PositivesAmor had his best game for a while - defensively and offensively
Roby did some of his now all-too-infrequent scoots in the first half which won a lot of yards
Walsh was creating space everywhere
On a couple of occasions it looked like we could put on a passing move to our left
Some of our forwards started to find an offloading game
NegativesDefensively, our threequarters on both sides were extremely weak. Every time Leeds moved the ball out they looked like breaking.
While the forwards did better in the second half, the inability to prevent Leeds forwards offloading is a failure of tackling technique.
Flanagan and Jones showed why they're not always favoured by Cunningham
Even though Walsh was creating space, we couldn't use it.
When the forwards were looking to offload, there was almost never any second phase.
I thought what tonight showed was that we're a Saints team who have forgotten how to play attacking, passing rugby. Our injuries to key backs have meant that for 12 months now we've had to rely on grinding up the field, and getting over the line from within the opposition twenty after repeat sets. We simply didn't know what to do today with attacking chances. There were no drop-off runners for the props' offloads, so they ended up throwing it to the grounds ten yards back rather than in the hands, and if it did go to hand, everyone stood around staring because they weren't expecting a second phase. Likewise it was painful to watch Walsh creating gaps and uncertainty in the Leeds line, but us having nobody running the correct lines to hit the holes he was making, because we just haven't done that for so long.
We've some easier games now. We need Walsh on the field for 80 minutes, and we need to retrain our backs in how to play passing, attacking rugby off a very skilful halfback. We also need to do something to spell Roby. The man's knackered. He almost never runs from dummy-half any more because he's so busted, but we need someone with quick feet and lots of energy buzzing around our big forwards in the middle, looking to recycle the ball to a second phase, or take a well-timed offload themselves and hit the gap. It's about training - we have the capacity to play rugby again, so we should start re-learning how to use it.
Oh, and we really, really need Percy back, plus one other proper athletic, fast winger or fullback. Our lack of speed in the backs is cringeworthy.