Well, I got that one wrong, didn’t I? In the preview of Saints v Castleford on these pages it is just possible that I was guilty of a scintilla of hubris. I was as certain as you can be that Kristian Woolf’s Saints outfit would have no trouble seeing off the Tigers at home. The logic was sound. After all, Saints had lost just twice all season coming into this one while Castleford have only really turned up in cup games. Their league form is such that even after a first win in St Helens for almost 30 years they still have plenty to do to secure a playoff place.
Of course the great thing about sport is that it cares little for my logic or anyone else’s. Every now and again it can make you look a bit silly. And a good thing too. It is this capacity to surprise which makes sport worth watching. If we knew the outcome every time there would be no need for anyone to get muddy playing the actual games.
If we are looking for reasons for this logic-defying shock result then Saints discipline has to be pretty high up the list. Or should I say lack of discipline. Woolf’s side were playing with 11 men at one point during the second half - albeit against 12 at that stage - after James Bentley was sent to the sin-bin along with Castleford’s Peter Mata’utia and Tommy Makinson was red carded for a high shoulder on Niall Evalds. Yet in addition to that Saints conceded 12 penalties and afforded the Tigers set restarts on six more occasions.
Some of these calls led to the usual myopic howls of derision from fans especially on social media. The six again rule is one which for me has not worked but that is principally because the offending team often doesn’t suffer any real consequences. This has led to most top sides - including Saints - quite happily conceding set restarts in the knowledge that making one or two extra tackles in defence is better than allowing a play-the-ball when your defence is not set.
Where it gets cloudy is that ruck interference is incredibly difficult to judge even for an experienced official. Almost every quick play-the-ball could result in a penalty against the attack while every slow play-the-ball could conceivably be ruled a set restart. In reality if referees were strict on these at all times and fans got the consistency that they think they want there would be no game. Not for a while anyway until players learned to play the ball correctly and to roll away immediately after making a tackle. Coaches ensure that neither of these things will ever happen. For now those accusing referee Ben Thaler of bias might like to reflect that Saints were awarded seven set restarts of their own and that Castleford - who won this game despite their own shambolic discipline - conceded 10 penalties.
There wasn’t much doubt about any of the cards issued though I was expecting Makinson’s challenge to look a lot worse. That’s because I’d seen the comments on social media before having an opportunity to watch the game. When the majority of Saints fans are accepting that it is a red card it usually means there is something in it. In these circumstances you start to worry that the only people defending it must be the types who think rugby league players should be allowed to carry shotguns on to the field with them.
It was red, no doubt. Makinson made no attempt to wrap his arms to effect a tackle and his shoulder made contact with Evalds’ head. Under the current rules - which are there to protect players from head injury and maybe even long term degenerative brain conditions and not to spoil your enjoyment of violence - that is a straight red card. What surprised me is that there wasn’t as much force behind it as I had expected. Play went on afterwards for several seconds while nobody in the Sky commentary box seemed to have noticed there had been a high shot. The whole thing felt a bit like an afterthought but it was unquestionably the right decision.
Before that Bentley - playing his first game since breaking his leg in April and subsequently signing for Leeds for 2022 - was invited to sit down for his part in the final instalment of a long-running battle with Peter Mata’utia. That had started when Mata’utia rushed in to express his opinion on a late hit by Bentley on Gareth O’Brien as he sent a kick downfield. It escalated when Bentley was guilty of a lazy, high slap on the head of a Cas player before offering a second sly dig as the pair tumbled to the ground. Mata’utia again took exception and piled in so the pair of them were sent to cool down. No real complaints.
Bentley didn’t have one of his better nights all round and has been the subject of a lot of criticism. This is in stark contrast to the near hero-worship he has received over the last couple of years. Crucially before he made the decision to join Leeds for next year. Certainly his stat line for this one doesn’t blow you away. Nine carries for just 36 metres at only four metres per carry. Even in Woolf’s defence focused system that is not enough attacking output. Defensively Bentley worked hard enough, making 30 tackles, but if you’re not going to contribute much offensively then you better not concede three penalties and get yourself needlessly yellow carded. Still, it hasn’t changed my opinion of the former Bradford man. He was an honest grafter with some potential before and he’s an honest grafter with some potential now. For what it’s worth I do not believe he has downed tools and I still think he will have better days in the red vee before he makes the switch to Headingley.
When social media wasn’t howling at Thaler it was busy accusing the Tigers players of gamesmanship and - whisper it - cheating. As Saints tried to fight their way back into the game late on they had some good spells of possession near the Castleford line. At times these were broken up by apparent injuries to Tigers players. O’Brien was down for a while during one lengthy delay while one or two other Cas bodies were slow to get up at times. Only the players involved will really know how severe their injuries were at the time and whether they took longer than was necessary to regain their feet. However it is a big call to accuse someone like O’Brien of cheating.
If O’Brien or anyone else is guilty of gamesmanship then it is not a huge surprise. We have seen how the exaggeration of contact and subsequent injury has influenced other sports. It does so because professionalism has brought with it a win at all costs mentality. In many ways you can’t have the increased skill, quality and athleticism that comes with professionalism without having to endure some of its dark arts.
It has been suggested that Saints would never stoop to these levels. That may be true but it is worth noting that such has been their dominance in recent years we have rarely seen them faced with a sustained period of pressure on their own line. To suggest a team coached by win-at-all-costs Woolf would not do it if the need arose strikes me as a touch naive. Either way, complaining about it is futile. It’s like when Arsene Wenger used to complain about opponents refusing to take Arsenal on with fluent, fast passing football. If they had done so they would have been clubbed out of sight.
Teams - including Saints - use whatever strategies are most likely to bring success and it is up to officials to decide whether any gamesmanship is at play. But as we have seen it is very difficult for them to judge. Who other than O’Brien really knows what the story was? There may be ways around it. Woolf has suggested that injured players should have to leave the field to be treated or else be made to stay off the field for a spell if they are injured but then recover enough to be able to go off unaided. In the first instance it is not always possible to help a player off the field while the game continues depending on the seriousness of the injury. In the second, if a player was forced to sit out for a spell a coach may accept that if he felt there was genuine benefit in delaying the restart. That is provided he is able to send on a replacement. If he is not then you risk punishing teams who suffer genuine injuries while defending goal-line situations. Just because you can walk off doesn’t necessarily mean you can play on. There are no easy answers.
And yet as much as we look to our own indiscipline, the referee or the opposition’s tactics the game was still there for Saints if they’d had a bit more spark about them. This was a perfect illustration of what happens when a conservative style of play doesn’t get you the result. It looks awful, and you’re left feeling like your team has had the stinker to end all stinkers. Yet tactically this was a performance that differed little from any of the others under Woolf. It’s fair to say that much of the good work done by our outside backs was done in our own territory. Saints had only four clean breaks all night. But these characteristics are not unusual for Saints under Woolf.
The difference here is that Saints failed to execute when they did have the ball in good areas and that there were one or two uncharacteristic defensive lapses. Most notably, Lachlan Coote makes that tackle on Oliver Holmes before his key try 999 times out of 1,000. Saints handling error count was a below average 10 and in any case was more than matched by the Tigers 15. Daryl Powell’s side had six inside the first 20 minutes and were completing at 50% at that juncture. They offered up more than enough opportunities for Saints to win this one. Even at the death Saints could and probably should have snatched it as Coote’s pass was intercepted by Greg Eden who went the full length on the game’s last play. Had Coote timed it better and found Kevin Naiqama on his outside - or even dummied and tried to get there himself - then Saints would have escaped with the win despite all of the chaos.
As they did not it leaves our League Leaders Shield hopes hanging by a thread. Catalans Dragons held off Hull FC 31-16 on Friday (August 13) and now have 16 wins from 18 to Saints 12 wins from 15. Having got themselves into a position of strength by beating the Dragons last week Saints now face a difficult task to overhaul Steve McNamara’s side. Yet those who remember the kids losing at Salford at a similar stage of last season will know that Woolf isn’t overly concerned with topping the table. His eyes are fixed firmly on a second consecutive Grand Final success. I don’t think this defeat damages those prospects particularly. It may even serve as a useful reminder to Woolf and his troops that they are not as invincible as preview writers like this one once thought.
The methods won’t change. This was not confirmation that conservatism won’t work. It was confirmation that - like any system - if you implement it badly it will fail. As much as I might dislike watching it Woolf’s approach has worked in the past and will no doubt work again. Woolf will not change course. He will just need to address the discipline of his side and ensure they sharpen up when they get their chances in the bigger games to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment