Saints v Wigan Warriors - Preview

Two of rugby league’s greatest rivals are only one step away from Old Trafford as Saints host Wigan in the Super League playoff semi-final on Friday night (September 27, kick-off 7.45pm).

The winner of this one books their place in the Super League Grand Final on October 12 while for the loser there is another chance to make it in next week’s final eliminator against the winner of Thursday night’s meeting between Salford and Castleford. Sound complicated? It’s not really, it’s just a tad wearying when you have virtually lapped the rest of the field in the regular season and are still tasked with beating Britain’s most autumnal sporting entity twice in the space of three weeks to claim your rightful prize. Such is modern sport.

Anyone not totally turned off by this charade might be interested to know that Saints coach Justin Holbrook has made just the one change to his 19-man squad for what he hopes will be his last home game as Saints Head Coach. Holbrook jets off to Australia to take charge of Gold Coast Titans at the end of the season to be replaced by former Tonga boss Kristian Woolf. That one alteration sees Aaron Smith come back into the reckoning having not featured since picking up a two-game suspension a week before the ill-fated Challenge Cup Final at Wembley. He replaces Matty Costello, so it is to be hoped that no stroke of cursed luck befalls either of Mark Percival or Kevin Naiqama before Friday night. Then again we get another chance next week, so…..

Clearly Holbrook wants to take the most straightforward route to Old Trafford and that means winning this one. That despite the fact that the statistical likelihood of beating Wigan five times in a row in 2019 (for that is then what it would likely take to claim the title) is chillingly uncertain. I’m fully aware that if you roll a dice five times the likelihood of getting a six is the same on each occasion, but that doesn’t take into account the possibility of having your eyes gouged out by Tony Clubb or being flopped on by Genkle Benny Flower. All in all I would rather we didn’t bother.

Luckily for you and for the broadcasters hoping for a classic Holbrook doesn’t have such fears. Expect Lachlan Coote to continue his climb back to top form with a start at fullback behind regular wing pairing of Tommy Makinson and Regan Grace and the centre duo of Percival and Naiqama. Rumours abound that Danny Richardson is about to take up a contract with Castleford Tigers next year and he is again absent from the reckoning here with Jonny Lomax set to partner Theo Fages in the halves. Lomax is the best player in Super League yet is not nominated for the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel nor did he make the Super League Dream Team. He won’t worry about that so long as the Grand Final winners ring comes his way in a few weeks’ time.

In the pack Alex Walmsley, James Roby and Luke Thompson will attempt to get on top of the spoilers and hatchet-men that make up the Wigan front row, while Zeb Taia, Dominique Peyroux and Morgan Knowles form a formidable back row. It is widely believed that Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Kyle Amor will make the bench which leaves Smith to battle it out with James Bentley and Jack Ashworth for a spot.

And so to the bit where it falls upon me to tell you something about the Wigan squad. Sam Powell was the major doubt following last week’s 18-12 win over Salford Red Devils but seems to have made an Andy Pipkin-esque recovery from an arm injury, so he will be one of those front row hatchet men probably alongside finger-jabbing cheap-shooter Clubb and the new grub on the block Ollie Partington. Behind them the classy Liam Farrell should start alongside the altogether less desirable Willie Isa with much heralded tackling machine Morgan Smithies at loose forward. Smithies made 72 tackles in the win over Salford, a Super League record. It’s only when you give the kid that egg shaped thing and ask him to do something with it that his troubles will start.

Wigan’s backs have quality in the shape of former Great Britain fullback Zak Hardaker and Oliver Gildart, who I can grudgingly accept is one of the best centres in the game at the moment. His battle with Percival will be one of the keys in this game and its likely sequel at Old Trafford. Liam Marshall and Joe Burgess have express pace on the wings, while Brett French is no slouch coming off the bench to add impact also. Unlike Lomax George Williams is a Steve Prescott Man Of Steel nominee, and he won’t be thinking about the fact that a loss here would give him one more game at the DW Stadium in Wigan colours before he moves to Canberra Raiders in the NRL. He will be partnered in the halves by the ageless Thomas Leuluai.

Among those likely to be in contention for a bench spot are veteran perm-meister Sean O’Loughlin, the aforementioned Flower as well as youngster Liam Byrne, Frenchman Romain Navarrete, centre Chris Hankinson and a man for whom the grass is currently distinctly less green on the other side of Billinge Lump Joe Greenwood.

Push me for a prediction and I will maintain that I really am not too troubled by the outcome. We all know it is the game under the Manchester lights in mid-October that counts. This is just a mechanism to get what might be a much-needed week off next week, but even that has the look of a double-edged sword about it. Remember how poorly Saints played after several key players were out of action in the weeks leading up to Wembley? In all likelihood Saints will win this one just because they are several acres better than this limited Wigan side. If they don’t I won’t be dialling the Samaritans. A defeat here and the Super League trophy is as good as ours.

Squads;

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 13. LMS, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21, Aaron Smith, 22. James Bentley, 23. Lachlan Coote.
Wigan Warriors;

4. Oliver Gildart 5. Joe Burgess 6. George Williams 7. Tommy Leuluai 8. Tony Clubb 9. Sam Powell 10. Ben Flower 11. Joe Greenwood 12. Liam Farrell 13. Sean O’Loughlin 14. Romain Navarrete 15. Willie Isa 17. Liam Marshall 20. Zak Hardaker 23. Chris Hankinson 24. Ollie Partington 36. Liam Byrne 38. Morgan Smithies 43. Bevan French

Referee: Chris Kendall