English Super League 2013 English Super League Discussion Thread

[moto748]

Warrington 10 St. Helens 22

A convincing win for Saints on the back of a very impressive defensive display. Warrington's much-vaunted attack never got going, and Saints scored three tries to one in the first half. Only a poor success rate with their kicks prevented them from being even further in front. Warrington managed a try at the end of the first half, and a consolation effort late in the second, but were second best to Saints in all departments, with young half-back Jonny Lomax especially impressive at full-back. Latchford and Myler are talented young players, but the Wolves clearly miss the experience of the injured Lee Briers.

 

[moto748]

And speaking of Widnes, I see they came back from a 0-22 deficit to share the points at 22-22 against Bradford. A fine effort. And with 12 men, too!

 

[Northern_Union]

Thats a hell of a come back by Widnes. Frankly i think Betts is going to prove to be a very good coach for them once they start bring in a few quality players.

 

[storm fan]

Warrington 10 St. Helens 22

A convincing win for Saints on the back of a very impressive defensive display. Warrington's much-vaunted attack never got going, and Saints scored three tries to one in the first half. Only a poor success rate with their kicks prevented them from being even further in front. Warrington managed a try at the end of the first half, and a consolation effort late in the second, but were second best to Saints in all departments, with young half-back Jonny Lomax especially impressive at full-back. Latchford and Myler are talented young players, but the Wolves clearly miss the experience of the injured Lee Briers.

Throughly enjoyed this game.

 

[moto748]

At half-time, Leeds 6 Wigan 8. Most of the match has been played in the Wigan half so far, and Ryan Hall has one try and came closer to getting a couple more. He really is one of the best wingers in the world, no doubt, and is giving Josh Charnley plenty to think about. But errors from Leeds have let Wigan back into the game, not least when the Leeds players seem to stop, expecting a knock-on (it wasn't), and Liam Farrell couldn't believe his luck when a big hole opened up in front of him, and strolled over the line. No Sam Tomkins; Pat Richards at full-back.

 

[moto748]

Wigan v Saints traditional Bank Holiday meet just kicks off! Can't wait!

 

[moto748]

You guys still watching ESL? storm fan? Anyone?

Leeds are looking very impressive. They slaughtered Warrington at the weekend, although the Wolves look a shadow of the side they were last season. Joel Monaghan keeps scoring tries (what a good finisher he is), but most of rest look a bit out of touch, especially his brother. Clearly, they are missing Lee Briers, who is injured (shortly to return, I understand). Without Briers, they don't seem to have a kicking game at all, and were no match for McGuire, Burrow and Sinfield in that department.

 

[Northern_Union]

I am. I love the ESL. Come on the Dragons.

 

[moto748]

Now Nathan Brown has gone to Saints it'll be funny if Huddersfield's star rises as Saints' wanes, as that's what's happened in their first meeting. I know a lot of Saints fans didn't welcome Brown: his Hudd side develop a habit of starting the season on fire, and then tailing off alarmingly.

I'm sticking with this prediction as Saints are tanked at home by Widnes (who, to be fair, have looked pretty decent at times this season). Huddersfield play Warrington tomorrow in a game I was hoping to go to, but my plans have unfortunately come unstuck. Saints fans can point to their injury list with some justification, but Hohaia was still only on the bench. Widnes have some talented youngsters coming through; their 19 year old full-back Jack Owens scored fourteen points, with two tries.

Earlier I watched live Wakefield play the Catalans. Tim Smith has been getting a lot of plaudits here fir his work for the Wildcats. I never rated him much at Wigan or at the Sharks, but he's a big hit for a middle-ranking ESL side like Wakefield. That said, they were comfortably better than a pretty poor Catalans side, who've been pretty unimpressive in recent weeks.

 

[storm fan]

I'm watching what i can at the moment. Work has been hetic lately. enjoy all Rugby League.

 

[moto748]

Saw Warrington/Hull FC last night. Warrington were 10-6 up at half-time, and 16-6 up shortly into the second half, and with the much-missed Lee Briers back and pulling the strings, looked like they were ready to kick on. But Hull had other ideas, and in a strong second-half display that will please their coach a lot, shut out the Wolves and won the game 26-6, with two tries each from impressive second-rower Whiting and centre Tom Briscoe. Hull's teenage winger Lineham also looked an assured and impressive prospect. After a terrible start to the season, perhaps this is the spark that Hull's season needed.

 

[Northern_Union]

Saw the same game Moto748. Really enjoyable game. That stand off for Warrington, Lee Briars, he's been a damned impressive stand off for many years and he is getting smarter with age. Fingers crossed for Wales in the world cup that Briars comes out of international retirement as he is thinking about doing. Tom Lineham i think will make the England WC squad. He looks to have a very bright future.

 

[moto748]

Tom Lineham looks a good player indeed, but I doubt he'd displace Josh Charnley and Ryan Hall, who presumably will be the first-choice pair.

Magic Weekend this Bank Holiday weekend, all fixtures at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. Vaguely thinking about going tomorrow.

 

[moto748]

Good performance from the Dragons to see off the Broncos, looking a much better side with Scott Dureau back.

 

[moto748]

I just did an epic long post on Magic Weekend Day 1 and lost the ***ing lot.

Just going to jump into my car to see the rest.

 

[Northern_Union]

I just did an epic long post on Magic Weekend Day 1 and lost the ***ing lot.

Just going to jump into my car to see the rest.

Thats happened to me in the past as well Moto748, but not on this site. It's a real ball buster when you lose a great big post.

How was the magic weekend?

 

[moto748]

It's late here now, I'll talk about it tomorrow. It was good

 

[moto748]

Sorry guys, been a bit hectic this week. Enjoyed the weekend, very good stadium, similar to Old Trafford, really, I suppose they use a common design. Tickets were £45 for all day (3 games Sunday; four on Saturday). Watched all of Saturday's games thanks to the magic of the internet , and the tow main talking points there were Rangi Chase's show for Castleford against Wakefield, and a gigantic ****-up of a wrong video ref decision which cost Hull KR a deaserved victory against Hull FC.

Rangi can be a bit all over the place, but there's no doubt that when he's good, he's really good, and he masterminded a crushing of the Wildcats with a wonderful display of running and passing. Justin Carney has been a smart acquisition for Cas, and with Kirk Dixon scoring four tries, the Tigers were worthy winners 49-24 in a game where defence may not have pleased the purists, but nevertheless was very entertaining to watch.

Recently retired from the pitch, video ref Steve Ganson can't seem to avoid controversy as he stunned the crowd by allowing a clearly offside try for Hull which effectively won them the game. Repeated replays showed that the scorer was clearly in front of the kicker (really it was no more than a hurried punt upfield), and the kicker made no effort to play him onside. the KR full-back foolishly allowed the ball to bounce, it took an awkward turn, and he lost it altogether. the Hull prop, after a slight fumble, managed to gather it in to touch down under the posts. The only thing I can think of is that Ganson though the full touched the ball and played it into the opponent. But replays showed that he didn't. The RFL took the unusual step of issuing an apology just hours after the game, saying the try should not have been awarded. Scant comfort to Hull KR.

In the top of the bill match on Saturday, Warrington beat Saints rather more easily than I expected by 48-22, although three tries in the last ten minutes gave the score-line a gloss that perhaps didn't fully reflect the whole game. I can't say I thought Warrington were ever in danger of losing, though.

Sunday saw me make the journey up to Manchester (190 miles).I arrived at half-time in Widnes/Salford. And what a poor game it was. But Salford were the better two poor sides, and deserved their win. In the second game, I expected a better performance from Bradford, but they wedre pretty poor and were brushed aside by a Huddersfield team who are starting to look like they might be the real deal this season. I'd excuse Jarrod Sammut, who worked hard to try to get the Bulls going, but they were simply outclassed, with Danny Brough's shrewd kicking game well to the fore.

The weekend was rounded off by Wigan beating Leeds, so I went home happy there. Always a competitive match, as you;d expect, but Wigan deserved their win. Blake Green has a longish term injury, so they had another teenager off the production line in the halves, who was unlucky to see a fine solo effort chalked off for interference.

Crowd was about 60k per day, and weather brilliant.

 

[moto748]

Meanwhile, tonight, Hull FC v Leeds. Hull looking much more impressive in the first half than they were at the Magic Weekend, with their young right wing combination of Tom Lineham and Ben Crooks working together brilliantly. 18-0 at the break.

 

[moto748]

Salford City Reds 10 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 46

Jeez, Salford are rubbish! Wakefield weren't brilliant, but their defence was solid and most of their tries were scored all too easily. As I've remarked before, at this level, Tim Smith looks like a world-beater.

 

[Northern_Union]

The new owner should tear up player contracts and get some keen amatures in there....what would the difference be?

 

[moto748]

Salford have a talented young French half that they have high hopes for. But he's 18, Jeez, you can't expect him to run a match. The Salford forwards were just rubbish and Wakefield were able to get well into their half every set. I expect they'll keep him, Jody Broughton, and a few others, and have a big clear-out, as you say.

 

[moto748]

England v The Exiles.

I'm sure youse guys would agree that England needed nothing less than a convincing win against a scratch side, and they have starting pretty convincingly, leading 18-0 at half-time. Decent defence, and tries for Hardaker, Roby, Cudjoe, and Sam Tomkins (of course!).

 

[moto748]

Final score England 30 Exiles 10.

 

[Northern_Union]

England are building toward a real crack at the world cup this year. Anyone that doesn't think the poms are capable of beating any of the other teams at the world cup hasn't been watching the ESL in the last few years.