Re: The race for Old Trafford : Sat Sep 21, 2019 9:38 pm  

I didn't see a lot from Wigan last night that has me running scared ahead of next Friday but they've still got plenty of experience at this stage of the season and while man for man we are better, they've still got enough dangerous players.

Looks like Powell is out for them too which will be a big loss.

Re: The race for Old Trafford : Sun Sep 22, 2019 7:04 am  

RuddyScoosers wrote:

I didn't see a lot from Wigan last night that has me running scared ahead of next Friday but they've still got plenty of experience at this stage of the season and while man for man we are better, they've still got enough dangerous players.

Looks like Powell is out for them too which will be a big loss.

You must have seen a different game.


Their defense was immense, you don't win finals with flashy rugby. There are very few spectacular tries scored in finals.

You need low errors, low missed tackles, low penalties. High completion rates and a good kicking game.

Add to that and intensity and energy and Wigan had that in spades.

What worries me is that Saints have coasted most of our games and when we last met Wigan their pack was full of youngsters.

How we react in a knock out game, when we are level pegging or behind after 40 minutes is what will test this saints team.

If we play percentages and look to apply pressure we will be OK. But recent knockout games seems to indicate we don't enjoy the arm wrestle and errors creep in all over the place from all our players.

Re: The race for Old Trafford : Sun Sep 22, 2019 8:53 am  

Bit Cliche but I think this Wigan team is very different to the ones that have lost to saints earlier in the year. Got some experienced forwards back ( O’Loughlin, Greenwood, Flower) and Smithies, Partington and Bryne have improved massively and look like first teamers rather than kids just doing there best

Sam Powell injured is bad, no real back up hooker and he’s always good for 50 tackles a week.

I think Wigan have it in them to beat saints once but probably not twice in the next 3 weeks.

Re: The race for Old Trafford : Sun Sep 22, 2019 10:05 am  

NSW wrote:

Bit Cliche but I think this Wigan team is very different to the ones that have lost to saints earlier in the year. Got some experienced forwards back ( O’Loughlin, Greenwood, Flower) and Smithies, Partington and Bryne have improved massively and look like first teamers rather than kids just doing there best

Sam Powell injured is bad, no real back up hooker and he’s always good for 50 tackles a week.

I think Wigan have it in them to beat saints once but probably not twice in the next 3 weeks.

That's assuming Wigan get to play Saints twice.

Re: The race for Old Trafford : Sun Sep 22, 2019 10:24 am  

NSW wrote:

Bit Cliche but I think this Wigan team is very different to the ones that have lost to saints earlier in the year. Got some experienced forwards back ( O’Loughlin, Greenwood, Flower) and Smithies, Partington and Bryne have improved massively and look like first teamers rather than kids just doing there best

Sam Powell injured is bad, no real back up hooker and he’s always good for 50 tackles a week.

I think Wigan have it in them to beat saints once but probably not twice in the next 3 weeks.

The previous posters have said it.
Wigan's defence looks the best of the remaining clubs in the comp plus, their mindset and nous when it comes to winning Grand Finals, a bit like Leeds of a few seasons ago - who just seemed to know how to win.

Re: The race for Old Trafford : Sun Sep 22, 2019 4:02 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

You must have seen a different game.


Their defense was immense, you don't win finals with flashy rugby. There are very few spectacular tries scored in finals.

You need low errors, low missed tackles, low penalties. High completion rates and a good kicking game.

Add to that and intensity and energy and Wigan had that in spades.

What worries me is that Saints have coasted most of our games and when we last met Wigan their pack was full of youngsters.

How we react in a knock out game, when we are level pegging or behind after 40 minutes is what will test this saints team.

If we play percentages and look to apply pressure we will be OK. But recent knockout games seems to indicate we don't enjoy the arm wrestle and errors creep in all over the place from all our players.

Nope. I watched exactly the same game as you.

You might be crapping yourself, but even the Wigan fans on their site are talking about 'improvement needed' from their performance against Salford. It was decent but hardly terrified me.

Re: The race for Old Trafford : Sun Sep 22, 2019 5:03 pm  

I don’t think the pack has enough go forward in it to beat Saints in a knock out game sadly. We can defend and defend and defend but there’s doing it against Salford and then doing it against Saints and with all due respect to Salford (who were great on Saturday), it’s going to ramp up a few notches on Friday. If we get pinned in our own half for the spells we did against Salford then Saints will put plenty more then 12 points on us.

Our kicking game will need to improve ten fold. It was as bad as I’ve seen in a play off game on Friday and we’ve probably lost Powell now and he’s been doing a lot of our kicking recently.

Re: The race for Old Trafford : Mon Sep 23, 2019 6:07 am  

RuddyScoosers wrote:

Nope. I watched exactly the same game as you.

You might be crapping yourself, but even the Wigan fans on their site are talking about 'improvement needed' from their performance against Salford. It was decent but hardly terrified me.

I don't do hyperbole, I take a more balanced view.

Wigan are not easy beats and saints are not invincible. As I said the test for saints will be how we react if it does not all go our way. Recent experience tends to suggest we like a way to keep it tight.

Re: The race for Old Trafford : Mon Sep 23, 2019 6:57 pm  

Since 1998 when the playoffs started has any team that finished top not made the final at 1st attempt?

Re: The race for Old Trafford : Mon Sep 23, 2019 7:12 pm  

kaybenbull wrote:

Since 1998 when the playoffs started has any team that finished top not made the final at 1st attempt?

Leeds in 2004 springs to mind immediately for me.
Warrington didn’t make it at all in 2011