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.
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