St Helens v Huddersfield Giants - Preview

Have you ever had a really bad day? One of those days that is so ludicrously shocking that you want to just erase it from history? You know that you can’t do that, so the next best thing is to plough on and hope that what you do in the future can lessen the pain of the past. To make the twinges a little less ouch-some, even when you flashback, as you inevitably will from time to time, to that terrible day you once had.

This is something like Justin Holbrook and his Saints side will be feeling in the days after the humiliation of their Challenge Cup semi-final banjoing by Catalans Dragons at Bolton. Saints went down 35-16 to Steve McNamara’s side after trailing by an eye-popping, 1989 memories-inducing 27-0 at half time. Almost nothing went right on the day for Holbrook or Saints as the dream of a first Wembley final in a decade shattered. Now they must clamber back atop the old nag, for there are still trophies to be won. Saints are still just a couple of wins from the League Leaders Shield and remain any sensible bookmaker’s favourites to win at Old Trafford in October’s Grand Final. It all starts with the visit of Huddersfield Giants in the first of the Super 8s fixtures on Friday night (August 10, kick-off 7.45pm).

In a show of stunning up-yoursery to those who demanded wholesale changes to the squad following the Dragons humbling, Holbrook has named exactly the same 19 men as were on duty for Bolton. While it may have been tempting to lob the baby out with the proverbial bath water and make wholesale changes Holbrook has sensibly made a statement of belief in his squad. After all, it is a squad that has got Saints to a positon whereby they are 10 points better off in the Super League table than any other side. Yes, including the all-conquering genius Catalans Dragons who scraped into the Super 8s following an embarrassing first two months of the season and who have about as much chance of making the top four as I do of being in the last four on Love Island. Do they have a last four on Love Island? If not, they should if only because it’s fashionable to do so. Super League is all about the top four, so is Premier League football and even the group stages of the T20 blast. Four is the magic number, regardless of what De La Soul rattled on about.

The main target for the fans ire in the wake of Dragons-gate was Ben Barba. The brilliant Australian will probably win Man Of Steel in 2018 but that isn’t enough for some Saints fans who want him out of the door because he hasn’t scored a 90-metre miracle since some time in June. To look at him on Sunday you would think he would have been better suited to an episode of Only When I Laugh (ask your dad, or even your grandad) than to running around on a rugby league field. He looked jaded, a look made more noticeable by the searing heat and it was no surprise when Holbrook revealed that his star man was not fully fit. Barba flickered into life at times but that blistering acceleration was not there, nor was the ability to change direction in an instant. He became ordinary for a day. He has 22 Super League tries this year and has lifted this Saints squad to new levels. Few seem to remember the days pre-Barba, pre-Holbrook, when Greg Richards getting on his knees and elbows in record time was about the best we could hope for as an attacking ploy. But yeah, get Barba gone. What has he done for us lately?

Having said all that maybe Barba should not play in this one. If there are doubts about his fitness why would we want to risk further damage? With just two victories needed out of seven to bring home the first of the two pots still available to us there are bigger battles ahead. It would be potentially calamitous to lose Barba for the season (and therefore possibly for good) now because he’s running around half fit in games we should be able to win without him. I think he’s earned a rest, so perhaps we will see Jonny Lomax filling the fullback spot with Adam Swift and Regan Grace on the wings outside of Tommy Makinson and Mark Percival. Ryan Morgan would surely have been in contention to come in to the side but again misses out to what one can only assume is an injury. Makinson has done a reasonable job in the centres at times this year but his constant crabbing across the field was one of the major irritants of the whole Dragons debacle. Makinson is a much better bet on the wing but with Morgan out he will no doubt be required to play out of position once more. The other alternative is to draft Matty Costello into the 17 but it seems highly unlikely that either Makinson, Swift or Grace will be left out to accommodate the emerging talent of Costello.

If Lomax is switched to fullback then the battle for places in the halves hots up also. Danny Richardson was fairly woeful along with 16 other blokes at Bolton but has been consistent enough this season to deserve a reprieve, but will either of Theo Fages or Matty Smith come in to the reckoning? Fages was exposed defensively as a loose forward against Catalans but remains one of the squad’s brightest creative talents. Smith meanwhile offers a steadying influence and a reliable if unspectacular quality that might just help calm everyone down after the jolt of the last few days. And if not now then when for Smith who might well find himself leaving the club for the umpteenth time at the end of the season?

The pack were largely responsible for the manner of the semi-final defeat. They were physically beaten up by their French opponents with only Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook finding anywhere near his best form. He will add impact from the bench again while Luke Thompson and either Kyle Amor or Luke Douglas get the start. All of those need to step it up especially with this week’s news that Alex Walmsley’s scan hasn’t gone as well as we would have liked. The England prop fractured a bone in his neck at Warrington in March and may not see any more action in 2018 according to Holbrook. Walmsley makes metres, more metres than anyone else over the last two or three seasons which was a quality that was miserably lacking in the semi-final. It is now up to the front rowers that remain including James Roby at hooker to get Saints go-forward back.

Dominique Peyroux was badly missed last week, the former Samoan international suffering a broken arm in the 14-12 win over Warrington on July 26. He will again miss out so Morgan Knowles, whose indiscipline cost Saints when Catalans scored two tries while the Welsh international was in the sin-bin for a careless swing at Kenny Edwards, should continue in the second row alongside Zeb Taia with Jon Wilkin locking the scrum.

The Giants are not that dissimilar to the Dragons in as far as a very rocky start to 2018 saw them inserted among the favourites to take part in the Qualifiers with the best of the Championship before a late run of good form catapulted them up the table. A great deal of the credit for their run of nine wins from their last 10 league outings has to go to new coach Simon Woolford. The former Canberra man replaced Rick Stone at the end of April since when his side have beaten all of Leeds, Catalans, Wigan, Hull FC, Castleford and Wakefield with only a 37-10 dusting at Hull KR at the end of June blotting the copybook. It is all a far cry from the dismal shower that showed up in St Helens in mid-April and took a 66-4 pounding from a Saints side that was coming in off the back of a jarring defeat at Wakefield. Will history repeat itself for the Giants? Not by that kind of score-line.

The Giants have a few absentees, most notably in the pack where Sebastine Ikahihifo and Michael Lawrence miss out. Shannon Wakeman is on loan at Dewsbury Rams but in Ryan Hinchcliffe, Oliver Roberts, Ukuma Ta’ai, Paul Clough, Daniel Smith and Adam O’Brien there is plenty of experience and quality up front. Suaia Matagi was brought in from Parramatta Eels at the start of July, initially for the start of 2019 but his early arrival means that he could feature also.

In the backs Jake Mamo has not caught the eye as much in 2018 as he did in 2017 but remains one of the most attack-minded fullbacks around while former Saints Jordan Turner and Lee Gaskell will also push for places in a backline led by the marmite figure of Danny Brough and which contains the talents of England star Jermaine McGillvary, a rejuvenated Leroy Cudjoe and the emerging Darnell McIntosh. The Giants rise to fifth has not happened by accident and they will present a more than reasonable challenge to a Saints side under a fair bit of pressure to force the memories of a terrible day out of their collective head.

Squads;


St Helens;


1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Adam Swift, 6. Theo Fages, 7. Matty Smith, 9. James Roby, 10. Kyle Amor, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Jon Wilkin, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 14. Luke Douglas, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Luke Thompson, 18. Danny Richardson, 19. Regan Grace, 20. Matty Lees, 23. Ben Barba, 30. Matty Costello.


Huddersfield Giants;


1. Jake Mamo, 2. Jermaine McGillvary, 3. Leroy Cudjoe, 4. Jordan Turner, 6. Lee Gaskell, 7. Danny Brough, 9. Kruise Leeming, 13. Ryan Hinchcliffe, 14. Dale Ferguson, 15. Jordan Rankin, 16. Oliver Roberts, 17. Ukuma Ta’ai, 18. Paul Clough, 19. Daniel Smith, 21. Adam O’Brien, 22. Alex Mellor, 23. Darnell McIntosh, 27. Matty English, Suaia Matagi.

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas