For my sins I managed to get tickets on the side near the Saints end!
4 Wire fans amongst several hundred Saints supporters.
Really interesting hearing their views. 'Kendalls a Wire' was one I laughed at.
For me -
The ref - he got several decisions wrong but I really didn't see him as being anti or pro Wire when I look at the game as a whole. (Although some of the incidents were too far away for me to see clearly).
Pre match injuries - yep both sides have them. That's why this is a squad game. Move on.
Wire - an impressive backs to the wall performance. In particular the defence when we went down to 11 was incredible. Added to Ratch going off - just immense.
Saints - gave away too many stupid penalties. Hence we went 12 nil up. They made stupid errors and didn't respect the ball. Their attack was woeful and I saw one set play when they scored the Royle try and we were down to 11 men where they made their numbers tell. Welsby crabbing along the line looking for a gap was a waste of time. They had one extra man either side and failed to organize themselves to use it. The playmakers simply didn't do their job and call the correct plays.
However I take absolutely nothing away from Wire. The desire, the heart, the commitment. All first class.
We were under the cosh for large periods of that game but the teams character showed.
Obviously we've lost Ratch for a good while, not sure about Harrison but based on a performance like that, we needn't fear anyone in the comp.
