5 Talking Points From Leeds Rhinos 20 Saints 36

That Guard Of Honour


As Disgruntled Of Wigan never tires of telling us Saints are not yet champions of 2019. Our dominance of this year’s regular season will be nothing more than a stick with which to beat us if we fail to win at Old Trafford in the Grand Final. Saints are 16 points clear after this win, on course to top the table by a record margin. Yet if you did a quick survey of even our own fans most of them would not consider this in itself a success. Everything hangs on whether we win the games that bring the trophies.

Strange then that Leeds Rhinos chose to mark Saints’ hitherto played-down success by offering a guard of honour. Of sorts. My recollection of a traditional guard of honour is that the players involved form two lines opposite each other and then applaud as the honoured guests run onto the field in the gap between the two lines. Leeds had a different take on it, simply forming one line from where they clapped Saints on to the pitch.

It was a nice thought and went down well with Saints fans who believe that the achievement of winning the League Leaders Shield ought to be given a bit more kudos. It absolutely should, of course. The subdued, almost embarrassed celebrations when Saints were awarded the Shield last year were a depressing reminder of how rugby league has been reduced to a few important games at the end of the season. Consistency is shrugged at, even by fans of those who achieve it. The Grand Final is King as we found out last year and Castleford the year before that.

The powers within the game have to come up with some way of giving the Shield winners the recognition they deserve. It is not the responsibility of rival clubs to make us feel as if our achievement really matters. Can you imagine a scenario in which Wigan are coming to town having won the Shield with games to spare and seeing your Saints line up to applaud them on to the field? I don’t know about you but I would probably be hospitalised once I’d been spotted frothing at the mouth.

There is a school of thought that Leeds are using the experience for their own ends. Their players will not want to play the role of deferential onlookers the next time the Shield is handed out. It is thought that Sir Alex Ferguson had his Manchester United players form guards of honour whenever they relinquished the title to an Arsenal or a Chelsea. It was probably a powerful motivational tool for the following season. The key difference of course is that those teams applauded on to the field by Manchester United’s players were champions. There were no arguments. No one-off, knockout games at neutral venues to negotiate. In our game, where so much depends on winning on the right date at the right stadium, it all just feels ever so slightly inappropriate.

Injury Worries Persist

Saints went into this one without five of what most would consider their starting 13. James Roby, Lachlan Coote and Alex Walmsley have all been out injured recently and were not named in Justin Holbrook’s 19-man squad a couple of days before the game. Nor was Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. When game day arrived the names of Tommy Makinson and Morgan Knowles were also absent from the team sheet. Matty Costello filled in on the wing while James Bentley continued his progress as a Super League player with a switch to loose forward.

Until now we have felt comfortable that Holbrook is just employing a cautious selection policy ahead of next week’s Challenge Cup Final meeting with Warrington at Wembley. There’s no point risking a player who isn’t 100% fit and so it has felt right to give one or two a rest. Yet there is a fine line between protecting players for Wembley and pitching them into a final with a lack of match sharpness, even if Holbrook has publicly stated that all of his injured stars should be fit for the big day. Knowles hasn’t played since the defeat at London on July 21. He spoke confidently at a club forum on Tuesday (August 13) about featuring at Headingley after a rib problem. The fact that he did not play surely creates a nagging doubt about his fitness.

Similarly Coote hasn’t featured since the July 12 win over Wigan. There may be a psychological edge to naming the Scotland international at Wembley even if there is a cloud over his fitness. How many times down the years have we seen patched up Wigan players turn out at Wembley and affect the opposition just by reputation? Coote has been sensational in his first season with Saints and could have a big enough name to spook the opposition irrespective of his fitness. As could Roby and Walmsley. Warrington will no doubt try something similar with Blake Austin who has not played since turning an ankle in Perpignan on August 3.

The question is whether recalling so many players who have had so little rugby over the last few weeks is the right way to go. If they’re not fully fit the team cannot carry them all. We have several able deputies we could call on if the risks outweigh the benefits of selecting the tried and tested. Jack Welsby flapped at one or two high balls early in this one but has been excellent in recent weeks and grew into this game as it wore on. We should have no real concerns over him. Roby’s role has been adequately filled by the Smith-Bentley duo while both Joseph Paulo and McCarthy-Scarsbrook have the experience to plug the gap left by Knowles should he be unavailable. Individually and on their own merits it is easy to see any of these playing a part in a winning effort at Wembley. What is less clear is how strong the team will be if all of them are pressed into duty against what remains a strong-looking Wolves side despite their poor form of late. Holbrook will probably need at least a couple of his injured stars to give him 80 minutes and he faces a difficult task this week in working out how many of them should get the nod.

Wembley Could Suit Naiqama

The form of Kevin Naiqama could be extremely timely. Without his regular right edge partner in Makinson the Fiji captain took matters into his own hands. He produced a man of the match effort, crossing for a hat-trick of tries and running for 102 metres on 12 carries at almost nine metres per carry. He busted out of nine tackles and his attacking involvement was a key to this win because it meant that Leeds’ runaway train Konrad Hurrell had to expend some of his relatively meagre energy resources in defence. The former Gold Coast man was not nearly as effective with ball in hand in the second half against Naiqama as he had been in the first.

Naiqama doesn’t always get the plaudits you’d expect. He was a much trumpeted signing from the NRL’s Wests Tigers. An outside back from a league in which centres and wingers often set the teams apart from those in Super League. Yet his performances have often been overshadowed in his first year at Saints not only by Makinson but also by Mark Percival and Regan Grace on the other flank. Quietly, Naiqama has registered 17 tries in Super League this term. That’s the same number as Grace and only two less than Makinson. The Saints winger is one of only four men who have crossed the whitewash more often than Naiqama this season in the whole of Super League.

Avoiding cliches about the wide open spaces of Wembley there probably is something about the dimensions of the national stadium which allows pacy wide players to thrive. In my mind’s eye I can see Mark Elia tearing down the field in the 1987 Final defeat to Halifax, Martin Offiah’s melodramatic disbelief at having scored the greatest of all Wembley tries in 1995, and Jonathan Davies’ memorable scoot past Brett Mullins for Great Britain a year earlier. Speed kills and it would surprise nobody if the Fijian writes himself into Saints folklore with a couple of scorching efforts under the arch.

Taia Could Also Be Key

Sky Sports’ commentary credited Zeb Taia with two tries at the end of the game. Yet since then common sense has prevailed and Grace has taken the credit for the first of those. The Welshman got the merest of fingertips to the ball as it bobbled around the in-goal area before it was more comprehensively grounded by Taia. It’s a bad rule, but in the modern game even the most feather-light touch on a ball on the ground is considered to be downward pressure and sufficient for the try to be given. It could not have been awarded to Taia once Grace had got a touch to it. Either he grounded it in the dubious manner which satisfies modern officials or he knocked it on. He certainly did not miss it completely which is the only way that Taia could have been given the credit for it.

Yet it didn’t take long for the Cook Islander to get his name added to the list of try-scorers. Within a minute he was taking Grace’s pass and stretching out to score. It was just reward for a performance which saw him rack up 118 metres on 16 carries while making 28 tackles. Only Matty Lees, Smith and Bentley managed more defensive contributions for Saints. It was an especially important effort given the absence of Walmsley and Roby and a slightly stunted display by Luke Thompson. Beyond those three Taia and Dominique Peyroux are Saints’ real gun forwards, the pack men most capable of making the metres and breaks that will allow the speedier men to influence the game.

Taia is not only a player of great talent and experience in his own right, he also makes others around him that little bit better. Saints’ left edge of Taia, Grace and Percival is a fearsome one that is probably unmatched anywhere else in Super League. Taia was another one in attendance at the midweek forum and he spoke with great enthusiasm about the prospect of playing at Wembley now that he has recovered from the shoulder injury he suffered last time Saints met Leeds. It’s been a long time coming but Taia finally has a chance to win the silverware that he no doubt joined Saints for two years ago. Expect him to have a big game.

So What’s Your Team?

Indulge me while I finish this week’s column by playing a little Rugby Manager. It’s time to take a closer look at who might be in the Saints 17 when they line-up in the capital for their biggest game since the 2014 Grand Final. We are going to assume that Holbrook is not selling us a dummy and that everyone is fit. You can pick this apart later;

Fullback - Lachlan Coote
Right Wing - Tommy Makinson
Right Centre - Kevin Naiqama
Left Centre - Mark Percival
Left Wing - Regan Grace
Stand Off - Jonny Lomax
Scrum Half - Theo Fages
Prop - Alex Walmsley
Hooker - James Roby
Prop - Luke Thompson
Second Row - Zeb Taia
Second Row - Dominique Peyroux
Loose Forward - Morgan Knowles

Interchange - James Bentley
Interchange - Matty Lees
Interchange - Kyle Amor
Interchange - Joseph Paulo

Much of that side picks itself if everyone is 100% fit. And I must keep stressing that word ‘If’. There are many variables as we have seem. In addition there are a few areas, particularly the bench spots, which present Holbrook with some tricky decisions. The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that Danny Richardson, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Aaron Smith, Jack Ashworth and Jack Welsby all miss out in my line-up. There is a case for including any or all of these and, remembering that this is my team based on what I would choose and not on what I think Holbrook will choose, McCarthy-Scarsbrook is a virtual certainty for the bench.

Of the others perhaps Richardson presses the strongest claim and will be the most aggrieved at missing out given what he has already achieved in his career. My feeling, and I suspect Holbrook’s too, is that the pairing of Fages and Lomax is our most trustworthy for this big occasion. There is an argument for including Richardson for his goal-kicking especially if Coote either can’t play or can’t handle the kicking duties. But Percival is another good option in that role and I’m loathe to select a player solely on the basis of goal-kicking. It’s not rugby union.

Roby’s inclusion means I only have room for one of Smith or Bentley on the bench and the latter’s versatility and recent encouraging performances get him my vote. Recent form also puts Amor in ahead of Ashworth for me. The Cumbrian has his second consecutive 100-metre+ game against Leeds and deserves his shot. Ashworth’s time will come. Finally, Paulo is in provided he can shake off a hamstring injury because he offers more versatility and fewer brain farts than McCarthy-Scarsbrook. In reality the former Bronco will play possibly at the expense of Amor.