If someone had told me before hand that we would win the second half with the team we had out, I would have laughed in their face.



The difference in that first half was the clinicalness between the two sides, and I suppose you have to look at the half backs as to why that is the case. Everytime we had an attacking opportunity in Wigan territory, we put the ball down, or made made an error, where as when Wigan attacked, they scored. That's the deciding factor in big games IMO, and we simply didn't take our opportunities in that first half.



Second half we looked an awful lot better - we threw the ball about, and looked dangerous in attack. As with the first half though, we lacked the pace to threaten them. Paul Wellens is a St Helens legend, and sweats blood every time he pulls on a Saints shirt, but he isn't a #6, and that was evident today. The lads worked themselves into the ground in that second half, but mistakes and missed tackles cost us in the end. As I say, the absence of key players in those key positions ultimately was the deciding factor in the end, but you have to appreciate the guts and determination shown in that second half.



Great effort - but not quite enough.

St Helens did not play poorly in the first half. Wigan just played their best rugby in that half. At 18-0 up, a potential massacre was on the agenda. Wigan stopped playing and their standard dropped inviting Saints back into the game.



The St Helens team representing a great club today are a pale shadow of those of past years. A huge rebuilding task in front of Brown. Some halfbacks, removing the deadwod would be a start.



No Saints fan can be happy with the 2013 version of Saints.



or



Have standards and aspirations sunk so low?

This is the beginning and the end of the story today. Well done Billinge Lump for summing it up.

I made a joke in a thread earlier this week saying the bad news is Lomax is out and the worse news Wellens will be at 6.



That came to fruition today to our detriment. I don't blame that on Wellens at all, he's there to do a job and he gave 100%. Unfortunately it just wasn't for him.



Our lack of any creativity, at all, stifled us today. You need at least one strike player to stand any chance of breaking down Wigan's exceptionally organised defence. To have a good chance of scoring enough to win you need 2 or 3.

Were not that far off Wigan, so yes standards have dropped, throughout the competition.

to be honest with you i would agree



last season we finished top pretty comfortably, but imo only played well for a spell around June when we beat Leeds, Hudds, Cats and yourselves twice



the rest of the season we seemed to coast through



when it mattered we werent good enough beacuse week in week out, we werent challenged, and Leeds did for us in the CC Semi and GF playoff



IMO this is down to the format of SL playoffs, and not needing to compete fully throughout the season



yes we get some good games, but we also get a lot of poor / average games through the season as well



this season our recruitment in theory means we are a weaker team than last year on paper, and with the bulk of our 1st choice props and HH missing, we have still been very competitive. I may be disrespecting some of the good young players that are coming through, but i would expect us to have lost more than we have so far



also we need to consider the overseas recruitment, most clubs now appear to be going with home grown / home recruited players as we cant compete with the Ozzie dollar and salary cap over there, so to bring a marquee signing to these shores is now going to require something special

It's a long season. Today's Saints team was by no means the best we could offer, the only worry is that halfback wise we are now down past the bare bones. I do hope something is planned that we can't anticipate as Wheeler is out for an extended period and he's the only half we have left.

As I pointed out, the problem today was our lack of clinicalness in attack, and our inability to make simple tackles defensively. There was a 10-15 minute spell in the first half where we were missing tackles left right and centre, and the punished us because of it.



We had opportunities to post some points early on, didn't, and Wigan went down the other end and scored. That's the difference in big games, and we simply didn't have the pace or clinicalness to turn possession into points. We worked hard second half, but we left ourselves with a mountain to climb.

It's funny how teams always 'stop playing' when the opposition find their feet. It's called momentum, you had it and then it swung (as it does, countless times through a RL match) in our favour.







Wellens gave his best, but he's never a 6. I think we are better going with either Charnock or maybe Turner at 6 with Percival staying at centre and Jones moving from the back-row.

Before there was any of that it was down to Wigan's mistakes it wasn't 30-0. Smith went for glory with four players outside him and Hughes dropped the ball with the line begging. The momentum was all Wigan at that time and I don't think Saints had anything to do with the fact it was only 18-0 at half time and not 30-0.



My view is the occasion got to some of the younger Wigan forwards as the game progressed. Logan Tompkins has done well at hooker as interchange recently but didn't today. Hughes had a bad day (he is better than that). Add to that Lockers clearly wasn't anywhere near fit and for that matter Sam T wasn't either I think the game showed Wigan are also close to the edge squad-wise. The difference was the backs. Sam T's fitness apart we were at full strength in the backs and that helps defensively as much as on attack.

Saints bombed two tries as well. Gardner should have strolled in at 0-0 and they broke shortly after the Flower incident when he went the wrong way and should probably have scored.



Just seen the Clough 'try' and I'm not sure where they pulled that from. Benefit of the doubt maybe but the ball always looked as though it was on a hand for me.

The second half effort/performance has to be up there with the best of the season so far given what we had to work with.



However the first half was an embarrassment. It seemed to be only Sia, Walmsley and Gardner who turned up to play a derby. We seemed to lack enthusiasm and aggression untill Walmsley and Soliola came on. There was a point coming out from our own line under pressure, Makinson literally walked it in. I'm not just picking on the lad because he wasn't on his own it's just one I remember.



I maybe being over-critical given the second half effort/performance i'm just annoyed at being continuously out enthused and out 'upforit'ed when we play Wigan.