An embarrassed and frustrated Paul Rowley fielded questions after St Helens lost 46-0 to Toulouse Olympique with the Saints boss admitting that his players lacked effort.
Toulouse took the lead early on after the first of many St Helens’ errors and from that point onwards, players’ heads seemed to drop and that led to a post-match tirade from Rowley when speaking on Sky Sports.
Speaking shortly after in his presser to BBC Radio Merseyside, Rowley would double down on his comments, labelling the performance as ‘embarrassing from start to finish’.
He added: “I think attitude-wise, that’s non-negotiable in sport, to play with the right attitude. Effort doesn’t require talent, and there were a lack of effort at times. I could go on and on, but a lot of that will remain indoors, but I’ve got to acknowledge it for our supporters.
“I can’t ignore and pretend anything other than that, but it’ll run a lot deeper than that, I can assure you.”
Rowley also expressed sorrow for the two young academy players, Chris Matagi and Matty Evans, who both debuted and put their hand up well in the loss.
St Helens boss laments lack of basic skill in shock defeat
Whilst effort was one area questioned, so too was the lack of fundamental and/or basic skill by the Saints players, with the boss admitting he’s unsure how to respond to that.
“How do you get to this point without having that basic skill? So, it’s a hard one for me to put my finger on, to be honest,” he admitted.
“To get to this arena and this level, you’ve got to have basic skill. We’re not talking threading a needle with a pass here. We’re talking basic rugby league, running hard, tackling hard, passing from A to B. We’re not talking magic.
“Whichever direction you look, you’ll find an answer that’s negative from our point of view and positive from theirs. They didn’t really need much of a game plan. They just ran hard.”
As for a response, he looked to the players to hold themselves accountable: “Again, if you get to this arena, you’d like to think that people have a certain level of respect for our performances and ourselves as a group.”
It was no surprise that the home crowd responded to the loss with a chorus of boos and when asked if he would address them internally, Rowley was careful in his response.
“To say we wouldn’t address it would mean that we don’t care,” he said.
“We clearly and obviously care deeply about representing the club in the best way we can, and the badge, and the supporters.”
