kicked a penalty a few minutes before the hooter and at half time we looked pretty rosy.

The Goons continued to contribute to their own downfall by having a comical start to the second half, passing to players standing in touch, knocking on and messing about at the play of the ball. We capitalised as Fa'asavalu went through three to reach out and plonk the ball directly on the line. It was a great sight straight in front of me - this massive arm coming out and putting the ball down. There was little time to reflect on that though as a couple of controversial penalties from the incompetent official became the talking point but we missed a tackle and Hock made a break. We didn't recover and Leuleuai skipped a few half hearted tackles to crash over. With that gap at 8 points nerves looked like they might play a part and that horrible feeling was made even worse when Talau's try was wiped out for "obstruction." I have big problems with that rule, I don't think Sculthorpe did anything too wrong and Barrett was just as responsible for the collision by putting a hand out.

However it didn't matter - five minutes or so later we were over again as Long, Roby and Gidley combined brilliantly. It really was a super try, the final pass from Roby in particular showing great awareness. At this point, the Wigan cheap shot started to rear its ugly head - 5 penalties for high tackles in the last 15 minutes. Animals. Fozzard in particular was the receipient of 3, 2 from the same player, Bryan Fletcher, who should have been sin binned. Roby also got a bust lip but I would expect nothing else from the mutants. I'd almost forgotten how much I hate them.

A Long penalty made the gap 14 and the Wigan walk was well and truly in full flow. Hilarious. We had to scramble about a little bit to stop them scoring but we had the final say with another great try, Mike Bennett crashing over to put a more convincing look on the scoreline.
 
after seeing this game and having watched Wigan against Widnes in the CC I have to say the Warriors' attack looks a bit stale even though they had previously put away the Vikings as expected - they just don't have that cutting edge or enough players that can make breaks - creativity yes in Barrett and others but not a team that can slice open a defence and make those crucial offloads - as for St. Helens the machine rumbles on - the key continues to be the bench players and the young guns IMO plus Scully's kicking is a bonus
 
Last weekend's results.

Friday, 20 April 2007
Engage Super League
Hull 22-32 Bradford
Wigan 44-10 Wakefield

Saturday, 21 April 2007
Engage Super League
Catalans Dragons 27-16 Warrington
Leeds 38-19 St Helens

Sunday, 22 April 2007
Engage Super League
Huddersfield 46-16 Harlequins RL
Hull KR 24-28 Salford
 
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