*** Official Rugby League SLXXI Thread ***

Disappointing loss to Wigan, but not in the way you would think. We should have been hammered tonight but we were closer than the scoreline suggests and considering we were all wondering how many Wigan might score, we did really well. Such a young Rovers team with an average age of 23 and Mantellato, Campese, Kelly, Green, Greenwood, Salter, Lunt, Boudebza, Larroyer, Donaldson, Clarkson, Minns, Holker and Cockayne, 90% of those names would start our games if fit! I'd never even heard of some of our players...Wardhill, Caton, Oakes or Moran before tonights game(!) I'm amazed we were even competitive tonight and looked in control even for large parts of the second half.

Some utterly crazy decisions from the ref for both sides tonight, blatant knock-on incidents missed all over the park, to cap off some other bizarre decisions!

Although we are not doing well at the moment, tonight's game showed me enough for me to think that we will be alright this season. Full of determination from a really youthful side, so in that respect I'm not too disappointed. We aren't actually that far away, we just need more players back!
 
Last edited:
They looked ok at Wigan. It's not the first time at Wigan this season that the away team has controlled big parts of the game and lost (Salford springs to mind).

Warrington looked good against Wigan. I was particularly impressed with Sanodw (before he got injured - he looks in good shape, I thought he was over for a holiday), Chris Hill (who was a a real handful and gave Clarke loads of quick ptbs) and Currie.

The ref for the HKR game was a young lad doing his first SL game. You could tell - he drove both sets of fans completely mad. We had another inexperienced ref earlier in the season (Stokes), who packed in on the back of it. You have to give them a crack or they won't get the experience. Its not like there's a massive pool of refs just waiting to take their places. There are a number of more experienced refs running about in the Championship, but they don't want to go full time, which apparently rules them out of SL. Tbh, I don't blame them. A couple of crap games and you're on your bike. Although it doesn't seem to have worked out too badly for Mr Child :)
 
They must be pretty dirty then :)

Wigan getting a few injured players back over the next week or so. Apart from the proper arse kicking at Wakefield they've come out of it in reasonable shape. Not playing well, but riding their luck and still slogging out some wins. They've come back from a losing position in the last 20 minutes 5 times so far this season.

Had some real worries about not getting a replacement for McIlorum, but Sam Powell is doing a decent job. Be devastated if Tommy Leuluai ends up at Sts though.
 
Gilly said:
Saints the dirtiest team Leeds have played this season - and that includes Wigan and Warrington.
Click to expand...

That was a brilliant game. I was actually at that game for a works night out! Couldn't have had a better game for the neutral (sort of, was in the Leeds end so joined in with the Yorkshire chants!).

An unexpected win for Rover's today at Cas, did NOT see that coming.
 
Cobb makes me :mad:

I understand people saying "you shouldn't blame your loss on the ref" but sometimes you really need to highlight the sheer incompetence.

Ah Van goes into a tackle, possibly mis-aimed and lifted the opponent off the floor. Moore runs in. Ah Van sin binned.

Ah Van comes back on. Moore smashes him immediately. Fight begins. Widnes player and Wakefield player red carded.

Later in the game we get two red cards and a try disallowed.

I get that players should be able to control their emotions and act professionally but that ref really doesn't know how to control the game. He should have binned Moore at the start and it would have cut out all of the rubbish.

I've never heard so many fans booing so loudly at a ref. The full press box all said similar comments about the referring standards on Friday. Absolute joke.
 
Didn't see the whole gae so don't know the context, but the Ah Van tackle looked a shocker. He's got 5 games, so it must have been as bad as it looked. The ref didn't help himself by not red carding him straight away and either binning or sending Moore off. The Moore shot on Ah Van was completely premeditated so he should be getting a lengthy ban as well. It was like a scene from the 80's!

Frustrating with new refs, but they have to learn their trade somewhere (and I know it doesn't feel like that when your own team get done over)
 
TonyM19 said:
Magic Weekend anybody?

Or are we all too underwhelmed by how poor our teams are this year?
Click to expand...

Quote and a half that is!

I was going to but the people I go with can't make it this year for various reasons so I am going to give it a pass. We are massive underdogs against FC this year, but you never know, Campese might be back fit. Was great fun last year.

Was a decent win against Widnes on the weekend, marking the occasion before kick-off with a moving tribute to the late Roger Millward. Almost brought a tear to the eye.

The bottom 4 is going to be terrifying this year if Leeds and Shudders keep up their current form! Rovers have always relied on there being someone less rubbish than them! Usually, Salford, Wakey, Widnes etc. But this year has been turned on its head!
 
I was shocked at just how poor Leeds were, even allowing for their injuries. They remind me of Wigan in 2006 just after Andy Farrell left. The season they nearly got relegated. They have good players who just aren't performing.

Wigan were the usual 2016-model, plodding attack, one man stuff up the middle. Effective enough against most SL teams but unlikely to win anything. Having said that nobody seems able to string any kind of form together. Hull FC against Wigan last week (for the 1st half anyway) were the best team I've seen so far. Even then, once Wigan got it to 16-18 I think they'd have won if they scored next.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom