Play off semi v Leigh

[Firestarter]

I Thought we were fantastic across the field last night and the reason Leigh were so poor was we made it that way . Harry kicked them to death and then our forwards butchered em allowing us a lot of time in there half for our backs to play as we know we can . Lam Junior and Moylan were made to look pretty crap .
Roll on next week and even though it will be a different ball game , I’m hoping for more of the same . As Chariots said , if we bring our A game no one can live with us .

I reckon moylan hates playing us.He certainly gets targetted

[EagleEyePie]

I thought the most important thing for us last night was to get the start right. Coming off a week off and some not very intense games before that we needed to hit the ground running and to really be in that playoff mentality and fortunately we were.

Leigh have a big gulf in quality between their starting props and their bench. Mulhern and Amone are huge parts of everything good that they do, along with Ipape who causes problems off the back of that. Our middle unit were outstanding and kept them contained right from the start. Obviously Thompson and Ellis have had a lot of praise this year but I think Havard sometimes doesn't get the credit he deserves. Defensively I think he was our best and he's got great footwork before going into contact.

It's great to see Field and French really looking at their best. We definitely missed them while they were out but perhaps that break from playing every week has done them some good and helped them keep fresh.

Credit to Sam Walters for such an assured performance having got the nod at short notice. He took his tries well and was solid on the right edge. As for Nsemba, what more can you say. His development this season has been incredible and the move to the left edge is really seeing us get the best out of him. For me what stands out is the fact that he's probably playing his best rugby right now. Pretty much every young forward I can think of suffered a dip towards the end of that season where they established themselves in our first team. Going all the way back to the likes of Joel Tomkins and Liam Farrell, to Bateman, Byrne, Havard, Smithies. It's hard to break through and maintain that level of performance for a long season but Junior is bucking the trend.

If I had one small frustration it's that Matt Peet hasn't used Sam Walters down the middle this year. I would ague there's more value in having him on the bench rather than Byrne. Not that Byrne has done too much wrong since coming back into the side but Peet clearly doesn't full trust him. Having Walters on the bench when both back row forwards tend to play 80 minutes ends up being a waste. If he'd play him down the middle then we've got an impactful prop down the middle and perfect cover for the back row if needed. With Byrne on the bench our only back row cover is Thompson and that's far from ideal. Not that it's a big issue.

[moto748]

And three props and a dummy-half on the bench always gives you the issue of "what if we get an injury to an outside back?" Although the obvious answer is the number on the bench should be increased to say six. Without necessarily increasing interchanges. Clubs could than add a utility back to their bench no prob.

[widdenoldboy]

And three props and a dummy-half on the bench always gives you the issue of "what if we get an injury to an outside back?" Although the obvious answer is the number on the bench should be increased to say six. Without necessarily increasing interchanges. Clubs could than add a utility back to their bench no prob.

Yeh, I've wondered about having a subs "panel" but I think the perception is that it would benefit those with bigger squads ie the big clubs. To my mind it could help smaller clubs as losing a key back could mean a loss for them but having a replacement from a panel could save them?

[ddtftf]

It's surprising no one has mentioned that the return of Harry Smith as a link to Field has been the reason our attack has suddenly become sharp and precise. He draws the defender in allowing Field to put a long accurate pass to Marshal, add the kicking game and he is a vital part of the attack.

[southportcdm]

Like many others I was really pleased for Sam Walters, he did very well despite having limited game time recently. I assume that Peet will go with Byrne on Saturday (if Faz is fit) but I'm not sure Liam has ever contributed as much in one game than Sam did yesterday. If all goes well, Byrne probably won't play many minutes. I accept that they had different roles against Leigh but can't help thinking that Sam gives us more flexibility than Byrne i.e. Liam can only really play prop but Sam could fill in at prop and, in an emergency, could cover at centre. If Faz 'recovers' from his virus I'm sure he'll start but I'd worry that he may feel great for part/most of the game and then suddenly run out of energy. Having Sam on the bench would reduce any risks. Anyway, Matty is more likely to get it right than me so I'll just look forward to another exciting game on Saturday and hope that the result isn't decided by injuries or sin-binnings etc.

[Mike]

One thing confused me. When Marshall dropped the ball and it was given a knock on, he was facing his own posts.

How can that be a knock on?

We were always taught to catch the ball from a kick off facing our own posts, so if we dropped it , it was play on.

Have the rules changed?

There was another odd decision from last night, but i've forgotten!

The ball seemed to hit the Leigh player as well. marginal call but I still thought it went back, the other odd one was Moylan batting the ball back in play with his foot in touch and play continuing?

That was just a bad call. It should have been a 40/20 head and feed to us. Fortunately had no impact on the result.

[Exiled Wiganer]

I think there is even less justification than usual for picking Byrne. It’s our last game of the year, and Havard and Thompson can play long minutes without their levels dropping off. We can get by with Mago and Dupree (who I thought was excellent last night), while Walters brings us something different/extra. Peet though has earned the right to do what he likes.

[Fan4Fifty]

Just a thought on 'that' try (Bevan's of course). Coaches talk about the small efforts and watching the try back Bevan could easily have stayed in front of Keighran once he'd made that first pass to him, but he saw that Keighran had few options and worked to get himself back onside and available. Without that effort, the try doesn't happen. Outstanding.

[archiekeith]

I reckoned if we played well we'd win. And we did play well.

Profit as well as administrator. Amazing! Go on then who do you think will win next week then. Let me guess ... Er.. The team who scores the most points?