5 Talking Points From Saints 38 Widnes Vikings 18

Second Half Defensive Effort Seals The Win

Most of us would have stifled an excited giggle when we learned that Widnes Vikings would be our opponents at Newcastle's Magic Weekend. Even before a ball was kicked in 2018 nobody fancied Denis Betts' side to do much. By the time the game kicked off Widnes had just three wins from 13 Super League outings. Meanwhile Saints came into it top of the pile, defeated only twice in 14 league games and having recently rammed 60+ points down the throats of both Huddersfield Giants and Salford Red Devils.

Yet by half-time we'd lost our sense of humour. Widnes were well in the contest at only 22-18 down. Saints had conceded three tries that they would probably consider soft based on their defensive exploits so far this season, including one right on the half-time hooter by Leeds loanee Jimmy Keinhorst when it appeared that Saints minds were already in the dressing room. It was uncharacteristic for a team which had conceded an average of only 11.7 points per game. They'd allowed almost double that before half-time.

So it was clear where the focus of Justin Holbrook's half-time chat should have been. And on the evidence of the second half that's exactly where it was. No more points would be added to the Vikings tally while a double from Ryan Morgan and another length of the field effort from Regan Grace pulled Saints clear. Overall Saints missed 28 tackles, slightly up on their season average of 23.3 per game with Danny Richardson responsible for a quarter of those. Yet the improvement after half-time is a positive sign, showing that the defensive intensity can be lifted if and when necessary.

We Need To Talk About Widnes

Despite the odd defensive lapse it was an otherwise impressive performance from Widnes-born Richardson. He carried off Man Of The Match honours, streaking away for Saints first try and grabbing an assist while kicking five goals for a personal points tally of 14. He kicked the Vikings to the proverbial death and when he chose to run the ball he did so to the tune of almost 12 metres per carry.

Yet it was the skill and guile of another Widnesian Saint which arguably produced the game-breaking moment. Mark Percival had moved into the centre of the field looking for work when out of nothing he jinked and stepped his way through the Vikings defence to help set up Morgan's first try. That followed a first half try from Percival which looked suspiciously like it had been preceded by a knock-on from the England centre. As did his inadvertent assist for Grace's first try. Those refs eh? They hate Saints. And so do Sky. And the RFL. And Robert Elstone has a dartboard with a peppered picture of Alex Murphy on it.

But back to Richardson and Percival. The former spoke openly at a club forum recently about how he saw moving to Saints academy as a better career opportunity than staying at his home town club. Ditto Percival in all likelihood. Which if nothing else is a sad indictment of how far the club we used to call the Chemics have fallen. There are plenty of youngsters in the Widnes squad but Richardson and Percival are evidence that the cream of their crop look elsewhere. The club that was once feared throughout the rugby league world with stars in the side like Martin Offiah and Jonathan Davies is now reduced to taking the positives from the fact that they weren't humiliated by Saints. Many Vikings fans feel there is too much emphasis on community work and not enough on strengthening the first team, and pressure has been mounting on the gravel-voiced Betts and the club's top man James Rule. They have been known to respond by bemoaning what they see as the undue pressure placed upon them by a promotion and relegation system, but that sort of talk doesn't scream to you that the former world champions are a club with ambition. What the Hell happened to Widnes?

Morgan's Second Try Was The Wrong Call

The decision to allow Morgan's second try was not the worst decision of the Magic Weekend. That honour probably goes to Scott Mikalauskas and his touch judges in the Championship match-up between Toronto and Toulouse which started the whole shebang. Wolfpack Winger, the top-knottted Liam Kay, clearly dropped the ball in scoring in the corner in the first half but even that was topped by the decision to allow a conversion by Jonathan Ford of the French side which sailed palpably wide of the post. It took me back to the days when childhood kick-abouts would be ended by rows about whether a ball had passed over or inside the jumpers for goalposts or the makeshift target formed by two lads standing hand in hand with the other arm raised to create a post.

And so to Morgan. The Australian centre had already scored once in the second half when he slid over for what looked like a second. However video replays seemed to show that Morgan had lost possession as Stefan Marsh came in with a last ditch attempt to halt the grounding. The try was given, but surely the correct call was either a no try or a penalty try? Marsh slid in with his feet in dangerous fashion. There may be an argument that Marsh has to be allowed to use his body to prevent the grounding but in these days of player welfare, a world where bans are handed out for tackling a player who is running backwards into contact, it is surprising that the penalty try wasn't even discussed. It was certainly a worthier shout than the one Pie In The Sky Phil Clarke shouted for when Dominique Peyroux was sin-binned for feathering a Widnes player who may have been in the same postcode as a ball bouncing over the dead ball line.

Worries Over Makinson, But Not About Swift

Tommy Makinson has been playing so well in 2018 that even unbiased commentators have been throwing him into the conversation for Engand selection. Versatile enough to play fullback or centre it is on his favoured right wing that Makinson has excelled most. He has six tries and seven assists this term, the latest of which came in this one when he put Morgan over after great work from our Widnesian double act of Percival and Richardson. Makinson also racked up 119 metres and only four Saints have gained more ground than he has in 2018.

Slightly alarming then to see him leave the action early with what looked like an arm or hand injury. It could be nothing, but if it does keep Makinson out of Saints trip to Castleford on Thursday night (May 24) then there is a solution. Adam Swift returned to fitness a couple of weeks ago after a shoulder injury but has been kept out of the side by the form of Makinson and Grace. Holbrook should have no worries about throwing Swift in if required. The wing man played well when Holbrook experimented with Makinson at centre in the absence of Morgan earlier in the season. The 25-year-old Swift has 78 tries for Saints albeit only two of those have come in 2018 as his opportunities have been restricted. Swift may not offer quite as much as Makinson right now but his time spent out of the side shows the depth of the Saints squad this year. He'll be fine if he's called upon at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

Is This Format Fair?

The 12th edition of the Magic Weekend is done and dusted and at that time thoughts always seem to turn to the event's future. Many have claimed that day one of this year's festival which saw Saints win followed by impressive showings from Wigan and Castleford against Warrington and Leeds respectively was the best single day in the history of Magic. Maybe you had to be there. The television experience consisted of a badly officiated Championship game and three one-sided Super League clashes. Over the whole weekend only Huddersfield's 25-22 win over Wakefield was settled by less than 12 points.

But you can never guarantee close games. Sport is unpredictable and we'd like to keep it that way. The real problem with Magic is its potential to creative competitive imbalance in Super League. Fans of Warrington, Leeds, Wigan and Castleford may have every reason to feel aggrieved at having to play each other in the seemingly arbitrary extra fixture while Saints were handed a rather more routine-looking task against Widnes. In the event the margin of victory for Saints was smaller than for either Wigan or Castleford but that probably wouldn't change the answer provided by Shaun Wane or Daryl Powell if you asked them who they would rather come up against.

It all seems rather random and consequently skewed. As we have to now suffer talk of taking the show to New York, an act of laughable hubris that would take the game away from both its stadium and TV audience in one fell swoop, shouldn't we instead be looking at ways to make it fairer? The extra game is something football has resisted for some time and for good reason. Even in the Premier League competitive integrity is held in higher esteem than making yet more quick bucks. For us perhaps the staging of a Challenge Cup round at Magic would make more sense. The quarter-finals might be a candidate. The fixtures are randomly drawn but make sense within the context of a traditional cup competition, and while more clubs outside Super League would have a chance to be there all clubs would have to earn their spot in the here and now and not based on securing Super League status eight months earlier.

It could revitalise a competition that most rugby league fans love but currently fear for.