Justin Holbrook’s side brushed off their defeat at Wakefield Trinity to wipe the floor, the walls and the ceiling with Huddersfield Giants last time out. Interim coach Chris Thorman saw his side torn to pieces to the tune of 66-4, with Saints scoring 12 tries including a hat-trick for Jonny Lomax and two each for Ben Barba, Ryan Morgan and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. As responses to defeat go it was in the file marked ‘emphatic’.
That they achieved this County Championship score against the Giants is all the more remarkable given the absence of five first team regulars. Mark Percival, James Roby, Zeb Taia, Alex Walmsley and Adam Swift all missed out for various reasons but the likes of Matty Costello, Matty Lees, Matty Smith and all manner of other people called Matty stepped in to the breach admirably. All are named in Holbrook’s 19-man squad for the visit to Salford which is also boosted by the return of both Taia and Percival. James Bentley and Jack Ashworth, who failed to make the transition from the 19 to the match day 17 for the Giants game are the men to miss out this week.
Percival has now served the one-match suspension handed to him for his poor debating technique with referee Gareth Hewer at Wakefield and should slot straight back into the centres. The back five should be otherwise unchanged, with Barba at fullback behind wingers Regan Grace and Tommy Makinson and Morgan at right centre. Lomax will look to continue his good form at stand-off alongside scrum-half Danny Richardson.
Lees will battle for a spot in the front row rotation alongside Kyle Amor (another try-scorer last week), Luke Thompson, Luke Douglas and McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Another week’s rest for Roby is a perfectly sensible decision from Holbrook if there is even a shred of doubt about his fitness after a rib injury, so Smith and Theo Fages will likely share Roby’s hooking duties. Taia will return to the second row meaning Morgan Knowles will probably drop back down to the bench. Yet the Welsh international should see plenty of game time at loose forward in tandem with Jon Wilkin. Dominique Peyroux, unbelievably given his form in the early part of his Saints career, looks immovable at second row also. Costello made a solid debut last week but along with Lees looks the most vulnerable to missing out on a bench spot.
Salford shocked most of Super League by whacking Wakefield 38-6 last weekend. Clearly drained by the sheer effort of edging out your mighty Saints, Chris Chester’s side fell to pieces and are now looking less and less like the side which many tipped to mount a serious challenge for the top four in 2018. Meanwhile Salford are confounding the predictions of the doom mongers who said that they were destined for the Qualifiers at the end of the regular season. A top eight berth looks well within their reach. They currently sit seventh in the table, on the same points as Wakefield but both are four better off than ninth-placed Widnes Vikings who host Wigan this weekend and would be well advised to forget about it and worry about next week. Within the next couple of weeks the top eight could be all but sorted, with the only question regarding the order in which they finish.
Salford come into this one without key man Robert Lui. The stand-off picked up a calf injury in the win over Wakefield and misses out. Weller Hauraki is another absentee for Ian Watson’s side but both Lama Tasi and Lee Mossop return after missing last week’s win. The backline retains a fair dollop of quality even without Lui, with Niall Evalds one of the best young players in Super League and Junior S’au bursting with pace, power and NRL experience. Jack Littlejohn is starting to settle into the halfback role but he will be tested without Lui as he tries to form a similar bond with youngster Jake Shorrocks on loan from the
In the pack Craig Kopczak was linked with a move to Saints immediately after it became clear that Walmsley’s absence would be a long-term one, and though he lacks the capacity to chew up the metres in the way that Walmsley does he is a formidable operator at prop. Logan Tomkins finds himself as the only fit hooker at the club with Kris Brining due to undergo surgery in the coming weeks while George Griffin, Luke Burgess, Tyrone McCarthy and another ex-Saint in Mark Flanagan may feature in the forward group.
Saints haven’t got a spotless record at the AJ Bell Stadium in recent history, losing their twice during the reign of Keiron Cunningham. Salford edged Saints 22-14 last season although Saints avenged that with a 30-4 success in the Super 8s which sealed their semi-final spot. In 2016 Cunningham’s side suffered a fearful 44-10 thwacking as we discovered the shock news that McCarthy-Scarsbrook is not a centre.
Despite Salford’s good recent form, that Wakefield win followed a comfortable victory over the Giants, Saints should still be expected to take care of business in this one. With Taia and Percival back to link up on that left edge they should have too much for Watson’s side and should come out on top by something in the region of 16-20 points.
Squads;
Salford Red Devils;
2. Greg Johnson, 3. Kris Welham, 4. Junior Sa’u, 5. Niall Evalds, 7. Jack Littlejohn, 8. Craig Kopczak, 9. Logan Tomkins, 10. George Griffin, 13. Mark Flanagan, 14. Lama Tasi, 15. Ryan Lannon, 16. Luke Burgess, 17. Tyrone McCarthy, 18. Ben Nakubuwai, 19. Josh Wood, 23. Lee Mossop, 24. Jake Bibby, 26. Daniel Murray, 28. Jake Shorrocks.
St Helens;
1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Ryan Morgan, 4. Mark Percival, 6. Theo Fages, 7. Matty Smith, 10. Kyle Amor, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Jon Wilkin, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 14. Luke Douglas, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Luke Thompson, 17. Dom Peyroux, 18. Danny Richardson, 19. Regan Grace, 20. Matty Lees, 23. Ben Barba, 30. Matty Costello
Referee: Chris Kendall
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