St Helens machine rolls on, Woolf gets his first win as a club first grade coach. That's some front row combo they have in Walmsley and Thompson. Both of them hitting it up every set, sometimes twice, perfect job of tiring the defence. Walmsleys 2 tries were well deserved. Massive big man performance. Lomax runs a tight ship, involved in everything, and the young blokes just follow the example.
Not much to say about Salford. Lolohea has a lot of weaknesses despite a big 2019. Some defensive lapses for a number of tries and failed to have an impact in attack. Dudson, McCarthy, Evalds, Williams all had a serious crack but ultimately couldn't do much against a near flawless opposition. Salford have unfortunately lost some significant parts of their Grand Final team.
3 - Lomax. A constant threat anywhere in the line, with involvement levels that other SL halves should aspire to. Never a wasted attacking raid. Combination down the left with Zeb Taia is as fine as it gets.
2 - Walmsley. Huge big man performance. Sets the standard for forwards in 2020. 2 tries from a prop is nothing to sneeze at but was merely the icing on the cake of constant damaging runs.
1 - Thompson. Similar to his partner but without the tries. Relentless.
Shoutouts to Naiqama and Fages too. Good games. Young guys Bentley, Lees and Welsby especially had quality games. Jack Welsby looks like a real player of the future.
Great game for International watch...
England - Wouldn't say no to a front row pairing straight of St helens. Walmsley and Thompson are serious quality. Lomax putting his hand up for that white 7 shirt. Percival solid.
Ireland - Bentley will have huge utility value if he stays in the top grade for the next 2 seasons. McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Tyrone McCarthy as solid as ever.
Wales - Grace, Dudson, Williams - all decent games without standing out particularly. I'm hyped on Regan Grace this year. Hitting his prime years and I reckon he can do things on his feet that no one else in the sport can. Can't wait to see him hit some space in the coming weeks.
Fiji - Naiqama took his chances perfectly when they came.
Cook Islands - will no doubt be calling up Zeb Taia and Dominique Payroux for their return to big leagues. Great backrow pairing.
Scotland - Coote off injured after some promising early work. Scotland will be hoping he's available.
France - Fages. Lethal at times and passive at others. Needs to take on the line as often as his partner Lomax does. He's only 25 despite having years of first grade football. Needs to learn to dominate a game rather than drifting in and out when the mood strikes.
Tonga - Lolohea had a poor game unfortunately. As ever, needs to iron out the inconsistency.
Samoa - Joseph Paulo with decent impact off the bench. Hasn't played for Samoa in a few years and will be 34 around World Cup time.
