Saints continued a winning run that stretches back to the middle of April with a 34-18 win at Hull FC last time out. It left them eight points clear of the chasing pack with just two rounds to go before the start of the 30.43% extra that is the Super 8s. Victory in this one, possibly Shaun Wane’s last home derby as coach of Wigan depending on the final league positions, would open up a 10-point gap between Saints and Wigan and have the latter more likely to be worrying about Castleford and Warrington coming up behind them than retaining any League Leaders Shield ambitions. It’s time to kill off this cherry and white irritant once and for all.
Saints will have to do that without Zeb Taia. The former Catalans Dragons back rower sustained a nasty thumb injury in the win at Hull and is out for at least this one and the visit of Warrington next week. He is hoping to be back for the Challenge Cup semi-final showdown with his old club at Bolton on August 5. For now though Saints coach Justin Holbrook has drafted in Jack Ashworth to the 19-man squad in the only change from the group which headed east last week. Ashworth will hope to challenge for at least a spot on the bench as Jon Wilkin or Morgan Knowles are likely to feature in the back three alongside Dominique Peyroux. Saints front row is still missing Alex Walmsley but Kyle Amor, Luke Douglas, Luke Thompson and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook have been leading the charge surprisingly well in his absence, helped of course by the always brilliant James Roby at hooker. Along with Ashworth, Matty Lees awaits a chance.
In the backs Ben Barba made a two-try return to action after missing the win over Widnes on July 6 through injury. Adam Swift kept his place on the right wing and may do so again although Holbrook does have the option to restore Ryan Morgan to the team and move Tommy Makinson back out to his favoured right wing berth. That would leave a straight choice between Swift and Regan Grace for the left wing slot outside centre Mark Percival. Though Grace hardly deserves to be omitted there is a strong case for the inclusion of Swift if Holbrook truly is operating a policy of picking the team on form. It would also be interesting to see how Grace responds to a spell on the outside looking in. Memories of his debut at Wigan are hinting to me that he will not need to find out what that experience is like just yet.
Jonny Lomax gets better every week no matter whether it is at stand off or at fullback. With Barba back again it seems likely that Lomax will operate at 6 alongside scrum half Danny Richardson, with Theo Fages taking the bench spot. Matty Smith is again conspicuous by his absence from the squad amid persistent rumours of another move.
Hands up who longs for a return to the days when Wigan’s better players would declare themselves unfit for the derby, only to miraculously recover after a pre-game fitness test in full view of a positively seething visiting support? No, nor me. So it is with some trepidation that I report that Wigan have more key players missing than there are members of Blazin' Squad. Well, nearly. Chief among these is skipper and all around 100 per cent-er Sean O’Loughlin, but Oliver Gildart, Joe Burgess, George Williams and Liam Farrell will also be missed. Chris Hankinson has been brought in from Swinton to possibly fill in at centre although reports that Gene Miles will be flown back over to the UK, pending a late fitness test, are unconfirmed. Josh Woods was the hero in a narrow win over Warrington a fortnight ago and may form a halfback partnership with Sam Powell or Morgan Escare. Or Sam Tomkins. Or Thomas Leuluai. They have options, they’re just not options that terrify you in the way that Shaun Edwards and Andy Gregory used to. Shaun Edwards is still pretty terrifying, some might say.
What Wigan do have is pace out wide, with Tom Davies and Liam Marshall outstanding enough to make it barely noticeable that Burgess and long-term absentee Dom Manfredi are not around. Tomkins and Escare are speedy, elusive but fairly unreliable options at fullback in a defensive sense, but you can expect the usual grunt up front with the likes of Tony
The last meeting between the two was on Good Friday when Saints held off a late Wigan comeback to win 21-18 at home. Another result like that would do very nicely but there might be some looking at the list of absentees in the Wigan squad and at their somewhat erratic form in 2018 and expecting a more comfortable night. They probably won’t get it. Despite losing lamely at Huddersfield last week Wigan are a different animal in a derby, cliche or not, and are likely to find the idea of going down to third should Castleford beat Huddersfield on Friday somewhat unpalatable. Get ready for a bit of a scrap at the DW.
Squads;
Wigan Warriors;
1. Sam Tomkins, 2. Tom Davies, 3. Dan Sarginson, 7. Sam Powell, 8. Tony Clubb, 9. Thomas Leuluai, 10. Ben Flower, 14. John Bateman, 17. Taulima Tautai, 19. Willie Isa, 20. Morgan Escare, 22. Liam Marshall, 25. Romain Navarrete, 30. Gabriel Hamlin, 34. Josh Woods, 36. Samuel Kibula, 39. Liam Paisley, 40. Joe Greenwood, 41. Chris Hankinson.
St Helens;
1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Ryan Morgan, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Adam Swift, 6. Theo Fages, 9. James Roby, 10. Kyle Amor (pictured), 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, 21. Jack Ashworth, 23. Ben Barba.
Referee: Robert Hicks
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