If we can hold our heads and play as Lammy will have planned, we have this.
COYL

No Roby, Percival or Sironen. We've got plenty of experience in the team in big games, we've got great backroom staff, and the best coach in SL. The Leopards are hungry for this. Saints won't be able to live with us!!

Our left edge has been great all season, so play to our strengths and keep Hurrell busy defending and tire him out. He is prone to making defensive mistakes and flies out the line and gets caught in no mans land. There is points to be had there.

Having watched several Saints games this season, they consistently move forward as a defensive line just prior to the play the ball. Refs rarely pin them for offside regardless of how obvious it gets. What LNZ says could be gold for us. Quick, wide ball is the way to negate this Saints tactic. Play around the over advance line. Hurrell is strong when making a tackle but flat footed also in defence. Ricky and Josh could have a good day if they get quality and quick ball (and that is one thing we do very well). I also think we can roll them in the forwards with our speed of play and strong running.
This will be a close game but one I believe we will win.
I will be up at 6:30am to shout at the TV. You may be able to hear me !
Enjoy the game Leythers.

Team more or less picks itself again , unless Lam has been holding smith back for 4 months for this game.
GOB
Charnley
Leutele
Zak
Briscoe
Reynolds
Lam
Amone
Ipape
Mulhern
Davies/Holmes
Hughes/Chamberlin
Big John

Mellor
Ben

I would go with that.

Question marks over Leutele being fit , hope it’s a wind up but wasn’t on captains run (apparently)

I'd have Big Ben and Ava in there for their size and weight. Then Holmes, Hughes and Chamberlain.

May be just precautionary. I'm sure Saints still have niggling doubts over Makinson, Ritson and Batchelor. We're in for a cracker no matter who plays.

As the weather will be a major player in the semi as well as at Old Trafford, this good news from BBC Cricket (yes, Bongser is stuck at work):

#bbccricket, WhatsApp on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply)

Floydarama: Well its =#FF0000brightening up in Warrington and over towards Liverpool, so it's looking better coming into us...

Good luck, very much hoping you win.

In the wet conditions use the big boys. Fight fire with fire and put Ava and Big Ben on the bench.

Come on Leigh hang on

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... dium=email For a man trying not to sound bitter, Wellens appears to be failing quite spectacularly. Asiata appears to have mowed down the Saints team single handedly, by tackling big men round the legs. Several teams have deployed this technique against Walmsley and he goes down like a sack of spuds. Saints seem to be against anything that stops them being the dominant team in the league.

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... dium=email For a man trying not to sound bitter, Wellens appears to be failing quite spectacularly. Asiata appears to have mowed down the Saints team single handedly, by tackling big men round the legs. Several teams have deployed this technique against Walmsley and he goes down like a sack of spuds. Saints seem to be against anything that stops them being the dominant team in the league.

Bongser has just run Wellens' statement through Gobbledegoogle Translate which came out as:

"I am Paul Wellens. I took over as head coach of St Helens from the perennially successful Christian Woolf. As The Saints' hegemony crumbles in front of everyone's eyes, I would like to put on record that IT IS NOT MY FAULT!. It is everyone and everything else's fault and I feel sure that very few people from this suburb of Self-Pity-City will disagree."

Wellens or Wilkin - who's the biggest W?

Aw diddums Paul. Were we physically stronger than the Saints? Are we better coached? Get over it, you were beaten by a better team in every department. We repelled everything you threw at us and then hit you with 2 tries in 10 minutes. There was nothing wrong with the tackles. Asiata was going for the lower leg because the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Taken from Twitter. He needs to stop crying along with all the saints fans.

Sky have the double-dealer whinging in the bottom right of this screen. Sound is off and will stay that way.

Admin (good evening, how are you? Well, Bongser trusts). Can we have a pernanant "Ignore" button for this loop garbage, pretty please?

The irony is that SkY try very hard to pretend that the Challenge Cup doesn't exist but as soon as this clown starts moaning about it (waving a pen as if he can form his letters), they are all over it like Hello! magazine.

Next week: Knit your own sour grapes!

Wellens should be fined for bringing the game into disrepute. Moaning Minnie he's nowt else.

https://twitter.com/sethbarnes3_/status ... 1803110401

https://twitter.com/sethbarnes3_/status ... 1803110401

Will a ban for John bring Wellens' players back? No.

Will it save Wellens' job? It shouldn't.

Have Saints got a massive extended squad? Yes, that's what it's for!

Look at his eyes. He doesn't look a full shilling haha. Looks like a real psycho

Saints won't win owt this year. They won't even get to GF and he knows he's out of a job come the end of the season. Can we play you every week, Paul haha.

Wellens wasn't calling for a change to tackling technique here was he? https://twitter.com/DevlinDaryl/status/ ... 7519563779

Wellens wasn't calling for a change to tackling technique here was he? https://twitter.com/DevlinDaryl/status/ ... 7519563779

Wellens is comparing apples and pears. Knowles got pinged for a hip drop tackle (like Nisbet) Asiata was cleared of tackling round the legs (launching himself head first at the legs).

This is bringing the game into disrepute - he is basically saying the disciplinary panel are wrong