: Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:49 pm
It was a very strange game. Neither side seemed to get going really.
Michael Dobson had a top game, his kick that set up Peter Foxes try was a great piece of vision. Hull KR look a better side without Cooke hogging the ball. They will need a couple more players to become championship contenders but they are not that far off. Also they will have to become dominant against the smaller teams as well as picking up points at the big teams to be successful this year.
Saints did not have a bad game but seemed to lack structure and balance. I am still unsure who was playing stand off in the second half. Looking at the team sheet someone who did not watch the game would assume that Saints had suffered through lack of experience, when in fact it was the senior players that let the team down. Wilkin, Wellens/Gardner and Long were at fault for the Hull KR tries. The young players did there part and were not shown up at any point.
Ian Smith had a poor game but was not the reason why Saints lost even though I disagree with the penalty call. The man is one bad ref and he had a bad game in the Warrington game as well. Fans are always going to be upset if a game is close and there are a number of poor refereeing decisions. I just wish Saints did not seem to get him all the time. He is the worst ref in the League by a distance in my opinion.
To sum the game up an encouraging result for HKR and not the end of the world for Saints as the performance showed they have a strong squad.