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cpwigan wrote:I hope behind the scenes IL is showing some guts and standing up for Wigan and Sam. If Cas were fined for their fans behaviour then why not Leeds?

DaveO wrote:

cpwigan wrote:Hendy / Ellery / Offiah they all did similar things when scoring. One could even argue that Josh C should not have saluted before scoring etc but that is how silly it becomes. I have been thinking players like Sam need to go back to celebratios. I think part of the Edwards / Offiah try celebration was to metaphorically stick 2 finger up to the opposing fans.

The head nodding would them all up incredibly. Sam should revive that tradition!

Wigan Peer wrote:Perhaps you should read this, posted by a Leeds fan...

The reasons Leeds lost were mainly down to ERRORS... and not getting out of the blocks for the first half hour, therefore they trailed 16-0 and left themselves with a huge mountain to climb.

8th min: Poor kick by McGuire under pressure. Falls to the ground like he's been maimed or shot. Looks around for referee to award a penalty or thinks about calling for a stretcher, or both! Gets neither.

9th min: Charnley TRY for Wigan from resulting field position handed to them by the erroneously gifted McGuire who, in full dive mode limply flaps an arm at Charnley in an attempt to tackle him.

16th min: Webb error resulting in lost possession.

24th min: Webb knocks on from a bomb under no pressure whatsoever handing Wigan great field position from resulting scrum.

25th min: Lima TRY as a result of lamentable efforts at tackling by Bailey and Delaney. Sinfield was never going to stop Lima one-on-one from a metre out.

28th min: Over half the Leeds team back off Sam Tomkins as he crabs and jinks across almost the whole width of the field before passing to his brother Joel, who sprints down the touchline evading with ease the comical effort at a tackle from McGuire.

44th min: Disappointing attacking kick by Sinfield into the in-goal area in good position and with all the time in the world to execute. Ball went dead.

46th min: Leuluai knock-on on 3rd tackle of the set inside Wigan half.

48th min: Burrow knock-on - another incomplete set so soon after the previous one.

51st min: Sinfield kick out on the full.

55th min: Leuluai brain fart having a go at Lima with Leeds in an excellent attacking position a couple of metres away from the sticks after a Peacock drive. Relieving penalty for Wigan.

61st min: Long pass from McGuire placing Sinfield under pressure on the last tackle who then executes a poor kick. Wigan get a roll on from resulting favourable field position over next few tackles. Marginally forward pass by Mossop to Lima of the type which are classed as flat passes by Leeds fans when Leeds get away with it. Resulting in a Lima TRY which shouldn't have been scored had it not been for the dreadfully weak efforts at tackling him by Bailey (again!) and Ablett.

66th min: Sloppy PTB by Watkins. Scrum to Wigan.

68th min: 2nd tackle of the set in good field position and Bailey loses the ball in the tackle.

74th min: The poor decision to kick by BJB after the break he'd made down the touchline. There were several Leeds players inside whom he could have passed to. It might work against SL whipping boy rabble like Bradford during the magic weekend but it's less likely to work against a team like Wigan.

78th min: Thomas Leuluai TRY - nobody at home in defence. Sloppy and weak. There was the potential for at least another set of six for Leeds to get down the other end of the field and win the game at the death.


Other considerations were...

1st min: Hoffman long-distance break through an alarmingly wide gap in Leeds defence in which you could have driven a double decker bus through. Thankfully, Leeds survived the early scare.

20th min: Delaney getting lifted marginally above the horizontal in the tackle. However, he'd already lost possession before his legs were raised above the horizontal. A penalty would have been harsh. Leeds lose possession. Wigan scrum. Fair call IMO.

22nd min: Knock-on awarded against Sam Tomkins in good field position. Scrum to Leeds. Arguably it went backwards.

71st min: Watkins gets away with a more obvious knock-on prior to the 3rd tackle of the set. Far more obvious a knock-on than the Sam Tomkins effort above in the 22nd min which was awarded against him. Leeds then score a questionable try on the last tackle.

72nd min: Questionable Ryan Hall TRY in the corner. Did he ground it? I don't think so. Looked like the ball was grounded on the arm of Charnley, several inches above the turf.

77th min: Finch kick, kick-chase contested by Charnley and Burrow. Charnley attempts to kick the ball and misses, ball hits the body of a diving Burrow and ball deflects on to leg of Charnley before going into touch. Unlucky call goes against Leeds for a Wigan scrum down resulting in Thomas Leuluai match-winning TRY.


The only instances of INDISCIPLINE I recall were...

2nd min: Grapple tackle by JJB resulting in an early penalty to Wigan.

40th min: Bailey having an unnecessary dig and a bit of niggle at Sam Tomkins as the half time hooter went which almost caused a major melee rather than a minor one.

55th min: Leuluai's brain fart against Lima as mentioned earlier.


In conclusion, the best team won and deservedly so. A much improved performance by Leeds particularly with regard to cutting out much of their usual quota of unnecessary indiscipline. Leeds conceded fewer penalties than the opposition which made a very welcome change Consequently, Leeds were able to compete and give Wigan a stern test.

Most Leeds players played well, stood up to the test and got stuck in. The main disappointments were McGuire (who was awful throughout) and with hindsight should not have played ahead of Burrow. Bailey and Leuluai were also pretty ordinary, and Sinfield had an off day with the boot.