This 26-22 success wasn’t pretty but the result was everything. Having lost three of their last four in all competitions Saints just had to get back on track. Critics of the Super 8s system will noisily point out that a home semi-final is secure but entering knockout football on the back of a run of poor form not only threatens a side’s confidence but also instils belief in future opponents. Saints had an aura about them up until the Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to these Dragons but others were beginning to take heart from their exploits at Bolton. Saints are suddenly beatable, arguably no better than any of the other sides likely to be competing for Grand Final places. Besides, Steve McNamara’s side needed putting in their place.
The job was made more difficult by the absence of James Roby with a shoulder injury and the late withdrawal of Ben Barba. Saints were already due to be without Dominique Peyroux, Alex Walmsley, Adam Swift and Ryan Morgan meaning they travelled to Perpignan with no fewer than six regular first team players out of action. Misfortune for one represents opportunity for another as players previously on the fringes of the first team stepped up to help Saints squeak home. Justin Holbrook’s 17-man selection featured no fewer than 11 players who had come through the club’s own academy system. And that was without the star pupil and the forgotten man of the youth set-up in Roby and Matty Smith respectively. The likes of Jack Ashworth, Matty Lees, Morgan Knowles and debutant Aaron Smith filled the void left by more experienced stars. At a time when all the recent chin-wagging has been about whether the world will cease to rotate should Barba head back to the NRL it was heartening to see local talent pulling off a deserved win.
Just as importantly it stopped the rot setting in. With the currently hapless Hull FC due to visit Saints next Holbrook’s side have an opportunity to go into the rescheduled clash at Warrington with a totally different mindset to that which has taken hold in recent weeks. It is also another opportunity to finally wrap up the League Leaders Shield which is still not mathematically certain following Wigan’s win over Wakefield Trinity. When the final point needed to secure the prize arrives the local youngsters deserve to play their part in the celebrations.
Do Saints Need A New Fullback?
The vast majority of Saints fans now believe that it is a matter of if and not when Barba agrees a deal with an NRL club for 2019. There are a few still clinging on to the hope that he will stay another season but they are probably the kind of people who are also hoping that Jennifer Lawrence will reply to those letters they have been sending. North Queensland Cowboys seem the likeliest candidate to sign Barba at the moment, but if not them then probably another will come along and snap up the fullback. A replacement is required, with Saints already linked heavily with the Cowboys Scottish international Lachlan Coote. But is there another way?
Jonny Lomax was superb in Perpignan in relief of Barba, scoring a try and miraculously preventing one just on half-time which eventually proved crucial. For all his brilliance in attack, it is highly likely that Barba would not have been able to stop a score that would have meant the Dragons taking a slender lead into the break. Instead it was Saints who led at the interval and although McNamara’s side came again to open up a 22-14 lead two more late Saints scores (one from Lomax) were enough to sneak home.
This performance is by no means Lomax’s first rodeo at fullback. He has played there for four full seasons before Barba’s arrival and had no trouble slotting back into the role having played most of the 2018 season at stand-off. He’s even played at fullback for England and may be required to do so again at the end of this season if Gareth Widdop’s shoulder problems continue. Despite attempts by the Wigan medical staff to reduce his ban to 45 minutes on a Tuesday Zak Hardaker’s return to action will come too late for him to be considered.
So if Lomax is the man for England why not the man for Saints? New Zealand aren’t quite what they used to be but they present infinitely tougher challenges than most Super League opposition that the 28-year-old will stumble across next season and beyond. The move would also allow Saints to spend Barba’s not insignificant salary on a stand-off. Not that Lomax hasn’t been doing a great job alongside Danny Richardson in the halves but there is a good argument that the two don’t quite complement each other and that Richardson would benefit from the presence of an organiser with a genuine all around kicking game. Identifying that player is quite another matter which I realise makes me sound a little like Oliver Letwin when he famously proposed that UK criminals be sent to an unidentified island to lessen the burden on resources. Yet with the kind of connections in Australia that were good enough to bring a star like Barba to the club there is a fair chance that Holbrook could come up with the answer after a little flicking through the contact book.
Do Saints Need A New Hooker?
This was a taste of what life might be like when Roby finally ends his illustrious career. Many, including this writer, felt that Holbrook would hand the hooking duties to one or more of Theo Fages, Knowles or Matty Smith. But with Fages required at stand-off and Smith seemingly as likely to be selected as Ian Bell is for England’s cricket team it was Knowles to start and Aaron Smith making his debut off the bench. The younger Smith has been in 19-man squads on several occasions this season without making the final 17 but took his chance to shine superbly.
It was a debut which looked like ending quickly and painfully when Smith was hit late by Dragons playground bully Sam Moa. The former Hull FC man was promptly yellow carded by bewildered referee Liam Moore whose continued inability to determine the direction of a pass was a particular lowlight of his performance. But he probably got this call spot on. The contact wasn’t high enough to warrant a red but Smith had long since passed the ball when Moa paid his own tribute to NFL linebackers who returned to action this weekend. As Smith lay prone on the ground it seemed unlikely that his debut would continue any further, yet he recovered to make a telling contribution. He only carried the ball five times but did so at a ridiculous 17.40 metres a clip, chipping in with 15 tackles and the decisive break which set up the position from which Knowles performed his own Roby tribute. The Welshman knocked off defenders like Donald Trump swats off complaints about his distinctly un-presidential behaviour on his way to the winning try. Cue generous amounts of delirium among the Saints contingent at the Stade Gibert Brutus and in the Orford household. Saints are far from the same side without Roby but if Smith can continue to make this kind of contribution when needed there might not be such a chasm to fill when the great man calls it quits in what will hopefully be a few years time and no sooner.. Perhaps this is one position for which Holbrook might not need the contacts book.
Self-Inflicted Wounds Could Have Been Fatal
Saints were heroic for the most part but there were areas of concern which will need to be addressed and tuned up for the cut-throat battles ahead. Catalans were already ahead when Richardson was caught in possession on the last tackle deep in his own territory. It set up the position from which Remi Casty went over to stretch the French side’s lead to 10-0 and put Saints under significant pressure early on. Richardson’s problems have not been all of his own making in recent weeks playing behind a pack of forwards that has been playing tick rugby at times, but his indecision can prove costly.
At times his kicks and his changes of direction are those of a young half learning the game but still without a total grasp on what he is actually going to do. Some say that can be an advantage. If he doesn’t know what he is going to do then how can the opposition? That’s fine until what you are going to do is get tackled on the last in your own quarter or kick the ball straight down the throat of the fullback. Richardson seems very definitely to be Holbrook’s man. The coach has shown no inclination to rest him and use either Fages or Matty Smith in the halfback role so the youngster, who turned 22 last Sunday, needs to learn quickly if he is to lead the side to a title in his first full season in the starting line-up.
He wasn’t the only one bearing gifts. Jack Ashworth’s ill-advised offload led deep in his own territory led to Iain Thornley’s well taken try which put the Dragons back in front in the second half. It is difficult to criticise a young player too much especially at a club at which the need to play open, attractive rugby league is entrenched. If such an offload leads to an 80-metre break and a scintillating try we’re all lauding Ashworth for his creative spark. There’s a time and a place and one of the keys to becoming a quality Super League forward is being able to tell the difference a high percentage of the time. That will no doubt come for Ashworth but in the short term Saints must cut out the mistakes that could prove devastating in October.
Dives And Dismal Decisions
There’s a classic bloopers clip of double Olympic Diving champion Greg Louganis smashing his head on the diving board at the 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea. Louganis recovered to win gold and is widely considered to be the greatest diver of all time. However, another Greg attempted to give him a run for his money here as Catalans Greg Bird hit the deck like an extra in Dog Day Afternoon following minimal contact by Zeb Taia in the build-up to Regan Grace’s disallowed try. It was one of a long list of bemusing decisions made by referee Moore and video referee Ben Thaler, and highlighted probably the most sinister sign yet that the amateur dramatics which infest the football world are currently spreading throughout rugby league. Bird’s dive would have made Neymar blush but unlike some of the histrionics of the Brazilian striker, it worked a treat.
Moore was a walking advert for two referees all night long, failing to spot a forward pass in the build-up to Mark Percival’s try and then absurdly compensating for that by ruling a perfectly legal pass forward to chalk off another for the visitors. We touched upon the cancer within the game that is the TV obstruction rule in last week’s 5TP but it would be remiss not to comment on it again given that both sides had scores ruled out that would have stood without the presence of Eddie and the boys. Especially bloody Terry O’Connor. Bird’s dive put paid to Grace’s hopes of a 13th try of the season while Saints fan favourite Kenny Edwards had a try ruled out when Jon Wilkin was apparently obstructed in the act of decapitating Casty. The pass to Edwards was probably, you guessed it, forward anyway.
Credit should go to Moore for making the right call on Moa’s hit on Aaron Smith despite the criticism he has received. Yet overall the referee had what is known as a Joe Cocker. Not that this is an excuse for fans to blame referees whenever their team underperforms. Moore was poor for both sides and it detracted from the spectacle of watching two sides who, while not really at their best, were giving everything in a game many view as a meaningless dead rubber.
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