St Helens’ road to Wembley has been cut off by the brilliant Leigh Leopards after a fantastic game at Warrington Wolves’ Halliwell Jones Stadium.
It was one of the great semi-finals of recent memory. The Leopards were battered in every sense other than the scoreboard in the first 40 as they defended heroically.
Saints had a near perfect first 40 with Joey Lussick on his final appearance particularly special scoring a quintessential number nine’s try as well as nailing a seismic 40/20 kicking it from within the 20 metre area of the Saints which landed in within the 10 metres of Leigh.
But they couldn’t extend their advantage by halftime and soon they were 12-6 behind thanks to tries for Oliver Holmes and Zak Hardaker.
A Jonny Lomax try nearly saw the game go to golden point but Tommy Makinson missed the shot at goal prompting heart break for the St Helens fans.
The fans were divided with one fan praising a Saints side who had to deal with plenty of adversity in the game and before it.
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No Percival, No Sironon,No Roby , No Batchelor . Great effort from the players on the park.
— Ged Bailey (@gedbailey66) July 22, 2023
Meanwhile, on the flipside of things, one fan noted a number of minor mistakes that added up to defeat.
We've a 1 man half back pairing, we’ve a fast as fuck winger that never gets the ball, we’re asking a guy who’s been out with a leg injury to kick goals, we’ve a centre who has more chance of tackling world hunger than a rugby player, and we’ve got coaches who nothing about it.
— Matt (@1296448_) July 22, 2023
Other fans highlighted the attacking threat of the Saints, or lack there of, as the problem for the Saints.
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Our attacking tactics are killing any chance of doing anything with this campaign, we need to put more points on the board when on top, but we instead play this 'long game' which has cost us the last two weeks, important season defining matches and we blew them both.
— Peter Elder 🏴 (@PeterElder74) July 22, 2023
This was a repeated complaint as the “patterns of play” of the Champions were questioned.
Barely any proper patterns of play, and could of been a golden point instead if tommy didn't miss the goal. But leigh were the better team today
— 💥Tom Howard💥 (@RealTomDaDude) July 22, 2023
Another fan was much simpler in their assessment branding them as “awful.”
No complaints awful today amount of chances we had goal kicking bit of a concern for me
— christopher jones (@jonesylfc7752) July 22, 2023
This prompted some Saints fans to call for big changes.
An ageing squad that needs seriously overhauling coupled with a new coach who’s playing an utterly dull brand of rugby is always going to result in failure. Never let Makinson near the kicking tee again though, he’s proven enough times to not be good enough.
— Dan Williams (@Williams16Dan) July 22, 2023
Even Paul Wellens’ role was questioned.
Congratulations Leigh. Just home and I will stick to my statement when Wellens was appointed. He is the reason we are where we are. Yes there are players who ‘aren’t doing it’ ATM but I think he has coached any life out of our players. Dire until he goes IMO.
— The Red V (@coveredinsins) July 22, 2023
Whilst the players were also questioned alongside Wellens.
Plenty of those players far too comfortable under Wellens. Need radical changes and preferably a winger who doesn't get knocked into next week every time he touches the ball.
— Sefo__ 🏴 (@MUFC_Saints) July 22, 2023
There was one fan who straight up said “Wellens out.”
Wellens out?
— Sam (@SamMartindale3) July 22, 2023
Perhaps quite rightly another fan responded to this underlining that Kristian Woolf lost a semi-final a year ago as well.
No, we lost semi last year when Kristian was in charge, leave Paul alone.
— Lynne Baines (@LynneBaines2) July 22, 2023
The Saints still remain many people’s favourites to win the Grand Final which says everything you need to know about the reigning Super League Champions.
What is the old expression? Never write off the Saints…