St Helens v Wakefield Trinity - Preview

It was always going to be a challenge to preview Saints’ Coral Challenge Cup quarter-final meeting with Wakefield Trinity without mentioning the red vee’s 11-year absence from the Wembley final so let’s get it out of the way straight off the bat. Saints last visited the capital on cup final day back in 2008 and their quest to end that barren run continues when Chris Chester’s side visit on Saturday (June 1, kick-off 3.15pm).

The make-up of Justin Holbrook’s 19-man selection might say something about the importance of this one. The Australian coach is bringing out the big guns, with England internationals Luke Thompson and Mark Percival both included after long injury lay-offs. Neither has featured since the Easter weekend which brought victories over Wigan and Hull FC. Also returning is Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, while Danny Richardson is in line for what would be his first appearance since the 50-14 chasing of Catalans Dragons on April 28.



Since then Theo Fages has been in the kind of form that raises the snout of everyone from Castleford Tigers to the great and the good of the NRL depending on which gossip-monger you believe. Unfortunately the Frenchman misses out this week with a concussion, so the onus is once again on Richardson. It’s a difficult situation for the young half whose attitude has been questioned in recent weeks. Richardson most likely knows that for as long as Fages is around there is no level of performance good enough to convince Holbrook to veer away from favouring the ex-Salford and Catalans man.

The return of Thompson, Percival and McCarthy-Scarsbrook means that there are no places in the squad for Kyle Amor, James Bentley or Adam Swift. The latter is now officially in his final year with Saints after signing a two-year deal with Hull FC this week. The winger will move to the KCom Stadium in 2020 after finding himself on the outside looking in for the most part since the emergence of Regan Grace. The Welshman has been outstanding since breaking into the first team but has reached another level again in 2019. There seemed little prospect of Swift winning back that left-wing berth in the longer term and so a move to Humberside seems the right decision for his career. Often criticised for his propensity to make errors bringing the ball away from his own line Swift has nevertheless had a fine career at Saints since making his debut in 2013 and goes east with the best wishes of this amateur scribe at the very least. Eighty-six tries in 126 outings in his home town colours is a record of which can be very proud indeed, and he will hopefully have more chances to add to that before saying his final goodbyes at the end of the season.

Completing the backline will most likely be Lachlan Coote at fullback, Kevin Naiqama in the centres alongside Percival, Tommy Makinson on the right wing and Jonny Lomax at stand-off. Matty Costello has been deputising for Percival and does make the 19, but you get the feeling that he will only be included if Holbrook decides that Percival is not quite ready to play the full 80 minutes.

Thompson’s return bolsters a pack that has been superbly led by Alex Walmsley in recent weeks. The form of the former Batley man has overshadowed even that of the peerless James Roby, while Matty Lees has taken the opportunity to gain some valuable experience as a starting prop in the absence of Thompson. Zeb Taia should celebrate his new one-year deal signed just today with another start in the second row alongside Dominique Peyroux. Taia will be with Saints until at least the end of the 2020 season after penning his new contract, all of which will allow us the privilege of watching him showcase his often criminally under-appreciated skills for another year while also giving Bentley and Joe Batchelor time to develop behind him. Morgan Knowles and Joseph Paulo will continue to share loose forward duties, while Jack Ashworth and Aaron Smith will likely vie for places on a bench that looks certain to include McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Paulo along with one of Lees or Thompson.

Wakefield have been suffering quietly with injuries so far in 2019, a situation which had led to alarming levels of inconsistency. Many tipped Trinity to be a major contender for the top five in Super League and they still may be, but over the last month they have beaten only Huddersfield Giants while managing to lose to all of Hull FC, London Broncos and Catalans Dragons. They might be glad of a chance to park their league ambitions for a week, although sitting as they do in sixth, level on points with fifth placed Castleford Tigers, they will know that if they can find some form in the latter stages of the season they could still make a run towards Old Trafford.

Yet if Saints 11 years without a Wembley appearance makes you wake up in the night screaming like a man who has just realised that he is Nigel Farage, spare a thought for Wakefield who have not been to the national stadium since losing 12-3 to Widnes back in 1979. They have not won the Challenge Cup since 1963 when a 25-10 win over Wigan brought them their second consecutive success in the competition after beating Huddersfield 12-6 in 1962. There are droughts and there are droughts.



To try to end his club’s hoodoo Chester has picked a strong-looking 19-man squad but he is again shorn of several of his key players. Wing sensation Tom Johnstone was lost for the season some time ago thanks to another serious knee injury, while centre Bill Tupou has not featured since the end of March due to a groin injury. Talismanic prop David Fifita hobbled out of the Magic Weekend defeat to Catalans Dragons at Anfield and misses out again and Tinirau Arona is another who is lost for the season.

There had been doubts over Mason Caton-Brown’s fitness but he makes the cut, with perhaps the most telling boost to Chester’s squad being the return from injury of motor-mouthed ref-botherer and elite halfback Danny Brough. The former Huddersfield Giant has been out with a hand injury for the last seven weeks but looks set to resume what was a key halfback partnership with the excellent Jacob Miller. Wakefield will need their craft and guile around the park behind a pack that is lacking not only Fifita but Pauli Pauli who is on loan at Salford Red Devils. He left in a swap deal with Junior S’au but the centre is not eligible to play in the cup for his temporary club. Wakefield will need big performances from the likes of Walmsley look-alike Anthony England, Kyle Wood and former Saint Matty Ashurst if they are going to match their hosts in the all-important trenches. One other side note to mention is that although Joe Batchelor does not make the Saints squad for this one his brother James is included in the Wakefield selection and could feature.

You have to go back 28 years to 1991 to find the last time Saints met Wakefield Trinity in the Challenge Cup. Back then tries from Alan Hunte and John Harrison helped Saints to a 16-2 victory in a second round tie at Knowsley Road. Saints went on to reach Wembley that year but were beaten 13-8 by a Wigan side picking up the fourth of its eight consecutive Challenge Cup final wins of that era thanks to tries from Frano Botica and the ill-fated David Myers.

Saints overall record against Wakefield is pretty handy. They have not lost at home to the West Yorkshire side since a particularly disastrous 16-12 reverse set the wheels in motion for Keiron Cunningham’s exit from the club in 2017. Before that Saints were unbeaten at home against Trinity since a side featuring Brough in his first spell with the club won 22-20 at Knowsley Road in 2009. Warrington centre Ryan Atkins was also in the Wakfield line-up that day but we cannot confirm whether he claimed any tries without getting within five metres of the line.

Despite their injury list this Wakefield outfit looks a good deal stronger on paper than the sides of that vintage. The salary cap and some shrewd management from Chester has catapulted Trinity back towards the game’s leading lights to the extent that it would not be a seismic shock if they were the team to advance from this one to the final four at Bolton on July 27. Not seismic, but still a shock given the current form of Saints, particularly in dismantling Castleford at Anfield last time out. If that Saints side shows up expect Holbrook’s side to progress by something in the region of 18 points.

Squads;

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Kevin Naiqama 4. Mark Percival 5. Regan Grace 7. Danny Richardson 8. Alex Walmsley 9. James Roby 10. Luke Thompson 11. Zeb Taia 12. Joseph Paulo 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 15. Morgan Knowles 17. Dom Peyroux 19. Matty Lees 20. Jack Ashworth 21. Aaron Smith 23. Lachlan Coote 24. Matty Costello

Wakfield Trinity

Matty Ashurst, James Batchelor, Danny Brough, Mason Caton-Brown, Jack Croft, Jordan Crowther, Anthony England, Ryan Hampshire, Keegan Hirst, Ben Jones-Bishop, Lee Kershaw, George King, Danny Kirmond, Craig Kopczak, Reece Lyne, Jacob Miller, Tyler Randell, Kelepi Tanginoa, Kyle Wood

Referee: Chris Kendall

5 Talking Points From Saints 36 Castleford Tigers 16

Magic’s Mystery Tour. Will It Work?

After four years in Newcastle Super League took the bold, some argued foolhardy step of moving the event to Liverpool. Detractors accused Robert Elstone of trying to fix what was not broken when it was announced that this year’s event would be moving to Anfield.

A week earlier there had been almost unanimous agreement from fans that taking rugby league to an area more associated with European football was a great idea. This week it was a bad idea with reasons ranging from the lack of leg room to the colour of the Anfield seats. Football allegiances differ among the support of our club in particular yet it is interesting that precisely nobody complains about having to go to the home of Manchester United for the Super League Grand Final every year.

So ignoring the red herrings what is the real reason why Magic recorded its second lowest attendance since it began in 2007? Some blamed the fixtures but in a league this mediocre you would no more expect to find six enticing match-ups than you would to find an appealing candidate in the Tory leadership election. Most clubs whiff of something. If anything the way results had planned out going into the weekend had enhanced the appeal of the menu. Leeds v London looked a turkey when it was announced but in reality was an epic relegation dogfight decided by two points. Along with that you had Wigan v Warrington, which if you ask the latter’s social media people is a rivalry on a par with Ali and Frazier. Wakefield v Catalans and Salford v Hull KR always looked well matched and turned out to be thrillers, while Saints v Castleford was a meeting of last season’s two most consistent sides.

Not everyone has negative things to say about the experience. Some point out that Anfield generates a better atmosphere than other Magic venues even if there are fewer fans inside, while the city of Liverpool rarely fails to get good reviews from those seeking something social once the rugby is over for the day. One bug bear appeared to be that Anfield is too far from the city centre or any of Liverpool’s finer eating and drinking establishments for fans to take advantage during the day. Other Magic venues like Newcastle and Cardiff are city centre stadia which would have enabled fans to pop out to a nice bar or restaurant when the performance of Hull FC was making their eyes bleed.

My own view is that Magic has always been a flawed concept. A sop to the broadcasters which distorts the season and leaves even the armchair viewer feeling like they’ve been beaten over the head with too much of a good thing. But Elstone was bullish in his interview after the event, hinting strongly that a return to Anfield next year is on the cards. Whether we like it or not it looks like Magic is here to stay in the short term at least. Indeed the latest idea doing the rounds is to combine it with the Championship’s Summer Bash over one weekend. That desperate need for an events culture within our sport will no doubt one day see the whole season played out over one weekend at a central venue where Eddie Hearn does all the pre-game and half-time entertainment on Elton John’s million dollar piano.

Yellow (Card) Submarine

Saints’ discipline has been pretty good this season. Going into this one they had only received two yellow cards. Joseph Paulo picked one up for flattening Sam Tomkins in the 50-point swatting of Catalans Dragons at the end of April, while a couple of weeks before Dominique Peyroux earned himself a 10-minute break from the derby victory at Wigan with a lazy shoulder charge. Those cards were arguably deserved but the third of the season, dished out to James Roby for an alleged crusher tackle on Jake Trueman, was perhaps a little more unfortunate

There seemed little intent from Roby as he leaned in to complete the tackle on the young Tigers half. Yet as he lowered Trueman to the ground Roby did exert pressure on the back of Trueman’s neck. Analysing for Sky Sports former Saints skipper Jon Wilkin controversially suggested that crusher tackles aren’t new to rugby league, and that the difference now is that players on the receiving end stay down knowing that a break in play increases the chances of a video review and further action against the perpetrator.

The officials are blameless. When you see the footage it is clear that Trueman is placed in a dangerous position by Roby whether he intended it or not. You may argue that there is little that Roby could have done short of opting out of making any kind of tackle. But the yellow card has to serve as a reminder to players that they have a duty of care to each other. Where it probably should not apply is when ball carriers back into contact deliberately. That didn’t seem to be the case in this instance and so a yellow card seemed about right, which was unfortunate for Roby but also for Hicks who like most referees doesn’t need to do much to attract the wrath and anger of the more unbalanced rugby league follower. Ultimately it is perhaps telling that Roby has not received any suspension from the disciplinary panel after further review.

I Am The Wal-msley

One of the key individual duels at Anfield was that between Alex Walmsley and Liam Watts. Both have found themselves on the fringes of the England side in a position in which Wayne Bennett has a lot of quality options but both have been stating their case with some fine form in Super League this term. The Saints man, like his team, was a resounding winner of this particular battle.

Walmsley was ably assisted by Matty Lees, who spent large parts of the first half getting under the skin of the notoriously hot-headed Watts. It didn’t restrict the former Hull FC man completely as he made 102 metres on 21 carries, dished out three offloads and added a couple of tackle busts. But all of that pales rather into insignificance compared with Walmsley’s seven tackle busts as he trampled over the Tigers defence for another 128 metres on 14 carries at 9.14 metres a clip.

Watts only averaged 4.85 metres per carry and was not as efficient defensively. He made 31 tackles which is 10 more than Walmsley managed but the former Batley player missed only 2 compared with Watts’ four missed attempts. That translates to a 91.3% success rate for Walmsley compared with 88.57% for Watts. Fine margins perhaps, but it is the small gains that are proving the difference between Saints and most of the other teams in Super League right now. Justin Holbrook’s side are relentless and nobody embodies that more than Walmsley.

Tomorrow Never Knows

Walmsley is the dominant forward in the competition at the moment but it is the gap between his team and the rest that should be the biggest cause for alarm for all but those of us lucky enough to have been born of a red vee persuasion. Saints almost came a cropper at home to Salford last week, and indeed were very lucky to secure a win given to them by virtue of a decidedly ugly, ropey old try by James Bentley in the dying minutes of a stirring contest. Yet a week on this Saints outfit looked on a different planet to the one which had faced Ian Watson’s side last week.

The striking thing about Holbrook’s side is how fit they look. The strength and conditioning team must have been putting in the overtime. The defence is ferocious, the attack incisive and clinical, and it seems to stay that way long after the opponents have started to look a bit jaded. Men like Morgan Knowles, Joseph Paulo, James Roby and Dominique Peyroux do the little, simple things relentlessly well allowing the more creative forces of Lachlan Coote, Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages to do their thing, or else supply speedsters Tommy Makinson and Regan Grace out wide. The return of Roby and Kevin Naiqama made a huge difference to the side compared with the one which took on the Red Devils last time out and at the moment it is very difficult to see anyone matching Saints over 80 minutes.

The statistics back that rather bold statement up. Saints’ seventh try of the game against Castleford was their 100th of the Super League season. The next best tally after that is the 82 that Warrington have managed. Saints have also made more metres than any other Super League side so far in 2019 (22461) while their 158 clean breaks is 25 more than any other side, with Warrington again the nearest challengers in that category. Holbrook’s men have scored more points than anyone else so far this season (549) while their defence is also the meanest having shipped just 246 at an average of 15.37 per game.

And yet we have been here before with Saints. As the Ben Barba Roadshow rolled around Super League riding roughshod over everything in its path for the better part of 2018 hopes were high that after the League Leaders Shield was wrapped up a first Grand Final victory since 2014 would have been secured. Yet the fickle nature of the playoff system, albeit amended to offer a little more security this time around, is always likely to find you out if you are not on top of your game at exactly the right time. Tomorrow never knows.

It’s a joy to watch Saints at the moment but nobody has won anything at the end of May since the switch to summer. The key now for Holbrook is to keep his charges fresh and firing so that they can be at their absolute optimum come the business end of the season. If they can find a way to improve on their current form by then the rest of the league looks to be in a fair amount of trouble.

Please Please Me - Get To Wembley

Before we can think about getting to and winning the Grand Final there is the small matter of the Challenge Cup to consider. It is a well-worn tale by now that Saints have not reached Wembley for the final since 2008, a quite astounding period of absence given the strength of the club since the introduction of Super League in 1996. The dream died in a swamp of underwhelming complacency at the semi-final stage at Bolton last year when the well-drilled Catalans Dragons confounded the critics before going all the way to their first piece of silverware since they entered Super League in 2006. The Dragons are still around in this year’s last eight too, but it is Wakefield Trinity who will provide the next test for Saints as Chris Chester’s side visit for a quarter-final clash this weekend.

Regular listeners to the WA12 Rugby League Show will know that I am particularly awful at predicting the outcome of Wakefield games. It’s such a talented squad that Chester has assembled, but it is one that continues to flatter to deceive, brilliant one week and then fairly horrible the next. Sometimes they flit between those two extremes within the same 80 minutes and we saw a bit of that during their own Magic defeat to the Dragons at the weekend when, having fought back from 12-0 down to take the lead they then allowed the game to slip through their fingers.

You get the feeling though that whoever is standing in their way in the Challenge Cup the barrier has become more mental than physical with Saints. The fans and I am sure the players are desperate to end the cup drought and once again walk out at the national stadium. If they play anything like they did at Anfield then it is hard to make a case for Trinity causing an upset, but equally when you are a little bit off colour against Super League opposition it can catch you out. Normally the consequences would be mild, what with Saints sitting on top of the league fully six points clear of the Wolves in second place. Yet in the cup there are no second chances, no opportunity to put it right next week as the old players’ cliché goes. It’s another stern test of Saints and in particular Holbrook’s ability to get them playing to their capacity when it really, really matters. And let me assure you, it matters this week more than it has at any time during the league campaign so far.

St Helens v Castleford Tigers - Preview

Saints will round off this year’s Magic Weekend when they face Castleford Tigers at Anfield on Sunday (May 26, kick-off 6.00pm).

The decision to move the event to Liverpool after four years in Newcastle has been met with a lot of criticism from fans. Complaints range from the lack of posh housing around the stadium, to the distance from the city centre to the colour of the seats. Strangely, we live in a world in which playing rugby league at the home of a European football giant was a triumph last week but is an absolute disaster this week. Well, you can’t guarantee the weather in L4.

Putting all of this to one side Saints will be looking for a 15th win from 16 league outings in 2019 to consolidate and maybe even stretch their six-point lead at the top of the Super League table depending on other results. Coach Justin Holbrook has made just one change to his 19-man squad from last week’s heart-stopping 32-30 win over Salford Red Devils. Skipper and apparent Liverpool fan James Roby returns to the fold after a slight injury concern, with Joe Batchelor the unfortunate man to miss out.

The 19 has a familiar look then, but there may still be changes to the starting line-up. Kevin Naiqama was a late withdrawal last week but is named. He should slot into his usual right centre berth but there are still decisions to make about the make-up of the rest of the three-quarter line. Tommy Makinson could be restored to his regular right wing role which would likely see Adam Swift miss out. That would be harsh on Swift, but highlights the predicament that he finds himself in that has led to him being heavily linked with Hull FC this week. It seems that Swift’s only chance of a reprieve assuming Naiqama does play is if Makinson is switched to left centre at the expense of Matty Costello. Saints have looked vulnerable defensively on that left edge over the last few weeks since Mark Percival’s injury and Holbrook may elect to try and shore things up. Regan Grace and Lachlan Coote can be more certain of their places if fit. Danny Richardson’s exile continues so expect to see Theo Fages develop his burgeoning partnership with Jonny Lomax in the halves.

Roby’s return bolsters a pack that was carried a little by Alex Walmsley last time out. Luke Thompson is still out injured so Matty Lees is likely to start alongside Walmsley and Roby in Saints’ front row. Aaron Smith is a more than capable deputy for Roby while James Bentley has also operated at hooker at times this season. His confidence will be high after grabbing the winning try against Ian Watson’s side, albeit in fairly controversial fashion. Backing up the props will be Jack Ashworth and Kyle Amor with Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook not quite ready for a return from his injury problems. Zeb Taia is mulling over the offer of a new one-year deal and is still Saints first choice at second row along with Dominique Peyroux. Morgan Knowles completes the back row though he is again likely to alternate with Joseph Paulo.

The Tigers arrive on Merseyside without Jesse Sene-Lefao. The strong-running second rower has been granted compassionate leave and has returned home to Australia for the moment. He will be missed on that left edge for Castleford who will also be without back rower Nathan Massey. Brad Jinks misses the cut for the 19 this week as Will Maher, Chris Clarkson and Daniel Smith all return.

The loss of Sene-Lefao in particular is a blow for Tigers coach Daryl Powell who had just started to get a few of his more established stars back on deck. Former Saint Michael Shenton is still out but in recent weeks Greg Minikin, Grant Millington and Paul McShane have all returned to action. All should feature here and with try machine Greg Eden in the line-up along with fullback Peter Mata’utia the Tigers do have the weapons to trouble a Saints side that is still winning but is performing a notch or two below its best of late. Along with Millington and McShane and the excellent Liam Watts England international Mike McMeeken will be key to helping the Tigers match Saints in the forward battle.

If there is a glaring weakness in the Castleford side at present it is perhaps in the halves. They have been forced to rely on the talented but inexperienced duo of Cory Aston and Jake Trueman in the continued absence of Luke Gale and Jamie Ellis. Jordan Rankin was fit enough for a place on the bench in last week’s 30-8 win at Leeds Rhinos and may see his minutes extended here. He’ll either do so in the halves or he can operate at fullback and allow Mata’utia to pull a few strings in midfield.

Saints haven’t lost to Castleford since....yes.....you guessed it.....that thrilling 2017 Super League semi-final when Gale’s golden point drop-goal took the Tigers through to a Grand Final showdown with Leeds. That run has seen Saints reel off five wins on the spin against Powell’s side including a 42-12 success earlier this season which is memorable not only for some sizzling Saints skills but also for Powell’s impromptu walk across the Mend-A-Hose Jungle turf, chunnering at his players as he went and earning himself a suspended £5,000 into the bargain.

The pair have met at Anfield before. Saints took their home fixture with Castleford on the road to Liverpool in 1997 and recorded a 42-16 win. I don’t expect it to be as comfortable as all that this time around but Saints should still have enough to take the spoils, maybe by 8-12 points.

Squads;

St Helens;

Jonny Lomax 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Kevin Naiqama 5. Regan Grace 6. Theo Fages 8. Alex Walmsley 9. James Roby 11. Zeb Taia 12. Joseph Paulo 15. Morgan Knowles 16. Kyle Amor 17. Dominique Peyroux 18. Adam Swift 19. Matty Lees 20. Jack Ashworth 21. Aaron Smith 22. James Bentley 23. Lachlan Coote 24. Matty Costello

Castleford Tigers;

Cory Aston, Cheyse Blair, James Clare, Mitch Clark, Chris Clarkson, Matt Cook, Greg Eden, Touyo Egodo, Will Maher, Peter Mata’utia, Mike McMeeken, Paul McShane, Grant Millington, Adam Milner, Greg Minikin, Jordan Rankin, Daniel Smith, Jake Trueman, Liam Watts

Referee: Robert Hicks

5 Talking Points From Saints 32 Salford Red Devils 30

The Two Faces Of Lachlan Coote

Lachlan Coote has been a superb addition to the Saints squad for 2019. Unheralded at North Queensland Cowboys the Scottish international has consistently produced match-winning performances in the red vee. He arguably came up with another one here in this thrilling come-from-behind win over a more than handy Salford Red Devils side. Coote scored a hat-trick of tries, taking his tally for his first season in Super League to eight. It was enough to earn him 51% of the vote to win the WA12 Rugby League Show Man Of The Match Award.

Yet it was a performance which showed us two sides of Coote. Not everything went swimmingly for him. It’s been well documented that he could improve his goal-kicking. He made a respectable four out of six conversions here and it could have been even better. It is very arguable that his first miss of the evening when trying to convert his opening try created so spectacularly by Regan Grace’s break looked like a tough call. Television replays seemed to show that the ball might just have sneaked the right side of the upright but it was nevertheless waved away by the touch judges.

Yet it wasn’t his goal-kicking that was falling short against Ian Watson’s side. He came up with three errors, most notably a botched attempt to clean up a Salford grubber kick which almost led to Krisnan Inu scoring and in fact did produce the repeat set from which Derrell Olpherts got over to put Salford ahead at half-time. Earlier, Coote’s weak attempt at a kick close to the Salford line was seized upon by Inu who held off two tacklers to send Niall Evalds on an 80-metre surge to the line. A pass to Zeb Taia looked the better option as for once Coote’s normally flawless decision making abilities let him down.

Yet as well as his three tries and another two assists (Coote is fourth in the league in this category with 13) the Saints fullback ran for 188 metres on 22 carries and finished the night with 20 of Saints’ 32 points. He might be the reason we’re top of the league this season but he had a bit of a mixed night.

Was Zeb Taia Lucky?

Considering the way this one ended (which we’ll get to) there has been a lot of talk about refereeing, video refereeing and how decisions are arrived at. What has gone somewhat under the radar because of the saga around James Bentley’s late try is the question of whether Zeb Taia could have found himself taking a rest of 10 minutes or longer had referee Scott Mikalauskas taken a dimmer view of a challenge on Joey Lussick.

Saints were still trailing by two points at 18-16 early in the second half when they were caught out by Robert Lui’s inside ball to the Salford hooker. All the defenders were going in the wrong direction having been expecting Lui to either drive the ball into a tackle or continue to shift it out to the right edge towards the dangerous Inu and Olpherts. As a consequence of Lui’s switch of play Taia was late to the party and could only offer a desperate swinging arm into Lussick’s head. It took a while for Lussick to clear his head which not only allowed Saints time to set their defence - albeit to face a fresh set of tackles from the resultant penalty - but also the lack of any further punishment for Taia kept us on an even keel in terms of numbers. It would not have been ideal to go a man down against a Salford side already with a slight advantage on the scoreboard and with their tails up. Yet to the letter of the law it probably should have been a sin-bin.

It may have been the most important non-call of the night.

Is Walmsley Carrying The Pack?

Saints went into this one without Luke Thompson who has been missing since the Easter Monday thrashing of Hull FC, but also without James Roby who had another slight niggle. The skipper had not looked at his best in the Challenge Cup win over Huddersfield Giants last week and was replaced again by Aaron Smith. Nothing against Smith who is a fine young prospect or indeed against Matty Lees who has been deputising well for Thompson but those absences constitute the loss of two thirds of the best front row in world rugby league. Any side would suffer some sort of drop off with those sort of losses but thankfully Saints still have Alex Walmsley.

It’s been noted that Saints played only in short spells against Ian Watson’s men. Firstly the opening 15 minutes saw Coote capitalise on bits of magic from Grace and Theo Fages before the latter put Tommy Makinson away down the right for the first of his two scores. Then after conceding five unanswered tries Saints put together another purple patch late on, Coote taking Taia’s batted pass to complete his hat-trick before laying on Makinson for his second and Bentley for the all-important, controversial final score two minutes from the end.

It’s no coincidence perhaps that these two dizzying, effectively match-defining spells occurred with Walmsley on the field while much of the Lui-inspired carnage at the other end took place when the big prop was taking a break. Walmsley’s 155 metres was more than any other Saints forward managed on a night when the backs did much of the damage. The only other Saints forward to top 100 metres was Dominique Peyroux and if he had stepped back on the inside one more time, thus killing any ball movement towards Makinson and Adam Swift I was thinking of going on to the field with a shepherd’s hook of my own with which to drag the second rower off. He’s been brilliant this year but he has been so by running direct and getting the ball to his centre quickly. Perhaps the unexpected absence of Kevin Naiqama which had forced Makinson off the wing and into the centre position was playing on Peyroux’s mind. Naiqama has been in great form in recent weeks and seemed badly missed.

Walmsley also made 22 tackles missing just one and, perhaps crucially, had no errors blotting the copybook. It was a mature performance from Walmsley even though he makes it look kind of chaotic, Thompson is a few weeks away from fitness and with doubts lingering around Roby ahead of this week’s Magic Weekend clash with Castleford at Anfield there is a greater emphasis on Walmsley than perhaps at any time during his Saints career. Cas have men like Grant Millington and Jesse Sene-Lefao back to full fitness and with Liam Watts among the league’s best props in 2019 Walmsley is going to be a huge key to Saints’ success or otherwise. Is it too much to ask of him?

Lui Runs The Salford Show

Last time Robert Lui did anything of note on St Helens soil it didn’t end well. Indeed this result stretches Salford’s winless run in the town to 36 matches spanning 39 years. The got close in 2017 but, having led 24-8 late in the game, Salford were pegged back to 24-24 by three Saints tries in eight minutes. Worse was to come for them as in his haste to win the game and not settle for the point that both teams would have received before these less enlightened days of golden point extra time, Lui’s ill-advised chip over the top was plucked out of the air by Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook who set up Matty Smith for an incredible 40-metre game-winning drop-goal.

Lui’s luck ran out here too but not before he had been largely responsible for giving Saints an almighty fright. Along with the excellent Jackson Hastings at halfback and the destructive Inu at centre Lui ran the show. He scored one try, made another, made three clean breaks and busted out of 11 tackles, finishing with 124 metres to his name. With the boot he peppered Saints all night with 10 kicks in general play and five attacking dabs. If he and Hastings, who made 115 metres of his own on 20 carries and had one assist, played like this every week Salford would be a shoe-in for the play-offs. Which could mean another thriller like this one.

Bentley Benefits From Flawed System

I’m just going to come out and say it. There is no way that Bentley grounded the ball correctly for the winning try. Not by any serious definition of control and downward pressure. Having taken Coote’s pass in a frantic ending, Bentley did superbly to burrow over from close range with defenders hanging off every available body part. The replays seemed to show a slight loss of control just before the try-line, quickly disguised by Bentley as he re-gathered in the in-goal area.

It looks a poor decision, prompting all manner of insults and conspiracy theories from opposition fans driven quite mad by their industrial levels of fume. But it’s not really fair to blame either Mikalauskas or video referee James Child. Mikalauskas could not have been sure and so was 100% correct to send the incident up to Child for further analysis. That’s what it’s there for after all. If you can’t accept that and you want Mikalauskas to make the call then what you want is the abolition of the video refereeing system. I wouldn’t disagree with that policy but as things stand Mikalauskas had nowhere to go.

Nor did Child who is given a bum steer by the process itself. It forces the on-field referee to effectively take a guess at what might have happened at which point it is up to the video referee to find 100% proof, indisputable evidence, that the referee’s call is wrong. If he cannot do that then the protocol says that he should not overturn the decision. That’s a pretty high burden of proof for the video referee and it is understandable that Child did not feel he could be 100% certain that Mikalauskas had made an error.

Without the need for that indisputable evidence, that burden of proof, it is just possible and even quite likely that Child would have been unconvinced by Bentley’s grounding and made a different decision. It’s gone our way this time but I’m sure we’d all feel better if going forward the video referee can be free to make his own judgement instead of having to take into account what the on-field referee has given from his often spectacularly poor viewpoint.

St Helens v Salford Red Devils - Preview

Safe passage to the last eight of the Challenge Cup now secured, Saints turn their attentions back to Betfred Super League business when they entertain Salford Red Devils in a Round 15 match-up on Friday night (May 17, kick-off 7.45pm).

Justin Holbrook’s side were not entirely convincing in squeaking past Huddersfield Giants at the John Smith’s Stadium in Sunday’s cup tie (May 12). They did enough though, and will be hoping to build on their four-point lead at the top of the league table when Ian Watson’s side roll into town. The Red Devils come in off the back of a disappointing cup defeat to Hull KR which, if nothing else, leaves them to concentrate fully on trying to consolidate their league position and maybe even challenge for one of the five play-off spots available at season’s end.

Holbrook has made two changes to his squad for this one. Danny Richardson is perhaps surprisingly left out. Theo Fages turned in a distinctly marmite performance at Huddersfield which some felt might lead to Richardson getting another opportunity to impress. Yet it is Fages in whom Holbrook is placing his faith for this week, with Jack Welsby drafted back into the 19 at Richardson’s expense. The other change sees James Roby stood down with again a suggestion of a ‘niggling’ injury. That is likely to lead to a start for Aaron Smith at hooker while James Bentley comes back into the initial selection after missing out last week.

Holbrook has hinted at one or two changes to the starting line-up for this one. Already without Roby, Mark Percival, Luke Thompson and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook through injury the Saints coach named Matty Lees as another who might have a slight fitness problem. Lees has been starting at prop alongside Alex Walmsley since Thompson hobbled out of the Easter Monday win over Hull FC. If Lees is not fit to go then Jack Ashworth or Kyle Amor can expect to get the call into the starting line-up, with perhaps Bentley and/or Welsby earning a bench spot to cover a number of positions.

The rest of the team should have a familiar look about it. Adam Swift is named and might challenge for a wing spot if Holbrook feels that Matty Costello needs to come out of the firing line. Costello has deputised well for Percival on the whole but there is just the feeling that Saints left edge defence is slightly weaker with the inexperienced Costello out there. Tommy Makinson could make the switch from right wing to centre, but if not then expect Costello to be given another opportunity to further his Super League education. Regan Grace scored one and made another at Huddersfield and is one of Saints form backs at the moment, as are Kevin Naiqama at centre and Lachlan Coote at fullback. The currently peerless Jonny Lomax should partner Fages in the halves.

With the prospect of a reshuffled front row it might be even more important to field a solid back three in the pack. Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux were not at their best last week but should be retained, with Morgan Knowles just edging Joseph Paulo for the starting loose forward slot. Paulo will feature from the bench along with one of Amor and Ashworth, with perhaps both Bentley and Welsby should Lees not make the 17.

Salford currently sit sixth in the Super League table, but are part of a trio of sides on 16 points behind the top two of Saints on 26 and Warrington on 20. A win here coupled with losses for Wakefield and Catalans would propel the Red Devils into the dizzying atmosphere of the top three. Yet tempering those expectations is the fact that Salford have not won at St Helens since 1980, and were smashed 26-4 at the AJ Bell Stadium when the teams met there back in February. Their cup exit to Rovers last week was a hammer blow, but after producing some fine performances so far in 2019 it is not beyond the realms of possibility that we could be seeing Salford in play-off action come September whether they can take anything from Saints or not. The rest of the league seems to be falling over each other to avoid getting into that top five meaning that the Red Devils may never have a better opportunity.

Holbrook has identified the Salford halfback pairing of Jackson Hastings and Robert Lui as the main threats. Certainly Salford look a different side whenever the excellent Hastings is on the scene. He has all the attributes, mixing a potent running game with a splendid array of passing and kicking skills. His future is uncertain so there could be a scramble developing for his services come the end of the year. Saints could do worse than look at him but the smart money suggests that he will instead get an offer from the darker side of Billinge Hill. He could be one of the pieces in the puzzle required to revive Wigan’s flagging fortunes.

Niall Evalds is another player who has impressed while prop Ben Nakubuwai has been rather tenuously linked with Saints in the last few days. Watson has moved this week to bring in heavyweight wrecking ball Pauli-Pauli from Wakefield Trinity who looks set for a debut. The cost of that was that veteran centre Junior S’au has travelled in the other direction. The pair swap sides for an initial month-long loan period.

There are more Saints links in the Salford squad. Josh Jones has been linked with a move back to the club after leaving in 2015. Adam Walker is another who had a short spell at Saints and who is looking to rebuild his career in Super League after a suspension for a failed drugs test.

Krisnan Inu, Kris Welham and Ken Sio offer more experience in the backs while up front the impressive Joey Lussick joins Walker, Pauli-Pauli, Jones, Nakubuwai, and former Wigan trio Logan Tomkins, Gil Dudson and Lee Mossop among Watson’s options.

As alluded to earlier Salford’s record against Saints in St Helens is fairly abysmal. The closest they have come to a win in their long barren spell in the town was in 2017 when it took a last-gasp Matty Smith drop-goal to secure Saints a 25-24 win. Smith was never any Saints fan’s answer to the halfback problem but how we could have done with that kind of game management in the latter stages of the cup clash with the Giants last week. It’s more likely however that we won’t need that kind of attention to detail against a Red Devils side which can be devastating on its day but which can also buckle when it’s not going their way. It would be a major surprise if we see anything other than a comfortable Saints win in this one.

Squads;

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 8. Alex Walmsley, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 18. Adam Swift, 19. Matty Lees, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21. Aaron Smith, 22. James Bentley, 23. Lachlan Coote 24. Matty Costello, 29. Jack Welsby.

Salford Red Devils;

Niall Evalds, Kris Welham, Rob Lui, Lee Mossop, Gil Dudson, Josh Jones, George Griffin, Joey Lussick, Adam Walker, Greg Burke, Tyrone McCarthy, Ben Nakubuwai, Logan Tomkins, Dan Murray, Derrell Olpherts, Ken Sio, Krisnan Inu, Pauli Pauli, Jackson Hastings.

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas

5 Talking Points From Huddersfield Giants 16 Saints 22

The Scorpion And The Frog

A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung by the scorpion, but the scorpion argues that if it did that, they would both drown. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. The scorpion climbs onto the frog's back and the frog begins to swim, but midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung the frog, to which the scorpion replies "I couldn't help it. It's in my nature."



You’ll all be familiar with this tale. I was reminded of it watching Saints performance in this needlessly bum-squeaking Challenge Cup tie against the Giants. Saints made a worrying number of errors in the game, 15 in all, as they pushed for the score that would have opened up a big enough gap to let them breathe more easily. The response from the fans on social media has at times been as stinging as the ouch-y end of the scorpion, accusing the team of trying to score and win the game on every play. But hang on. We’re Saints. Isn’t that what we do? It is in our DNA to play expansive rugby league. If we did not then we’d all be chunnering on about how the traditions and values of our great club have been sacrificed to ‘The Grind’. In effect we would not be Saints, just as the scorpion would not be the scorpion if he did not sting the frog.

The thing is, sometimes a high-risk approach doesn’t work. That’s why it is high-risk. Had some of the more risky passes which ended up in touch or bobbling along the John Smith’s Stadium turf instead found men in red vees then we could all be calling a different tune. One of how wonderful and expressive our team is, of how nobody or nothing can stop them and of oh what a time it is to be alive. The problem was not necessarily one of style - although perhaps one or two fewer risks might have been in order once it became clear that the passes were not sticking - but one of execution. We had an off day.

Have We Solved The Halfback Problem?

In a word, no. Danny Richardson has not been seen in the first team since his best performance of the year in Saints 50-14 home win over Catalans Dragons on April 28. Even then he was only included because Jonny Lomax was rested after what had been a hectic Easter schedule. Before that Richardson had found himself on the outside looking in again after Fages regained fitness following a hip injury picked up at the end of March.

Most seemed happy with that, with the suspicion being that Fages has more composure and plays a little bit smarter, particularly on last tackle plays. Take a look at the evidence of this one though and you might not be so sure. For all Richardson’s occasional wandering down blind alleys and his reliance on the high bomb, Fages offered little more at the back end of our sets here. How many times did a man receive the ball standing still late in the count? And how is it possible that professional players at the highest level in the country cannot find it in them to consider going for a drop-goal when camped on the Giants’ line with a six-point lead? You don’t need to be Rachel Riley to work out that an extra one-point in that situation is a potential game-clincher. Yet we played as if we hadn’t even been told that it was an option. What is this drop-goal of which you speak? Only Coote made an attempt and it would be kind to describe that particular contribution as lame. Lame is in fact serving me with legal papers as we speak. It was lamentable. There were three or four other opportunities which Saints turned down for reasons best known to themselves.



Fages chooses the wrong option too many times and his kicking game close to the line was no more of a problem to Simon Woolford’s men than Richardson’s might have been. Not to suggest that the answer to the problem is merely to bring Richardson back into the fold and everything will be rosy in the garden. Rather, the problem is that both men appear to have very similar strengths and weaknesses as a half. Neither are dominant or good organisers, leaving only Lomax to fulfil that role and he has only been a running stand-off since the arrival of Ben Barba at the club at the start of 2018. He did play some halfback early in his career but it was generally accepted then that he was not really suited to an organiser’s role. So if not Fages, Richardson or Lomax then who or what is the answer to Saints’ problem?

It could be structural. It is just possible that whoever Justin Holbrook chooses to play the position will not be armed with the tools to do the job in those situations. It’s a pretty out-there theory I know, but it may be that Saints have come to expect to score tries earlier in the count when close to an opponent’ line. Maybe the rigorous planning for last tackle plays in those areas which was just about all we had in the Keiron Cunningham era is just not something that Holbrook’s vintage spend a lot of time thinking about. That theory could be about as accurate as Coote’s goal-kicking but can anyone else think of a reason why such a talented team with two very skilled operators to call on at halfback and another at fullback gets such a nose bleed whenever the referee raises his arm to signal the last play of a set?


Defend Your Line

One of the cornerstones of Saints' impressive start to the season has been their defence. In particular, their willingness to defend close to their own try-line irrespective of the score-line. Time and time again they have shown up for each other when the line has been threatened. When Saints visited Huddersfield in Super League in mid-March they shut the Giants out for the whole of the second half to secure a 40-12 win. That was part of a run that had seen them concede only 16 points in almost five hours of rugby league beginning in February when they found themselves 22-10 down at half-time at home to Leeds Rhinos and stormed back to win 27-22. Way back before we knew how terrible Leeds were going to be.

That willingness and determination to keep the opposition on the right side of the stripe from a Saints point of view was slightly lacking in this one. The Giants were dominated for large parts of the game, particularly in the first half. Yet it seemed that every time they started a set within 30 metres of the Saints line they got over for a score. Twice Joe Wardle sliced a path through the Saints rearguard, while Aaron Murphy was the beneficiary of a Louis Senior offload just as the winger was about to be acquainted with the front row of the stand. You may view that as a one-off, something of a miracle ball from Senior, but that doesn't change the fact that Matty Costello over-read the play and ended up over the side-line while the combined weight of Lomax and Coote was not enough to stop Murphy from barging over.



This being a cup tie it should have been even more important for Saints to scramble to protect their line. Some theorise that they are still feeling the effects of the Easter programme while it should also be remembered that while he is more renowned for his footwork, silky skills and try-scoring threat Mark Percival's presence in defence is being sorely missed. Up the middle any side would miss Luke Thompson's considerable frame and so there are maybe one or two mitigating factors. Nevertheless Holbrook should pin-point this as an area for improvement. The Challenge Cup is cut-throat and unforgiving as we saw last August when 40 minutes of softness at Bolton allowed Catalans Dragons to scupper our August Bank Holiday plans for another year. If we are going to end that 11-year spell without the famous old trophy on the sideboard we cannot be as accommodating near to our own goal-line as we were at the John Smith's Stadium.

The Draw Opens Up

Saints were always one of the favourites to reach Wembley even before they took to the field in West Yorkshire. However, now that the Giants have been conquered and the quarter-final draw has thrown up a very winnable tie at home to Wakefield Trinity the prospects of making it to the national stadium are increased further. Not wishing to count chickens...we all remember how we cheered when the name of the Dragons came out of the hat for last year's semi-final...some of us are still wiping the egg off of our faces....but a home draw against Chris Chester's side is an enticing proposition. With Wigan knocked off by Warrington, Castleford slipping out quietly at Hull FC and the omnishambles that is Leeds suffering the nadir of a derby loss to Championship Bradford Bulls much of the main competition is falling by the wayside. Warrington are the obvious exception, perched as they are in second place in the league having suffered only three defeats all season. Yet although the Wolves sneaked past Wigan at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Sunday afternoon there didn't look all that much to fear for a Saints side that has already handled Wire with something to spare when the sides met in the Super League in April.

Along with Wire the winner of the Hull FC v Catalans tie will fancy their chances of a day out in the capital, while there will be a Championship presence in the last four as Bradford face Halifax in the last eight. No doubt the winner of that tie will be the one attracting the gun-jumping cheers of their opponents in the semi-final draw. Drawing Wakefield at home rather than at Belle Vue seems crucial. Wakefield is one of a long list of Difficult Places To Go where Saints have slipped up in the past. At home there is an expectancy that the Wakefields of this world, as skilled as they are and with as many standout players as they have, will not quite be good enough to get over the top of Saints on what the older generation refer to as their own midden. Percival and Thompson should be close to a return by then which should only boost our expectations even further. I prove every week on WA12 Rugby League Show how difficult it is to predict Wakefield results but if Holbrook's side do not progress to the last four they will surely look back on it as a missed opportunity to end the cup drought.

How Do We Improve Cup Attendances?

It was a mixed weekend for the Challenge Cup. Over 10,000 witnessed the Bulls' shock win over the Rhinos, a result which has prompted all manner of statements from inside the Leeds club from the Chief Executive down to the captain on the field. Everyone is very sorry indeed, and very embarrassed. The coaching position is currently vacant but there are murmurings of former Wigan head honcho and school bomb-hoaxer Shaun Wane returning to Headingley where he had a spell as a player. Warrington and Wigan put on quite a show at the HJ although with most of the population tuned in to the climax of the Premier League football season it would be interesting to hear the explanation from the authorities and the broadcasters as to why they thought it was a good idea to put this one up against Manchester City's battle with Liverpool. As a consequence only 7,000 fans were on hand to see it while a paltry 6,000 were in attendance for Hull FC's home win over Castleford Tigers on Friday night. Less than 4,000 fans were moved to visit the John Smith's Stadium for Saints' Sunday night kick-off, over half of whom it is suggested were from west of the Pennines.



Kick-off times are always going to be a factor. There's an old saying about paying the piper and calling the tune, which roughly translated means that since they are forking out for the rights to screen these games the broadcasters want a heavy input into deciding when they should be played. Sky's treatment of the Challenge Cup is derisory at present, with programmes tending to go off air as soon as the final whistle is blown and with no thought for anything resembling post-game analysis or reaction. It wrankles with fans that the major broadcaster is putting so little effort in yet getting to dictate the arrangements. The BBC on the other hand is trying too hard, culminating in the all-time low of Jon Wilkin's on-field interviews after every score last weekend. The last thing you want when you are in the midst of a physically intense cup battle is a microphone under your nose and it was no surprise when one of the Bulls' number dropped a careless F-Bomb on Saturday afternoon TV. Rugby league is always desperate to place itself at the forefront of innovation, but sometimes the results are just embarrassing.



But it isn't just kick-off times causing the problems. Fans are spending their money on other rugby league events and reasoning perhaps that something has to give financially. If they want to go to Magic and the Grand Final then perhaps that something is the Challenge Cup ties, particularly the early rounds. I've long since banged the drum for the removal of Magic from the schedule. Its initial purpose of taking the game into new areas is now obsolete. It exists only because fans like the idea of a weekend of booze and rugby league in an unfamiliar city. The switch from Newcastle to Liverpool for this year's event has destroyed even that privilege, only adding to the feeling that this has nothing to do with expansion of the game in this country and everything to do with filling Sky schedules. That's before we even get around to its effect on the integrity of the league, a complaint that has been 'fixed' by the advent of loop fixtures. At least now Magic is not the only pointless, uneven and random fixture in town.

The Giants made a commendable effort to increase interest by allowing fans into this one for just £10 but unfortunately it did not pay off in terms of bums on seats. If cheaper ticket offers are not the answer then perhaps clubs should look at adding cup games, or at least some of them, on to the standard season ticket. Having shelled out upwards of £300 for their season's worth of Super League games fans are showing reluctance to stump up the extra money needed for cup games. Even today as Saints announce the ticket information for the Wakefield clash on June 1 there are rumblings on social media that it might not be affordable for fans. Whatever the solution some tough choices are required if we are going to rescue the reputation and the appeal of the famous old competition. The Challenge Cup is currently one of the few occasions on which the game gets a national profile on free-to-air television. We can't have that drama played out in empty venues.

Coral Challenge Cup Preview - Huddersfield Giants v Saints

The road is long, with a many a winding turn according to The Hollies’ 1969 classic about featherweight siblings. Or something. It certainly has been a troublingly endless road for Saints, whose attempts to reach a Challenge Cup final over the last 11 years have veered between slapstick and misery. They get yet another chance to reach England’s most expensive burger joint when they take on Huddersfield Giants in a sixth round tie this Sunday (May 12, kick-off 6.05pm.



Saints are riding high at the top of the league having lost just one of their opening 14 matches. Only Catalans Dragons have beaten Saints so far in 2019 and they are the same Catalans Dragons who Saints gubbed 50-14 with half a team a fortnight ago. On their day there probably isn’t a team in Super League who can stop Saints. Certainly not Huddersfield, who with five wins from their first 14 games of 2019 are neither relegation fodder nor likely to trouble the fixture planners come play-off time. If this were a league game you’d make Saints the heaviest favourite since Barcelona went to Anfield and Ajax hosted Spurs (what?...oh…). But it’s not. It’s the cup, a place where perceived wisdom has it than ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. Except for a Tony Clubb drop-goal. That’s not happening.

To protect themselves against the perils of the Challenge Cup and it’s propensity to generate results randomly Saints coach Justin Holbrook has made just one change to the 19-man squad which won 42-26 at Hull KR last time out. Aaron Smith comes into the reckoning after missing out on playing against the club with whom he made his Super League debut, while Jack Welsby is unfortunate to be left out this time. With Mark Percival, Luke Thompson and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook all still out injured the 19 selected is arguably the strongest that Holbrook could have chosen.

Tommy Makinson returned to the side with a hat-trick of tries last week. In so doing he ousted Adam Swift out of the team despite the latter’s four tries in two appearances before that. That’s because Matty Costello kept his place after a fine hat-trick of his own against the Dragons. If the young centre is selected again it will be bad news for Swift who is unlikely to regain the right wing spot from Makinson. Swift’s best shot of a place in the team is the hope that Makinson is moved into the centres to replace Costello. There were some concerns about Saints’ defensive solidity on that edge at that Difficult Place To Go KCom Craven Park last time out but it would be harsh to stand Costello down on the strength of that given his performance a week earlier. Yet it was harsh on Swift to miss out last week too. There are tough decisions to be made even with a handful of key injuries.

One of those key decisions is at halfback where Theo Fages started at scrum-half last week. Danny Richardson was just starting to impress after finally getting a run in the side but it was the Frenchman who was preferred alongside the currently untouchable stand-off Jonny Lomax. Along with Coote, Sunday’s other hat-trick hero Kevin Naiqama and Regan Grace Lomax is almost certainly assured of his starting spot when he is fit. Especially for a game like this in which there is no next week, where it is kill or be killed. Resting players is all very well in the league as long as you have a four-point lead in a competition that doesn’t adequately reward its winners in any case. It is quite another matter to tinker with your line-up when you haven’t been to Wembley since before John Sergeant appeared on Strictly Come Dancing. Saints need to go hard or go home on this one.



Which is why we will no doubt see a front row of Alex Walmsley, James Roby and Matty Lees. The latter has done a fine job deputising for the monstrous Thompson, while behind that group are the dependable duo of Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux. Morgan Knowles tops the tackle count and locks the scrum, leaving Kyle Amor, Jack Ashworth, Joseph Paulo and Smith as the likely bench warmers.

Huddersfield come in off the back of a second one-point loss of the season to Wakefield Trinity. Once is careless, twice is something else and it is symptomatic of the mediocrity that appears to be festering around Simon Woolford’s troops. They’re not awful, far from it. But they aren’t elite either. In men like Darnell McIntosh and Jermaine McGillvary they have genuine threat in the backs while the scheming will be left to Australian half Matt Frawley and former Saint Lee Gaskell. Jordan Turner is another ex-red vee-wearer in the Giants backline while up front Paul Clough also served Saints with distinction for 10 years after coming through the academy.

Michael Lawrence has a one-game suspension but Matty English and Kruise Leeming form two parts of a formidable looking front row. Suaia Matagi, Alex Mellor, Adam O’Brien and Oliver Roberts are all useful too, as is former winger Aaron Murphy who can now often be seen operating in the second row. Slowly moving inwards from the flank it is surely only a matter of time before Murphy turns up at prop or hooker.

The last time these two sides met in the cup was an absolute humdinger that you can read about here on these pages. Saints sneaked through 17-16 back in 2014 amid all kind of controversy over a Danny Brough drop-goal that was not. Luke Walsh ended up kicking the only one that counted on the day as Saints went through only to be dispatched 32-12 by Leeds Rhinos in the next round. This time around hopes are high that Saints can go further. All the way down that long road with its winding turns to the August final for the first time in 11 years.

Squads;

Huddersfield Giants;

1. Darnell McIntosh, 2. Jermaine McGillvary, 4. Jordan Turner, 6. Lee Gaskell, 7. Matt Frawley, 8. Paul Clough, 9. Kruise Leeming, 10. Suaia Matagi, 11. Aaron Murphy, 12. Alex Mellor, 14. Adam O’Brien, 15. Oliver Roberts, 17. Ukuma Ta’ai, 19. Matty English, 23. Oliver Russell, 29. Sam Hewitt, 31. Louis Senior, 32. Innes Senior, 35. Joe Wardle.

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 7. Danny Richardson, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 18. Adam Swift, 19. Matty Lees, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21. Aaron Smith, 23. Lachlan Coote 24. Matty Costello.

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas

Flashback - Giants v Saints - Challenge Cup 2014

You might not think it to look at their form so far in 2019 but it isn’t too long ago that Huddersfield Giants were a genuine contender for major honours. In 2013 Paul Anderson’s side topped the Super League table at the end of the regular season, falling short of a Grand Final place when they were beaten 30-22 at Warrington in the final eliminator. An earlier defeat to Wigan had seen the Giants surrender the home advantage that should surely have been there’s throughout the play-offs. In the end they went down to a Wire side helped by try doubles from both Simon Grix and Joel Monaghan.

That near miss had nevertheless been cause for optimism around the then Alfred McAlpine Stadium going into the 2014 campaign. Yet they made a pretty average start to the season. An opening day win over Wigan at the DW Stadium turned out to be a misleading guide to how things were going to go as the Giants went on to win just two of their first seven league outings going into the Challenge Cup fourth round tie at home to Saints. There were two draws in there (remember them?) against Hull KR and Leeds but all of Widnes, Catalans Dragons and Warrington got the better of the West Yorkshire side during that run.

The cup draw was especially tasty for the fact that Nathan Brown had left Huddersfield a year earlier to take over the coaching reins at Saints. Anderson had guided the Giants to that League Leaders Shield success in 2013 but it was Brown who had laid the foundations for it. The Giants had finished 10th under Peter Sharp in 2008 but they were transformed in a three-year spell under Brown. The former St George Dragon won 131 of his 208 games as Huddersfield boss, catching the eye of the Saints hierarchy who chose him as the permanent replacement for Royce Simmonds following an interim period in which Mike Rush and Keiron Cunningham took temporary charge.

Brown’s first season in charge of Saints had been a little hit and miss. It started with a humiliating 40-4 home larruping by none other than his former side. Saints recovered from that chastening experience enough to finish fifth but they suffered play-off heartbreak when a Danny McGuire drop-goal saw Leeds Rhinos squeak through 11-10 at Headingley. The Rhinos would go on to lose to Wigan in the final eliminator as the Warriors went on to prove again that it was not going to be Warrington’s year.

Having lost the services of Francis Meli and Tony Puletua Brown added Kyle Amor and Australian halfback Luke Walsh to his squad for 2014. In contrast to Huddersfield’s opening to the season Saints started like the proverbial burning home, winning all seven of their league games going into the Giants cup clash. Walsh had been a revelation, scheming, creating and generally being the most promising halfback we had seen in the red vee since the departure of Sean Long in 2009. Hopes were high that Saints could get back to another Grand Final having missed out in 2012 and 2013. But it was also important to have a good cup run. Saints had not been to the Challenge Cup final since 2008.

Walsh was involved in the opening score as Saints took the lead just nine minutes in at the Alfred McAlpine. The former Penrith man found Lance Hohaia on Saints’ left edge. It took two men to halt the Kiwi who had found a gap in the defensive line, but as the defenders converged on him Hohaia scooped the ball out to Adam Swift who dived over in the corner. Four minutes later Saints doubled their lead as Tommy Makinson went over in the opposite corner following a thrilling passage of play involving Walsh, Hohaia, Jordan Turner and James Roby.

Walsh couldn’t convert either score so Brown’s men had to settle for an 8-0 advantage. That was cut to four by Shaun Lunt’s try on 26 minutes, the hooker burrowing his way over through some ordinary Saints defence after a fine break on the right hand side by Aaron Murphy had set up the position. Just two and a half minutes of the first half remained when Giants’ talisman and then reigning Man Of Steel Danny Brough made his first telling contribution. The Scotland half aimed a searching cross-field bomb from right to left where Joe Wardle was waiting to gather and touch down. Brough’s conversion took the Giants in to the break with a 10-8 half-time lead.

The Giants stretched that lead 17 minutes into the second half when Scott Grix tore through the Saints’ left hand edge defence before finding Lunt in support. Lunt had the relatively easy task of touching down and when Brough converted the Giants had some breathing space at 16-8. With just over 20 minutes to go Saints needed to find something to keep their Wembley dreams alive.

Their prospects improved on 63 minutes when Giants back-rower and lifelong nuisance Brett Ferres was given his marching orders by referee Phil Bentham. Ferres wasn’t content with tackling Jonny Lomax close to the Giants try-line, instead preferring to present his own personal audition for a career in professional wrestling as he flipped the Saints fullback into a dangerous position. Duty of care to the opponent had left the building. Inevitably a fracas ensued with Saints players running in to explain exactly what they thought of Ferres’ challenge. When the dust settled on it Bentham produced the red card and Ferres sheepishly plodded off. The Giants had 16 minutes to hold out with only 12 men on the field.

Barely two minutes later the depleted Giants were breached again. Walsh shifted the ball out to Lomax who found Turner. His lightning quick pass found Makinson who helped himself to his second of the game to pull Saints to within four points at 16-12. Walsh converted to narrow the gap to two points and the contest was all square when he notched a penalty goal soon after. At this point the game became the kind of drop-goal-athon we only ever used to see in cup rugby before the geniuses at HQ decided to introduce Golden Point extra time into Super League. It wasn’t all that pretty, but it was dramatic as Brough had a number of attempts charged down before landing what he thought might be the winning one-pointer. However, Bentham and his touch judges ruled that Brough’s effort had been off target. Brough’s protests were as pointless as they were predictable. Referees rarely change their minds, especially if you happen to have a history of chunnering at them for every single decision they make.

With just a minute left some quick thinking from Roby set up the position to give Saints the chance to snatch the tie. Roby took a quick tap penalty and made 20 metres towards the Giants posts before they realised what was happening and brought him to the ground. Roby played the ball 20 metres out to Hohaia, who found Walsh just to the right of the posts. He set himself and connected perfectly to put Saints up 17-16 with only seconds to play. The arguments about Brough’s drop-goal that wasn’t raged for days after but it was Saints who progressed. Yet there would be no Wembley final for Brown’s men. In the next round they went to Headingley and were soundly beaten 32-12 by a Leeds Rhinos side featuring Zak Hardaker, Joel Moon, Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Peacock and McGuire.

Fortunately for Saints there was a happy ending to their 2014 story. Though they eventually lost their unbeaten record to Wigan at home on Good Friday they managed to do enough throughout the rest of the regular season to lift the League Leaders Shield. Ironically, they limped over the line in the end, losing 17-16 to Huddersfield in their final regular season game. The symmetry of that score-line would have pleased RL anoraks everywhere but more importantly Saints had hung on to top spot and had the platform they needed to reach Old Trafford. The play-offs brought a 41-0 drubbing of Castleford Tigers and a 30-12 win over Catalans Dragons before Ben Flower punched his way into rugby league notoriety and Saints made off with a glorious 14-6 Grand Final victory.

Yet the wait goes on for a Challenge Cup final appearance for Saints. Failure to beat the Giants this coming Sunday (May 12) will stretch their cup final drought to 12 years, a statistic that none of us thought possible when we were celebrating that 2008 win over Hull FC. Of the 17 on duty that day only Roby remains, although Long and Paul Wellens have moved into the coaching team under Justin Holbrook. Cunningham played that day too, the circumstances of his departure from Saints in 2017 already well documented. Yet if you think 12 years is bad, spare a thought for the Giants fans who have not seen their team lift the famous old trophy since 1953. Their opponents at Wembley that April day?

Only St Helens…….

The Ultimate Comeback

I was born in October 1975. Take a look at the list of honours won by St.Helens RLFC and you will note that throughout my childhood years it was slim pickings in terms of winning trophies. The cabinet was, if not bare, then absolutely not going out looking like that.

Saints were reigning champions on the day that I was born but since I hadn’t actually been around to enjoy that 1974/75 success it doesn’t really count. There were three Premiership wins before my 21st birthday, the first of which was in the 1976/77 season when I was just about grasping the concept of solid food. Another one arrived in the memorable ‘Big Mal’ season of 1984/85 when Aussie superstar and World Cup winning Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga trampled on all before him as Saints beat Hull KR in the final. Yet it was the Robins who carried off the big one, topping the league by three points from Saints in second place. Finally there was 1992/93, a game which produced a 10-4 success over Wigan. Unfortunately I can’t seem to get past the fact that it was Gary Connolly’s last game in the red vee (or ugly splashed blue paint affair on that occasion) before his putrid seduction to the dark side.



It had been a similar story in the Challenge Cup. One solitary win in 1976 which again I need the aid of YouTube to have any recollection of. Final defeats to Halifax in 1987 and Wigan in both 1989 and 1991 had been endured. The then John Player Special Trophy brought consolation in the 1987/88 season when Paul Loughlin scored two tries and three goals in a 15-14 final win over Leeds which was ultimately decided by Neil Holding’s drop-goal. But while these were enjoyable, minor triumphs, they weren’t majors. We needed to win a title. We needed to win a Challenge Cup. Or to put it more accurately, I needed them to do one of the other. In 1996 they did both.

The first seasons of summer rugby league saw the Challenge Cup final stay in its traditional slot in the calendar, late April or early May a week or two either side of the FA Cup Final. A fortnight after Saints walked out at Wembley to take on the marketing machine that was the Bradford Bulls Eric Cantona exorcised the demons of his kung-fu kick at Crystal Palace by scoring the ugliest of goals to beat woeful, cream-suited glory boys Liverpool in arguably the last FA Cup final that anyone can remember really mattering. I’m a Liverpool fan but I didn’t care by then.



No because by then Saints had done what I had been beseeching them to do for my entire life to that point. I wouldn’t turn 21 for another five months but it had still seemed like an interminably long time to wait to see my team carry off some indisputably meaningful silverware. This mattered alright. Everyone wanted to win this trophy. Especially the other lot from you know where. Saints v Bradford at Wembley was a match-up guaranteed to put an end to eight consecutive years of cherry and white rule in the Challenge Cup. Added to those two victories against Saints during that run the pie shifters also saw off Halifax in 1988, Warrington in 1990, Castleford in 1992, Widnes in 1993 and Leeds in both 1994 and 1995. They were expected to be strong contenders again in 1996 but fell in the fifth round, losing 26-16 at Salford on a mucky Sunday in February on which future Bull Scott Naylor bagged two tries for the Red Devils. The door was ajar. We would never have a better chance than this. Yet Bradford, led by coach Brian Smith, were probably thinking the same.

Going into the final Saints’ league form had been imperious. They rattled off 12 wins in a row to open the season, thrashing Workington Town 62-0 in Cumbria on the opening day before a Danny Arnold-inspired 41-26 win over Wigan on Good Friday. Leeds, Bradford and Halifax all fell as Saints marched inexorably in and towards what would be their first league crown of my lifetime. What giddy times these were.

Adding to the giddiness was that, being of a certain age, I was acquainted with some of the players out there doing it. One such was a chap by the name of Steve Prescott, who had gone to school with most of my friends. I went to a different school to all of them. The world was not apparently ready for disabled toilets, lifts and people using wheelchairs generally in institutions of mainstream education. But Precky and I would cross paths occasionally through my friends, mostly on some park or bowling green for a hastily arranged football game. I never saw him play rugby as a child, curiously. It was always football despite his family connections with the game of rugby league.

He was playing rugby by 1996, alright. As were two of my college contemporaries, Andy Haigh and Joey Hayes. The latter missed out on selection for this one through injury while Haigh hadn’t quite managed to muscle either Scott Gibbs or Paul Newlove out of the starting centre spots. Both Haigh and Hayes retired early through their injury problems and the tragic fate of Precky is well documented but for a moment, on a sunny day in late April at the most famous stadium in England if not the world his star shone brightly. And we went utterly berserk in response.

He scored two first half tries, which at the time looked like putting Saints on a fairly straightforward and steady path to success. Yet it required the intervention of ‘Bobbie’s Bombs’ as they became known to help Saints complete a remarkable comeback from 26-12 down early in the second half. Three times the Saints scrum-half launched the ball skywards and towards the Bradford line, and three times Bradford Bulls fullback Nathan Graham flapped hysterically at it before allowing all of Keiron Cunningham, Simon Booth and Ian Pickavance to touch down. Yet Bobbie’s first bomb, and one that is not quite so well remembered perhaps, created the first try for Precky down Saints’ right hand channel. As the ball fell from the London sky it was Arnold who rose for it, tapping it back to Gibbs who spun out of the attentions of a Bulls defender before feeding Precky in support on his inside shoulder. There was a greyhound track running around the old Wembley. I got half way down it before the thought occurred to me that I was not in contact with my wheelchair, hoisted as I was, fireman style, by one of the lads as the unbridled joy took over.

Unbearably for my blood pressure, Precky scored again soon after. Again it was Goulding who was the architect, chipping through the Bulls defence for Precky to volley the ball forward and then dribble it over the line before falling on it. He stood there, arms aloft, accepting the adulation of the crowd in an image forever recreated on the plaque that serves as a memorial on the bridge which currently links the stadium to the town centre. We didn’t know then quite what an iconic and poignant moment we were in. We were going far too barmy to take in its significance even if we had known then what we know now. Saints were going to win something meaningful and we’d lost it. The plot. The marbles. The lot.

Yet were they about to win? Were we quite sure? Bradford roared back. The ball was shifted left to Jon Scales, who took Loughlin’s pass and squeezed in at the corner before Precky could make the covering tackle. Loughlin was now wearing Bulls colours after a deal that brought Newlove to Saints with not only Loughlin but Bernard Dwyer and Sonny Nickle going in the opposite direction. In an encounter that was becoming utterly breathless, Newlove danced through the Bradford line of defence as if he had chosen it as the easier option ahead of taking toffees off babies, and fed the prolific Arnold. He looked like he had spurned the chance when he cut inside instead of driving straight for the corner, but Arnold simply wriggled through a confused bunch of opponents, leaving Nickle prostrate on the ground as he plonked the ball over for Saints third try of the half. Goulding had not managed to convert any of them. He would have better luck with the boot in other ways.

Another amazing effort that often gets overlooked from this classic is Robbie Paul’s contribution. Well before he ruined your pre-match build up by getting in the way of the players’ warm-up and trotting out banalities, Paul was a scintillating young starlet who some even argued would be even better than brother Henry who had been ripping it up at Wigan since 1994. The younger Paul showed his class to sneak over from Dwyer’s pass for the first of a Lance Todd Trophy-winning hat-trick. Yet it was Dwyer who was next to score, dummying Goulding just enough to create the space to get between the Saints scrum-half and back rower Booth. When the brilliant Paul pirouetted out of a tackle and crashed over for his second try it looked as though what had started out as a glorious occasion was about to turn miserably sour and decidedly Saintsy.

It left Saints 14 points adrift at 26-12. How they could have done with just one or two of those conversions missed by Goulding earlier. The time had come to make amends. On the fifth tackle, around 35 metres from the Bulls line Goulding launched the first of his much-loved, forever cherished bombs at the unfortunate Graham. Wearing number 10 on his back as Super League embraced the concept of squad numbers Graham dealt with the situation in rather the same way that a prop forward might, wafting hopelessly before actually appearing to pull away from the ball to avoid being hit by it as it was about to bounce. Having made that mistake, what you don’t want to see is Cunningham steaming at you. With all the momentum on his side Cunningham easily out-jumped Graham for the ball as it bounced, gathering it and placing it down in one movement.

Yet even then at 26-18 the mood was a bit flat. It was still a long way back from here. Goulding’s second aerial assault on Graham started on the Bulls 20. Graham had been inside his own in-goal area for Goulding’s first, but this time he approached the ball five metres from the Bulls’ try-line. Again he flapped, again he was out-muscled and out-manoeuvred this time by Booth who arguably knocked on but twisted around to score by the posts. The first season of video refereeing hadn’t sunk to the depths that we get in the modern day. A try like that now would be reviewed and reviewed until the official could find a reason to chalk it off. But referee Stuart Cummins, a man once seen screaming for a Mark Percival try to be disallowed for minimal contact with a Wigan defender, was happy enough and the try stood. Perhaps he was caught in the moment.



He wasn’t about to offer any respite to Graham. Goulding launched a third rocket towards the Bulls line. By now the outcome seemed almost inevitable even before it happened. None of the 78,000 plus crowd would have been backing Graham to catch it, and sure enough he crumbled again. This time it was Alan Hunte who jumped with Graham, again making enough contact to have it disallowed in today’s game, but again encouraged to crack on with it by Cummins. In the chaos, Ian Pickavance became the unlikely hero as he plonked the ball down just before it rolled over the dead ball line. Pickavance had been signed from Swinton three years earlier, going on to make 156 appearances for Saints scoring 24 tries. None were more golden than this one.

Somewhat dazzled, the Bulls allowed Arnold to cut through them before handing on to Karl Hammond. The former Widnes half, keeping no less a figure than Tommy Martyn out of the team at the time, dummied a return to Arnold and looked like he was going to make it all the way to the line before he was dragged down a few yards short by a desperate tackle. Ever the poacher, Arnold’s try-scoring instincts did not fail him as he appeared by Hammond’s side to take his offload and simply fall over the line. As much as he was a great poacher he was an equal showman, so it was no surprise to see Arnold basking in his moment, his second try of the day and one that at last looked like it might finally seal the silverware for Saints. He stood up, arms outstretched and nodded his head, totally convinced of his own magnificence. He may not have had a long career with Saints, moving on after picking up another Challenge Cup winners medal in 1997, but his place in the club’s folklore cannot be denied.

Paul had one more magic spell left in him. He completed his hat-trick in majestic fashion, weaving through the Saints defence, beating four or five players including the unbalanced Prescott before going over untouched. The Bulls were back within touching distance again, just when they thought the game was up. It wasn’t until Apollo Perelini scored Saints’ final try that their indomitable spirit was finally crushed. Cunningham linked up with Goulding who brought Perelini back on his inside for the popular Samoan to plunge over by the left of the posts. Goulding’s conversion gave Saints an eight-point cushion at 40-32, and with time running out they could finally say that they were there. The Challenge Cup was coming back to St Helens for the first time in 20 years. The first time in my lifetime…give or take. The celebrations of the players said it all as they mobbed Perelini, while the fans were going even wilder in the stands. Not only had the wait for a Challenge Cup ended, we had shown we were capable of competing with and beating the coming force in the game. With Wigan’s new vulnerability a first title since 1975 looked possible.

Some months later that came to pass too. It was sealed with a final day thrashing of Warrington, Saints winning 66-14 in a party atmosphere at Knowsley Road. The red vee had followed their Wembley success with another seven wins in a row before losing 35-19 at Wigan in mid-June. Wigan kept pace all the way, missing out by just a point after a costly draw with London Broncos. Meanwhile Saints had just about edged out the same opposition at The Valley, winning 32-28 thanks to a Perelini try given the 2017 video referee treatment yet miraculously approved. That was the key result, although they had a tough 20-16 success over Castleford at Wheldon Road six days later before rather more routine wins over Paris St Germain, Sheffield Eagles and finally Warrington.

Saints were double winners, but it was that Challenge Cup final against the Bulls which ended the lean years and arguably changed the culture of the club for the next 20 years.

Hull KR v St Helens - Preview

In a fairly short period of time in a galaxy not so far, far away Saints will continue their imperial march towards another uncelebrated League Leaders Shield when they visit KCom Craven Park to take on Hull KR on Sunday (May 5, kick-off 3.00pm).

Saints have a healthy four-point lead atop the Betfred Super League going into this Round 14 clash. They have failed in only one mission so far in 2019, that coming in the south of France when they were downed 18-10 by Catalans Dragons in Perpignan in early April. Justin Holbrook’s men avenged that loss last weekend when a scratch team of rebels blasted Steve McNamara’s side off the park in a 50-14 win. The result was all the more remarkable for the fact that it was achieved without all of Lachlan Coote, Jonny Lomax, Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Jonny Lomax, Luke Thompson, James Roby, Morgan Knowles and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Fears that the young Saints outfit would find the Dragons too physical were allayed as the likes of Jack Welsby, James Bentley, Joe Batchelor, Matty Costello and Aaron Smith stepped in to the void to deliver some fine performances.



Some but not all of Saints absent stars will return this week. Lomax and Coote were surprise omissions last week having made the initial 19-man selection. Both are included again and this time expected to start. Meanwhile Makinson returns from the back spasms which forced him out of the Easter Monday win over Hull FC and Knowles is now free from suspension. James Roby is available again as Smith finds himself unfortunate to be left out of the squad following his man of the match effort last time out. Bentley and Batchelor have also missed out but Welsby and Costello may get another chance to impress. Percival, Thompson and McCarthy-Scarsbrook have more troublesome injury worries and are not expected to feature for at least the next six weeks or so.

So the big question for Holbrook is whether to stick with the men who earned the win over the Dragons last week or restore his more experienced players. Lomax and Coote were playing as well as anyone before their unexpected week off while there is a choice to be made on how best to deploy Makinson. Should he come back into his favoured right-wing spot at the expense of Adam Swift to allow Costello to continue at centre? Or should Holbrook slot Makinson back into the centre role to allow Swift to continue? It should be remembered that Swift has four tries in his two Super League outings so far this season having been recalled to the team following Percival’s injury at Wigan. And if Costello is the man to stand down how do you square that after his hat-trick against Catalans?

The only members of the back five who look certain of a start are Regan Grace and Kevin Naiqama. In the halves one of Lomax, Theo Fages or Danny Richardson will miss out on a starting spot but may secure a place on the bench. Richardson arguably had his best game for Saints - either this year or last - in the win over Catalans and would feel hard done by if he lost his place. Yet at the same time Fages had performed very well until the hip injury he picked up when Saints last met Hull KR at the end of March.

The forward pack selections look a little more straightforward. Roby will slot back in for Smith while Alex Walmsley has been even more outstanding than usual since losing Thompson as his starting prop partner. Matty Lees starts favourite to line-up alongside Walmsley and Roby in the front row but Jack Ashworth and Kyle Amor will feel they also have a case. Dominique Peyroux and Zeb Taia look certainties with Bentley and Batchelor missing out on selection and it would be a major surprise if Knowles does not reclaim his starting loose forward role from Joseph Paulo. The latter will start on the bench in all likelihood, probably alongside both Amor and Ashworth with one of Fages or Richardson perhaps as a back-line option on the bench. The selection of Fages in that role would make the most sense as he can also play at hooker.

Rovers arrive in the kind of stinking, lamentable form that could yet lead to a relegation battle. They couldn’t win a game of chess with a Wookie right now, even if the Wookie was letting them win. They have lost their last three Super League games, conceding 138 points in the process. Their last win was a 14-10 squeeze past Leigh Centurions in the Challenge Cup while their last success in Super League was a fairly wild 45-26 victory over Leeds Rhinos on April 4. They have slid down to second from bottom of the table, just two points ahead of a London Broncos side which looks to be finally finding out about life at the top level. If Rovers’ form doesn’t pick up then the struggles of the Broncos might be the only thing that keeps Tim Sheens’ side in Super League for 2020.



For this one Sheens has made minimal changes to his 19-man squad, drafting in youngsters Adam Rooks and Harry Bardle in place of Owen Harrison and smooth pub banter-merchant Joel Tomkins. Former Saint Adam Quinlan remains side-lined through injury along with five-minute prop Mose Masoe. Mitch Garbutt has been one of Rovers’ better pack performers but is also out along with another ex-Saint, the much maligned, often overawed Tommy Lee.

The Robins will again rely heavily on Josh Drinkwater for creativity in the middle of the field with old stager Danny McGuire or hot prospect Chris Atkin alongside him. Veteran Craig Hall is a dependable presence at fullback while Jimmy Keinhorst, Ryan Shaw and Ben Crooks are the mainstays of the three-quarter line. Up front experience is provided by the excellent Shaun Lunt at hooker, Weller Hauraki in the back row and Kane Linnett who scored twice when Rovers came to St Helens a few weeks ago. Rob Mulhern has only recently returned from injury but was on the cusp of international honours following some impressive early-season form before that.

Boring clichés abound when it comes to describing a visit to Hull KR. For a good spell between 2009 and 2016 Saints couldn’t buy a league win there. The best they could muster in that run was a 36-36 draw in 2012 when Roby was a try-scorer. Saints did not break that winless sequence until a 31-22 win in February 2016 which saw Makinson cross for Saints and Shaw for Rovers. Of the sides that turned out that day only six Saints and three Robins are likely to do so again this week. Three years is a long time in rugby league.

Long enough in fact for the old adage about tough places to go to no longer ring true about Rovers. Not on current form, in any event. If Saints can put 50 points past Catalans with eight of their top players missing they should have more than enough to earn the win against a Rovers side that is marooned on Tatooine and about to fall into the jaws of the Sarlacc. Just because they are at home I’m going to tip them to keep it respectable but this Saints side are the class outfit of 2019 and should secure a 20-24 point win.



Squads;

Hull KR;

2. Craig Hall, 3. Ben Crooks, 4. Jimmy Keinhorst, 5. Ryan Shaw, 7. Danny McGuire, 8. Robbie Mulhern, 9. Shaun Lunt, 13. Weller Hauraki, 17. Chris Atkin, 19. Junior Vaivai, 20. Danny Addy, 21. George Lawler, 22. Ryan Lannon, 23. Kane Linnett, 24. Josh Drinkwater, 25. Will Oakes, 31. Adam Rooks, 33. Harry Bardle, 34. Antoni Maria.

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 7. Danny Richardson, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 18. Adam Swift, 19. Matty Lees, 20. Jack Ashworth, 23. Lachlan Coote 24. Matty Costello, 29. Jack Welsby.

Referee: Liam Moore