Catalans played in that second half how I expect them to play every game of the season. Their pack is huge, they won almost every collision and Hendo was having the time of his life.
We chose the wrong option on a couple of plays and it cost us in the end. A damn shame, but this game didn't end our season. The dropped points against Widnes and Wigan were the real season killers.

I agree with red about gale. He's far to inconsistent. Hes the organiser in the side but he doesn't take control. Last tackle options are the wrong ones 50% of the time. We need a general out there alongside Sammut.

I thought Langley was immense in defence today, he put his body on the line and gave it to Catalans big men.

"Keep blaming" the referee? Whilst he's not the first, the fact is that on this occasion he had a huge, disproportionate and unfair influence on the game. Any one of say 4 key decisions, if he gets it right, we win.

I agrees he made some howlers. The back to 0 he gave it hit langleys back was an awful call, particularly when he ignored what I thought were some blatant attempts at the ball from Catalans and didn't wipe the tackle count.

The 7 tackle accusation I can't comment on. I thought they had too many tackles but I thought that's because he gave zero. Not happy that all 6 officials missed some of the foul play on our players.

That said it was in our hands and we have thrown it away. Even wen Kearney was sin binned the Henderson try was as soft as they come. Basic school boy errors like not crouching down at the play the ball. Unforunately them silly school boy errors have cost us many points throughout the season and that's the reason we're not in the play-offs, not because of Benthams inept display.

Obviously every adverse result we've had is a factor, but we're talking about how the factual situation was at 3pm and how it is now. That's sadly 100% down to Bentham's worryingly one-sided display

Perhaps the banana throwing incident when the locals threw them at him in Perpignan about 4 seasons ago unnerved him and he subconsciously looks out for the Dragons!

Thought the Catalans got the tactics spot on. They identified Heath L'estrange as our biggest attacking threat and made sure they took him out. Dirty, cynical and cowardly. Typically French then

Disappointed I thought we were going to hang in there and squeeze a win but it slipped away in the last few minutes.
Despite Mr Bentham single handedly trying to attone for a thousand years of English wrongs against the French (according to the Cats chairman) and some cynical hits on our playmakers we just seem to lack the cool heads to close the game out, the % football in the last 10 minutes was missing. maybe some of the new recruits will have the on field leadership we seem to miss at the moment.

Catalans play it right on the edge and have some tough players. I’d like to see the L’Estrange incident again. However it was the Catalans pack that was the main reason for the win.

We had only two bona fide props out there today and no answer to the impact that Bousquets made when he came on in the second half. I thought Gale kicked well with the wind in the first half but in the second half we were losing the energy battle having had to defend our line for long periods. Add that to the lack of props coming off the bench and we have no go forward. Kicking into a strong wind from well within our half was always going to be difficult for the halfbacks. That said we could’ve kicked lower to address this or mixed it up a bit.

I'm with those who are not convinced by Gale. Over the course of two full seasons, Danny Addy is a better half back.

If we have ambitions for the 8 we need a leader at 7. Someone who can lead us around the park, pick the right options, kick us out of trouble etc. Gale -IMO- is not good enough.

He's shown odd glimpses of doing something half decent, but that's not enough over 2 years.

I thought against Hull, Gale controlled things well. His kicking game was superb and his last tackle options were better. But I remember the Widnes home game when we were leading with ten minutes left, and Gale put a high bomb up for Ah Van, who then scored a length of the field try. Gale should have grubber kicked into the in-goal area and forced a repeat set. This decision more-or-less cost us the match.

I remember that. It wasn't much of a high bomb either, more of a lacklustre punt that my Mum could've caught.

Gale's had a few off field distractions lately, we'd do well to remember that. However it is time he put together some consistent good form as we need better game management from the halfbacks. If Gaskell is confirmed we should get another player with a decent long kicking game. I agree that Addy, in attack at least, as been the more impressive halfback recently but he's not [iyet[/i got the authority or experience to steer us around the park for 80mins. Hopefully we'll hear that he's going to stay at the Bulls, he's got a future here if he wants it.

Interesting re. Gaskell - No-one has confirmed at the club, yet in last weeks League Weekly (may have wrong paper, but was in the press) there was an interview with Foster, where he said the signing was great for the club, and how he will have petrol contributions coming from Gaskell as they live on the same street.

Everyone seems to now think the deal is done, but we know how the club likes to release it's positive press (usually after a disappointing on-field display).

You're right, he did play well against Hull and I understand there's been issues in his life.

However, he needs a big pre-season where he gets properly fit. He's missed the start of both seasons and doesn't look in good enough condition. He takes the ball walking or standing far too often.

Looking at it in isolation, that's fairly accurate, though I thought Scruton had some answers. But looking at a slightly bigger picture, the reason they had the chance to dominate was Bentham. It was a sequence of baffling calls that kept us away from possession for waht seemed like 15 minutes - and even then we only were broken once, at the end. Calling a kick into the back of someone's head from 1 meter, as he turned to try to evade it, was a harsh call, but giving 6 more tackles "played at" for the attempted grubber from point blank range was ludicrous - the ball hit the foot.

Here's a merge of 3 images of the ridiculously forward pass:

1. - ball about to leave the hand. Note: ball is almost directly underneath passer's chin
2. ball thrown forward into the gap behind tacklers. Note: action of hand is in a forward motion, arm/hand going well forward of body, ball well forward of passer's head.
3. first contact with receiver's hand - attacker already through our defensive line. That's why it's impossible to defend.



It isn't of course quite as forward as it looks from the stills, as momentum does come into play, but unless there is a huge hole in Langley, the ball had to come from behind that position, and all the officials missing it, despite a huge roar from the crowd who all saw it instantly, clearly, from every part of the ground, is just an inexplicable travesty

I'd be more worried about Cats having 3 number 23s palying for them.

I dont know if this has been mentioned already but has anybody watched a reply of the tries, and if so for Catalans 1st did Elliott Kear actually ground the ball first ??

You can't see on the replay; it looked as if he certainly should have, but from his reaction, I am assuming he knew he didn't.

I watched it on Super League full time last night and couldn't help think that if there was a video ref, the try wold not have been given. I actually thought he grounded it twice.

Saying that, he was right in front of the touch judge, so I would have expected him to make the correct call.

Why on earth would you think that?

What I expect, and what actually happens are totally different things.



I watch a lot of NRL and the video ref is not just available, but used in every single game. Was I right in reading that the RFL made a substantial profit last year, it would be a massive lift to have a video ref at each game!

Out of all the things in our game that desperately need investment you would spend it on a video ref? It adds nothing to our game in terms of stopping whinging, those that whinge merely accuse vidoe ref's of incompetency. When we have sorted junior development, the quality of coaching below SL level, the state of grounds, a sustainable salary cap sufficient to retain our brightest talent, perhaps then it might be a priority. Refereeing standards are as high, if not higher, than they have ever been, the game has moved on immeasurably. TV replays give the opportunity to examine situations that were never able to be scrutinised previously.