Re: Friday night Semi : Fri Jul 31, 2015 10:26 pm  

rochdale warrior wrote:

And nobody is slating the ref, thought he did very well , kept the game moving and had a good rapport with the players

One part of that is that he reffed well, the other part is that the commentators weren't always looking things he might have got wrong for the sake of argument.

: Sat Aug 01, 2015 12:56 am  

Saintjoel wrote:

Even though we lost I thoroughly enjoyed tonight's game. I thought that we turned up tonight but were beaten, in a good clean game, by the best side in the league. Congratulations Leeds.

ha ha ha.....your only post on here, is saying how much you thouroughly enjoyed a game in which YOUR team lost a challenge cup semi final !! You are a Pie Warrior, or a Leeds Rhinos fan ! Which is it luv ? Leeds are the best side in the league, yes by 1 point. You are a St. Helens fan, like my uncle is Barry Manilow !!

Re: Friday night Semi : Sat Aug 01, 2015 1:40 am  

Keiron Cunningham is now faced with the biggest test of his coaching career. For how much longer can he continue to hope Walsh will return to form before he is forced to pull him out of the game?

Recently I supported his decision to criticise Walsh's teammates for not "protecting him enough". That was the smart call. But right now there are guys wearing the Red Vee who are busting their gut in heroic fashion (Walmsley, Roby, Savelio and Percy I thought were magnificent tonight) whilst Luke Walsh is costing three tries per game. These guys might be closer than most in the everyday workplace. But it won't take long watching opposition players race through huge gaps for scores before "workplace shirkers" become as disliked at Saints as they are in all other forms of employment.

No side can afford to give the opponent 12-14 points in a Grand Final.

I have enormous sympathy for Walsh because he suffered a terrible injury. But if Cunningham thought he could simply "run it off" in three or four games he's badly wrong. It could be that he may NEVER fully recover.

Further exacerbating the situation is the fact that Travis Burns, who must be one of the fiercest I'll-die-before-I-quit competitors I've seen in a Saints shirt in four decades, no longer possesses the acceleration he had circa five years ago.

The crazy thing is if anyone had said at the start of the season that Saints' most effective halfback would be JON WILKIN they'd likely be laughed at. But it's only too true. Is Walsh a better player when fully fit? I don't think anyone would disagree. But he's not. Moreover he won't be for some time. If at all.

Which means Cunningham is now between a rock and a hard place. And that was before losing two of the most dangerous back row forwards in the league to what seem like long-term injuries (after both just came back from long-term injuries). Never rains but it pours...

Re: Friday night Semi : Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:28 am  

very enjoyable, leeds showed some great fast paced attack early on and saints looked shocked, but credit to st helens they stuck to it and eventually found a way back, but leeds once again turned the screw, i thought walsh was particularly poor for saints, his woeful kicking fell straight into the arms of the leeds back 3 every time!

credit to both teams, and the referee who i thought had an excellent game, can't remember many things he got wrong, certainly nothing contentious, and the fans who created a good atmosphere ( well the leeds fans did!)

but also credit to the BBC, i don't like the idea of a semi final on a friday night but it was good from the beeb, the commentary was refreshing, woods does get a tad over excited at times but like someone has already mentioned, no looking back at replays from 10 minutes before to find something controversial or not, to bicker about.
still not sure about the presentation though, think Eorl is still trying to hard and wellens was a bit out of his depth.

finally congratulations to leeds for reaching wembley again! comiserations to saints

Re: Friday night Semi : Sat Aug 01, 2015 8:26 am  

Great game.
The first 20-25 minutes were as quick as anything seen in club rugby and Saints did very, very well just to hang in there.

Although Saints are said to have the best pack in SL, Leeds is pretty close but, the Leeds three quarter's is phenomenal, plus an outstanding FB

Great game and well covered by the Beeb.

Re: Friday night Semi : Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:24 am  

craigizzard wrote:

One part of that is that he reffed well, the other part is that the commentators weren't always looking things he might have got wrong for the sake of argument.

Agreed, time for those two to go .

Re: Friday night Semi : Sat Aug 01, 2015 12:43 pm  

1.3 million viewers according to the RFL, 69% up on last year. So it looks like Friday night semi finals are here to stay!

Re: Friday night Semi : Sat Aug 01, 2015 1:41 pm  

Well that was an upset of sorts.

Great to see another club get to experience Wembley. Well done HKR.

Re: Friday night Semi : Sat Aug 01, 2015 2:11 pm  

Well done Hull K.R. really pleased for their fans a thoroughly deserved visit to Wembley.

Respect to Tony Smith, what a top bloke - although he should stop Briers coaching on the pitch.

Re: Friday night Semi : Sat Aug 01, 2015 2:29 pm  

well done Hull kr, thoroughly deserved it, wire looked clueless at times reminded me of when we beat saints in 2009, although we had to wait a hell of a lot longer than they did.
2 good close-ish games,and good atmospheres that's how semi finals should be not the walkovers in front of a few thousands mildly interested spectators like we had a couple of years ago!

wonder how many tickets will be sold on ebay from the warrington area?