I see what you're saying Itchy but I think most forwards are rested/injured during the season anyway, particularly in the front row but Nsemba has already missed 3 games, Walters will have missed all his by the time he comes back, ditto Harvard, Byrne will have missed at least 2 and Leeming around 3 so most of those have already served their time, so to speak. Most front rowers only play half a game in terms of minutes anyway which won't get close to the maximum minutes and Isa will be spelled in the natural scheme of things. As you say, it may impact Farrell if we get to both finals but resting him would be no bad thing imo anyway to maximise his longevity and, we would need to do that anyway to give everyone sufficient game time.

Backs are a slightly different subject as they play more minutes per game and, generally speaking, suffer less injuries. That said, pretty much all of our back line have suffered time out to some degree during most seasons so it may be more a case of a little extra on top rather than thinking they would need to miss all the games due to the protocols. In addition, all of Hampshire, Farrimond, Eckersley and Jacobs would be expecting game time this year so you could argue it fits in well with the requirements of our current squad.

If they are now starting to count minutes then it's the perfect opportunity to drop the golden point farce. If it's a draw at full time, then it's a draw.

A great point.

I think the RFL's motivation is to be seen to be doing something to protect player welfare if/when the lawyers come knocking again.we have taken reasonable measures and have a process in place. Not saying this is perfect but good to see them making a start.

I wonder if we will see bigger benches - say a panel of 6/7 with the same number of interchanges, just a thought?

As for reducing the minutes, surely we all accept that SL would be better with fewer games? But of course, that's turkeys voting for Xmas for the clubs.

I wouldn't want us to be going too far in the direction of rugby union there!

Quite a few changes might back fire but in Peet we trust

A few more changes than I expected but not totally surprising. On reflection giving Ellis a rest is understandable considering his minutes so far this season.
A very young bench.
Hope all the young guys go well.

You'd hope that line up would be good enough to see off London, looking like a tough game next week so it's understandable to give a few bodies the week off.

Not very often you see your 6, 7 & 13 all being rested in the same game. Very inexperienced bench too

I guess this is what a squad is for.

One too many changes for me.

I’d have played Smith with Rocky or French with Jack.

Hope it pays off though

I don't see this as a very big risk, plenty of experience still in that team just shows how good our depth is!

Hampshire has plenty of experience as a super league halfback and him and Farrimond look very comfortable playing together from what i have seen so it is a good move from Peet.

Great to see nsemba back and chan getting more time. Looking forward to this one now which is not something i would have said a couple of weeks ago!

Mago at 13 is the interesting call for me, thought it might have been Thompson

Anyone think Kennedy could do a job for us next year?

Also, this ref is massively out of his depth. It's turning into a bit of a parody of itself how bad the officiating is in SL. Guess it's the byproduct of the unchecked arrogance that we've let them get away with.

Pretty sh*te defence for a team that prides itself on defence

This referee is atrocious, has there been a set without a penalty or back to one? Can't stand this style of refeering, let things go. Unwatchable.

Glad we engaged another gear lol

Who else had Mago as a ball playing 13 on their bingo card?

Same as last week and it's important, when you win, to call out how bad they are. Plenty of calls went for us today, but some absolute horrendous ones went against us too.

People say it balances out, but that's not right. They need to check their egos. Not going to the screen for the Mago try is a perfect example. Thinks he's right and doesn't care about facts, or even entraining the possibility he could have got it wrong.

Today is the perfect example of how props win you pots. Dupree, Thompson, Mago, Hill, Faz, Nsemba (how good is he going to be) they couldn’t deal with it.

You can’t get carried away after round 3 but this year we can do something really special. I can’t recall a time we’ve had better squad depth.

Too big, too strong in the forwards. Simple as that. When you consider who we had missing for that game too....

Havard, Leeming, Byrne, Walters and Ellis (do we list Eseh yet) missing from that pack, then Marshall, Smith and French from the backs - some depth we have this year.

Hope the club extend Mago

I was only watching in the pub, with no volume, but the Mago effort looked like a try to me. What did you guys think? What did they say in commentary? He can pick a pass too, and Dupree continues to impress.

Good win especially with the team we had out, won it massively in the forwards, thought the link between forwards and backs was a bit lacking but hardly surprising. Good experieince for the young players none of whom looked out of their depth which is a very positive sign.

The ref was poor - every time a game of rugby looked like starting he stamped it out at once, London are complaing about him especialy in the second half - think they need to reasses that one, they got as many bad and very bad decisions from him as we did - he was really poor for both sides. Refs are currently killing the entertainment for the fans which is such a shame.

Still onwards, three from three not bad at all - no post WCC hangover.

Top of the league with a game in hand AND world champions...........