NATHAN Brown has given his verdict following Saints’ 42-0 loss at Catalan.
His side toiled in the heat and were only 8-0 down at the break before the Dragons ran up the score in the final 20 minutes.
“I thought in the first half, considering the heat and the conditions, and the fact we turned a lot of ball over, our commitment for each other in defence was good,” he told BBC Radio Merseyside. “They scored two tries from kicks but they had a lot of possession on our line and I thought the guys worked hard for each other.
“In the second half, the last 20 to 25 minutes, just from an effort point of view, isn’t where we want to be. We spoke after the Warrington game about where we want to get to and the players have come up with one or two key words. We didn’t live that part today.
“Catalan have been playing well and at home they are good, But defensively our effort and commitment for each other regardless of fatigue needs to be better.
“Our ball retention was poor, some of their D was good, but our attack wasn’t so good. It was one of the few occasions this year we haven’t attacked well. It put a lot of pressure on our defence and at the back end of the game our defence wasn’t good enough to the standard of where it needs to get to.
“We will go through the video, talk to the players as a group and as individuals. We can’t brush it off and hope it turns around.
“We have had a good little period since Warrington and put ourselves in a decent spot, but we can’t be coming up with performances like that every four or five weeks. We have to fight more for each other.
“We have to dust ourselves off and give our home fans something to cheer against Castleford next Sunday.”
Brown said that Paul Wellens had 20 stitches in his head following a clash in the first half and Jonny Lomax’ knee injury doesn’t look good according to early reports.
