Exactly as the title says, a complete joke. We let tries in that a u11's side would be ashamed of.

That second half was a joke

P.S can somebody please explain to me what Flanders offers this season ahead of the excellent Dixon

makes for great rugby so enjoy it while it last

can't you bring yourself to give credit to the Catalans FFS ?

Totally Agree with the topic starter. Great Catalan play for the final try but the soft tries we let in at the start of the second half were defensively diabolical. They were waltzing in on the 2nd and 3rd tackles.

Pryce's arm did hit the ground in the lead up to the gld but we got some very dubious calls in our favour so we can not reallistically complain about that one.

This to me is one mighty wake up call for the team. Maybe it is a good thing we lost today and at least our shortcomings have been highlighted at an early stage of the season.

The defending down Fosters side again was diabolical and he should never have dropped that ball. From the moment that ball hit the ground i felt it was not going to be our day. The interception from Wheeler probably flattered the score for us.

God I am so disappointed. We played so well in the first half too but in the end we got exactly what we deserved !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Totally agree!!!


our defence 'this season' is a disgrace iv seen better defence from local teams in my rugby days,


Royce needs to sort this! if not then he will be out or someone will be end of!


i saw a headline in the paper about Hudds coach Nathan brown apparently maybe on his way to us if royce doesnt earn a new deal and i dont think its a bad idea, people can slate and disagree but if we want to win ANYTHING we need this defence sorting or else we can look forward to looking like an average team defensively


also well done to Catalan though they saw how rubbish our defence was and played on it!!!

Fair result in the end.

Foster needs to get a grip. His attempted catch and fumble gave them the momentum, yet 2 mins later he comes off his wing to aid a tackle which left an unmarked man on the wing, ball goes out he runs the line passes it inside and another try for cats, then he gives a pen away shortly after which again results in a try, hes a good kicker but for me hes a liability. Well played Catalans. How we can take a lead like that then give it away is not St Helens.....

Give Catalans credit - they did a 'Saints' on you. Cracking finish to a game. You've done it often enough!

Give Catalans some credit the "mighty" Saints can get beat now and again ya know

I couldn't go through illness - I feel even sicker now!

It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. We had warning of this letting in 36 points last week by a team like HKR. We were weak around the margins of the ruck area which then spread to the ruck area itself. Foster hasn't a clue how to defend.

Back to the drawing board for defense.

I know, as if we put 36 points on ya! So Catalans are worse than us then? And they beat you haha!

He is paid more so to justify that he has to play, plus he is Australian so that automatically means he is better !

Being honest and I'm pinching another poster on here's words but we looked poorly coached tonight, clueless in defence especially. When things were going belly up what did Royce do? well nothing , he left the Lance substitution till way too late and then he took the wrong person off, it should have been Wello.

We need to pick our best 17 and for me Wello, flanders and at the moment Foster wouldnt be in it.

feck off back to your council estate/fishing boat you boring little troll

The thread title says it all. Catalans did well but some of them attempts at defence were awful.



I have been impressed with Dixon from what I've seen of him this season, not been impressed with Flanders

It wasn't that good.

Could not get across the hills in time tonight. So had to listen in. At about 50 mins the radio 5 commentators where saying that Catalan's forwards where out on their feet.

But Some how they came back into it and ended up making progress down the field, I had 2 thoughts. Before the comeback I was thinking if Catalan are out on their feet surely Lance will come on to run them ragged our fastest man with a pair of fresh legs.

After the comeback, my thoughts came to the great debate we always have which is the back on the bench. People who back Royce on this tend to say point out when it does not work. Which is hard to do.

But if the catalan forwards were out on their feet from 30 mins to 50 mins. Then surely part of the explanation for our drop off in defence is our 16 gaining fatigue.

Like I said I did not see it and yes it maybe just adding 1 and 1 and getting 3, but bringing Lance on with 5 minutes to go seamed to be nothing more than just ticking off the usual substitution timing.

Another matter is if the comments are true and fosters side got battered. then can we pin poor defence on meli every match or is there more too it.

In the end hopefully we have been beaten by a top side, but they were there for the taking tonight, sounded great for the neutral but a worry for a Saint that we have had large leads go 2 weeks running.

Your defence wasn't the best at times. That missed tackle from LMS was poor... but Catalans are a damn good side on their day too. We play them at home next weekend and I see them as a big threat.

It's called a great big fat Jammer hole.

For 50 mins our defence was good.

However we wilted visibly in the pack. I really think the none return of Puletua killed us, as it messed up the squad rotation and against a big pack with fast mobile backs and great halves you are then going to get destroyed.

I also think the 5 day turnaround isnt ideal preparation. At Knowsley road, i remember it being the short rotation games where we tended to come a cropper.

The defence was poor. But far worse was the lack of leadership and direction. nobody other than Wilkin occasionally took the game by the throat and drove us.

Given that info, does it not beg the question why Lance on the bench for so long? He may not be Puletua, but he would have been fresh legs at a time when the Catalan pack where described as out on their feet.

Bringing him on when he did for who he did was a waste of a sub. On at 1 with cats getting tired to run at em .. yes or on at 9 with Roby doing a spell at 13 again may have helped plug the TP gap but on as a like for like with Gaskell for the last 5 minutes is just pointless

I know he (Lance) was only on for 5 minutes but in that time he managed to do a pretty good impression of a headless chicken (along with most of the rest of the team).
I was not a fan of him being signed and its too early to judge but from the evidence so far he offers nothing special - he is a half decent No1 but no 6 or 7.

Apart from what people are saying about wello being poor - my main concern was his inability to show leadership; he just looked lost / shellshocked.

I was never in favour of Wello being captain because I didn't think he had the right head on him at all.

On one occasion Wello got all excited after we had scored a try, jumping up and down, and Roby told him to calm down (using his hands). That is poor.

We seriously, seriously missed Jammer tonight. All around the ruck, under the sticks after we had conceded or scored ... everywhere in fact.