The thing I can't understand is the lack of offloads in the tackle. If you're struggling to crack a defence because you're lacking creativity (as Saints manifestly are) you either kick early and attempt to jar the ball free at their end or you offload in the tackle (as often as possible) and look to profit through second-phase ball, broken-field play etc.
Our backs are too weak to prise open Wigan's defence on a direct attack. But we DO have some pretty good broken field runners in Roby, Lomax, Wheeler and even Shenton (when he can be bothered).
With guys like Puletua, LMS and Soliola in the side (all of whom are very good at releasing the ball even in heavy traffic) there really can be no excuses for not generating second-phase ball. Yes, Wigan's defence is good. But not good enough to shut offloads out completely.
I mean, this is
basic stuff. I can understand the gameplan going out of the window in the first ten minutes because of the shock Wigan's tries generated. But after that Rush & Keiron should have been screaming for offloads in the tackle.
To be honest, our second-phase possession has been mediocre all season. Which suggests to me that Rush & KC don't think too highly of it. Why this is the case is a complete mystery to me.
