Saints v Huddersfield Giants - Preview

Like Michael Gove, Saints will look to put recent embarrassment behind them when they host Huddersfield Giants in a Betfred Super League Round 18 clash on Friday night (June 14, kick-off 7.45pm).

It’s been a bad week for Justin Holbrook’s men. At the weekend they suffered the double whammy of managing to lose at bottom of the league London Broncos and of learning that club legend Sean Long would be ending his (ahem) long association with Saints to join Harlequins in rugby union. By Monday what started as a whisper had turned to the end of Long’s stay as assistant coach to Holbrook with immediate effect.

None of which is the best preparation for what looks another tough game against an improving Huddersfield outfit. The only way Saints could possibly have prepared worse for this one is if they had spent the week fielding awkward questions about their crass remarks about post boxes, or launched a campaign beside a photograph of literally the worst Prime Minister the western world will hopefully ever see.

Happily help is on its way. Holbrook rested all of Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley and Zeb Taia for the game in the capital but all are named in the 19-man party for the visit of Simon Woolford’s men. Jack Welsby was rather hung out to dry at fullback last week and misses out altogether on selection, which should see Coote slot back into the role as the last line of defence from where he is also one of Saints most creative players in attack. There’ll be a change on the wing as Regan Grace gets a rest, so expect Adam Swift to switch wings from the right where he played against London to the left where he has played most of his rugby for Saints in any case. The Hull-bound Swift will likely feature in a three-quarter line alongside the restored Makinson, Kevin Naiqama and Mark Percival.

Danny Richardson has featured in the last two for Saints, deputising for Theo Fages in the cup win over Wakefield on June 1 and then playing alongside the Frenchman as Lomax took a breather last weekend. However, the Widnesian halfback misses out this week as Holbrook looks to reunite the Fages-Lomax partnership which has brought so much success so far this season. It is perhaps surprising that Richardson does not even make the 19 but that is a reflection of the strength in depth that Holbrook now has at his disposal, especially after the return to fitness of Percival and Luke Thompson.

The latter will form a formidable front row partnership with Walmsley but James Roby has been ruled out for around a month after undergoing groin surgery. His place looks like going to Aaron Smith although James Bentley is also in the 19 and could be used to spell Smith at times. Taia’s return boosts the back row that should also feature Dominique Peyroux and Morgan Knowles as Joseph Paulo reverts back to a spot on the bench alongside Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and any pairing from Bentley, Jack Ashworth, Kyle Amor and Matty Costello. Matty Lees is another who is being granted a rest this week as Holbrook looks to keep all of his men fresh for the all-important finale of the season. Saints have a Challenge Cup semi-final with Halifax at the end of July and will almost certainly be involved in the Super League playoffs in September, so trying to get everyone to peak at that time rather than now is one of the key tasks that Holbrook faces.

So what will Huddersfield bring? Well they won’t be bringing England’s star of the 2017 World Cup Jermaine McGillvary. The winger misses out through injury and is the glaring omission from Woolford’s 19-man selection. Experience comes in the form of former Saints Lee Gaskell, Jordan Turner and Paul Clough as well as the likes of Aaron Murphy, Joe Wardle, Alex Mellor and Sebastine Ikahihifo. Matt Frawley is in contention for a return at halfback alongside Gaskell, while in Kruise Leeming, Matty English, Ukuma Ta’ai and Adam O’Brien the Giants have plenty of quality in the pack.
They key with Huddersfield, like many Super League sides in 2019 has been consistency, or lack of it. The Giants have won just seven of their 17 league outings so far and have won three of their last six. That run includes a 55-2 flogging of Hull FC at the Magic Weekend at Anfield but also a 50-19 loss to Warrington at the end of April. They have lost two games in that run by a single point however, and so have shown enough to suggest that on their day they could turn it on and spring a surprise.

The sides met in the league in mid-March with Saints rather strolling to a 42-16 win but it was much closer when they clashed in the sixth round of the Challenge Cup in May when Naiqama’s second half score earned Saints a narrow 22-16 win. Both those matches took place at the John Smith’s Stadium so it will be a different challenge for Woolford and his charges to come into St Helens, were the home side have not lost at all this season, and head back east with the two points.

Most logic suggests that the Giants will come up short. Saints should be a hungry outfit after the blush-inducing shenanigans at Trailfinders last weekend and with up to five top-line players set to come in and boost the strength of the team it is difficult to imagine them faltering again. Roby is a huge loss to Saints for the direction he gives them and the quality of his service from dummy half, but if Smith can show the form that he has done when stepping into Roby’s shoes on previous occasions then Saints should have too much for a Giants outfit which is just too hit and miss to really lift itself among the playoff contenders.

Squads;

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 6. Theo Fages, 8. Alex Walmsley, 10. Luke Thompson 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 18, Adam Swift, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21. Aaron Smith, 22. James Bentley, 23. Lachlan Coote, 24. Matty Costello.
Huddersfield Giants;

1. Darnell McIntosh 4. Jordan Turner 6. Lee Gaskell 7. Matt Frawley 8. Paul Clough 9. Kruise Leeming 10. Suaia Matagi 11. Aaron Murphy 12. Alex Mellor 13. Michael Lawrence 14. Adam O'Brien 17. Ukuma Ta'ai 19. Matty English 20. Jake Wardle 23. Oliver Russell 26. Sebastine Ikahihifo 29. Sam Hewitt 32. 35. Joe Wardle

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas