If you just look at the 40-16 score-line this looks like a routine win for Saints. Yet it was anything but for 55 minutes or so as the Giants belied their position at the bottom of the Super League table. The turning point came early in the second half when, just moments after a Lachlan Coote penalty goal stretched Saints lead to six points at 18-12, England international winger Jermaine McGillvary suffered what is commonly referred to as a brain fart.
A Coote kick looked like going dead in-goal before it took a wicked hop backwards and came to rest just inside the dead ball line. McGillvary was forced to pick it up and try to run it back into the field of play. Surrounded by Saints defenders he should have taken his medicine and had the game restart with a goal-line drop-out. Huddersfield would still have been under pressure but at least they would have had an opportunity to see another set of six out defensively and then regroup. Inexplicably, Mcgillvary chose instead to try to offload the ball to a team-mate behind his own line. The pass went to ground and the first player to react to it as it bobbled along the grass was Mark Percival who reached out to touch down for his second try of the match. Just before half-time Percival had grabbed a crucial score, touching down from Jonny Lomax’s kick to give Saints a slender 16-12 lead at the break. This time his try put 10 points between the sides, and that became 12 when Coote slotted over the extras.
From that point on the Giants were never really in the game. As their belief and energy wilted that of Saints grew and grew, scoring three more tries through Regan Grace, Dominique Peyroux and Lomax to hit the 40-point mark for the first time in 2019.
Are Saints A Second Half Team?
Thursday night wasn’t the first time during Saints opening run of six consecutive wins that they have taken a hold on the game after the break. Huddersfield joined Wigan Warriors, Leeds Rhinos and London Broncos in failing to score a single point against Saints in the second half of games this term, albeit only by the width of former Saint and 2014 Grand Final winner Jordan Turner’s foot. The ex-Hull and Canberra man looked to have crossed for a late consolation for Simon Woolford’s side only for replays to show that his boot had made contact with the touchline before he went over.
Saints scored 24 points without reply in the second half of this one to add to their 10 without a response against the Warriors, Broncos and Red Devils. Saints were also locked at 10-10 at half-time away at Wakefield in Round 2 and although the second half of that one was a much tighter affair they still managed to hold off the challenge of Chris Chester’s wayward, inconsistent mob to emerge with a 24-18 win. Against the Rhinos Saints scored 17 unanswered points to win 27-22 having trailed 22-10 at the interlude. I don’t know if there is something in the oranges handed out by the Saints staff at the break during their games so far this season but whatever it is they are feeding them, or whatever it is that Justin Holbrook is telling them, is working like the proverbial charm. Saints visit Castleford next week and if I could offer one piece of advice to Daryl Powell now it is that he should make sure his side have a comfortable lead after the first 40. Otherwise there is likely to be nothing down for them.
Peyroux Shines
Lomax was named Sky Sports Man Of The Match and for once I found myself agreeing with the motley crew of hastily assembled ex-Wiganers responsible for judging these things. The stand-off was at the centre of everything Saints did offensively, ably assisted by the increasingly magnificent Coote. Lomax scored one try, had one assist, four tackle busts and made 90 metres on 12 carries with only one handling error. Defensively he contributed 21 tackles as Saints shut the door on their hosts in the second 40.
For his part Coote was almost faultless at fullback, contributing an assist for Grace’s try and troubling the Giants all night with his kicking game. In defence he seems to read everything so much quicker than everyone else on the field. You get the feeling that the former North Queensland Cowboy could also slot into the halves should we find ourselves with a problem in that area, although nobody should probably mention that to Danny Richardson at the moment. An average performance by Theo Fages against the Giants may have given the youngster hope, but Holbrook will certainly judge the Frenchman on what he has done so far over the season and not on one slightly underwhelming effort here.
Ask around a little among the Saints faithful about the star performer on the night and you will get plenty of shouts in favour of Dominique Peyroux. The Samoan international had his best game of the season so far for Saints, jointly topping the tackle count with Morgan Knowles on 27 while helping himself to his second try in consecutive games after crossing against the Broncos last week.
His return of 77 metres is surprisingly underwhelming but what is impressive about Peyroux is not only his defensive output but the way in which he has managed to all but eliminate the errors from his game. He has not made a handling error since the visit to Wakefield in early February. Offensively he suffers along with Tommy Makinson and Kevin Naiqama from the inability of our more creative players to pass the ball from left to right more effectively, but when called upon Peyroux is one of the side’s most potent attacking threats. All of which is a long way from how he was perceived on his arrival at the club, when against the backdrop of former coach Keiron Cunningham insisting that Peyroux would become a fans favourite the general consensus among the fans was that he was somewhere around Championship standard.
Peyroux has just turned 30 so should still have a good two or three years in him. If those years are spent under the excellent guidance of Holbrook then we may still see even more improvement in a man who seemed unwanted two years ago.
The Team Should Follow Peyroux And Cut Down The Errors
Peyroux may be making less errors these days but dropped ball is still a problem for the team as a whole. The first half of this one was so tight largely because Saints missed a plethora of chances to score through poor handling. Percival allowed the ball to squirm out of his grasp as he crossed the line early on while Grace bamboozled the Giants defence on a mazy run downfield before dropping the egg cold just when it looked as if he had clear daylight in front of him.
Lomax was next to waste a good situation and even the usually unflappable James Roby caught the disease, tearing through the Giants defence only to see his pass to a wide open Alex Walmsley knocked down by Huddersfield’s best performer on the night Darnell McIntosh. If even half of those chances had been converted Saints might well have found themselves out of sight by the break.
A look at the overall picture shows that only the Broncos and the Rhinos have made more than Saints 67 handling errors this term. As much as we can argue that this is symptomatic of a more expansive style brought in by Holbrook it is still evidence that Saints need to take better care of the pill if they are going to get the best out of their attacking weapons. Seven teams offload the ball more often than Saints in 2019 so it is not as if their style of play, as much as it has improved under Holbrook from the dark days of the Cunningham Grind, is too high risk. More likely these are just concentration issues, with the added caveat that Saints have played in some fairly miserable weather conditions early in the season. The report card would probably say ‘could do better’.
Ashworth Or Amor?
Matty Lees came back into the side after he was unavailable for the London game last week, so that meant that either Jack Ashworth or Kyle Amor was set to miss out. In the event Holbrook chose to go with Ashworth and leave out Amor. No doubt this was a popular decision among most fans, who believe that of the two Ashworth is by far the most dynamic runner and more likely to look for an offload to create the second phase of play. Amor is now almost famed for his eagerness to ‘find his front’ once his stutter-step in front of the defensive line fails to open up a running lane. Many fans believe the former Wakefield man is past his sell-by date and that Holbrook should be looking to the younger Ashworth and Lees more regularly.
Amor’s recent comments on the situation were instructive. He revealed that he was given the opportunity to go elsewhere but chose instead to stay and fight for his place. If nothing else that takes some courage and determination, given that it is a choice he has made despite being told in no uncertain terms by Holbrook that his involvement was likely to be reduced in 2019. To his credit he had fought his way back into the side in recent weeks but was stood down against in favour of Ashworth for this one.
Yet a quick look at Ashworth’s stats do nothing to suggest that he gets any more involved than Amor. He had just three carries against the Giants for 29 metres. This represents a pretty handy average of 9.67 metres per carry but three carries in a game which saw Luke Thompson unused after the break is a pretty meagre return. Ashworth himself may have a slight injury concern but if not his sporadic use could be a reflection of the fact that Holbrook has reservations about whether he is really ready to contribute significantly at this level. Lees appears to be ahead of both Amor and Ashworth in the pecking order and with Walmsley and Thompson around and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook making over 100 metres in this one the two A’s are finding themselves a little on the fringes. Ashworth has already spent time on dual registration with Leigh and we may see a little more of that as the season wears on. All of which possibly makes Amor a more valuable asset than he is given credit for.
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Good blog
ReplyDeleteThanks Bellis. Do come back.....
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