Before we get to the business of another gloriously narrow victory over sad little Warrington there’s news on the recruitment front for 2019. Cronulla Sharks back rower Joseph Paulo joins Kevin Naiqama and Joe Bachelor among the new faces at Saints from the start of next season. Consider this from coach Justin Holbrook;
“I’ve watched Joseph for a number of years now and I admire how he plays the game.”
If Holbrook has been watching, and has had a significant part to play in the arrival of Paulo then perhaps suggestions that the coach might be off to pastures new are a little premature. Some rugby league publications have had it recently that Holbrook will quit Saints after just one full season in charge to take over at Parramatta Eels in the NRL. The Eels stink the place out in NRL terms, so to leave the top team in Super League for the bottom team in the NRL would be a strange move and one that would surely only make life more difficult for a coach who, despite showing huge bucket-loads of promise, is still in the early stages of his senior coaching career. He’s surely better off where he is for the moment and perhaps Paulo’s signing hints that he would agree.
And so to Paulo himself. He has played international RL for both Samoa and USA and has made 160 appearances in the NRL with Penrith, those stinky Eels and the Sharks. He is a former team-mate of one Ben Barba at Cronulla which may lead some cynics to suggest that his arrival is an attempted sweetener in the bid to retain the services of Saints outstanding fullback. Yet with a three-year deal in his pocket it is likely that Paulo will be in St Helens long after Barba is not. Some have questioned whether we need another import particularly in the back row, where the ageing Zeb Taia already resides alongside the much improved Dominique Peyroux. The latter may struggle to play a big part in the remainder of 2018 after breaking his arm towards the end of this one but is sure to feature prominently again by the time Paulo arrives. We also have some home grown talent itching to get a shot in that part of the team, with Bachelor hoping to break through alongside James Bentley who again turned out for Sheffield Eagles this week but has yet to make his Super League debut for Saints. Jon Wilkin may go around again next year while Morgan Knowles continues to improve also. Suddenly a team that looked short of back row options when Joe Greenwood and Atelea Vea were offloaded seems to have a surplus.
Down To The Wire….Again…
Poor, poor old Warrington eh? No, I know. But you can’t ignore the fact that once again they have been pipped to the proverbial post by a Saints side which for the most part was underwhelming, particularly in attack in the first half when they were held to a Cunningham-era zero on the scoreboard. Yet for all the jealous talk from fans of other clubs about how the current league leaders have just been lucky with injuries and a few narrow results going their way, Saints wins happen so often now that they cannot be put down to pure luck. It takes a certain amount of steeliness and determination to win when you are Parramatta-Eels-ing the place out against a quality Warrington outfit who will probably still have a say on two trophy fronts this term. Win when you are not at your best and you have the basis for a champion side.
Besides this is all too familiar territory for Warrington. They have a
Danny Cool, Wilkin Class……
This particular triumph owed much to the poise of Danny Richardson. Saints were awarded a penalty on the hooter, five metres inside their own half when Ben Murdoch-Masila’s brain exploded causing him to throw a lazy arm towards the head of Luke Thompson. It is worth bearing in mind at this point that Richardson had just missed a very kickable drop-goal which might have also won it for Saints, although both Tryone Roberts and Stefan Ratchford had spectacularly fluffed similar opportunities for Warrington late on too. Yet Richardson did not let that earlier miss phase him in the slightest, spotting the ball up from around 55 metres and sending it straight between the aitches for the winning points. While many claim that Richardson evokes memories of Long it was Matty Smith who sprang readily to mind when I saw Richardson running away towards the West Stand to celebrate the moment with the fans. You may remember Smith kicking a last-gasp drop-goal to beat Salford last season when Robert Lui had inexplicably turned the ball over on the last play of the game. Yet while comparisons with Long are premature Richardson showed here as he had done in victory at Headingley against Leeds earlier in the season that he can be a match-winner when the game is on the line.
A word also for Wilkin, who as others wildly celebrated Richardson’s epic strike with the home fans stayed at the other end of the ground to shake the hand of each and every one of the stricken Wire players. Reminiscent of another classic 2005 sporting moment between Andrew Flintoff and a bunch of rather deflated Australian cricketers which may or may not have included Brett Lee. Class is permanent.
The 8s Unfold
Last week this column took what it perceived to be an educated stab at determining who Saints would face both home and away during the Super 8s. Their 10-point lead at the top of the Super League table should mean that only two victories will be required from their seven remaining outings to secure the League Leaders Shield, and we can now see for certain who Saints will face and where in the run-up to the semi-finals for which they had already qualified a week ago.
The order of the fixtures will not be released until Wednesday but Wigan, Castleford, Huddersfield and Hull FC will come to Saints while Holbrook’s men will have to travel to face Wakefield, Catalans Dragons and Warrington. Two wins from those should not be that difficult to find with Hull FC and Wakefield in particular struggling for form and Saints having won all of the corresponding fixtures in the regular season bar the trip to Trinity in April. Again much depends on the order of play but a currently floundering Trinity might be out of contention for the top four by the time of Saints visit and with revenge on their minds you would fancy Saints chances in those circumstances. Meanwhile Hull are in the middle of an implosion that has seen them handed a 70-point spanking by Wakefield followed by an equally disturbing derby defeat by Qualifiers-bound Hull KR.
Quite how Saints will approach these games will be fascinating. A visit from Wigan will no doubt stir the senses enough for a full-blooded effort regardless of what is or isn’t at stake by then, and the same should apply when Saints visit Warrington who will probably still be fuming at losing this one with the very last kick of the game. Huddersfield have massively improved under Simon Woolford likewise Catalans under Steve McNamara and Castleford are a match for any side on their day but you would get long odds against Saints failing to pick up the points they need to finish the Super 8s on top of the pile.
A Cup Final Rehearsal?
It is a surprising fact that in the 122-year history of the Challenge Cup there has never been a final meeting between Saints and Warrington. These two sides have won the cup 20 times between them but have somehow managed to avoid running into each other in the showpiece. In fact their last Challenge Cup meeting of any kind was 10 years ago when Saints ran out 40-34 winners on route to their last Wembley visit in 2008.
That could all change this year as both are favourites to win their respective semi-finals this weekend. When the draw was made at a time that now seems like a bygone age Holbrook’s side could feel extremely confident of getting past Catalans Dragons. They were a shell of a side at that time but a run of nine wins from 12 matches since Saints cruised past them 26-12 in early May has seen McNamara’s side ease in to the Super 8s when they seemed certainties for the Qualifiers for much of the season. Saints are still favourites to reach Wembley at the expense of the French side but it is no longer as straightforward as it first appeared.
Similarly Warrington should edge past Leeds Rhinos. For large parts of this one the Wolves looked the real deal, particularly defensively as they frustrated Saints’ array of attacking weapons for much of the night. Leeds halted a 10-game losing run by beating Widnes a week ago but a miserable year for the defending Super League champions continued when they were brushed off at the weekend by a poor Salford side playing for large parts with 12 men. Few would give the Rhinos a chance of beating Steve Price’s side at Bolton on current form but this is Leeds we are talking about, a team that is nothing if not a specialist in winning when the stakes are high. They have built championships on peaking when it really matters but they will need to go up several levels in a very short space of time if they are to get back to a first Wembley final since their 2015 treble year.
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