Saints v Wakefield Trinity Preview

Wembley-bound Saints return to Super League action when they host Wakefield Trinity on Friday night (August 2, kick-off 7.45pm).

An 11-year wait to get back to the Challenge Cup Final ended last week when Saints beat Halifax in the semi-final at Bolton. Yet the joy of that achievement was tempered somewhat a few days later by the news that Head Coach Justin Holbrook will leave the club at the end of the 2019 season. The 43-year-old will take up a contract with Gold Coast Titans in the NRL just two years after replacing Kieron Cunningham at Saints. Some eyebrows have been raised at Holbrook’s decision to trade in the best team in Super League for the worst team in the NRL. Yet a chance to return to his native land has clearly been a big draw for Holbrook along with the opportunity to test himself in a stronger competition albeit with a struggling club.

He has at least pledged to give his full commitment to finishing the season strongly as Saints go for a first treble since that achieved by the vintage of 2006 under Daniel Anderson. A second consecutive League Leaders Shield is all but assured with a 10-point lead over nearest challengers Warrington, so it all comes down to 80 minutes at Wembley against Wire and whether Saints can reach and then win the Old Trafford Super League Grand Final. That quest starts with the visit of Chris Chester’s side this weekend.

Again there have been changes to Holbrook’s 19-man selection. Morgan Knowles missed the Halifax win with a rib injury having initially made the squad so is absent this week. He joins Lachlan Coote on the sidelines, with the Scottish international likely to be asked to rest his injured knee at least until Saints travel to Leeds a week before Wembley. Yet there must be some doubt in Holbrook’s mind about whether to continue using Jonny Lomax as a deputy because Jack Welsby has been recalled to the party.

Not that there is any problem with Lomax as a fullback. He has great experience there having held the role for many seasons after the retirement of Paul Wellens. The doubts exist about whether Saints can afford to do without Lomax in the halves. Danny Richardson and Theo Fages toiled a little against Halifax and there must be pressure on both to keep their places. A gut feeling suggests that Holbrook will want to restore his preferred combination of Lomax and Fages in order to fine tune them for the battles ahead. That will be tough on Richardson but with a new coach coming in for 2020 he has every reason to believe that he can still rise to the rank of Saints senior halfback. No such selection problems in the three-quarters where Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival and Regan Grace are all well established.

Alex Walmsley picked up an eye injury at Bolton and won’t feature. Expect Matty Lees to add another start to his CV alongside world beaters Luke Thompson and James Roby in the front three. The back row has lost Knowles but it is boosted by the return to fitness of Zeb Taia. The former Catalans Dragon has not played since damaging his shoulder in a win over Leeds in June but looks set to be reunited with his second row partner Dominique Peyroux with either Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook or Joseph Paulo locking the scrum. One of those two will settle for a place on the bench alongside Kyle, Amor, James Bentley and probably one of Jack Ashworth or Aaron Smith.

Wakefield arrive in the midst of a terrible run of form which has seen them lose nine of their last 10 league outings. The threat of dropping out of Super League looms large for a club that had, over the last few years, looked like establishing itself as a top five contender. If you look at the names on paper men like Bill Tupou, Danny Brough, David Fifita and company should be doing significantly better. Consistency has been a problem all year despite the presence of talented individuals like Ryan Hampshire, Reece Lyne and Jacob Miller supplementing their stars. Season-ending injuries to Tinirau Arona and Tom Johnstone haven’t helped, but this is a squad that is fast becoming a byword for under-achievement.

Perhaps it is in the pack where Wakefield will be found out in this one. Danny Kirmond, Anthony England and Keegan Hirst are all club stalwarts who do a fine job but there is really only Fifita and hooker Kyle Wood who possess any sort of x-factor. Former Saint Matty Ashurst is another long-term absentee so Chris Annakin, Joe Arundel, George King and Kelepi Tanginoa all have a vital role to play.

It’s likely to be a thankless task. Saints rattled 48 points past Trinity when they met in a Challenge Cup quarter-final in June. That was at a time when Holbrook’s side were in top gear, so perhaps Chester’s men have some hope given Saints underwhelming performance at Bolton and a week previously at London when 10 players were rested. Saints need to start building some form going into Wembley and the last phase of the Super League campaign. For that reason and given Wakefield’s wretched form we can probably expect a fairly comfortable win for Holbrook’s side even if attacking fluency remains an issue.

Squads;

St Helens;

Johnny Lomax 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Kevin Naiqama 4. Mark Percival 5. Regan Grace 6. Theo Fages 7. Danny Richardson 9. James Roby 10. LukevThompson 11. Zeb Taia 12. Joseph Paulo 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 16. Kyle Amor 17. Dominique Peyroux 19. Matty Lees 20. Jack Ashworth 21. Aaron Smith 22. James Bentley 29. Jack Welsby


Wakefield Trinity;

Chris Annakin, Joe Arundel, James Batchelor, Danny Brough, Anthony England, David Fifita, Ryan Hampshire, Keegan Hirst, Ben Jones-Bishop, Max Jowitt, George King, Danny Kirmond, Craig Kopczak, Reece Lyne, Jacob Miller, Tyler Randell, Kelepi Tanginoa, Bill Tupou, Kyle Wood.


Referee: Marcus Griffiths