Lots of great yards down the middle and a
recent tactic of yards out wide, we saw that v
Leeds in the semi
KICKING game !!!! Snead and Albo were totally amazing

Wigan were pants

Ellis was punched in the first tackle of the game

Carlos didn't strip the ball - when you grip a player and the ball that tight it's obvious that when Mcaillorum tries to score that when
he loses his grip then it will look like Carlos ripped it

That is why the ref called it no try and he was looking at it

No pundit or fan was closer than the ref

Griffin arguably could have stopped the 2nd try from
them as he focuses too much on williams - arguably

Could Griffin have not impeded the Wigan player for Mahes hat trick ?

We were so dominant yet couldn't get the score to reflect it

Thought we were better than last year

Shaul seemed much more comfortable

The ref also seemed to help us or at least it felt that way - our discipline
helped for sure and completion rates must have been good

I've watched it twice now and I really enjoy how we played

Radford a better coach than Bellamy.?

We got a few 50/50s but then they got away with Marshall catching it with a foot dead and plenty of the usual high tackles and digs. Scoreline really compliments Wigan I think.

Was Griffin injured, we seem to struggle on the right when he went off, not sure it was the best idea to bring Connor in just for the sake of it, would have used him in the middle.

Thought we stopped playing rugby for the last 15 mins, went into our shell and played 5 drives and a kick, nearly cost us the match, hope Radders and team learn from this, we need to keep playing rugby for 80 mins.

I had a presentation from melbourne storm
Management Frank P etc
Bellamy is incredible in 15h season
Attention to detail is the key
Consistency - something we need to get

In answer to your quip

I thought we lacked a bit of creativity in their 20 but wigan defended really well. With the field position we had early in the 2nd half we should have really out the game to bed. griffin going off seemed the turning point and they started to rip us to pieces on our right.

For me it was probably our worst performance in the cup this year but who gives a fook, we WON



Brilliant day and what an atmosphere with all those fans there

I thought it wasn't a bad call to do that, personally. We went through a 10 minute latch where we kept dropping the ball, often not even under pressure. Just settling the game down and focusing on our defence (which was strong throughout) wasn't a bad decision I thought.
But I completely get your comment. I would have liked to see us kill the game off with another try as it would massively have helped settle my nerves !! (And 25,000 other fans).

Fonua was great yesterday, came under a lot of pressure but coped admirably.

Totally vindicated his selection despite a couple of disappointing performances of late.

People slating Kelly on the coach (one woman saying we should get rid of him and Griffin

) but thought he was very well marked by Wigan. Thought he did well to get the ball away for Sneyd to kick for Tuli's try, and the pass for Fonua's second.

Wonder what the bloke at the Hudds game thinks now, after saying we'll get beat at Wembley if Fonua plays

I thought one of the big aspects was the difference in experience and physicality of our respective wingers. Fonua was exceptional, and got 9 votes for the Lance Todd, making a mockery of suggestions to drop him. Sneyd's kicking and game management were way ahead of anything Wigan's pivots had to offer - they'll be really disappointed in their efforts. There's a montage of his kicks on the red button coverage, as Rod Studd said on Twitter, he was effectively running a halfback clinic all game.

Was it bumpy who wanted connor and michaels in for fonua and sneyd?

Lol, give it up, I never said any such thing, I said I'd prefer to have Connor personally in the centres over Giffin, Griffin did okay but was our least effective player IMHO, had several lapses that cost us points.
Having only 3 rotations did have an effect on our forwards on what turned out to be a very draining game not just the intensity but the conditions as well.
Criticising other posters at a time like this, that's just typical of you and even when we've won the big one you can't help but hit out.

I'm loving the whinging from Wigan fans! Got a team who have had the referees in their back pocket for years it's nice to see them believing they were robbed.

How can someone slate Kelly.He worked his socks off but as you say was well marked by Wigan.To me that gave Sneyd a bit more space to work in.
Griffin on the other hand.Bombed two tries.Failed to collect the high ball over the Wigan when it only needed grounding and deliberately ran into Gildart causing a perfectly good try to be correctly disallowed.
Had that try been given we would have run out comfortable winners.
Just dont get what people see in Griffin.He is the weak link in this team.
Connor should have either played at right centre or not at all.Wasted bench spot for me especially on such a hot day.
That said great feeling to be winners again especially against Wigan.
Sneyd played well but my MOM was Watts.Think with Paea coming back Radfords plan will be to move Watts to 13.
Not mentioned but thought Chris Green had a really strong game.Seems to go under the radar

I thought Kelly was really quiet at game but watching it back he had a very good game. 2 assists and a hand in the other. Nearly broke through couple of times and kept the wigan defence guessing. Thought Griffin bombed a try but easy to say from stands and was at fault for there 2nd but never let it effect him and did a job as they had far more success down our right when he went off. That woman is probably married to the guy walking next to me after Huds game saying if he was radders he would drop Houghton for final.

Thought the same about Kelly but after watching back he had a good game. Griffin had a good game and we looked worse when he went of. I thought both teams tackled well and gave 100%

Where did Griffin bomb two tries? I know the was the one that bounced that was obviously too high for him to get hold of. The fat drunk div in front of me was screaming for his head after that.

He should have collected the ball you have mentioned.It was high but ive mentioned before Griffin is poor under a high ball.He should have scored.
The second he bombed the Fonua try by deliberately running into Gildart when it wasnt necessary.If that try had been given we would have run out comfortable winners.

Well done lads for a superb day, it hasn't sunk in yet.

A fantastic day, a fantastic result, a team at the top of their game achieving more than we could ever have dreamed of, and bonaire comes along attacking griffin yet again.
Quite unbelievable, particularly when it is totally unjustified.

It wasn't a case of being poor under the high ball as it was just a horrible angle and went up over his and everyone else's heads.

As for the second one, we see that try every week, I reckon at least one gets scored every game across the league without a video ref. Can't complain too much when it was (IMO) a harsh call, given that Gildart makes a defensive decision to cover Griffin's line and isn't actually impeded by the brief contact, and managed to tackle Shaul who offloaded.

What a surpise. We win the Cup and bumpy and moanaire are still whinging.