A tough game, although devoid of consistent quality, both teams will be thereabouts at the end of the season but will have to improve significantly with the ball if either is to win the title. Although Saints won it last year with no halves and no attack so who knows?!

I still don't agree with any of the video ref decisions though.

A lot to like about that game, Leeds played the odd bit of good rugby (and a scintillating try) but our young side just got the better of them. Great, tough performances across the park: back to front and left to right.

hill giving mcguire something to think about and grinning at him...if you notice mcguire fly up from the floor and do sod all..priceless

i also think GOB should get some praise tonight.... his short kicking game was excellent.... Briers-esque in places.... his defense was superb and he read the game really well.

Sims and Peacock were at it most of the night, and had several little bits of afters when the ball had gone. Each one I noticed ended in resigning front/back slaps, which I'm not sure were out of mutual respect or an avoidance of mutually assured destruction.

Westwood and Russell my picks tonight. Huge.

Made up to see (oooh) Kevin Penny get over the line as well. Obstruction my booty.

Yes, I think Russel was fantastic with the number of metres he made - that really punished Leeds and took the pressure off our forwards. Benny was also back to his old self, he was obviously saving himself for that game.

Bridge doesn't look fit still, so I assume he can not do much training ? Philbin held his own, he is a difficult player because he uses his feet so much. Thought the golfer got through a lot of work and looked sharp. Even Asotasi had a reasonable game.

On the negative side, we did make quite a lot of errors ( as did Leeds), but that may have been partly due to the intensity of the match. That must be the third time in a row I have seen Higham knock on when picking the ball up from the ptb. And King and ben Evans were a bit quiet.

Great game to watch

I am with you...Bridge doesn't seem quite right.

Made a couple of ups though, luckily it had no lasting effect.

Talking of luck, I don't think Ratch got that ball down, but it's about time we got some 50/50 calls.

Overall, pleased with the performance, disappointed that we conceded a try.

Is that attendance figure correct ? (10,075). I thought there was a lot more in the ground. If it is, it's p poor for a home game against Leeds.

Sinfield is dreadful, most overrated player I've ever seen.

Some right dicks on the Virtual Terrace tonight.....

(Thought I'd posted just after the game but not gone through-crap internet connection in a Penketh)

Thought-

-Westwood outstanding - playing like that, the best sl forward
-Russell, time and time again, thrusting metres made from the play the ball.
-kicking game, so much better ie. - kicks to the corner in touch., rather than the HKR kicks , which gave the opposition time to collect and run.
-Penny just brilliant. Penny's forte is his speed (and brilliant try). But what is so impressive is that his supposed 'weak areas' are faultless. His tacking is spot on. We need to find a way to create some more space for him as he's a guarantee try maker with space.
- Philbin, a big, difficult player to tackle and only 19. Looks the business and a a Wire.
- Penny, Evans brothers and Philbin, Wire lads.
-Asotasi looked difficult to put down and always had his hand up to drive in.
-Simms targeting peakcock and putting some big hits in.
-Atkins one on one tackle v Watkins.
-Bridge back again.

Thought our defence was superb, also I think our kicking game did improve, albeit from a very low level in previous games.

Daryl is as TS says feeling his way into the team & starting to look the player everyone knows he is.
Glad Bridgey was at 6
We are working hard for each other in defence
GOB played well
Phoenix Kev & Matty are both revelations on the wing & TS will have a real headache when Rhys & Joel are both fit.
As the match ensued I thought the only way they would score was through a bit of luck or an act of brilliance (it was the latter).
James Laithwaite is looking like a starting 13 player every game he plays in.
Super Ben WOW
Ratch must stay at FB, he is the difference for us.

We have the following to return
Simon G
Richie
England
Harrison
Toby King
Joel
Rhys E

Amazing how quick the tone changes on here after one match.

We have nothing to say about the performance now so let's moan about the attendance instead yeah?

Gareth O'Brien seems to me to be improving with every game & is certainly as good as any other SL scrum half . The team certainly fronted up to Leeds for most of the match & threw them off their game.
I watched the highlights programme later & was bemused by a couple of comments by the sky lads....A) Ratchford's try, "even if he touches down with his torso it is a try ", B) a bit later on, i think Ratch again, ball goes forward & commentators say "it's ok it was off his chest ". The RFL need to decide the rule regarding the upper body in relation to rugby league.

Having watch the game again this morning, i think Leeds came with the following plan

* put loads of pressure on our kicking game by rushing at GOB on the last
* get Hall in over the top of Penny with high kicks into the corner

while the first one worked to an extent, they didnt bargain on hardly getting near our line..... Leeds hardly had any chances to get Hall under the high ball near Penny.

Also, how bad was Sinfield? absolute liability last night.

warrington got the 50/50 calls last night and those calls swung the game their way rather than in our favour, imo they were the best side on the night and fully deserved their victory,the wolves can enjoy their victory this time around but i'm sure that we can beat them when the big games come around later in the season

Not imo.
Providing Warrington stick to this spine of a team, Wire will only get better as some players get fitter and combinations develop over the course of time.
Leeds however don't have the same scope for improvement. I don't think the inclusion of Zac would have made too much difference either.

In which case I look forward to this rematch at Headingly.

rhinos don't have the same scope for improvement?
we turn into a different monster when the big games come around later in the season and i'm sure that we have plenty of improvement left in us that will enable us to be in the mix when the trophies are handed out,only time will tell

Leeds looked very tired last night, they couldn't handle the pace of penny Russell , couldn't handle or hick play even when they constantly tried to slow in the tackle, then hilly Simms battered them up front , as for super benny,, well say know more,,
I'm gona be a bit controversial and say our defensive unit and positioning looked faultless without Joel, he is our week link in defence and we didn't miss him,,
Leeds won't get past playoffs,
Our squad is big, and has quality in all areas, sort our kicking out, and it may be our year!!!!!!!!

Hardaker and Moon coming back into the team wouldn't make an improvement? They'd improve any team in the competition.
Leeds weren't that far away last night, and will play better than they did yesterday, as I'm sure Warrington will, because despite the euphoria on here Warrington weren't that great either.

What a load of poop. We restricted a team with probably the best threequarter line in SL to one try.

Yes you are right our defence wasn't great it was superb.

When our attacking options improve the package will take some beating.

Not sure I agree with the Leeds posters on here.
For us to be any good we need our forwards to be much stronger and having one decent halfback in our team might just give us the chance to get our threequarters some quality ball.
The fact Stevie Ward had to make 53 tackles along with a similar stint from Cuthbertson nulifies their attacking skills.
I stand by my prediction that Leeds won't make the top four.
As I said earlier your pack was that good it made GOB look good

Bridge was a passenger last night, a couple of dead ball kicks(which admittedly a nice change from last week's bomb a thon) he didn't do anything, other than get laithwaite dragged off in the second half.

I get the impression though that slowly, ratch is making that team his own.


Sims best game so far, seems to have stopped the cheap knock ons.

Am I right in saying asotasi is only doing one stint a game lately?