Saints 40 Wigan Warriors 10 - Reflections

What a night. Saints breezed into the 2019 Super League Grand Final with a 40-10 walloping of their local rivals. The Stadium That Dare Not Speak Its Name buzzed and bounced with the excitement of it all. Memories of the few heavy defeats we have inflicted on Wigan were brought to the fore. Boxing Day 1992. The 2005 Challenge Cup tie. It was one to savour.

A late-season surge had transformed Adrian Lam’s Wigan side from relegation candidates into Saints’ nearest challengers at the top of the table. Yet they were no match for Justin Holbrook’s side who ran in seven tries courtesy of six different scorers. Saints were totally dominant throughout. After topping the league standings by 16 points and dismissing the next best team for a fourth time this season they deserve more recognition than they are going to get. The job is not done. They may have to vanquish Wigan for a fifth time should the cherry and whites take advantage of their second chance to reach Old Trafford by beating Salford Red Devils at the DW Stadium on Friday (October 4).

That’s not a given with they way Ian Watson has his side playing but Wigan are nothing if not resilient. Despite the repeated beatings they have taken from Saints this year the Warriors will relish another opportunity at Old Trafford should they get there. All of which seems like naivety and folly. Why would you want to face down a team that has repeatedly routed you? The system dictates that however much you have been dominated by an opponent before the Grand Final it is only the result on the big night that brings the real rewards of the Super League trophy and the champions tag. It’s absurd, but Saints may yet end the year as a runner-up on two fronts. At the same time Wigan’s underwhelming defence of their Super League crown still has life in it.

This was a victory which looked inevitable from the opening minutes. One of Wigan’s greatest weapons is their ability to mix it physically with their opponents. To not let the opposition play. Slow the play-the-ball, win collision in defence and don’t give up ground. Frustrate them and force errors on which you capitalise on the scoreboard. Others have had success with this method against Saints under Holbrook. Catalans Dragons bullied Saints into submission in last year’s Challenge Cup semi-final while at Wembley this year similar solidity helped Warrington win the trophy. This time Saints did not allow that to happen.

Led by the outstanding Luke Thompson Saints were in destructive mood up front. They would not be stopped, gaining metres in every collision which allowed them to speed the game up and bring their impressive backs into play. All of Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Lachlan Coote, Jonny Lomax and Mark Percival made over 100 metres with ball in hand. Makinson delivered an eye-popping 224 even on a night when most of the scoring opportunities arrived on the opposite side of the field.

Thompson played for less than an hour, but that was time enough to rack up 180 metres in 23 carries. He got over for a try also, strolling through a massive gap in the Wigan goal-line defence to put Saints 20-6 up less than 15 minutes before half-time. Theo Fages had opened the scoring when he latched on to Coote’s clever grubber, and it was 12-0 when the departing George Williams tried to switch the play wide to the left and only found Naiqama. The Fijian strolled over, leaving Williams to start reflecting on the fact that at least he will get one more game in front of the Wigan fans before his move to Canberra Raiders.

Wigan got on the board when Percival probably tried to solve a problem that wasn’t there in defence, jamming in hastily to allow Chris Hankinson to send Liam Marshall streaking over. The conversion from Zak Hardaker reduced the arrears to 14-6 but then Thompson cruised over to take the game away from Wigan again.

If it wasn’t Thompson coming at Wigan at a thousand miles an hour it was any number of others. Alex Walmsley was and is massive, proving too much for Lam’s men to handle. The former Batley prop reeled off 122 metres on 16 carries and was a constant threat. Morgan Knowles and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook were the other Saints forwards to smash through the 100-metre barrier, ably assisted by Zeb Taia with 90, Jack Ashworth with 79 and Kyle Amor with 77. Ashworth’s performance was particularly heartening. He was much closer to the bright and dangerous player we saw in spells last year. With Matty Lees gone for the year it could be important that Ashworth steps up one more time in Manchester.

Contrast Saints’ forwards collective display with the efforts of Wigan’s battered pack. Suspension’s Tony Clubb could only grunt his way to a sorrowful 11 metres on two carries, while 2014 Grand Final villain Ben Flower was held to 45. I travelled further than these two ageing bullies when I made my way from the bedroom to the bathroom this morning. And it wasn’t just the old guys who suffered. Wigan’s young trio of Oliver Partington, Liam Byrne and Morgan Smithies have been the subject of much chatter and hype in recent weeks but were suddenly and comprehensively found out of their depth. They combined for a total of 100 metres between them with Smithies doing the bulk of that work with 61. They will learn and get better but for now they look short of the standard being set by their Saints counterparts.

Even Sean O’Loughlin, for so long the extravagantly gifted talisman of this side, looked uncomfortable. He has become a shadow of his former self. He was a non-factor really, managing just over four metres per carry for his 46 metres on 11 hit-ups. It was something of a surprise to see him start the game in truth. Smithies had started in last week’s win over Salford but the experience of O’Loughlin was Lam’s preference here. It turned out to be akin to deck-chair rearrangement on a famously ill-fated ship as neither Wigan’s new breed nor its old guard could halt Saints’ march to the Grand Final. Liam Farrell was probably the pick of the Wigan pack with 76 metres on 10 carries and 33 tackles in defence. Yet even he only broke free of the shackles for one clean break, thanks in no small part to the defensive efforts of the excellent Dominique Peyroux who bagged 36 tackles, missing just two. Wigan had two defenders who could better that tally in Smithies (45) and Sam Powell (42) but that is perhaps indicative of how well Saints dominated both possession and territory all night long. Saints made only six handling errors and though Wigan were almost as careful with just eight it was what each side did with that possession which told the story. That Farrell break was one of four for Wigan while Saints almost trebled that with 11.

By half-time the game was over as a contest. Lomax stepped and scooted his way over, with Coote’s conversion pushing Saints’ advantage out to 20 points at 26-6. It had been one of the best periods of 40 minutes that Saints or any other side has produced this season. The promise of more lingered. If we are to meet Wigan again the psychological blow of really turning the screw could have been significant. Fifty points didn’t seem fanciful. It never really materialised, with errors starting to creep in during the second half. In particular Saints started to struggle to maintain possession while playing the ball as the game wore on. Referee Chris Kendall could have been more generous to Saints at times as Wigan started to spoil and interfere but he decided on a policy of placing responsibility on the ball carriers for the messy rucks. It was almost a sympathy vote from the whistle-blower who - given Robert Hicks’ recent tribulations - looks a good bet to get the nod to take charge at Old Trafford.

Despite the drop-off in quality there were moments to enjoy after the break. Taia took Coote’s pass to score five minutes after the restart but we then had to wait another 15 minutes for the first of Percival’s brace. His second came six minutes from time but it was not the last word. New recruit Bevan French marked his first derby appearance with a try as Saints’ left edge defence dozed a little. It served to at least take Wigan into double figures for the night but will have offered precious little comfort to a side that was outclassed.

On which subject, there has been much talk from Wigan fans on social media of the score line blowing out due to a bad Wigan performance. That somehow there was an unacceptable level of effort and application from Lam’s side. Let’s nip that in the bud right now. Wigan, though far short of spectacular, were not terrible here. They were just blown away, especially in the first 40 minutes, by a superior and highly motivated Saints side. A side faultlessly prepared and fully focused on the mission. They offered Wigan nothing to work with. The idea that Wigan were the architects of their own downfall sounds very much to me like something they would tell themselves to cling on to belief that they can buck the trend of derby defeats if these teams meet again in the Grand Final. In reality, if Saints turn in another display like this one at Old Trafford there will be very little that Wigan or Salford can do to stop the juggernaut. The problem is that, as we have seen, Saints under Holbrook haven’t turned up for the very biggest games.

It was an emotional Holbrook who addressed the crowd at the end of what we now know was his last game in charge on home soil. Defeat here would have meant one more home assignment next week before he takes charge of Gold Coast Titans at the start of 2020. Yet that was never on the cards with his side in this mood. He remarked afterwards that this was the most relaxed he’s ever felt coming into a game because of the way his side had used the week off to prepare. Can they use the week off to the same effect before Old Trafford? While Wigan and Salford battle for the other Grand Final slot Saints and Holbrook will again have a watching brief. There are those who would prefer to keep playing to stay battle hardened ahead of the Grand Final. Yet the week off didn’t do Saints any harm ahead of this one and could prove vital in allowing any knocks, bumps and bruises to heal. Lomax picked up a nasty-looking facial injury early in the game and will need to take a careful approach while you can’t help but feel that the forwards, in particular the ageing James Roby, will benefit from a longer preparation period if they are to replicate this level of intensity and standard of execution.

Confidence is high then going into the Grand Final whoever provides the opposition. Sure, we’ve been here before only to see Saints blow it on the big night. Chairman Eamonn McManus has already highlighted 2008 when Saints beat Leeds 38-10 in the Qualifying Semi-Final only to lose to the Rhinos when it mattered most. In this sort of form, and with Wigan looking like a full-page advert for mediocrity at the moment, it can’t happen again.

Can it?