Quote CW8="CW8"Watch the game again saddened, child pain ngednusnfor things you were getting away with! It cost us the contest. It was shaping up to be a classic and the official ruined it. Don't get me wrong, you still would have won with the way you were playing and you definitely wanted it more, got all the basics right etc you played with a lot of freedom because you were 3 scores up for a long time. If I was in charge at sky I'd be seething with all the expectation to that game being unfulfilled.'"
The ref ruins it? You could argue that Cooper ruins it by getting a yellow, but surely there can't be any compaints over that card? Saints are a very disciplined side. There is a constant debate amongst Saints fans at the moment as to whether we're just too nice. Our players work very hard to avoid giving penalties away. On one hand that can make us concede fewer penalties, but it can also mean than any indiscretions are very blatant and always punished and we often see teams ripping us apart with quick play the balls as we're so worried about being penalised.
Last night the line speed and control of the ruck was superb. There were so many times the likes of Chris Hill got up and tried to start niggling with the markers because he'd been dominated and turned on his back and didn't like it. We won the penalty count in the first half particularly as we got on a roll with the forwards really making metres, then Roby taking advantage of the back peddling defense. The hands in penalties in particular were just daft. Experienced players just doing daft things because they were put under pressure by struggling to cope with Walmsley, Lees and Thompson. It's easy for refs to penalise teams that are struggling to cope and panicking. It was just a good performance from us on the night. Arguably it was a good thing for you, as we're your only logical rivals at this point and you've got plenty of time to come up with a plan to counter how we played.
