The controversy at the end with Brough's woefully sliced drop goal seems to have papered over the cracks dramatically. Had the ref given that DG, we'd no doubt have spent the last 24 hours having an inquest rather than debating the nonsense we have been.

Nathan Brown after the game said we'd saved our worst performance for our most important game. I agree completely with that assessment. Luke Walsh was also pretty cutting in his post game interview, saying we need to be a lot better than we were. We started the game so well, attacking with the verve and purpose we have so far this season in Super League. Swift's try was well worked, Lance showing his class, Makinson's try was sensational and a try of the season contender. But from the moment we scored that till the moment Ferres was sent off, we were absolutely awful. For 50-60 minutes we'd let Huddersfield dominate field position and they were completely controlling the game. Our completion rate around the hour mark was 58% according to the on screen stats. Woeful. Walsh's kicking game was very poor, his attacking kicks so easy for Huddersfield to accept and jog to the 20 laughing. You could blame a lack of enthusiasm in the chase for that as well. On the rare occasion we got to the last in their 40, the options were terrible, as slow and lethargic as last season.

But then the pack pulled us through those last 15, getting us field position for the equalising penalty and then for Walsh's drop goal. Very impressive defensive effort in the final minutes as they bombarded us. Walsmley, Manu and Wello all deserve great credit for the charge downs having watched them back.

We used our get out of jail free card there without doubt, but if we play anything like that against Wigan or Leeds, we'll regret it. Reasons for the performance? Just that so many were carrying knocks or returning from injury?

I think a combination of both Walsh and Roby having poor games, players returning from injury and not being 100% and Amor getting injured early doors caused most hte problems. Roby threw some uncharacteristic shocking passes, otherwise known as Micky Mac's, that lead to knock ons in great field position where we may have scored otherwise and put the game to bead in hte firt half.

By his own standard, Roby had a bad game, by anyone else's, not so bad.
His usual perfect distribution was off (walmesley ball to the face)

but basically Hudds were very good. They showed last year that they're a top side and they didn't disappoint yesterday.

Walsh and Walmesley were coming back from injury and were below their own high standards

In general a good game but neither side were at their peak

I thought he had a poor game by most hookers standard, the likes of Houghton, Lunt etc...

Still twice as good as Michael Hightackleforwardpassillorum though.

Not many of these players have played together that long. Combined with players returning from injuries, poor individual performances and Hudds playing exceptionally well we just struggled. Not to mention i think there was a sense of complacency after we scored twice. Then Huddersfield seemed to wake up as we drifted off.

We was 2nd best in the game from about the 20th min. They was making easy yards every set and our kicking game (mostly Walsh ) was pretty awful.

Certainly our worst performance this year but no team can play well every week but the good teams still win when not so great like on Sunday.

We would never have won that game last year. The energy in defence and the changing down showed we played with heart and commitment and also showed a lot of composer to go up the other end and popping the DG over after being under the pump for 10 mins.

Not pretty but great win.

I thought Walamsley was excellent in his last stint. Charged down a DG and made several big runs but his first 15 mins was pretty bad.

We did look shoddy. At times we looked like a team that had not played together. And I think that is part of it. We through some players back into the team who have had a couple of weeks off and attacking wise they were off the boil.

Passes to touch, dropped balls, giving the ball to the opposition in our own half. Watching it (I taped it and watched it without knowing the result), I just could not see us winning till Ferres decided to give up on RL and start Wrestlemania early. It was a perfect tombstone. The vertical positioning was spot on, sadly he did not make Wrestlemania as he forgot to stop the required centimetre above the mat.

Once that happened it ruined the contest as any win would have been devalued, but then add to that the dodgy drop goal and everything we did wrong gets forgotten.

I could not quite understand what it was, had those playing Leeds put in too much into that game and could not pick it up. Was it the introduction of those being out for a few games, being a bit off the boil. Did Huddersfield disrupt us somehow.

To me it seemed very self inflicted. But everyone see's the game differently.

The secret to winning big games like that is not about playing brilliantly all the time but doing the basics right under the enhanced pressure of the situation.

Failure to do that is why we struggled. The following are observations and not criticisms as the individuals concerned have been great this year.

Robes - knock on and 3 bad passes all which turned over possession
Walsh - kicking on the full in to in goal releasing pressure several times
Swift - snoozing at the re start and letting the ball go dead
Lance - couple of poor defensive reads
Lomax - turned his back at POB leading to a try ( repeat of two previous v dragons and Wakey)
Mose - knock on at POB
Sia - pass into touch
Flanno - pushing at POB

In isolation they are part and parcel of game but add them all together and it explains why we put ourselves under pressure. Take Tommy Mak for instance - has had a totally error free season - which is just as important as the spectacular finishes and why he is being talked about as a possible international.

I thought we were pretty poor. Our intensity was a couple of notches down from the last few big games, which was evident from our slow line speed and lack of kick pressure. We were also having an off day in terms of execution, as Dad's Army points out. But with the huge front row we now have we are able to get forward even when we're getting 'out-enthused', which makes it so much easier to stay in games when we're out of sorts. There's no doubt we would have lost that last year.

The general points regarding a bit lethargic and some mistakes plus hot/cold kicking have been made.
Lots of points about individuals.

The one thing that stood out to me was that attack wise everything went down the right
and the left just didn't function at all bar the early try.

Strange when traditionally Saints struggle on the right.
Swift was pretty much redundant from an attack point of view.

Hohaia and Lomax and to a degree Walsh have attacked down the left with great effect all season.

Flanagan Jones didn't really provide much by way of target or option to the ball players.
They are both SR grafters.

Perhaps a chance to liven things up with the introduction of Percival/Dawson and Wilkin.

I have seen many occasions over the years were following a superstar performance, the team falls flat the following week.

Often I put it down to over confidence, leading to a lack of focus.

I think this happened to some extent on Sunday. We got a couple of early trys and looked comfortable. Then started throwing out slack lazy passes, particularly Roby. This gave Huddersfield field position and once they scored their first try they were dominant and we were looking somewhat shell shocked at something that wasn't supposed to be happening.


There were also possibly other factors at play, particularly fatigue from Roby and Hohoia. They both put in massive shifts against Leeds, but clearly struggled at times against Huddersfield. Roby in mental focus and Lance defensively.

It also looked at times like we were a scratch side just having been thrown together at the last minute. I suspect many players hadn't trained together all week, and instead merely passed a late fitness test and made it into the squad.

The encouraging thing though was that even when playing against a top class and determined Huddersfield team we could still hang on in there while out of form. The great 2006 season was characterised by Saints grinding out a lot of results without really hitting the heights.

Hopefully we will see this continue, and our losses will be close affairs whereby teams have to really fight hard to defeat us.

I also think that Flanagan playing down the left kills our attack down that side. He is a very good defensive player, but doesn't have the guile of Wilkin or Manu to attract defenders. I actually think Flanagan may be best utilised playing in the middle supporting the props with the defensive workload.

I just think it was a mix of players out of match practise and knackered. In terms of picking a side, maybe it was a mistake not to pick LMS. Everyone who came in where previously injured and so would not be running at 100% were as LMS was banned so still should have been training at full throttle.

Easy to say in hindsight. When the 19 was announced I agreed with him being dropped. Did not realize what the Leeds game had took out of us.

From Bolognese

LMS had an injury so wasn't risked

Bolognese??????

One of my sauces.

We were poor through most, although the opening and closing 10 mins were good.

Roby had a poor game, which sums it up, throwing a couple of bricks at Walmsley and the knock on at the PTB.

A lot of Walsh's attacking kicks were poor too, which seems like it wont happen too often.

Most of all, we let Huddersfield dictate the speed of the ruck throughout most of the game. It lead to a higher penalty count for them, but meant that through most of the game we were quite easy to read.

Following his dream game against Leeds, Hohaia has gone back to type. He's got one move which, to be fair, worked for our first try, but fails to bring much to the table. Although he did give us one lovely long kick which sat in the in goal.
I'd love to see Charnock given a run out.

I think if we'd have played LMS, that bit of X factor he has might have spurred us into action a bit quicker.

I'm more pleased with the whole attitude of Saints. We seem to have learnt again how to play badly and win.
We'll play well in most games, but every team will have an off day, like we did on Sunday. To do that and win against a quality side like Hudds, shows class

Agreed.

I'm with Nathan Brown on this one. We got lucky. Had Ferres not been sent off I don't think we would have won.

It concerns me that we saved our worst performance so far for the knock out game, the pressure game. If we repeat that against Leeds in the cup then I don't think we will get anywhere this season. However, I'm still hoping that it was just a one-off. Sure, we will lose games, but if we are going to hope for silverware this season then our players have to be capable of playing their best rugby in the pressure games, when it really counts.

You know what, I'm developing a bit of an affection for Lance. He's working really hard and is showing his class in attack.

Does he ever play the ball properly. he could/should have been penalised a couple of times for it. It's a BIG bugbear of mine in the game today. We are obsessed with the speed of the ptb so much so that it is done incorrectly on about 60 - 70% of the time. Either scrap the rule or enforce it.

It's not just Saints but every team, but Masoe is one of the worse culprits.

It's just lazy, he uses the ball to get up quick and it's only a matter of time before it seriously costs us a game.

Do you mean placing the ball before he's got to his feet? I noticed him doing it, but as you say, it seems quite common at the moment. Not only are you risking a penalty, but imo you're more likely to lose control.

It's the whole ptb. Rod Studd, I think it was, who mentioned it on Superleague backchat a week or so ago. It's a farce. As you know I posted a few years back that it was creeping into the game and now it's just the norm.

There should be no problem for a player to put the ball on the ground and THEN use his foot to play the ball. That IS the rule, NOT, attempt to play the ball with their foot. With the ten metre rule the attacking side has enough advantage without giving them more.

Just watch this Thursday night game as an example and see how many incorrect ptb's there are. I'll bet it'll be 60 - 70 % minimum.

While I'm on about it the other thing happening more at the ptb is walking of the mark. Either penalise the player or allow the defending team to take their defensive position from where the tackle / mark is made. That would shorten the 10 metres.