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
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