SIX TALKING POINTS...........FROM SUPER LEAGUE ROUND 4

Sandow celebrates his winning drop goal.

1.

Two tight and exciting games went down to the final seconds this week and showed how important it is to have the ability to slot a drop goal over in a high pressure situation.

Salford Red Devils will be kicking themselves after dominating three quarters of the game against early pacesetters Warrington Wolves. 30-12 down with less than 20 minutes to go and it looked like the Wolves would lose their 100% record but they never laid down and had enough belief to take it to Salford the Red Devils cracked.

At 30-30 they probably thought they would get away with a point but then along comes Chris Sandow to send the ball crisply through the posts from 40 yards – a great sight and cue for massive celebrations.

The drop goal is much maligned at times but you cannot beat a last second drop goal to win a game.

You had to feel sympathy for Salford – they have improved significantly this season but should have seen the game out at 18 points up.

It remains to be seen how the news later that evening that they have been charged with breaking the Salary Cap and could face a 20 point deduction affects them.

Wigan were in a similar situation and led Hull FC 20-6 at the KC Stadium but allowed the home side to charge back and lead 24-20 before Josh Charnley’s late try levelled the scores. Scrum half Matty Smith edged them ahead before Marc Sneyd got in on the act to level the score at 25-25. That wasn’t the end of it though – Wigan marched back up the field and Smith nailed another drop goal to win the match 26-25.

Matty Smith celebrates HIS winning drop goal.

2.        
Hull FC had great start to the season winning their opening two games comfortably and have written previously that it was all about consistency with them. They need to win the tough games against teams challenging for a top 4 place if they are to be considered as the real deal by people outside of West Hull.

They have palpably failed to do that in the last two weeks losing home games to both Castleford Tigers and Wigan Warriors. They have given both opponents big leads and then got into a position to win the games before losing out at the death on both occasions.

After their first two performances of the season, I would be bitterly disappointed if I was a Hull FC fan. Without a doubt Wigan were there for the taking on Friday night and I fully expected FC to win that game.

Something else I noticed was the ‘’poor’’ attendances for the last two home games. They had well over 12,000 for the season opener against Salford and then just over 10,000 for the Castleford game (I know it was on TV and on a Thursday night) and the Wigan game was attended by just over 10,500.

With the signings they have made and after winning their first two games well I would have expected the FC faithful to be turning out in greater numbers than they have.

It’s not all doom and gloom for FC though – the last time they opened the season with two wins and then two losses they ended up in the Grand Final back in 2006. Do you believe in omens?

Joe Mellor was outstanding against Hull KR.

3.

Widnes Viking top the league with four wins from five after a comfortable 30-16 win over struggling Hull KR.

I don’t think they are going to be Super League’s answer to Leicester City but there is no doubt that they are full of confidence and playing some fantastic rugby league at the moment.

There back line is in top form and has bags of tries in it and absolutely ripped Hull KR apart on Friday night. They have electric pace through Rhys Hanbury, Cory Thompson, Charly Runciman and Joe Mellor and are guided by Kevin Brown and Chris Bridge – I still cannot understand why the Wolves let him go – and had a field day at times down the Rovers left edge.

Hanbury, Thompson, Mellor and Bridge all gained well over 100m each with Runciman gaining 98m.

They will be looking forward to hosting Hull FC on Thursday night and it will be a game they will be fully confident of winning.

Interim Hull KR coach James Webster.

4.

Hull KR fans were lifted after the game with the news that James Webster has been appointed as the Interim Coach until the end of the season. Webster is a quality coach and knows all about Hull KR.

There is no doubt that Rovers performances have improved over the last two weeks, even though they have been left pointless, but they were in apposition to win at the Viking on Friday night before three tries either side of half time put paid to those chances.

Having said that they did well to stop the Viking running away with the game and scored a cracking try through Thomas Minns. They have players coming back in the next two weeks and I think Webster has the ability to get them back on track.

Jimmy Keinhorst 'scores' that try.

5.

There where at least another two instances this weekend when tries were awarded when they shouldn’t have been.

Steve Michael’s second try against Wigan on Friday night was scored with his right foot clearly in touch before he got the ball down. There was no video referee so the try was given even though the touch judge had a great view.

This is happening just about every week at the moment. However, there was a video referee at the televised Leeds and Huddersfield game and they still got it wrong in my opinion. On this occasion it was the match levelling try by Jimmy Keinhorst who followed a kick thorough and touched the ball down with his little finger. If you look at it at full speed he did not get the ball down – sloe the replay down and you can see that he got a little finger on the ball – how can that be deemed to be downward pressure and in full control?

If you don’t have your hand on top of the ball, then you don’t score a try – simple.

I can see why Brian McDermott wants to enter the loan market – the Rhinos are really struggling at the moment and I cannot see them making the top 4.

Ben Roberts.

6.

I was surprised that Castleford Tigers gave up their unbeaten record at St. Helens.

The Saints have had a poor start to the season by their standards and the fans have been really unhappy with some selections by Head Coach Kieron Cunningham.

The Tigers started strongly and led 8-0 and 14-6 and it looked as though they could record their first win at Saints since 1992. However, injuries hit them and they lost Ben Roberts and Grant Millington and lost their way without their Samoan talisman who has had such a great start to the season.

Grumpy old man Daryl Powell will not have been a happy chap but Kieron Cunningham will have been delighted to get the two points against the in form Tigers.

The Saints still lie fourth despite this being one of the poorest St. Helens sides I have seen in years.