Re: Unacceptable : Fri Apr 12, 2013 9:49 pm  

It's unfair to judge tonight as we had 10 players missing and alot in key areas. Lomax, Soliola and Roby are our best players and two of those were missing. Add Manu, Perry and Puletua and that's a fair amount of size in the pack missing too. The effort was there tonight but our forwards bar Soliola and Walmsley just didn't match up to their big pack. We were getting pushed back when defending and we weren't making enough yards to force them under pressure with territory. They were kicking the ball in good areas whilst we weren't and when our kicking game is as average as ours is, then that led to us playing catch up all night.

The big problems for us come with our props and in the halves. In Walmsley we have a fantastic prospect who we need to build our forwards around. It's imperative next season we sign a couple of props with mongrel who will run through brick walls. There's plenty around and they are easy to find both over here and in the NRL. Catalans had several of them in their team who just kept running and running at us making massive yards.

Our main problems though come in the halves. There is no control or leadership in this area, there is no kicking game and there is no real creative link between our 6 and 7 to our outside backs. It has to be our priority to sign at least one half back but I'd personally be looking to bring in a 6 and a 7. I think this is McManus' most important season for recruitment because it'll be our 3rd season in the new ground next year and the initial fascination about the new stadium will start to wear thin with fans soon, they want to see entertaining rugby, they want to see winning rugby. We won't see this without good half backs so it is more important than anything else that we bring in some quality in this area. To do this we basically need to offload all our OOC overseas players leaving just Hohaia and Soliola. Laffranchi, Puletua and Perry can all go for me with reinforcements coming in from overseas. Add Wellens and Gaskell to the outgoing list and we should have plenty of cap space to manoevre and rebalance the squad next season.

As for this season, if we could bring in a 7 then great but with no quota spots and who knows what remaining on the cap, that could be difficult to impossible so we just need to make do with Wilkin and Hohaia unfortunately and hope we can get Lomax back soon and keep him fit as he makes a difference to our attack from full back.

Re: Unacceptable : Fri Apr 12, 2013 9:51 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

People talk about the need for a half back but there is no point signing a half back with that pack.

We were going backwards all night in defence, and couldnt burst out of a paper bag going forward. Just about the only two forwards that did any damage were Walmsley and Soliola.

We are desperately short of a couple of BIG front row forwards to give us some field position and to stop the opposition just using us as speed bumps.

Howarth in particular was tonight very poor defensively, Casty and others just ran at him repeatedly and bounced out of his tackles.

There was simply no spark and enthusiasm out there tonight from the experienced players.
This was summed up in how slow we were to form a scrum with 6 mins left, and also when Swift tried to do a quick tap restart and the rest of the team just looked shocked that he would even bother to try such a thing against a team with 12 men.

I've noticed in the last two games that Howarth can't complete a tackle on his own, he needs a 2nd and 3rd man in to complete the tackle.

I agree, sia and Walmsley was very good tonight.

Re: Unacceptable : Fri Apr 12, 2013 9:55 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

People talk about the need for a half back but there is no point signing a half back with that pack.

We were going backwards all night in defence, and couldnt burst out of a paper bag going forward. Just about the only two forwards that did any damage were Walmsley and Soliola.

We are desperately short of a couple of BIG front row forwards to give us some field position and to stop the opposition just using us as speed bumps.

Howarth in particular was tonight very poor defensively, Casty and others just ran at him repeatedly and bounced out of his tackles.

There was simply no spark and enthusiasm out there tonight from the experienced players.
This was summed up in how slow we were to form a scrum with 6 mins left, and also when Swift tried to do a quick tap restart and the rest of the team just looked shocked that he would even bother to try such a thing against a team with 12 men.

Tonight also showed Makinsons weakness at fullback. He just hasnt got the rugby brain to draw a tackler and release a good pass. On the plus side he is enthusiastic returning the ball and made one excellent break.

Pack is a problem but half back is definately the main problem. Catalans where starting there sets on our 30 most of the night because we simply dont have a kicking game. Our forwards where starting the sets on the 10 metre line. That was a massive difference.

Re: Unacceptable : Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:02 pm  

Blobbynator wrote:

To do this we basically need to offload all our OOC overseas players leaving just Hohaia and Soliola. Laffranchi, Puletua and Perry can all go for me with reinforcements coming in from overseas. Add Wellens and Gaskell to the outgoing list and we should have plenty of cap space to manoevre and rebalance the squad next season.

I agree and would go a step further and offload other oocs such as Gardner and offload Hohaia to someone.
Need to clear all the baggage and the comfy cliques.

In addition there needs to be some streamlining in the backroom.
Brown has brought his own people in but nobody has gone.
Hence there is a gerard houllier /roy evans scenario , this is clearly not going to work.

Re: Unacceptable : Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:13 pm  

It's time for McManus to put up the cash to buy a couple of players, or leave. Just going through the motions as a club isn't acceptable.

As mentioned on the thread, tonight's late surge when Catalans tired and were down to 12 put an unfair gloss on what was a horrible performance. There is no urgency at all, 4 minutes to go and the ref has to stop the clock because we're taking so long to take a drop out. The next scrum, again there is no urgency to stop the clock, the players simply don't care if they win the games or not. No leader, no team spirit, none of the desperation to win Catalans showed.

That lack of urgency I mentioned shows in our defensive line speed. There is none, there is no intensity at all. We were receiving Catalans pack tonight rather than meeting them or attacking them like they were us. Kick chases were poor, our kicking game in general was appalling.

I've joined the drum banging about a scrum half. But is having another big forward more important right now? Laffranchi is an absolute embarrassment, he's a complete fairy ,who would struggle to make 20m a game if you take the easy metres he makes at kick offs off him. If the club gives him a contract for next season, I will be really disappointed. Clough tries hard, but is a very average plodder. Without Sia and Walmsley tonight we'd have been slaughtered, they were both magnificent in attack and defense.

Re: Unacceptable : Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:39 pm  

We need an overhaul but with a dearth of players available we cannot really go to the lengths we need to go to to improve the side. Wellens, Gardner, Meli, Wheeler, Hohaia, Wilkin, Laffranchi (if we're not going to play him in the 2nd row that is) and Perry need to go and fresh faces brought in.

However, with rugby league over here seemingly dying on it's @rse over here, I guarantee that only Perry won't be here next season. Everyone else will be.

We really need to be ruthless in allowing Brown the time and money to rebuild the team.

Re: Unacceptable : Sat Apr 13, 2013 1:13 am  

Having just sat through the torture of the replay on Sky, it wasn't as close as I thought it was. We were completely dominated by Catalans. Around the hour mark they put a stat up that Catalans had had 50 play the balls in our half and us 19 in theirs. They had also made roughly double the metres we had with about 15 to go. The first half was one of the most one sided games I can remember seeing on Sky. The penalty at the end of the half was the only time we got out of our half.

Re: Unacceptable : Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:22 am  

Thought the best part of the match was when everyone in the stadium thought you were gonna get the try right at the death and Catalans walked up the other end and scored..........Quality!

Re: Unacceptable : Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:08 am  

From a neutrals point of view Saints were simply rolled over by Catalans pack.

They did five great drives and a quality kick. Aside from maybe three Sets Saints really didn't do anything.

It's clear that the pack needs more go forward and that the half backs are stand ins. No one seems to be able to kick.


I was astounded at just how gushing the Sky team were about Saints at the end. Yes they have lots of injuries but that's part and parcel of the game. I don't think Saints will challenge the top two places this year but with the rest of the team back they will do ok.

On the other side of the coin I think Saints could have stolen a totally undeserved victory at the end - ii was mighty close to a try before Leon took a walk down the sideline.

Re: Unacceptable : Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:32 am  

The issue for me is there is a lot of talk about us signing a half back but I'm afraid a combination of Andrew Johns and Wally Lewis would struggle trying to play behind our pack at the moment. Our front row was totally dominated by Catalan. LMS, Clough and LaFrancchi are nowhere near big enough to play in the front row and last night it showed. The future for our club rests with Walmsley.....has he not got 3 brothers like the Burgess lads?