yep, best team won mate without talisman Dureau but catalans are an up and down side and you never know which Catalans side is going to turn up ! they can be brilliant or rubbish just like that

good to see Escaré continuing his progress, he was really gutted when the club signed Calamity Webb as a replacement for Greenshields as he felt he had served his apprenticeship in the reserves, now he is really proving them wrong and has been rewarded with a new two-year deal

I thought we were lower in intensity against Leeds than we were in both the KR and Wire games. We didn't really need to reach the same heights against average opposition on the night and it was a comfortable win for us.

Yesterday's game shows that we still have a way to go in our development which most of us knew anyway. Any team that doesn't do the basics well will get burned in this league and clearly we were way off in this one.

Watched game in New Clarence without knowing the score beforehand. Commented that it was like watching the Magic game again - poor ball retention, butterfingers, defence and discipline. Do we struggle in heat? Also, it had been raining all day there and the pitch was very wet. We slid and slipped over far more than Les Cats did. Sounds ridiculous, but wrong studs?

Apart from one great run, Crookes' return wasn't good, although it was the first time he'd partnered Yeaman (who was solid) and his first on the left wing. We missed Briscoe in this. Sharon, Lineham and Crooks were also poor by their recent standards. Houghton had a good game but Holdsworth's kicks weren't as incisive as usual and the French kicking game was strong. Ellis went off and I couldn't see if he came back on? I felt we really missed O'Meley against the massive French pack and a big off prop is the absolute priority on the shopping list for me. All our pack were blowing like the Rovers fans currently are into their shiny new bubble and need to build some serious stamina for these conditions.

Outclassed by the better side by far, in summary, but little respect for the possession we did have and shocking defence particularly in the first half did for us. A revealing rehearsal for the cup match, at least we know what we need to work on. Did someone say they have a week off next week? I'd be tempted to take them all off for some hot weather training.

Learn the lessons from yesterday and beat them in the cup. That is the game at Catalan in 2013 I want us to win.

It was only 20 degrees in perpignan yesterday once the rain cleared, hardly tropical

But similar to the Magic temperature and significantly hotter than any other match this year. Was it humid?

Either way, it'll be much hotter in July and [iif[/i this is a factor which causes us problems we have a month to prepare. Wigan were doing hot yoga training on the Super League show.

as daft as it looked,whatever they are doing it is working for them. They got another win on Friday with the likes of Tomkins, Richards, Green, Smith, O'Loughlin and Farrell out.

Even though our young/backup players have improved massively, if we were without our Full Back, Hooker, 1 Winger, Both halves, A 2nd row and Loose I dread to think what kind of result we would get.

I have no axe to grind, but 1 poor performance, well 1 1/2 if you include the magic weekend, in the last 11 games isn't bad. In past years that ratio was probably 5 or 6, which is an improvement and if that improvement continues you could be challenging right up the top end of the table if not this season, next season.
I myself have picked you as the proverbial 'dark horse' for the Challenge Cup, and for that I apologise given my tipping record.
Chin up, and bounce back next time.

Didnt feel humid. In the sun felt warm, in the shade was bit cooler

Heat is a load of garbage to me, it's not like we've never played when it's warm before. They're slightly more accustomed to it yes, but I'd say that's cancelled out by the sheer size of them.
You never get to accustomed to heat when your dragging your 16,17,18stone frame around in high temps and there's only about 6 of them under that.

Anyone know our completion rate? It looked staggeringly bad, I would guess 30-40%?

At one point it sounded like it was in single digits.

I think that's a description of what we were using to catch the ball.

61%

That high?

Think it's below average

Ours was 78%

Saints was 50%

Whilst I'm disappointed with the performance and hence the result, I'm not particularly disheartened. However good a team are, there will be occasions when they don't play at their best. This was such an occasion for us. I'm sure PG and the boys will be working on all the things that went wrong and I personally can't wait until they're back on the pitch and showing us what they can do.
Come on you ULL.

If it was 61% because we were throwing it about I could live with it but 61% playing the most simple of game plans is really poor.

Is it just me or do our poor performances coincide with this basic safety first game plan we sometimes employ?

I just wish that for once if we are going to have players have an off night in a game it wouldn't be all of them at the same time.

Think you just have to put that game down to one of those days but also look at why it happened, was it a mental issue with regards preparation or simply a game too far?

I can only remember Hull been in the Dragons half once in the second half .

Strongest team of the year? No Webb, Dureau, Elima, Anderson, or Baitieri? hardly the stongest Catalan side of the year.

Disappointed with the manner of the loss, but not really that fussed that we did lose in the long run (always disappointing to lose, but they have to come). Not a game that we should be expecting to win IMO, Catalan are too good a side for that, you only have to look at their home record. We possibly made a catastrophic tactical error by not getting someone sent off, though, seems to be their weakness.

Yes, ideally we'd play well every week, but it just can't happen like that and I personally think that if the stinkers are going to come we're much better served by them coming in games away to the top 6 than the bottom 6 where we really should be after picking up points.

Should he make your full-strength side any more?

I was shocked when SL fulltime said it was that high.

Expected it to be around 50%.

It was made much worse, by how early in the sets we spilt the ball.