Saints return to Super League action with a first ever meeting with Toronto Wolfpack at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday night (February 29, kick-off 6.00pm).
It’s a historical moment of sorts. Placing a Canadian team within the UK structure was a bold and ambitious move but its supporters will certainly argue that it has been a success so far. It has taken the Wolfpack just three seasons to work their way up from League One to the top flight. They have done it while regularly reporting five-figure crowds in their Lamport Stadium home. However things are rather different so far this year.
The inclement weather in Toronto prevents them from hosting any fixtures until April and finding a venue for this one has been something of a charade. It was originally pencilled in for the home of Saracens rugby union club in London but was hastily switched back to the north of England after Saracens ran into some trouble with their payroll sums. The other major difference is the results. After running roughshod over almost everything the lower divisions had to offer Brian McDermott’s side have yet to win a game in Super League, going down to Castleford, Salford, Wigan and Warrington. They are rooted to the bottom of the table and will hardly be relishing the prospect of facing the team who has topped the league by a distance in each of the last two seasons.
They may just be catching Saints at the best possible time. Kristian Woolf’s side gave everything they had and a little bit more in trying to become world champions at the expense of Sydney Roosters last weekend. They came up short despite earning many plaudits for their effort and their quality. The question now is how much that effort has taken out of the side both physically and mentally. Perhaps the move to switch the game to a location that is as near to St Helens without actually being in St Helens will prove crucial for the champions.
Woolf makes two changes to his 21-man squad for this one. Regan Grace missed the Wold Club Challenge due to the concussion protocols. The Welsh winger picked up a head knock in the 32-18 win over Hull FC on February 16 but returns to the fold here. He replaces Mark Percival who was named in last week’s squad despite having previously been ruled out for months with a shoulder problem which requires surgery. Percival did not make the Roosters game as it turned out and will now face a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Matty Costello looks favourite to deputise after being pushed out to the wing last week in Grace’s absence. That will allow James Bentley to be used in a more familiar pack role after standing in at centre against Trent Robinson’s side.
Grace and Costello will likely feature in a backline also containing Jack Welsby at fullback in the continued absence of Lachlan Coote through injury, Tommy Makinson and Kevin Naiqama. In the halves Jonny Lomax is peerless in Super League terms at present while Theo Fages impressed at scrum-half in the defeat to the NRL Premiers.
Jack Ashworth is the other man recalled. He comes in for young fullback Tom Nisbet who has been named in the 21 for the last few weeks without ever making a match day 17. Ashworth will challenge the likes of Bentley, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Joseph Paulo, Aaron Smith, Matty Lees and Kyle Amor for a bench spot with Saints established front three of Alex Walmsley, Luke Thompson and hooker James Roby now back together following the latter’s return from a groin problem.
The nominal ‘hosts’ can call upon new loan recruits Jack Wells and Ben Kilner in their 21-man party as well as Tony Gigot who was recently acquired on a one-month trial basis after leaving Catalans Dragons at the end of the season. Gigot brings some much needed Super League quality and experience to a side that has so far shown itself to be sadly lacking in either, that despite the presence of the likes of former Saints Gareth O’Brien, Jon Wilkin and Andrew Dixon.
Of course the name that jumps off the page from McDermott’s selection is that of Sonny Bill Williams, who recently returned from the birth of his child in New Zealand to feature in the Wolfpack’s 32-22 defeat to Warrington last time out. The Wolfpack went down early in that game but showed great spirit to fight back before the Wolves finally eased away from their lupine brethren at the end of the game. It was a display which will have encouraged McDermott who will also look to the likes of former Grand Finalist Matty Russell, Anthony Mullally, the unpredictable Hakim MIloudi and Ricky Leutele to provide a spark.
Despite this smattering of quality you would have to question whether there is enough depth in the Wolfpack squad to truly threaten Saints. Woolf’s side are still the team to beat despite their loss to the Roosters and their 19-0 humbling against the Wolves on their last visit to Warrington at the beginning of February. The additions of Gigot, Wells and Kilner shone a light on just how threadbare McDermott’s squad was as the Wolfpack continue to struggle with their salary cap management. The recent exit of Director Of Rugby Brian Noble may or may not have had something to do with that struggle. It now falls upon McDermott to try to shape the squad he has into a team capable of competing in Super League. It is highly likely that they will fall to what would be a fifth straight defeat to open the season, a record which if nothing else will test the enthusiasm of a fan base so used to winning at lower levels in the last three seasons.
Though they are still missing one or two star names Saints should have more than enough to earn a third win of the season and stay in touch with the early season pace-setters Castleford Tigers. Saints by 20.
Squads;
Toronto Wolfpack;
Gareth O’Brien, Matty Russell, Ricky Leutele, Liam Kay, Joe Mellor, Josh McCrone, Adam Sidlow, Andy Ackers, Anthony Mullally, Andrew Dixon, Bodensee Thompson, Jon Wilkin, Darcy Lussick, Gadwin Springer, Tom Orbison, Blake Wallace, Sonny Bill Williams, Hakim Miloudi, Tony Gigot, Jack Wells, Ben Kilner
St Helens;
Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Regan Grace, Jonny Lomax, Theo Fages, Alex Walmsley, James Roby, Luke Thompson, Zeb Taia, Dominique Peyroux, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Morgan Knowles, Matty Lees, Kyle Amor, Jack Ashworth, Joseph Paulo, Aaron Smith, James Bentley, Matty Costello, Jack Welsby, Lewis Dodd
Referee: Marcus Griffiths
Weekly comment and analysis on all things Saints with perhaps the merest hint of bias...
Saints 12 Sydney Roosters 20 - World Club Challenge Review
There were plenty of plaudits but ultimately no silverware for Saints as they went down 20-12 to Sydney Roosters in the weekend’s other world title spat. Kristian Woolf’s side were just a shade below where they needed to be to get the better of the back-to-back NRL and now world champions, but unlike in that other bout it had nothing to do with the weight of their costumes.
Saints were right in this game for most of the way. Only when Luke Keary scored 12 minutes from time could the Roosters breathe easily at 18-6. That came after a pass from influential prop Sio Siua Taukeiaho that was so far forward it could have been manufactured in Warrington. Yet in truth it was a lack of cutting edge in attack which cost the Super League champions their chance at winning a third world crown.
One day we might look back with nostalgic, dewy-eyed pleasure at the giddy quarter of an hour during which Saints held the lead. Luke Thompson introduced himself to future NRL opponents with a fifth minute try which had been handily crafted by Theo Fages. As the ball moved left to right the Frenchman stepped back on the inside and offloaded to Thompson who reached over to breach a helpless defence. Tommy Makinson stepped up to take over the kicking duties with both Lachlan Coote and Mark Percival out injured and Saints were six points to the good. These were halcyon days. Like a time before Brexit, before Boris Johnson, and before Avry from Inside Super League.
The absences of Coote and Percival were always going to leave Saints facing an even stiffer task than the one that was already in front of them. Percival had been named in the initial 21-man squad by Woolf amid suggestions that he would be able to delay the shoulder surgery he requires and play without worsening the problem. Yet that did not materialise, and with Regan Grace also out having picked up a knock in the win at Hull FC last week it left Saints decidedly thin on what is usually a formidable left edge. Zeb Taia was immense all night, and there wasn’t too much wrong with the performances of James Bentley at centre or Matty Costello on the wing. We’ll never quite know how much stronger Saints could have been, how much more of a threat they could have provided, had those two strike players been involved.
It’s too simplistic to say that they would have made all the difference against a defence as good as that of the Roosters. The continued thwarting of Kevin Naiqama and Makinson on the other flank proved that crossing the Roosters’ whitewash is a big ask no matter how good you are in Super League terms, but it would have been nice to find out what impact they could have had. That little bit less pace and guile on that side seemed to be a constant frustration to Jonny Lomax who prompted and probed all night, barely putting a foot wrong but also not quite able to hit anyone on a good enough line with enough pace to break down the tri-coloured wall.
Coote was arguably missed more than either Grace or Percival. Jack Welsby was a willing deputy again, but found out on just his 16th appearance for the club that mixing it with the NRL’s best is a whole different proposition to the weekly grind of Super League. Few worked harder than Welsby but he came up with four errors on the night, two of which were in the act of trying to find that killer pass to his wing man having received it out of the back door from the play-the-ball. It is a play that Coote has all but perfected and which we have also seen Welsby pull off domestically without too much fuss. But the way the Roosters shifted across in defence was unlike anything you will see in the northern hemisphere. It shone a light on exactly where Welsby is at this point in his development and where he needs to improve. All of which should not be a reflection on him necessarily. He is 19 years old. Few players at that age or with such limited first team experience can be considered the finished article.
One side of the Roosters game that was not so pretty was the height of their tackling. Blaming referees for defeats is the last refuge of the pub bore, but there were times when tackling above the shoulders started to look less like a careless habit and more like a strategy from the Australian outfit. New Zealand international prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves - a man with a name no mother would want to pay to have printed on the back of her child’s replica shirt - was especially guilty in the first half and was perhaps lucky not to see a yellow card from referee Chris Kendall. Had he done so we might have seen Saints take more of their chances.
Instead what we saw was the Roosters slowly force their way back into the game, firstly from Daniel Tupou’s brilliant pick-up by his bootlaces to go over in the left hand-corner in the east end of the ground, and then through Joey Manu who bagged the first of his brace after another searing break from Taukeiaho. Debutant scrum-half Kyle Flanagan, replacing the recently retired Cooper Cronk, laid on both of Manu’s tries in similar fashion. For years now we have complained that we do not have a halfback willing to take on the line and take hits in order to create opportunities. Fages had a fantastic game in many respects, but he and perhaps his heir apparent Lewis Dodd would do well to study the way that Flanagan went about his work. It is probably not a coincidence that Danny Richardson’s inability or unwillingness to engage the defensive line like that has culminated in his moving to Castleford.
Staying with halfback play, the kicking game of each side was another notable difference between the two sides. Fages often found himself kicking under pressure and with poor field position so invariably went high. That was meat and drink to James Tedesco, one of the game’s most outstanding fullbacks. It wasn’t until 25 minutes in that Lomax managed to find grass with a territorial kick to turn the Roosters around and make them start a set in uncomfortable circumstances. These are little differences, but they make the difference from becoming world champions and not.
After Makinson had been denied by the video referee it was left to Alex Walmsley, an absolute colossus all night long to the extent that he probably outshone Thompson, to force his way over from close to the line to bring Saints back to within eight points in the final few minutes. That came after a series of penalties near to their own try-line saw Kendall put the visitors on a team warning. But it was too little too late for Saints, whose bid for glory was ultimately a failed one but who can take great pride in their performance. On this evidence they are still the team to beat in Super League. Nobody revelling in their defeat should be in any doubt that they are still a firm favourite to retain the crown they won in October in Justin Holbrook’s last match in charge.
And if they do, maybe next year they will have added that 10 or 15% to their game that they need in order to take on the Roosters and their ilk.
Saints were right in this game for most of the way. Only when Luke Keary scored 12 minutes from time could the Roosters breathe easily at 18-6. That came after a pass from influential prop Sio Siua Taukeiaho that was so far forward it could have been manufactured in Warrington. Yet in truth it was a lack of cutting edge in attack which cost the Super League champions their chance at winning a third world crown.
One day we might look back with nostalgic, dewy-eyed pleasure at the giddy quarter of an hour during which Saints held the lead. Luke Thompson introduced himself to future NRL opponents with a fifth minute try which had been handily crafted by Theo Fages. As the ball moved left to right the Frenchman stepped back on the inside and offloaded to Thompson who reached over to breach a helpless defence. Tommy Makinson stepped up to take over the kicking duties with both Lachlan Coote and Mark Percival out injured and Saints were six points to the good. These were halcyon days. Like a time before Brexit, before Boris Johnson, and before Avry from Inside Super League.
The absences of Coote and Percival were always going to leave Saints facing an even stiffer task than the one that was already in front of them. Percival had been named in the initial 21-man squad by Woolf amid suggestions that he would be able to delay the shoulder surgery he requires and play without worsening the problem. Yet that did not materialise, and with Regan Grace also out having picked up a knock in the win at Hull FC last week it left Saints decidedly thin on what is usually a formidable left edge. Zeb Taia was immense all night, and there wasn’t too much wrong with the performances of James Bentley at centre or Matty Costello on the wing. We’ll never quite know how much stronger Saints could have been, how much more of a threat they could have provided, had those two strike players been involved.
It’s too simplistic to say that they would have made all the difference against a defence as good as that of the Roosters. The continued thwarting of Kevin Naiqama and Makinson on the other flank proved that crossing the Roosters’ whitewash is a big ask no matter how good you are in Super League terms, but it would have been nice to find out what impact they could have had. That little bit less pace and guile on that side seemed to be a constant frustration to Jonny Lomax who prompted and probed all night, barely putting a foot wrong but also not quite able to hit anyone on a good enough line with enough pace to break down the tri-coloured wall.
Coote was arguably missed more than either Grace or Percival. Jack Welsby was a willing deputy again, but found out on just his 16th appearance for the club that mixing it with the NRL’s best is a whole different proposition to the weekly grind of Super League. Few worked harder than Welsby but he came up with four errors on the night, two of which were in the act of trying to find that killer pass to his wing man having received it out of the back door from the play-the-ball. It is a play that Coote has all but perfected and which we have also seen Welsby pull off domestically without too much fuss. But the way the Roosters shifted across in defence was unlike anything you will see in the northern hemisphere. It shone a light on exactly where Welsby is at this point in his development and where he needs to improve. All of which should not be a reflection on him necessarily. He is 19 years old. Few players at that age or with such limited first team experience can be considered the finished article.
One side of the Roosters game that was not so pretty was the height of their tackling. Blaming referees for defeats is the last refuge of the pub bore, but there were times when tackling above the shoulders started to look less like a careless habit and more like a strategy from the Australian outfit. New Zealand international prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves - a man with a name no mother would want to pay to have printed on the back of her child’s replica shirt - was especially guilty in the first half and was perhaps lucky not to see a yellow card from referee Chris Kendall. Had he done so we might have seen Saints take more of their chances.
Instead what we saw was the Roosters slowly force their way back into the game, firstly from Daniel Tupou’s brilliant pick-up by his bootlaces to go over in the left hand-corner in the east end of the ground, and then through Joey Manu who bagged the first of his brace after another searing break from Taukeiaho. Debutant scrum-half Kyle Flanagan, replacing the recently retired Cooper Cronk, laid on both of Manu’s tries in similar fashion. For years now we have complained that we do not have a halfback willing to take on the line and take hits in order to create opportunities. Fages had a fantastic game in many respects, but he and perhaps his heir apparent Lewis Dodd would do well to study the way that Flanagan went about his work. It is probably not a coincidence that Danny Richardson’s inability or unwillingness to engage the defensive line like that has culminated in his moving to Castleford.
Staying with halfback play, the kicking game of each side was another notable difference between the two sides. Fages often found himself kicking under pressure and with poor field position so invariably went high. That was meat and drink to James Tedesco, one of the game’s most outstanding fullbacks. It wasn’t until 25 minutes in that Lomax managed to find grass with a territorial kick to turn the Roosters around and make them start a set in uncomfortable circumstances. These are little differences, but they make the difference from becoming world champions and not.
After Makinson had been denied by the video referee it was left to Alex Walmsley, an absolute colossus all night long to the extent that he probably outshone Thompson, to force his way over from close to the line to bring Saints back to within eight points in the final few minutes. That came after a series of penalties near to their own try-line saw Kendall put the visitors on a team warning. But it was too little too late for Saints, whose bid for glory was ultimately a failed one but who can take great pride in their performance. On this evidence they are still the team to beat in Super League. Nobody revelling in their defeat should be in any doubt that they are still a firm favourite to retain the crown they won in October in Justin Holbrook’s last match in charge.
And if they do, maybe next year they will have added that 10 or 15% to their game that they need in order to take on the Roosters and their ilk.
World Club Challenge Preview - Saints v Sydney Roosters
It’s been 12 years since Saints were crowned champions of the world. They will get another crack at it when they host Sydney Roosters in the World Club Challenge on Saturday night (February 22, kick-off 7.45pm).
Saints’ last attempt ended in a fair degree of ignominy as they were brushed aside 39-0 by a powerful South Sydney Rabbitohs team featuring Greg Inglis, Josh Reynolds, George Burgess and Isaac Luke in 2015. And some chap called Luke Keary who, as it turns out, will be lining up against Saints again after moving to the Roosters in 2017.
Yet that defeat came at the start of the Keiron Cunningham reign, when the most limited Saints team to ever win a Grand Final were about to enter a period of mundanity and mediocrity. The 2020 vintage has a parallel in that it has just lost its Grand Final winning coach and has to get used to a new man’s ideas on how best to get the job done, but there is a good deal more talent and flair across this Saints squad than in that 2014/15 vintage.
The fly in the ointment is the injury list. Lachlan Coote has not played since limping out of the opening day win over Salford Red Devils and will not feature here either. Tommy Makinson and Morgan Knowles have only just returned to the side, featuring in the win over Hull FC last week having missed the Salford win and the defeat by Warrington in Round 2 of Super League. James Roby has not played at all this season but is included in coach Kristian Woolf’s 21-man selection after recovering from a groin problem. It has to be questionable whether these three key players will be anywhere near their best after their respective lay-offs, but such is their quality it would be an ever tougher task to try and beat the NRL champions without them.
Also included is Mark Percival. It was announced last week that Percival would be out of action for several months. He requires shoulder surgery having damaged it during that loss at the Halliwell Jones Stadium but Woolf has assured us that the operation can be delayed without further risk to Percival’s long term fitness. There has been some objection to this from those who don’t buy the idea that a player can be ruled out for months and then deemed fit just a few days later. Yet there have been countless examples of players who require surgery delaying their visit to the operating theatre in order to finish a season or play in a major final. The only difference here is the time of year.
If Percival does play he will need a new wing partner. Regan Grace was another who took a knock in the win over Hull FC and misses out. The Welsh flyer has hardly missed a game since breaking into the Saints team on Good Friday 2017 and will be devastated to miss out on one of the biggest games that the club has played since. Yet at 23 he should have further opportunities before the book is closed on his career. Kevin Naiqama may move to the wing or else Matty Costello could again feature, fresh from a try-scoring appearance at the KCom Stadium. Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages will pull the strings in midfield, with the former now firmly established as the biggest key to everything that Saints do in attack. With Coote out Jack Welsby should continue his education at fullback.
It is perhaps up front where Saints will feel that they can match the Roosters or anyone else for that matter. We are all too aware of how Luke Thompson has caught the eye of the scouts on the other side of the world while Alex Walmsley and Roby join him in the game’s most formidable front three. It will be fascinating to see whether the second row pairing of Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux can step up this level at this stage of their careers. Both have NRL experience but will be challenged far more than they might expect to be on a weekly basis when coming up against other Super League sides. At loose forward we should have no concerns about Knowles who can mix it with anyone, a player whose ability to do the little things well would no doubt be highly cherished by clubs in the Australian game.
With Roby back James Bentley is likely to be released from hooking duties and may take a place on the bench where he can cover positions in the backs or the forwards. Aaron Smith should then be Roby’s understudy, or may even start the game should the veteran star be deemed better suited to an introduction from the bench against more tired opposition. Matty Lees and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook also look certain to be on the interchange bench with Kyle Amor and Joseph Paulo also in contention. Youngsters Lewis Dodd and Tom Nisbet have again made the 21-man squad and will benefit just from being around the first team in the build-up to a game this big, even if they do not get an opportunity to make the final 17.
The Roosters are back-to-back NRL Premiers and are littered with star names as you might expect. James Tedesco is one of the top fullbacks in world rugby league while the left edge partnership of Joseph Manu and former St George-Illawarra and Canterbury Bulldogs winger Brett Morris looks especially potent. Morris has played 18 times for Australia and Manu is a current New Zealand international. Keary is joined in the halves by youngster Kyle Flanagan while on the opposite edge to Manu and Morris you might find former Australian international Daniel Tupou and New South Wales State Of Origin man Angus Crichton.
The Roosters pack features another prominent Kiwi in the shape of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Tongan powerhouse Sio Taukeiaho. Behind them in the second row is another Tongan international Sitili Tupouniua and veteran Mitch Aubusson who has been with the Roosters since 2007. The 21-year-old Victor Radley’s battle at loose forward with Knowles could be an exciting watch while on the bench for Trent Robinson’s side are the likes of Isaac Liu and Lachlan Lam, son of Wigan-coaching former Papua New Guinea superstar Adrian.
For all their dominance of Super League last season Saints go into this one as an underdog. The fact that the Roosters have not yet started their season and so have no competitive rugby behind them in 2020 is an advantage, as might the weather be with the recent windy and wet conditions that have battered the UK not likely to have improved dramatically by kick-off. But if Saints are to have any chance they have to improve on the performances we have seen from them in the last two weeks when they were shut out by Steve Price’s side and allowed a couple of soft-looking tries against the black and whites last time out. The kicking game has to be spot on too as field position is likely to be key. Fages and Lomax need to try to pin the Roosters back at the start of their sets while on the other side of the ball the returning of Makinson and probably Naiqama could be another big factor.
My head tells me that without Coote and Grace, and with big players just coming back from injury problems Saints are not quite where they need to be to match a team of this standing. Everything needs to go their way but the most likely outcome is that the Roosters will defend the title they won against Wigan a year ago. Staying competitive is essential not only for Saints but for the Super League and for the concept of the World Club Challenge going forward, and with that in mind I expect Saints to be in the game for the majority of it before perhaps falling away at the end. Roosters by 20.
Saints’ last attempt ended in a fair degree of ignominy as they were brushed aside 39-0 by a powerful South Sydney Rabbitohs team featuring Greg Inglis, Josh Reynolds, George Burgess and Isaac Luke in 2015. And some chap called Luke Keary who, as it turns out, will be lining up against Saints again after moving to the Roosters in 2017.
Yet that defeat came at the start of the Keiron Cunningham reign, when the most limited Saints team to ever win a Grand Final were about to enter a period of mundanity and mediocrity. The 2020 vintage has a parallel in that it has just lost its Grand Final winning coach and has to get used to a new man’s ideas on how best to get the job done, but there is a good deal more talent and flair across this Saints squad than in that 2014/15 vintage.
The fly in the ointment is the injury list. Lachlan Coote has not played since limping out of the opening day win over Salford Red Devils and will not feature here either. Tommy Makinson and Morgan Knowles have only just returned to the side, featuring in the win over Hull FC last week having missed the Salford win and the defeat by Warrington in Round 2 of Super League. James Roby has not played at all this season but is included in coach Kristian Woolf’s 21-man selection after recovering from a groin problem. It has to be questionable whether these three key players will be anywhere near their best after their respective lay-offs, but such is their quality it would be an ever tougher task to try and beat the NRL champions without them.
Also included is Mark Percival. It was announced last week that Percival would be out of action for several months. He requires shoulder surgery having damaged it during that loss at the Halliwell Jones Stadium but Woolf has assured us that the operation can be delayed without further risk to Percival’s long term fitness. There has been some objection to this from those who don’t buy the idea that a player can be ruled out for months and then deemed fit just a few days later. Yet there have been countless examples of players who require surgery delaying their visit to the operating theatre in order to finish a season or play in a major final. The only difference here is the time of year.
If Percival does play he will need a new wing partner. Regan Grace was another who took a knock in the win over Hull FC and misses out. The Welsh flyer has hardly missed a game since breaking into the Saints team on Good Friday 2017 and will be devastated to miss out on one of the biggest games that the club has played since. Yet at 23 he should have further opportunities before the book is closed on his career. Kevin Naiqama may move to the wing or else Matty Costello could again feature, fresh from a try-scoring appearance at the KCom Stadium. Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages will pull the strings in midfield, with the former now firmly established as the biggest key to everything that Saints do in attack. With Coote out Jack Welsby should continue his education at fullback.
It is perhaps up front where Saints will feel that they can match the Roosters or anyone else for that matter. We are all too aware of how Luke Thompson has caught the eye of the scouts on the other side of the world while Alex Walmsley and Roby join him in the game’s most formidable front three. It will be fascinating to see whether the second row pairing of Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux can step up this level at this stage of their careers. Both have NRL experience but will be challenged far more than they might expect to be on a weekly basis when coming up against other Super League sides. At loose forward we should have no concerns about Knowles who can mix it with anyone, a player whose ability to do the little things well would no doubt be highly cherished by clubs in the Australian game.
With Roby back James Bentley is likely to be released from hooking duties and may take a place on the bench where he can cover positions in the backs or the forwards. Aaron Smith should then be Roby’s understudy, or may even start the game should the veteran star be deemed better suited to an introduction from the bench against more tired opposition. Matty Lees and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook also look certain to be on the interchange bench with Kyle Amor and Joseph Paulo also in contention. Youngsters Lewis Dodd and Tom Nisbet have again made the 21-man squad and will benefit just from being around the first team in the build-up to a game this big, even if they do not get an opportunity to make the final 17.
The Roosters are back-to-back NRL Premiers and are littered with star names as you might expect. James Tedesco is one of the top fullbacks in world rugby league while the left edge partnership of Joseph Manu and former St George-Illawarra and Canterbury Bulldogs winger Brett Morris looks especially potent. Morris has played 18 times for Australia and Manu is a current New Zealand international. Keary is joined in the halves by youngster Kyle Flanagan while on the opposite edge to Manu and Morris you might find former Australian international Daniel Tupou and New South Wales State Of Origin man Angus Crichton.
The Roosters pack features another prominent Kiwi in the shape of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Tongan powerhouse Sio Taukeiaho. Behind them in the second row is another Tongan international Sitili Tupouniua and veteran Mitch Aubusson who has been with the Roosters since 2007. The 21-year-old Victor Radley’s battle at loose forward with Knowles could be an exciting watch while on the bench for Trent Robinson’s side are the likes of Isaac Liu and Lachlan Lam, son of Wigan-coaching former Papua New Guinea superstar Adrian.
For all their dominance of Super League last season Saints go into this one as an underdog. The fact that the Roosters have not yet started their season and so have no competitive rugby behind them in 2020 is an advantage, as might the weather be with the recent windy and wet conditions that have battered the UK not likely to have improved dramatically by kick-off. But if Saints are to have any chance they have to improve on the performances we have seen from them in the last two weeks when they were shut out by Steve Price’s side and allowed a couple of soft-looking tries against the black and whites last time out. The kicking game has to be spot on too as field position is likely to be key. Fages and Lomax need to try to pin the Roosters back at the start of their sets while on the other side of the ball the returning of Makinson and probably Naiqama could be another big factor.
My head tells me that without Coote and Grace, and with big players just coming back from injury problems Saints are not quite where they need to be to match a team of this standing. Everything needs to go their way but the most likely outcome is that the Roosters will defend the title they won against Wigan a year ago. Staying competitive is essential not only for Saints but for the Super League and for the concept of the World Club Challenge going forward, and with that in mind I expect Saints to be in the game for the majority of it before perhaps falling away at the end. Roosters by 20.
World Club Challenge Memories - Saints v Brisbane Broncos 2007
On February 8 2007 a Saints side which had won everything bar the varsity boat race in 2006, even carrying off the Team Of The Year award at the notoriously anti-league BBC’s Sports Review Of The Year, lost 14-6 at home to Harlequins. They followed that by visiting Wakefield 10 days later and contriving to lose 29-22. As they trudged off the Belle Vue turf they did not look like a side five days away from being crowned world champions for a second time.
Current England coach and media schmoozer Wayne Bennett brought his Brisbane Broncos side to Bolton to face Saints in the World Club Challenge on February 23. They had earned the right by beating Melbourne Storm 15-8 in the 2006 NRL Grand Final. Their team featured Australian Test superstars Darren Lockyer, Petero Civoniceva and Sam Thaiday. Brad Thorn was a dual code, dual nationality test player, Australian when he played rugby league and a New Zealander when he played rugby union. Shane Webcke had retired after the victory over Melbourne but in Dane Carlaw they had a replacement who had played six times for Australia. There was quality right through this Broncos side. There was also Steve Michaels, latterly of Hull FC but at that time a fresh-faced 20-year-old who had not featured in the NRL Grand Final win a few months previously.
So losing to two sides who would finish eighth and ninth in Super League by the end of the year was not the ideal preparation for facing the best side in the NRL. Yet Saints had previous where Brisbane were concerned. Six years earlier, Ian Millward’s side found themselves two scores down at the same venue, Bolton’s Reebok Stadium as it was known then, before a combination of a snow-storm and a quite possessed David Fairleigh helped haul Saints back into the game to cap a 20-18 victory with drop-goals from Paul Sculthorpe and Sean Long. Fairleigh was not in the Saints side of 2007, but they did have Jason Cayless and a 21-year-old James Graham among their pack options. And crucially they still had both Sculthorpe and Long, the latter by now skippering the side.
Had this been your average league game you might describe Ade Gardner’s performance as mixed. Yet this was no ordinary game and so it is Gardner’s last, game-winning contribution for which his night is remembered. Gardner scored 167 tries in 281 appearances for Saints between 2002-2014 but none were as vital as this late effort which sealed the world crown. It was his second try of the match, having earlier taken Matt Gidley’s pass and stepped inside Darius Boyd to get Saints on the board. Yet his night had started terribly as he flapped at Lockyer’s early searching bomb. Making Nathan Graham look like Steve Hampson, Gardner spilled the ball as it dropped from the Lancashire sky and allowed Corey Parker to touch down for the opening score of the game.
Despite Gardner’s first try the visitors still had the edge, leading 8-6 thanks to a Parker penalty. In the second half they built on that and on Gardner’s insecurities, Lockyer going full Bobbie Goulding as he launched another towering kick towards the right hand side of Saints defence. Again Gardner hesitated, allowing Boyd to nip in and gather the ball and ground it for the Broncos second try of the night. It gave them a 12-6 half-time lead. And didn’t Bennett look smug about it? Every close up of the legendary schemer’s face betrayed the thoughts of a man fit to burst with pleasure at the thought of boring everyone to death on his way to what he must have felt would be another landmark victory.
The Grind was becoming The Thing in rugby league. It arguably still is, certainly for Bennett who continues to five-drives-and-a-kick his way to success. Plus the odd nilling in a World Cup final. Yet Bennet was about to be hoist with his own petard. Whatever a petard is. The Broncos were not the only side to have mastered a more conservative, risk-averse style of play. Saints under Daniel Anderson were so much better than anyone else in Super League (whatever their appalling Grand Final results against Leeds Rhinos suggest) that their style of play is often overlooked. With a young James Roby only good enough to be an understudy to a head-banded and still strikingly brilliant Keiron Cunningham at hooker, Saints had a twin threat from dummy half unlike any other seen before perhaps anywhere in the rugby league world. The pair of them scooted their way through sleeping marker defenders with ridiculous ease at times. It was hugely enjoyable in as far as it invariably helped Saints marmalise the opposition, but it had less of an aesthetic pleasure than the approach adopted by Millward’s Wide-To-West-ing mavericks of the early 2000s.
Yet few of a red vee persuasion cared this night as Cunningham engineered the try that got Saints back into the game. Close to the line Cunningham chose not to scoot this time, but instead found Sculthorpe with a pass timed just well enough to get him on the outside of his defender and exploit the merest of gaps in the Broncos defensive line. Sculthorpe’s effort brought Saints back level at 12-12, but another Parker penalty put the Australian side back in front at 14-12. And so to the hoisting of Bennett on that petard.
Willie Talau had gained ground down the Saints left flank but been hauled down just inside the Broncos 20-metre line. Francis Meli stepped in at dummy half. Who knows what Cunningham or Roby were doing. Perhaps Keiron was adjusting that headband. In their stead, Meli flipped the ball out to the waiting Long who took a couple of steps before sending what used to be known as an up and under sailing above Boyd on the left side of the Brisbane defence. Which was also an area of the field patrolled by Gardner. Having the run on the waiting Boyd, Gardner surged forward and leapt like Michael Jordan on a trampoline, taking the ball and grounding it in one glorious movement. Boyd and Brent Tate were left floundering on the floor as memories of Gardner’s earlier fallibility under the high ball were erased. The Grind had born fruit, the cross-field kicks which had been such a weapon for the Broncos during the game had also brought about their undoing.
It was arguably the high point of a season which ended with the first of what would turn out to be five successive Grand Final defeats. Despite winning the League Leaders Shield with 19 wins from their 27 league games Saints were thrashed 33-6 by the Rhinos in the pouring rain in October. Tony Smith’s side scored five tries to just the one Roby reply for Saints. And all that just two weeks after Saints had edged a tense Qualifying semi-final between the two 10-8 at Knowsley Road. Anderson’s side just couldn’t do it in Grand Finals. It was a trend which continued through the shorter coaching tenures of both Mick Potter and Royce Simmonds but thankfully brought to a shuddering halt by Nathan Brown’s class of 2014.
Despite their Grand Final woes nothing could detract from the fact that the 2007 Saints side were World Champions. Defeat to the Rhinos meant that Saints would not get to defend that crown and their only appearance since is a fairly humiliating 39-0 hammering by South Sydney Rabbitohs at Langtree Park in 2015. But the 2007 Saints, grind or no grind, where as good as anything on the rugby league planet at that time.
Except maybe Harlequins and Wakefield.
Current England coach and media schmoozer Wayne Bennett brought his Brisbane Broncos side to Bolton to face Saints in the World Club Challenge on February 23. They had earned the right by beating Melbourne Storm 15-8 in the 2006 NRL Grand Final. Their team featured Australian Test superstars Darren Lockyer, Petero Civoniceva and Sam Thaiday. Brad Thorn was a dual code, dual nationality test player, Australian when he played rugby league and a New Zealander when he played rugby union. Shane Webcke had retired after the victory over Melbourne but in Dane Carlaw they had a replacement who had played six times for Australia. There was quality right through this Broncos side. There was also Steve Michaels, latterly of Hull FC but at that time a fresh-faced 20-year-old who had not featured in the NRL Grand Final win a few months previously.
So losing to two sides who would finish eighth and ninth in Super League by the end of the year was not the ideal preparation for facing the best side in the NRL. Yet Saints had previous where Brisbane were concerned. Six years earlier, Ian Millward’s side found themselves two scores down at the same venue, Bolton’s Reebok Stadium as it was known then, before a combination of a snow-storm and a quite possessed David Fairleigh helped haul Saints back into the game to cap a 20-18 victory with drop-goals from Paul Sculthorpe and Sean Long. Fairleigh was not in the Saints side of 2007, but they did have Jason Cayless and a 21-year-old James Graham among their pack options. And crucially they still had both Sculthorpe and Long, the latter by now skippering the side.
Had this been your average league game you might describe Ade Gardner’s performance as mixed. Yet this was no ordinary game and so it is Gardner’s last, game-winning contribution for which his night is remembered. Gardner scored 167 tries in 281 appearances for Saints between 2002-2014 but none were as vital as this late effort which sealed the world crown. It was his second try of the match, having earlier taken Matt Gidley’s pass and stepped inside Darius Boyd to get Saints on the board. Yet his night had started terribly as he flapped at Lockyer’s early searching bomb. Making Nathan Graham look like Steve Hampson, Gardner spilled the ball as it dropped from the Lancashire sky and allowed Corey Parker to touch down for the opening score of the game.
Despite Gardner’s first try the visitors still had the edge, leading 8-6 thanks to a Parker penalty. In the second half they built on that and on Gardner’s insecurities, Lockyer going full Bobbie Goulding as he launched another towering kick towards the right hand side of Saints defence. Again Gardner hesitated, allowing Boyd to nip in and gather the ball and ground it for the Broncos second try of the night. It gave them a 12-6 half-time lead. And didn’t Bennett look smug about it? Every close up of the legendary schemer’s face betrayed the thoughts of a man fit to burst with pleasure at the thought of boring everyone to death on his way to what he must have felt would be another landmark victory.
The Grind was becoming The Thing in rugby league. It arguably still is, certainly for Bennett who continues to five-drives-and-a-kick his way to success. Plus the odd nilling in a World Cup final. Yet Bennet was about to be hoist with his own petard. Whatever a petard is. The Broncos were not the only side to have mastered a more conservative, risk-averse style of play. Saints under Daniel Anderson were so much better than anyone else in Super League (whatever their appalling Grand Final results against Leeds Rhinos suggest) that their style of play is often overlooked. With a young James Roby only good enough to be an understudy to a head-banded and still strikingly brilliant Keiron Cunningham at hooker, Saints had a twin threat from dummy half unlike any other seen before perhaps anywhere in the rugby league world. The pair of them scooted their way through sleeping marker defenders with ridiculous ease at times. It was hugely enjoyable in as far as it invariably helped Saints marmalise the opposition, but it had less of an aesthetic pleasure than the approach adopted by Millward’s Wide-To-West-ing mavericks of the early 2000s.
Yet few of a red vee persuasion cared this night as Cunningham engineered the try that got Saints back into the game. Close to the line Cunningham chose not to scoot this time, but instead found Sculthorpe with a pass timed just well enough to get him on the outside of his defender and exploit the merest of gaps in the Broncos defensive line. Sculthorpe’s effort brought Saints back level at 12-12, but another Parker penalty put the Australian side back in front at 14-12. And so to the hoisting of Bennett on that petard.
Willie Talau had gained ground down the Saints left flank but been hauled down just inside the Broncos 20-metre line. Francis Meli stepped in at dummy half. Who knows what Cunningham or Roby were doing. Perhaps Keiron was adjusting that headband. In their stead, Meli flipped the ball out to the waiting Long who took a couple of steps before sending what used to be known as an up and under sailing above Boyd on the left side of the Brisbane defence. Which was also an area of the field patrolled by Gardner. Having the run on the waiting Boyd, Gardner surged forward and leapt like Michael Jordan on a trampoline, taking the ball and grounding it in one glorious movement. Boyd and Brent Tate were left floundering on the floor as memories of Gardner’s earlier fallibility under the high ball were erased. The Grind had born fruit, the cross-field kicks which had been such a weapon for the Broncos during the game had also brought about their undoing.
It was arguably the high point of a season which ended with the first of what would turn out to be five successive Grand Final defeats. Despite winning the League Leaders Shield with 19 wins from their 27 league games Saints were thrashed 33-6 by the Rhinos in the pouring rain in October. Tony Smith’s side scored five tries to just the one Roby reply for Saints. And all that just two weeks after Saints had edged a tense Qualifying semi-final between the two 10-8 at Knowsley Road. Anderson’s side just couldn’t do it in Grand Finals. It was a trend which continued through the shorter coaching tenures of both Mick Potter and Royce Simmonds but thankfully brought to a shuddering halt by Nathan Brown’s class of 2014.
Despite their Grand Final woes nothing could detract from the fact that the 2007 Saints side were World Champions. Defeat to the Rhinos meant that Saints would not get to defend that crown and their only appearance since is a fairly humiliating 39-0 hammering by South Sydney Rabbitohs at Langtree Park in 2015. But the 2007 Saints, grind or no grind, where as good as anything on the rugby league planet at that time.
Except maybe Harlequins and Wakefield.
Hull FC 18 Saints 32 - Review
What were we all worried about?
Oh go on alright then I’ll level with you. I was a tad concerned when Saints reached half-time of this one without troubling the Hull FC try-line. Following the fairly disastrous 19-0 thumping at Warrington 10 days earlier it all added up to 120 minutes of rugby league without Saints crossing the whitewash. All they had to show for that endeavour was Tommy Makinson’s penalty. Not only that but as they headed to the break at the KCom Stadium they trailed the black and whites 6-2 courtesy of Carlos Tuimavave’s try. Regan Grace flapped at a crossfield kick before James Bentley absolutely butchered an attempt to kick the ball dead, hitting nothing but air and allowing Tuimavave the easiest of opportunities.
All of which had even those of us who consider ourselves among the least hysterical of our following ruminating darkly about a time before Justin Holbrook. Keiron Cunningham is a bona fide rugby league legend, let alone a Saints legend, and it was great to see him back on Saints TV this week recounting some of his happier times associated with the club. Yet you were not human if you were not sitting there at half-time at the KCom and wondering whether the great man had somehow managed to sneak his way back into the coaching booth.
But that doesn’t pay enough credit to the way that Lee Radford’s side defended in that first 40 minutes. Though Saints drew a blank in terms of crossing the try-line there wasn’t too much wrong with how Kristian Woolf’s side approached their task in attack. This wasn’t the reckless abandon of Saints in the 1980s but nor was it the five drives and a kick mundanity of the Cunningham coaching era. With Makinson back as well as Alex Walmsley and Morgan Knowles there were plenty of metre-munchers in the Saints ranks, while Jonny Lomax was his usual busy, enterprising self without quite finding any weaknesses in the black and white wall.
Hull FC showed last season and arguably over the last few seasons under Radford that they have trouble maintaining their very highest standards. It was almost inevitable that they would break but the manner in which they did in the early moments of the second half was still quite startling. This spell did have more common with some of Saints’ best performances of yesteryear as they ran in four tries in a barmy 12 minutes after half-time. First Matty Costello, standing in ably for Mark Percival after he was ruled out for several months with a shoulder problem, took Lomax’s pass to cross in the left hand corner, before Luke Thompson pounced on a mistake from Mahe Fonua following Theo Fages’ bomb close to the Hull FC line. It was another breathless performance from Thompson who racked up 108 metres on 13 carries and made 26 tackles. It is great to watch him in this kind of form, even if Saints blue and white away shirt offers a disturbing glimpse into the future and what Thompson will look like in a Canterbury Bulldogs uniform. Make it stop.
Aside from Walmsley and Thompson both Zeb Taia and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook backed up their creditable showings amid the carnage at Warrington with useful contributions here. Both ran for 141 metres, with McCarthy-Scarsbrook managing it on two fewer carries than Taia. Alongside Taia, Dominique Peyroux was subdued in attack, which is probably what will happen until he finds an alternative signature move than the step back on the inside cutting in from the right, but on the plus side he was Saints top tackler with 31. That is some way short of the 59 that Danny Houghton managed for FC but that is a reflection of how Saints slowly took the game over in the second half and asserted a position of dominance.
One of the keys to the improvement after the break, aside from a drop-off in defensive solidity from a Hull point of view, was the introduction of Aaron Smith at hooker. The injury to Grace was unfortunate and is a possible concern ahead of this week’s World Club Challenge clash with Sydney Roosters but it did allow Bentley to move out to the centre position and Smith to slot in at dummy half. With James Roby having been missing for the early weeks of the season it is vitally important that Saints find someone who can step in and do a serviceable job in that position. Nobody is asking anyone to be Roby. Arguably only Cunningham has ever matched the brilliance of Roby for Saints in that position, but having Smith in there does open up more attacking options for the team. It is less about the quality of distribution from dummy half – James Bentley can pick up a ball and pass it to the first receiver as well as anyone – but more about putting doubt in the mind of defenders. With Bentley in there the defence has less to worry about in terms of a running threat from dummy half. Bentley averaged five metres per carry when he jumped out from there whereas Smith was good for an average of 10 on the two occasions when he went alone.
Yet it was Lomax who proved the biggest difference in that second half. Having spent the first 40 minutes being frustrated that his probing and string-pulling was not having the desired effect he burst into life in the second half. He ended up with another three assists which takes him to six for the season. He leads the league in that category alongside Wigan’s Jackson Hastings. Lomax was also Saints’ leading metre-maker, ripping off 162 on 19 carries at nine metres a carry. He left most of the kicking to Fages but we know that he also has that in his armoury when he needs it. If Saints are to have any chance of becoming world champions you sense that Lomax is going to be one of the majorly influential factors.
The win not only helps banish the memories of the Warrington loss but is an important confidence booster ahead of the visit of the Roosters. Saints will be bidding to win a first World title since 2007 when Trent Robinson’s side come to town. It will be an extraordinarily difficult task, but one that you feel would have been made even tougher on the back of a loss on Humberside in the wake of the one at Warrington. Saints may find themselves playing catch-up a little bit in the early going of the Super League race with some teams having played a game more than them by the end of this weekend but this victory gives them a solid foundation from which to build the defence of their Super League crown irrespective of what happens when they meet the NRL Premiers.
And anyway it is just the Roosters. What are you worried about?
Oh go on alright then I’ll level with you. I was a tad concerned when Saints reached half-time of this one without troubling the Hull FC try-line. Following the fairly disastrous 19-0 thumping at Warrington 10 days earlier it all added up to 120 minutes of rugby league without Saints crossing the whitewash. All they had to show for that endeavour was Tommy Makinson’s penalty. Not only that but as they headed to the break at the KCom Stadium they trailed the black and whites 6-2 courtesy of Carlos Tuimavave’s try. Regan Grace flapped at a crossfield kick before James Bentley absolutely butchered an attempt to kick the ball dead, hitting nothing but air and allowing Tuimavave the easiest of opportunities.
All of which had even those of us who consider ourselves among the least hysterical of our following ruminating darkly about a time before Justin Holbrook. Keiron Cunningham is a bona fide rugby league legend, let alone a Saints legend, and it was great to see him back on Saints TV this week recounting some of his happier times associated with the club. Yet you were not human if you were not sitting there at half-time at the KCom and wondering whether the great man had somehow managed to sneak his way back into the coaching booth.
But that doesn’t pay enough credit to the way that Lee Radford’s side defended in that first 40 minutes. Though Saints drew a blank in terms of crossing the try-line there wasn’t too much wrong with how Kristian Woolf’s side approached their task in attack. This wasn’t the reckless abandon of Saints in the 1980s but nor was it the five drives and a kick mundanity of the Cunningham coaching era. With Makinson back as well as Alex Walmsley and Morgan Knowles there were plenty of metre-munchers in the Saints ranks, while Jonny Lomax was his usual busy, enterprising self without quite finding any weaknesses in the black and white wall.
Hull FC showed last season and arguably over the last few seasons under Radford that they have trouble maintaining their very highest standards. It was almost inevitable that they would break but the manner in which they did in the early moments of the second half was still quite startling. This spell did have more common with some of Saints’ best performances of yesteryear as they ran in four tries in a barmy 12 minutes after half-time. First Matty Costello, standing in ably for Mark Percival after he was ruled out for several months with a shoulder problem, took Lomax’s pass to cross in the left hand corner, before Luke Thompson pounced on a mistake from Mahe Fonua following Theo Fages’ bomb close to the Hull FC line. It was another breathless performance from Thompson who racked up 108 metres on 13 carries and made 26 tackles. It is great to watch him in this kind of form, even if Saints blue and white away shirt offers a disturbing glimpse into the future and what Thompson will look like in a Canterbury Bulldogs uniform. Make it stop.
Aside from Walmsley and Thompson both Zeb Taia and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook backed up their creditable showings amid the carnage at Warrington with useful contributions here. Both ran for 141 metres, with McCarthy-Scarsbrook managing it on two fewer carries than Taia. Alongside Taia, Dominique Peyroux was subdued in attack, which is probably what will happen until he finds an alternative signature move than the step back on the inside cutting in from the right, but on the plus side he was Saints top tackler with 31. That is some way short of the 59 that Danny Houghton managed for FC but that is a reflection of how Saints slowly took the game over in the second half and asserted a position of dominance.
One of the keys to the improvement after the break, aside from a drop-off in defensive solidity from a Hull point of view, was the introduction of Aaron Smith at hooker. The injury to Grace was unfortunate and is a possible concern ahead of this week’s World Club Challenge clash with Sydney Roosters but it did allow Bentley to move out to the centre position and Smith to slot in at dummy half. With James Roby having been missing for the early weeks of the season it is vitally important that Saints find someone who can step in and do a serviceable job in that position. Nobody is asking anyone to be Roby. Arguably only Cunningham has ever matched the brilliance of Roby for Saints in that position, but having Smith in there does open up more attacking options for the team. It is less about the quality of distribution from dummy half – James Bentley can pick up a ball and pass it to the first receiver as well as anyone – but more about putting doubt in the mind of defenders. With Bentley in there the defence has less to worry about in terms of a running threat from dummy half. Bentley averaged five metres per carry when he jumped out from there whereas Smith was good for an average of 10 on the two occasions when he went alone.
Yet it was Lomax who proved the biggest difference in that second half. Having spent the first 40 minutes being frustrated that his probing and string-pulling was not having the desired effect he burst into life in the second half. He ended up with another three assists which takes him to six for the season. He leads the league in that category alongside Wigan’s Jackson Hastings. Lomax was also Saints’ leading metre-maker, ripping off 162 on 19 carries at nine metres a carry. He left most of the kicking to Fages but we know that he also has that in his armoury when he needs it. If Saints are to have any chance of becoming world champions you sense that Lomax is going to be one of the majorly influential factors.
The win not only helps banish the memories of the Warrington loss but is an important confidence booster ahead of the visit of the Roosters. Saints will be bidding to win a first World title since 2007 when Trent Robinson’s side come to town. It will be an extraordinarily difficult task, but one that you feel would have been made even tougher on the back of a loss on Humberside in the wake of the one at Warrington. Saints may find themselves playing catch-up a little bit in the early going of the Super League race with some teams having played a game more than them by the end of this weekend but this victory gives them a solid foundation from which to build the defence of their Super League crown irrespective of what happens when they meet the NRL Premiers.
And anyway it is just the Roosters. What are you worried about?
Hull FC v St Helens - Preview
Saints face a difficult test when they visit the KCom Stadium to take on Hull FC on Sunday (February 16, kick-off 3.00pm).
It has been a mixed start to the Kristian Woolf era at Saints. A thumping 48-8 win over Salford Red Devils promised much on the opening weekend. It looked as though Woolf’s version of the Saints would simply pick up where Justin Holbrook’s 2019 champions left off. Yet an error-strewn drubbing at Warrington in Round Two has exposed one or two insecurities among the fans in particular. Saints failed to score a single point in a 19-0 reverse at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and are now looking to get back into some form ahead of next week’s World Club Challenge meeting with Sydney Roosters.
Injuries played a part in that loss at Warrington and they threaten to do so again this week. Already without Lachlan Coote and James Roby, Saints lost Mark Percival for what is expected to be several months after being forced off early in the second half of the Wire defeat with a sternum and shoulder problem. Scans have revealed that he requires surgery and a lengthy spell on the sidelines. In his absence Matty Costello is likely to keep his place despite the prospect of Tommy Makinson seeing action for the first time in 2020 following shoulder surgery of his own.
Makinson has been included in Woolf’s 21-man squad and if fit will slot back into his regular right wing role. That will allow Kevin Naiqama to move back inside to play in the centres with Jack Welsby continuing to deputise for Coote at fullback. Regan Grace will complete the three-quarter line.
One of Saints’ biggest problems at Warrington was the late withdrawal of Alex Walmsley. The former Batley man injured a calf muscle in the warm-up but is deemed fit enough to take his place in the initial squad selection. Saints lacked their usual go-forward in the pack without Walmsley, that despite the best efforts of Luke Thompson, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Zeb Taia. Matty Lees and Jack Ashworth had disappointing nights but one or both will be needed again should Walmsley not make it. Kyle Amor is included and could make his first appearance of the season as Wolf weighs up his front row options. With Roby out expect Aaron Smith to start at hooker with the versatile James Bentley coming off the bench. There has been a suggestion also that either Bentley or Dominique Peyroux could cover Percival’s absence at centre. The final team selection will be instructive with Percival set to be missing for so long.
Another man hoping to make his first appearance of 2020 is Morgan Knowles. The Welsh international was named in the 21-man party last week but was not risked having been another victim of that Saints disease, the shoulder problem. If he starts then McCarthy-Scarsbrook may drop to the bench putting the inclusion in the match day 17 of Joseph Paulo or Jack Ashworth in doubt. Youngsters Tom Nisbet and Lewis Dodd are in the squad but despite the latter’s first half hat-trick for the reserves last weekend it would be a surprise to see either included on game day. The halfback pairing of Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages may have failed to ignite against Steve Price’s side but they are very much the established partnership at present.
Hull coach Lee Radford has been forced into four changes to his 21-man selection. The black and whites have opened the season with impressive wins over Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR but picked up a couple of suspensions and injuries in that derby win. Chris Satae and Albert Kelly fell foul of the disciplinary system while Bureta Fairamo and former Saint Andre Savelio picked up knocks which rule them out this week. Savelio will be especially disappointed not to face his old club having shown signs of his early career potential in the opening two games. Gareth Ellis isn’t a bad alternative to draft into your squad while the three remaining berths go to youngsters Connor Wynne, Kieron Buchanan and Charlie Patterson-Lund.
Despite Faraimo’s absence it is a formidable FC back line. Mahe Fonua, Ratu Naulago and another ex-Saint Adam Swift will all hope to feature though one looks set to miss out with Carlos Tuimavave and Josh Griffin in form in the centres. With Kelly out of the picture Marc Sneyd and Jake Connor should continue their halfback combination with Jamie Shaul in top form at fullback.
If fit Ellis will add quality and experience to a pack that already contains solid performers like Scott Taylor, Danny Houghton, Josh Bowden and yet another man who made his name in the red vee in the shape of Josh Jones. New signing Manu M’au is out but Ligi Sao, Masi Matongo, Brad Fash and Jordans Johnstone and Lane providing further options for Radford.
This meeting represents the first leg of the annual Steve Prescott Cup played between the two sides in memory of their former fullback who passed away in 2013. Saints will need to turn in a dramatically improved performance if they are to win here and get their Super League campaign back on track.
Squads;
St Helens;
Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Regan Grace, Theo Fages, Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley, Luke Thompson, Zeb Taia, Dominique Peyroux, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Morgan Knowles, Matty Lees, Kyle Amor, Jack Ashworth, Joseph Paulo, Aaron Smith, James Bentley, Matty Costello, Jack Welsby, Lewis Dodd, Tom Nisbet
Hull FC;
Jamie Shaul, Carlos Tuimavave, Josh Griffin, Adam Swift, Jake Connor, Marc Sneyd, Scott Taylor, Danny Houghton, Josh Jones, Ligi Sao, Jordan Johnstone, Masi Matongo, Brad Fash, Jordan Lane, Mahe Fonua, Josh Bowden, Kieran Buchanan, Gareth Ellis, Ratu Naulago.
Referee: Liam Moore
It has been a mixed start to the Kristian Woolf era at Saints. A thumping 48-8 win over Salford Red Devils promised much on the opening weekend. It looked as though Woolf’s version of the Saints would simply pick up where Justin Holbrook’s 2019 champions left off. Yet an error-strewn drubbing at Warrington in Round Two has exposed one or two insecurities among the fans in particular. Saints failed to score a single point in a 19-0 reverse at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and are now looking to get back into some form ahead of next week’s World Club Challenge meeting with Sydney Roosters.
Injuries played a part in that loss at Warrington and they threaten to do so again this week. Already without Lachlan Coote and James Roby, Saints lost Mark Percival for what is expected to be several months after being forced off early in the second half of the Wire defeat with a sternum and shoulder problem. Scans have revealed that he requires surgery and a lengthy spell on the sidelines. In his absence Matty Costello is likely to keep his place despite the prospect of Tommy Makinson seeing action for the first time in 2020 following shoulder surgery of his own.
Makinson has been included in Woolf’s 21-man squad and if fit will slot back into his regular right wing role. That will allow Kevin Naiqama to move back inside to play in the centres with Jack Welsby continuing to deputise for Coote at fullback. Regan Grace will complete the three-quarter line.
One of Saints’ biggest problems at Warrington was the late withdrawal of Alex Walmsley. The former Batley man injured a calf muscle in the warm-up but is deemed fit enough to take his place in the initial squad selection. Saints lacked their usual go-forward in the pack without Walmsley, that despite the best efforts of Luke Thompson, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Zeb Taia. Matty Lees and Jack Ashworth had disappointing nights but one or both will be needed again should Walmsley not make it. Kyle Amor is included and could make his first appearance of the season as Wolf weighs up his front row options. With Roby out expect Aaron Smith to start at hooker with the versatile James Bentley coming off the bench. There has been a suggestion also that either Bentley or Dominique Peyroux could cover Percival’s absence at centre. The final team selection will be instructive with Percival set to be missing for so long.
Another man hoping to make his first appearance of 2020 is Morgan Knowles. The Welsh international was named in the 21-man party last week but was not risked having been another victim of that Saints disease, the shoulder problem. If he starts then McCarthy-Scarsbrook may drop to the bench putting the inclusion in the match day 17 of Joseph Paulo or Jack Ashworth in doubt. Youngsters Tom Nisbet and Lewis Dodd are in the squad but despite the latter’s first half hat-trick for the reserves last weekend it would be a surprise to see either included on game day. The halfback pairing of Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages may have failed to ignite against Steve Price’s side but they are very much the established partnership at present.
Hull coach Lee Radford has been forced into four changes to his 21-man selection. The black and whites have opened the season with impressive wins over Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR but picked up a couple of suspensions and injuries in that derby win. Chris Satae and Albert Kelly fell foul of the disciplinary system while Bureta Fairamo and former Saint Andre Savelio picked up knocks which rule them out this week. Savelio will be especially disappointed not to face his old club having shown signs of his early career potential in the opening two games. Gareth Ellis isn’t a bad alternative to draft into your squad while the three remaining berths go to youngsters Connor Wynne, Kieron Buchanan and Charlie Patterson-Lund.
Despite Faraimo’s absence it is a formidable FC back line. Mahe Fonua, Ratu Naulago and another ex-Saint Adam Swift will all hope to feature though one looks set to miss out with Carlos Tuimavave and Josh Griffin in form in the centres. With Kelly out of the picture Marc Sneyd and Jake Connor should continue their halfback combination with Jamie Shaul in top form at fullback.
If fit Ellis will add quality and experience to a pack that already contains solid performers like Scott Taylor, Danny Houghton, Josh Bowden and yet another man who made his name in the red vee in the shape of Josh Jones. New signing Manu M’au is out but Ligi Sao, Masi Matongo, Brad Fash and Jordans Johnstone and Lane providing further options for Radford.
This meeting represents the first leg of the annual Steve Prescott Cup played between the two sides in memory of their former fullback who passed away in 2013. Saints will need to turn in a dramatically improved performance if they are to win here and get their Super League campaign back on track.
Squads;
St Helens;
Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Regan Grace, Theo Fages, Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley, Luke Thompson, Zeb Taia, Dominique Peyroux, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Morgan Knowles, Matty Lees, Kyle Amor, Jack Ashworth, Joseph Paulo, Aaron Smith, James Bentley, Matty Costello, Jack Welsby, Lewis Dodd, Tom Nisbet
Hull FC;
Jamie Shaul, Carlos Tuimavave, Josh Griffin, Adam Swift, Jake Connor, Marc Sneyd, Scott Taylor, Danny Houghton, Josh Jones, Ligi Sao, Jordan Johnstone, Masi Matongo, Brad Fash, Jordan Lane, Mahe Fonua, Josh Bowden, Kieran Buchanan, Gareth Ellis, Ratu Naulago.
Referee: Liam Moore
Golden Tries - Tommy Makinson v Hull FC 2017
A trip to Hull FC looks like a tough ask for Saints this weekend. They go in off the back of a chastening 19-0 loss at Warrington while the black and whites have started the season with impressive victories over Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR.
Yet we have faced these odds before. A week before these two sides met at the 2017 Magic Weekend in Newcastle Saints had been unceremoniously dumped out of the Challenge Cup by Castleford Tigers. Awaiting the arrival of new coach Justin Holbrook in the wake of Keiron Cunningham’s departure from the club Saints went down 53-10 to a Tigers side which would finish that season on top of the table but go on to lose the Grand Final to the Rhinos.
It was thought that Holbrook would have only a watching brief that day. Yet he must have said something to his new charges. Something, somewhere inspired a team which was in local parlance ‘on its arse’ to dish out a fearful 45-0 hammering of Lee Radford’s side. And this was a decent Hull side. Three months on from this embarrassment they would go on to beat Wigan at Wembley in the Challenge Cup Final to win it for the second year in succession.
Saints fans will be hoping that Tommy Makinson is fit to return to the line-up for this week’s visit to the KCom Stadium. The winger has been missing in the first two weeks of 2020 after injuring his shoulder in the 2019 Grand Final victory over Salford Red Devils. It was Makinson who provided the most memorable moment of that 2017 Magic Weekend win over FC, diffusing a cross-field kick before going on to score a length-of-the-field try that is up there with anything seen in Super League over the last decade or so.
We’ll get to Makinson’s try in due course but first a bit of background. Saints’ Challenge Cup pounding at Castleford was the rock bottom moment in a season that had gone terribly up until that day in May. With Cunningham into his second full season in charge since taking over from Nathan Brown at the end of the Grand Final-winning 2014 season Saints started solidly enough, taking a 6-4 win over Leeds Rhinos on a filthy opening night in early February. It is only over the last two seasons that Super League has seen fit to start ‘summer rugby’ before the January sales are out, but a February start still brought with it some less than tropical conditions.
Things went downhill from there for Cunningham and Saints, who lost their next three games. First they went down 24-16 at newly promoted Leigh Centurions before they were edged out 16-12 at home by Wakefield in one of the worst performances by a Saints team it has ever been my displeasure to witness. Seriously, this effort made last week’s outing at Warrington look like highlights from the glory days. It was perfectly turgid. Saints followed that up with a 24-14 loss at – you guessed it – Hull FC. Form picked up slightly with wins in Perpignan over Catalans Dragons and at home to Warrington but a 22-14 defeat at Salford followed by a 14-14 home draw with Huddersfield was the end of the road for Cunningham. Saints had let slip a 14-0 lead in that one, kicked to death by a briefly flickering Danny Brough. The search was on for a new coach, and it was eventually Holbrook who was identified and appointed. During the interim, the trio of club legend Sean Long, fellow assistant coach Jamahl Lolesi and academy supremo Derek Traynor guided Saints to wins over Castleford and Leigh, but there were further defeats to Wigan, Widnes and Warrington before that Challenge Cup mauling at The Jungle.
By contrast Hull FC had 10 wins on the board in all competitions by the time of the Magic Weekend. They opened with a 12-8 win over Wakefield which didn’t promise too much and when they went down 16-14 at home to Catalans Dragons a week later there was barely a shrug from the rugby league world. Same old Hull. Yet a run of four consecutive wins including that 24-14 success over Saints in March was halted only by a 22-22 draw at Warrington. They still had draws in those days before the need to manufacture a winner took over and Golden Point was introduced in 2019. Defeats by Salford and Leeds followed, in which FC conceded over 50 points in each. Yet by the time of their Magic Weekend meeting with Saints FC had gone on another winning run, despatching, Leigh, Castleford, Warrington and Widnes in Super League and avenging that early season loss to Catalans Dragons by dumping the French side out of the Challenge Cup by the ludicrous score-line of 62-0.
So the teams arrived in Newcastle having had massively varying fortunes. A team that had just gone down 53-10 at Castleford was not fancied to make much of an impression on one who had just ran in more than 60 points against the Dragons, new coach or not. Most Saints fans travelled north east hoping to see some signs of improvement not just in results but in the style of play. Even when Saints had won under Cunningham it had often been sleepy stuff. Going through the processes. Completing sets. Applying pressure. Staying in the grind. The flair and flourish that had been at the heart of Saints culture for as long as most of us could remember was beginning to seem like a thing of the past.
So it was all the more surprising then when Saints raced into a 29-0 lead. There was evidence of their more conservative style in the way they went about that with two of their first three tries coming as a result of Matty Smith kicks. Ryan Morgan and Morgan Knowles were the beneficiaries adding to Alex Walmsley’s opening score of the game. Smith was involved again in Saints next nudge of the scoreboard operator, dropping a goal to send his side in to half-time with a fairly mystifying 19-0 lead. Walmsley added his second just after the break and when Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook also crossed the result was just about beyond doubt. A performance like this just needed a little decoration to remember it by. A little signature. Enter Makinson.
Marc Sneyd had tried to fool the Saints defence with a little cross-field chip from just inside the Saints half. Makinson, playing at fullback rather than his customary wing position, was wise to it and plucked it out of the air nonchalantly before beginning one of those winding runs across the pitch that he is known for. This habit can frustrate if he doesn’t find the gap in the defensive line that he is looking for, but on this occasion he found it and then some. As he neared the left hand touchline he was met by Carlos Tuimavave. It seemed as though the Hull FC man would wrap Makinson up but the then 25-year-old showed great strength to put Tuimavave on his backside and continue his run.
Next to try his hand at stopping Makinson was Sika Manu, but he was already behind the play and was done for pace, leaving only Albert Kelly between Makinson and clear daylight ahead. Makinson eluded Kelly with a step to his right before soaring down the field towards the FC try-line. FC forward Chris Green set off in pursuit but was hopelessly outpaced. The black and whites’ last hope of stopping Makinson’s rampage to the line was Danny Houghton, a man who would run a million miles to make a tackle no matter the circumstances. It looked as though he had run a significant distance to get within touching distance of Makinson. He desperately grabbed the arm of Makinson but managed only to slow him down as the Saints man pirouetted out of Houghton’s clutches. Staggering having had his momentum slowed, Makinson bounced back off the floor to plunge over just before the recovering Green could make contact and complete the tackle.
A couple of Regan Grace tries rounded off the 45-0 rout of Radford’s side. More than anything, this result was a springboard for Saints to begin their journey back not only into contention, losing to a Golden-Point drop-goal in the playoff semi-final at Castleford later that season, but towards dominance as they picked up League Leaders Shields in both of Holbrook’s full seasons in charge. The 2019 Grand Final ensured his Saints legacy as he moved on to Gold Coast Titans in the NRL.
With the doom merchants out in force following the abject defeat at Warrington last time out, perhaps the return of Makinson could spark something similar for the Kristian Woolf era just as it did against Hull FC at the start of the Holbrook tenure.
Yet we have faced these odds before. A week before these two sides met at the 2017 Magic Weekend in Newcastle Saints had been unceremoniously dumped out of the Challenge Cup by Castleford Tigers. Awaiting the arrival of new coach Justin Holbrook in the wake of Keiron Cunningham’s departure from the club Saints went down 53-10 to a Tigers side which would finish that season on top of the table but go on to lose the Grand Final to the Rhinos.
It was thought that Holbrook would have only a watching brief that day. Yet he must have said something to his new charges. Something, somewhere inspired a team which was in local parlance ‘on its arse’ to dish out a fearful 45-0 hammering of Lee Radford’s side. And this was a decent Hull side. Three months on from this embarrassment they would go on to beat Wigan at Wembley in the Challenge Cup Final to win it for the second year in succession.
Saints fans will be hoping that Tommy Makinson is fit to return to the line-up for this week’s visit to the KCom Stadium. The winger has been missing in the first two weeks of 2020 after injuring his shoulder in the 2019 Grand Final victory over Salford Red Devils. It was Makinson who provided the most memorable moment of that 2017 Magic Weekend win over FC, diffusing a cross-field kick before going on to score a length-of-the-field try that is up there with anything seen in Super League over the last decade or so.
We’ll get to Makinson’s try in due course but first a bit of background. Saints’ Challenge Cup pounding at Castleford was the rock bottom moment in a season that had gone terribly up until that day in May. With Cunningham into his second full season in charge since taking over from Nathan Brown at the end of the Grand Final-winning 2014 season Saints started solidly enough, taking a 6-4 win over Leeds Rhinos on a filthy opening night in early February. It is only over the last two seasons that Super League has seen fit to start ‘summer rugby’ before the January sales are out, but a February start still brought with it some less than tropical conditions.
Things went downhill from there for Cunningham and Saints, who lost their next three games. First they went down 24-16 at newly promoted Leigh Centurions before they were edged out 16-12 at home by Wakefield in one of the worst performances by a Saints team it has ever been my displeasure to witness. Seriously, this effort made last week’s outing at Warrington look like highlights from the glory days. It was perfectly turgid. Saints followed that up with a 24-14 loss at – you guessed it – Hull FC. Form picked up slightly with wins in Perpignan over Catalans Dragons and at home to Warrington but a 22-14 defeat at Salford followed by a 14-14 home draw with Huddersfield was the end of the road for Cunningham. Saints had let slip a 14-0 lead in that one, kicked to death by a briefly flickering Danny Brough. The search was on for a new coach, and it was eventually Holbrook who was identified and appointed. During the interim, the trio of club legend Sean Long, fellow assistant coach Jamahl Lolesi and academy supremo Derek Traynor guided Saints to wins over Castleford and Leigh, but there were further defeats to Wigan, Widnes and Warrington before that Challenge Cup mauling at The Jungle.
By contrast Hull FC had 10 wins on the board in all competitions by the time of the Magic Weekend. They opened with a 12-8 win over Wakefield which didn’t promise too much and when they went down 16-14 at home to Catalans Dragons a week later there was barely a shrug from the rugby league world. Same old Hull. Yet a run of four consecutive wins including that 24-14 success over Saints in March was halted only by a 22-22 draw at Warrington. They still had draws in those days before the need to manufacture a winner took over and Golden Point was introduced in 2019. Defeats by Salford and Leeds followed, in which FC conceded over 50 points in each. Yet by the time of their Magic Weekend meeting with Saints FC had gone on another winning run, despatching, Leigh, Castleford, Warrington and Widnes in Super League and avenging that early season loss to Catalans Dragons by dumping the French side out of the Challenge Cup by the ludicrous score-line of 62-0.
So the teams arrived in Newcastle having had massively varying fortunes. A team that had just gone down 53-10 at Castleford was not fancied to make much of an impression on one who had just ran in more than 60 points against the Dragons, new coach or not. Most Saints fans travelled north east hoping to see some signs of improvement not just in results but in the style of play. Even when Saints had won under Cunningham it had often been sleepy stuff. Going through the processes. Completing sets. Applying pressure. Staying in the grind. The flair and flourish that had been at the heart of Saints culture for as long as most of us could remember was beginning to seem like a thing of the past.
So it was all the more surprising then when Saints raced into a 29-0 lead. There was evidence of their more conservative style in the way they went about that with two of their first three tries coming as a result of Matty Smith kicks. Ryan Morgan and Morgan Knowles were the beneficiaries adding to Alex Walmsley’s opening score of the game. Smith was involved again in Saints next nudge of the scoreboard operator, dropping a goal to send his side in to half-time with a fairly mystifying 19-0 lead. Walmsley added his second just after the break and when Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook also crossed the result was just about beyond doubt. A performance like this just needed a little decoration to remember it by. A little signature. Enter Makinson.
Marc Sneyd had tried to fool the Saints defence with a little cross-field chip from just inside the Saints half. Makinson, playing at fullback rather than his customary wing position, was wise to it and plucked it out of the air nonchalantly before beginning one of those winding runs across the pitch that he is known for. This habit can frustrate if he doesn’t find the gap in the defensive line that he is looking for, but on this occasion he found it and then some. As he neared the left hand touchline he was met by Carlos Tuimavave. It seemed as though the Hull FC man would wrap Makinson up but the then 25-year-old showed great strength to put Tuimavave on his backside and continue his run.
Next to try his hand at stopping Makinson was Sika Manu, but he was already behind the play and was done for pace, leaving only Albert Kelly between Makinson and clear daylight ahead. Makinson eluded Kelly with a step to his right before soaring down the field towards the FC try-line. FC forward Chris Green set off in pursuit but was hopelessly outpaced. The black and whites’ last hope of stopping Makinson’s rampage to the line was Danny Houghton, a man who would run a million miles to make a tackle no matter the circumstances. It looked as though he had run a significant distance to get within touching distance of Makinson. He desperately grabbed the arm of Makinson but managed only to slow him down as the Saints man pirouetted out of Houghton’s clutches. Staggering having had his momentum slowed, Makinson bounced back off the floor to plunge over just before the recovering Green could make contact and complete the tackle.
A couple of Regan Grace tries rounded off the 45-0 rout of Radford’s side. More than anything, this result was a springboard for Saints to begin their journey back not only into contention, losing to a Golden-Point drop-goal in the playoff semi-final at Castleford later that season, but towards dominance as they picked up League Leaders Shields in both of Holbrook’s full seasons in charge. The 2019 Grand Final ensured his Saints legacy as he moved on to Gold Coast Titans in the NRL.
With the doom merchants out in force following the abject defeat at Warrington last time out, perhaps the return of Makinson could spark something similar for the Kristian Woolf era just as it did against Hull FC at the start of the Holbrook tenure.
Warrington Wolves 19 Saints 0 - Review
Did you hear that noise? That large crashing noise? That was us coming back down to earth with a massive, chastening, zero-shaped bump. A week that started badly with the news that Luke Thompson would be taking his world class prop forward derrière to Canterbury Bulldogs at the end of the season ended with this humbling at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. The team’s dominance of 2019 felt a long way off. Like a distant memory that in your less lucid moments you start to doubt really ever happened at all. Saints were always going to miss Justin Holbrook but who knew that the effects would be felt so strongly and so soon?
There are mitigating circumstances in this one for Holbrook’s replacement, Kristian Woolf. He was already without Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, James Roby and Morgan Knowles when the late withdrawal of Alex Walmsley dealt Saints an unexpected and fairly savage blow. Walmsley pulled a calf muscle during the pre-game warm-up. Matty Lees stepped up from the bench to start the game and Joe Batchelor came into the 17 having initially been one of the four members of the original 21-man squad named on Tuesday to be left out. Another of those was Knowles who despite being recalled into the squad by Woolf was not risked.
Yet injuries alone don’t explain this Saints performance. Nobody would suggest it is easy to play against one of your main title rivals without five international players, and when you lose a sixth in the shape of Mark Percival a minute into the second half with your side already 13-0 down you might be forgiven for thinking it’s just not your day. But consider this Saints 13 which started the 30-12 victory over the same opponent at the same venue in August last year, just six months ago;
Welsby, Makinson, Naiqama, Costello, Grace, Lomax, Richardson, Lees, Smith, Thompson, Peyroux, Taia, McCarthy-Scarsbrook.
The bench was Paulo, Amor, Ashworth, Bentley. So no Coote that day. No Percival, no Walmsley, no Theo Fages, no Roby and no Knowles. Yet still they were good enough to win. Perhaps if you have to play without half a dozen stars often enough you have to accept that you are going to lose some games. But August’s win shows that it is not a certainty that you will lose on any given day in those circumstances. Saints have shown before what is possible. You just have to play an awful lot better than Woolf’s side did here.
The concession of 19 points doesn’t necessarily prevent a side from winning either. Especially not a Saints side which can score from anywhere on the field and who, as everyone with even a passing interest in the club knows, should absolutely never be written off. Saints’ defensive discipline let them down consistently. They conceded 10 penalties, the majority of which were for interference at the play-the-ball. Woolf has brought with him a worrying focus on wrestling in the tackle. It’s not really our way. That’s how the other lot play the game. Along with carelessness in possession that indiscipline invited more pressure on to Saints to the extent that they missed 39 tackles. Compare that with only 11 missed in last week’s 48-8 home win over Salford.
Not only did Saints make 12 handling errors (twice as many as against Salford) but when they did hang on to the ball they still didn’t look much like scoring. Saints were shut out on the scoreboard for the first time since a 25-0 beating at Wigan in 2016. That’s pre-Holbrook, a time when Saints’ approach to points-scoring was to shove the ball up Greg Richards’ jumper and instruct him to hit the ground as soon as possible to get a quick play-the-ball. After quick play-the-balls and repeat sets scoring tries was an afterthought in those days. There was a bit more ambition here but other than Kevin Naiqama failing to touch down in the corner thanks to Stefan Ratchford’s efforts and a late dart from Jonny Lomax for which he was not given the benefit of the doubt by the video referee there were few alarms for Steve Price’s side.
Part of that was down to a lack of go-forward. Lees is hailed by many as a natural and seamless replacement for the outgoing Thompson but when he was asked to step up here in place of the absent Walmsley he fell short. Forty-eight metres on 13 carries isn’t getting it done for a front-line prop. In addition to that lack of impact he lost his discipline too easily, lucky not to see a card when he swung an arm at Mike Cooper and then unsolicited, helped the Warrington prop remove his bandaging. Lees suffered a brutal knock to his nose early in the game and he has just returned from a serious intestinal injury. It is important to cut him some slack. But those who long for him to show that ‘bit of dog’ that is often spoken about with such fondness might want to reflect that if Lees doesn’t lengthen that fuse of his he will be less Luke Thompson and more Gareth Hock.
Elsewhere in the pack Jack Ashworth offered an apologetic 15 metres on just four carries. It will surprise nobody to learn that what go-forward there was came from Thompson who along with Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Zeb Taia made over 100 metres. Yet both of those last two made errors and gave away penalties. If I was to fill you in on the numbers on McCarthy-Scarsbrook where errors and penalties are concerned I’d just be accused of an agenda. I’ll spare you.
The first half hour had been a very tight affair. Saints always looked a bit chaotic in attack, completing only 53% of their sets in the first 40 minutes. They lacked cohesion, almost as if they were a bit spooked by what had happened with Walmsley and never really settled into any attacking rhythm. But defensively they were sound enough until a 10-minute spell before half-time when Daryl Clarke and Tom Lineham crossed for tries. Toby King knocked the ball so far forward that it nearly ended up in Widnes early in the set which led to Lineham’s try. But just because you’re on the wrong end of a poor decision doesn’t mean you have to concede a try. With the attack struggling to make any impression that period before the break was always going to be decisive. When Blake Austin dropped a goal on the half-time hooter to give Wire a 13-point cushion it pretty much settled the argument.
Losing Percival in the opening moments of that second half didn’t help and it wasn’t long before Josh Charnley took Matty Ashton’s pass to cross to give Warrington a 17-0 lead. By that point Saints’ centre partnership was Matty Costello and Dominique Peyroux, Naiqama having started on the wing to allow Jack Welsby to deputise for Coote at fullback. Unlike in the past they did not come close to adjusting to all of the changes they had to make. It was particularly sickening to see Charnley cross not just for his cherry and white association but also in light of the fact that he had earlier waved an imaginary yellow card at referee Chris Kendall after Percival had been penalised for holding down Anthony Gelling following a line break. I remember Lomax making a 10-minute gesture to a referee during one game last season by which this column was similarly unimpressed. Referees should take action against this kind of football-style cheating. Still, Charnley is a man who used to be known for waving around his imaginary wedding tackle so perhaps he’s actually progressing.
This Saints side comes up against Sydney Roosters in a fortnight in the World Club Challenge. On this sort of form they do not have a prayer. Woolf will be hoping that he can get some of his injured troops back on deck but even if he does their task looks big as we sit here today. It’s only one bad game, and it should be remembered that Saints once lost to both Wakefield and Harlequins (who?) in the weeks leading up to winning a world title. Yet there is no getting away from the fact that Woolf failed his first big test in charge of Saints. When they needed to do something different, to find answers to problems and chase the game in the second half ideas were few and far between. It’s too early to write Woolf off but he needs to show us something in the next fortnight, starting with a less than welcome trip to in-form Hull FC next time out on February 16.
Saints will have had nine clear days off by then during which there is lots to work on. Stopping the offload would be one key area. The Wolves made 16 offloads, effectively forcing Saints to do their defensive work again on those occasions. As Lomax mentioned in his post-match interview every defensive set of six became a set of 10 because of Wire’s ability to get the ball away in the tackle. By contrast Saints managed just eight offloads. That’s not quite the stuff of Greg Richards’ jumper but nor is it likely to break down the defence of a Warrington side playing as well as they have since they ruined our day out at Wembley.
The best thing that Saints and Woolf can do is park this performance and result. They cannot let it affect their confidence. It’s a long old season. If Saints win at Old Trafford in October having failed to dominate the league in the way they did in 2019 the celebrations will be no less raucous. It is not a result which defines the season but it is one from which lessons must be learned if Woolf’s men are to avoid losing early ground domestically and more importantly for now, have any chance of being crowned world champions on February 22.
There are mitigating circumstances in this one for Holbrook’s replacement, Kristian Woolf. He was already without Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, James Roby and Morgan Knowles when the late withdrawal of Alex Walmsley dealt Saints an unexpected and fairly savage blow. Walmsley pulled a calf muscle during the pre-game warm-up. Matty Lees stepped up from the bench to start the game and Joe Batchelor came into the 17 having initially been one of the four members of the original 21-man squad named on Tuesday to be left out. Another of those was Knowles who despite being recalled into the squad by Woolf was not risked.
Yet injuries alone don’t explain this Saints performance. Nobody would suggest it is easy to play against one of your main title rivals without five international players, and when you lose a sixth in the shape of Mark Percival a minute into the second half with your side already 13-0 down you might be forgiven for thinking it’s just not your day. But consider this Saints 13 which started the 30-12 victory over the same opponent at the same venue in August last year, just six months ago;
Welsby, Makinson, Naiqama, Costello, Grace, Lomax, Richardson, Lees, Smith, Thompson, Peyroux, Taia, McCarthy-Scarsbrook.
The bench was Paulo, Amor, Ashworth, Bentley. So no Coote that day. No Percival, no Walmsley, no Theo Fages, no Roby and no Knowles. Yet still they were good enough to win. Perhaps if you have to play without half a dozen stars often enough you have to accept that you are going to lose some games. But August’s win shows that it is not a certainty that you will lose on any given day in those circumstances. Saints have shown before what is possible. You just have to play an awful lot better than Woolf’s side did here.
The concession of 19 points doesn’t necessarily prevent a side from winning either. Especially not a Saints side which can score from anywhere on the field and who, as everyone with even a passing interest in the club knows, should absolutely never be written off. Saints’ defensive discipline let them down consistently. They conceded 10 penalties, the majority of which were for interference at the play-the-ball. Woolf has brought with him a worrying focus on wrestling in the tackle. It’s not really our way. That’s how the other lot play the game. Along with carelessness in possession that indiscipline invited more pressure on to Saints to the extent that they missed 39 tackles. Compare that with only 11 missed in last week’s 48-8 home win over Salford.
Not only did Saints make 12 handling errors (twice as many as against Salford) but when they did hang on to the ball they still didn’t look much like scoring. Saints were shut out on the scoreboard for the first time since a 25-0 beating at Wigan in 2016. That’s pre-Holbrook, a time when Saints’ approach to points-scoring was to shove the ball up Greg Richards’ jumper and instruct him to hit the ground as soon as possible to get a quick play-the-ball. After quick play-the-balls and repeat sets scoring tries was an afterthought in those days. There was a bit more ambition here but other than Kevin Naiqama failing to touch down in the corner thanks to Stefan Ratchford’s efforts and a late dart from Jonny Lomax for which he was not given the benefit of the doubt by the video referee there were few alarms for Steve Price’s side.
Part of that was down to a lack of go-forward. Lees is hailed by many as a natural and seamless replacement for the outgoing Thompson but when he was asked to step up here in place of the absent Walmsley he fell short. Forty-eight metres on 13 carries isn’t getting it done for a front-line prop. In addition to that lack of impact he lost his discipline too easily, lucky not to see a card when he swung an arm at Mike Cooper and then unsolicited, helped the Warrington prop remove his bandaging. Lees suffered a brutal knock to his nose early in the game and he has just returned from a serious intestinal injury. It is important to cut him some slack. But those who long for him to show that ‘bit of dog’ that is often spoken about with such fondness might want to reflect that if Lees doesn’t lengthen that fuse of his he will be less Luke Thompson and more Gareth Hock.
Elsewhere in the pack Jack Ashworth offered an apologetic 15 metres on just four carries. It will surprise nobody to learn that what go-forward there was came from Thompson who along with Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Zeb Taia made over 100 metres. Yet both of those last two made errors and gave away penalties. If I was to fill you in on the numbers on McCarthy-Scarsbrook where errors and penalties are concerned I’d just be accused of an agenda. I’ll spare you.
The first half hour had been a very tight affair. Saints always looked a bit chaotic in attack, completing only 53% of their sets in the first 40 minutes. They lacked cohesion, almost as if they were a bit spooked by what had happened with Walmsley and never really settled into any attacking rhythm. But defensively they were sound enough until a 10-minute spell before half-time when Daryl Clarke and Tom Lineham crossed for tries. Toby King knocked the ball so far forward that it nearly ended up in Widnes early in the set which led to Lineham’s try. But just because you’re on the wrong end of a poor decision doesn’t mean you have to concede a try. With the attack struggling to make any impression that period before the break was always going to be decisive. When Blake Austin dropped a goal on the half-time hooter to give Wire a 13-point cushion it pretty much settled the argument.
Losing Percival in the opening moments of that second half didn’t help and it wasn’t long before Josh Charnley took Matty Ashton’s pass to cross to give Warrington a 17-0 lead. By that point Saints’ centre partnership was Matty Costello and Dominique Peyroux, Naiqama having started on the wing to allow Jack Welsby to deputise for Coote at fullback. Unlike in the past they did not come close to adjusting to all of the changes they had to make. It was particularly sickening to see Charnley cross not just for his cherry and white association but also in light of the fact that he had earlier waved an imaginary yellow card at referee Chris Kendall after Percival had been penalised for holding down Anthony Gelling following a line break. I remember Lomax making a 10-minute gesture to a referee during one game last season by which this column was similarly unimpressed. Referees should take action against this kind of football-style cheating. Still, Charnley is a man who used to be known for waving around his imaginary wedding tackle so perhaps he’s actually progressing.
This Saints side comes up against Sydney Roosters in a fortnight in the World Club Challenge. On this sort of form they do not have a prayer. Woolf will be hoping that he can get some of his injured troops back on deck but even if he does their task looks big as we sit here today. It’s only one bad game, and it should be remembered that Saints once lost to both Wakefield and Harlequins (who?) in the weeks leading up to winning a world title. Yet there is no getting away from the fact that Woolf failed his first big test in charge of Saints. When they needed to do something different, to find answers to problems and chase the game in the second half ideas were few and far between. It’s too early to write Woolf off but he needs to show us something in the next fortnight, starting with a less than welcome trip to in-form Hull FC next time out on February 16.
Saints will have had nine clear days off by then during which there is lots to work on. Stopping the offload would be one key area. The Wolves made 16 offloads, effectively forcing Saints to do their defensive work again on those occasions. As Lomax mentioned in his post-match interview every defensive set of six became a set of 10 because of Wire’s ability to get the ball away in the tackle. By contrast Saints managed just eight offloads. That’s not quite the stuff of Greg Richards’ jumper but nor is it likely to break down the defence of a Warrington side playing as well as they have since they ruined our day out at Wembley.
The best thing that Saints and Woolf can do is park this performance and result. They cannot let it affect their confidence. It’s a long old season. If Saints win at Old Trafford in October having failed to dominate the league in the way they did in 2019 the celebrations will be no less raucous. It is not a result which defines the season but it is one from which lessons must be learned if Woolf’s men are to avoid losing early ground domestically and more importantly for now, have any chance of being crowned world champions on February 22.
Warrington Wolves v St Helens - Preview
Saints make the short trip to Warrington to take on the Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday night (February 6, kick-off 7.45pm).
Kristian Woolf’s side opened their 2020 Super League campaign with a dominant showing at home to Salford Red Devils. The champions ran out 48-8 winners over last season’s beaten Grand Finalists in one of the most impressive performances seen anywhere in the opening round of Super League. They now travel to face a Warrington side beaten at Wigan on opening night thanks largely to Chris Hill’s red card midway through the first half. With a full compliment of 13 they more than matched the Warriors and should provide Saints with a stiffer test than that on offer from a rusty looking, much changed Salford outfit.
Woolf will be forced into at least one change from the 17 who lined up against Ian Watson’s side. Lachlan Coote sustained medial ligament damage in a tackle by Luke Yates and misses out. His starting fullback slot will most likely be taken by Jack Welsby. The teenager covered the role superbly in round one after Coote’s exit, scoring two tries and providing a pin-point pass for one of Kevin Naiqama’s two tries. Welsby is likely to get the nod to start this week although youngster Tom Nisbet has been called up into the 21-man squad as cover.
Coote’s absence is a blow but on the plus side Saints welcome back Morgan Knowles into the fold. The Welsh international has been recovering from shoulder surgery but returns here to add to Woolf’s back row options. The rotation of Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Joseph Paulo at the loose forward position provided an interesting contrast of styles against the Red Devils, offering a glimpse of the different options that this powerful Saints side have in their ranks. Yet despite the qualities offered by both of those players you can expect Knowles to be the starting 13 whenever he is fully fit.
With Welsby likely to move to fullback and Tommy Makinson still not fully fit after shoulder problems of his own there will be a degree of reshuffling required in the three-quarters. Naiqama could move to the right wing to allow Matty Costello to come in for his first start of the season at centre. The left edge should comprise Mark Percival and Regan Grace while in the halves Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages both made good starts to the season last time out. Fages was one of Saints’ try-scorers on the night while Lomax ran the show with three assists in a performance which further enhanced his reputation as one of the league’s finest players.
The big news from the club this week is the impending departure of Luke Thompson. The 24-year-old front rower has agreed to join Canterbury Bulldogs in the NRL on a three-year deal at the end of the current season. It is a career path trodden previously by James Graham and like the Liverpool-born England prop Thompson should go on to prove to be one of the most successful English exports to the NRL.
The reaction from some Saints fans has been fairly defiant. Common consensus is that in Matty Lees in particular Saints already have the next world class prop forward to graduate through the academy ranks. It might be that the loss of Thompson hurts us a little bit more than we let on. We’re not quite Monty Python’s Black Knight, shuffling around limbless while claiming it’s all just a flesh wound, but Thompson might be more difficult to replace than some want to admit. Lees has great promise as does Jack Ashworth but it is not a given that either will develop into the world class performer that Thompson has become over the last couple of years. To assume that they will is to underestimate just how good Thompson has become.
For now Thompson retains his place in a front three that also includes the excellent Alex Walmsley but is still without skipper James Roby due to a groin problem. Expect James Bentley and Aaron Smith to continue at hooker at different stages, with Lees and Ashworth coming off the bench along with McCarthy-Scarsbrook or Paulo if Knowles starts. Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux form the second row partnership.
Hill copped a three-game ban for his ill-advised lunge at the head of Sam Powell as the Wigan dark arts sensai looked certain to score for the Warriors. The ex-Leigh man’s suspension should offer an opportunity to Matty Davis or Joe Philbin with 21-year-old back rower Ellis Robson also drafted into coach Steve Price’s 21-man party. Mike Cooper and Daryl Clarke are the others likely to be charged with the responsibility of trying to match Saints’ front row bite. Jack Hughes is still out injured so Jason Clark could again feature heavily alongside Ben Currie and a man who has also been linked heavily with a move to the NRL Ben Murdoch Masila.
Price sprang a little bit of a surprise on the opening night by handing fullback Matty Ashton a start. He looks set to do so again after the youngster made a promising Super League debut. That allows Stefan Ratchford to switch to the halves alongside Blake Austin with marquee signing Gareth Widdop still not ready for action. The back division features try-scoring, open-topped bus crooning exhibitionist Josh Charnley and ex-Hull FC man Tom Lineham on the wings with the unpredictable madness of Anthony Gelling in the centres alongside the much more reserved Toby King. Rugby union convert Luther Burrell will compete for a place on the bench along with Luis Johnson, Danny Walker, Sitaleki Akauoloa and forgotten men Declan Patton and Jake Mamo.
As Wire’s social media has reminded us with Mrs Brown’s Boys levels of crass ‘humour’ the last meeting between the two sides was at Wembley in August. Saints were expected to win the Challenge Cup that day but produced one of their worst performances of the season to go down 18-4. In Super League it was a different story with Saints winning twice at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and once at home against the Wolves. They have not lost to Warrington in regular season league play since 2017 but that cup final loss together with an equally surprising 2018 playoff defeat are fresh in the memories of most fans and, you suspect, the players involved. Victory here won’t take away the pain of those losses but will represent another step on the way to establishing further dominance in the competition for Woolf’s side.
Squads;
St Helens;
Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival, Regan Grace, Jonny Lomax, Theo Fages, Alex Walmsley, Luke Thompson, Zeb Taia, Dominique Peyroux, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Morgan Knowles, Matty Lees, Jack Ashworth, Joseph Paulo, Aaron Smith, James Bentley, Matty Costello, Jack Welsby, Joe Batchelor, Lewis Dodd, Tom Nisbet
Warrington Wolves;
Sitaleki Akauola, Matty Ashton, Blake Austin, Luther Burrell, Josh Charnley, Daryl Clark, Jason Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie, Matty Davis, Anthony Gelling, Luis Johnson, Toby King, Tom Lineham, Jake Mamo, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Declan Patton, Joe Philbin, Stefan Ratchford, Ellis Robson, Danny Walker
Kristian Woolf’s side opened their 2020 Super League campaign with a dominant showing at home to Salford Red Devils. The champions ran out 48-8 winners over last season’s beaten Grand Finalists in one of the most impressive performances seen anywhere in the opening round of Super League. They now travel to face a Warrington side beaten at Wigan on opening night thanks largely to Chris Hill’s red card midway through the first half. With a full compliment of 13 they more than matched the Warriors and should provide Saints with a stiffer test than that on offer from a rusty looking, much changed Salford outfit.
Woolf will be forced into at least one change from the 17 who lined up against Ian Watson’s side. Lachlan Coote sustained medial ligament damage in a tackle by Luke Yates and misses out. His starting fullback slot will most likely be taken by Jack Welsby. The teenager covered the role superbly in round one after Coote’s exit, scoring two tries and providing a pin-point pass for one of Kevin Naiqama’s two tries. Welsby is likely to get the nod to start this week although youngster Tom Nisbet has been called up into the 21-man squad as cover.
Coote’s absence is a blow but on the plus side Saints welcome back Morgan Knowles into the fold. The Welsh international has been recovering from shoulder surgery but returns here to add to Woolf’s back row options. The rotation of Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Joseph Paulo at the loose forward position provided an interesting contrast of styles against the Red Devils, offering a glimpse of the different options that this powerful Saints side have in their ranks. Yet despite the qualities offered by both of those players you can expect Knowles to be the starting 13 whenever he is fully fit.
With Welsby likely to move to fullback and Tommy Makinson still not fully fit after shoulder problems of his own there will be a degree of reshuffling required in the three-quarters. Naiqama could move to the right wing to allow Matty Costello to come in for his first start of the season at centre. The left edge should comprise Mark Percival and Regan Grace while in the halves Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages both made good starts to the season last time out. Fages was one of Saints’ try-scorers on the night while Lomax ran the show with three assists in a performance which further enhanced his reputation as one of the league’s finest players.
The big news from the club this week is the impending departure of Luke Thompson. The 24-year-old front rower has agreed to join Canterbury Bulldogs in the NRL on a three-year deal at the end of the current season. It is a career path trodden previously by James Graham and like the Liverpool-born England prop Thompson should go on to prove to be one of the most successful English exports to the NRL.
The reaction from some Saints fans has been fairly defiant. Common consensus is that in Matty Lees in particular Saints already have the next world class prop forward to graduate through the academy ranks. It might be that the loss of Thompson hurts us a little bit more than we let on. We’re not quite Monty Python’s Black Knight, shuffling around limbless while claiming it’s all just a flesh wound, but Thompson might be more difficult to replace than some want to admit. Lees has great promise as does Jack Ashworth but it is not a given that either will develop into the world class performer that Thompson has become over the last couple of years. To assume that they will is to underestimate just how good Thompson has become.
For now Thompson retains his place in a front three that also includes the excellent Alex Walmsley but is still without skipper James Roby due to a groin problem. Expect James Bentley and Aaron Smith to continue at hooker at different stages, with Lees and Ashworth coming off the bench along with McCarthy-Scarsbrook or Paulo if Knowles starts. Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux form the second row partnership.
Hill copped a three-game ban for his ill-advised lunge at the head of Sam Powell as the Wigan dark arts sensai looked certain to score for the Warriors. The ex-Leigh man’s suspension should offer an opportunity to Matty Davis or Joe Philbin with 21-year-old back rower Ellis Robson also drafted into coach Steve Price’s 21-man party. Mike Cooper and Daryl Clarke are the others likely to be charged with the responsibility of trying to match Saints’ front row bite. Jack Hughes is still out injured so Jason Clark could again feature heavily alongside Ben Currie and a man who has also been linked heavily with a move to the NRL Ben Murdoch Masila.
Price sprang a little bit of a surprise on the opening night by handing fullback Matty Ashton a start. He looks set to do so again after the youngster made a promising Super League debut. That allows Stefan Ratchford to switch to the halves alongside Blake Austin with marquee signing Gareth Widdop still not ready for action. The back division features try-scoring, open-topped bus crooning exhibitionist Josh Charnley and ex-Hull FC man Tom Lineham on the wings with the unpredictable madness of Anthony Gelling in the centres alongside the much more reserved Toby King. Rugby union convert Luther Burrell will compete for a place on the bench along with Luis Johnson, Danny Walker, Sitaleki Akauoloa and forgotten men Declan Patton and Jake Mamo.
As Wire’s social media has reminded us with Mrs Brown’s Boys levels of crass ‘humour’ the last meeting between the two sides was at Wembley in August. Saints were expected to win the Challenge Cup that day but produced one of their worst performances of the season to go down 18-4. In Super League it was a different story with Saints winning twice at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and once at home against the Wolves. They have not lost to Warrington in regular season league play since 2017 but that cup final loss together with an equally surprising 2018 playoff defeat are fresh in the memories of most fans and, you suspect, the players involved. Victory here won’t take away the pain of those losses but will represent another step on the way to establishing further dominance in the competition for Woolf’s side.
Squads;
St Helens;
Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival, Regan Grace, Jonny Lomax, Theo Fages, Alex Walmsley, Luke Thompson, Zeb Taia, Dominique Peyroux, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Morgan Knowles, Matty Lees, Jack Ashworth, Joseph Paulo, Aaron Smith, James Bentley, Matty Costello, Jack Welsby, Joe Batchelor, Lewis Dodd, Tom Nisbet
Warrington Wolves;
Sitaleki Akauola, Matty Ashton, Blake Austin, Luther Burrell, Josh Charnley, Daryl Clark, Jason Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie, Matty Davis, Anthony Gelling, Luis Johnson, Toby King, Tom Lineham, Jake Mamo, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Declan Patton, Joe Philbin, Stefan Ratchford, Ellis Robson, Danny Walker
Luke Leaves
We’ve seen this before. Fifteen years ago Saints’ prolific academy produced a prop forward who had become one of the best in the world by the time he left the club in 2011. James Graham went on to carve out a reputation as one of the most feared front rowers in the NRL. That reputation is still strong enough for St George-Illawarra to be leaning heavily on Graham even as he slows down having passed his 34th birthday before the end of the 2019 season.
Now, that career path looks set to be followed by Luke Thompson. It was announced today that the 24-year-old Saints academy graduate will leave his home town club at the end of the 2020 season to take up a three-year contract with Canterbury Bulldogs. Thompson has been with Saints since he was 11 years old, making his first team debut in 2013. He has played 157 times in the red vee and helped them to two Grand Final wins. Alongside Alex Walmsley and James Roby he is part of the most formidable front three in the club game. His Man Of The Match performance in the 2019 Super League Grand Final earned him the Harry Sunderland Trophy and marked him out as one of the hottest properties in the game.
It is no surprise then that the Bulldogs have swooped for his services now. This is the final season of his existing deal at Saints, meaning that no transfer fee will change hands. He is coming into what should be the prime years of his career. It was the Bulldogs who secured the services of Graham when he chose to try his hand in the NRL so they are a club who can vouch for the quality produced by Saints. A provider they can trust, if you will.
Which raises all sorts of questions not just about Saints but about Super League and the British club rugby league scene. For all the excitement around the arrivals of Sonny Bill Williams, James Maloney and Aiden Sezer into our competition the fact remains that we are powerless to stop our best home grown talent heading out of the league. If Saints - a club who have pretty much dominated the competition for two years and who must fancy themselves for a real tilt at the world title when Sydney Roosters come to town on February 22 - cannot persuade their best locally produced players to spend the peak years of their careers with them it is a worrying sign for all of Super League. Are our best clubs just becoming feeder clubs for their NRL counterparts?
The problem is largely but not solely financial. The marquee rule was introduced to Super League to help clubs keep their best players. Even taking into account that you can only offer marquee money to two players at any one time, theoretically Saints could have offered Thompson as much money as he will be making with the Bulldogs without it impacting too much on their salary cap. Yet you get a sense that even if they had done so - and who knows maybe they did - Thompson would still have chosen to take the opportunity to leave. The NRL offers a greater competitive challenge to the top players more regularly.
The predictability of Super League has been addressed to an extent by the salary cap. That is evidenced by Salford’s run to last season’s Grand Final. Yet there are still games which lack the level of intensity that is on show in the NRL from week to week. Thompson is not cruising at Saints. Far from it. Kristian Woolf and Justin Holbrook before him are Head Coaches who would never allow their players to get too comfortable and take their foot off the gas. But perhaps there are times when the very best players in Super League are not tested as much as they could be. If Thompson wants to find out what the true extent of his potential is he may be more likely to find out in a team which ran 12th in last season’s NRL table than in one that has looked on a different level to its Super League opponents over the last two years.
So if we accept the reasons for Thompson’s departure what can we do about it in terms of filling that gaping hole in the squad? There may not be any long term solutions. Fans will point to the next generation of academy graduate props, Matty Lees and Jack Ashworth as the men who could potentially be the next Luke Thompson. One or both of these may yet develop to the level that Thompson has reached. But if they do what is to stop them from trying their hands in the NRL also? Despite their youth and their attachment to the club through its academy there is nothing to suggest that either Lees or Ashworth would offer the best years of their careers to Saints if opportunities crop up south of the equator. They should of course continue to be developed. They can go on to do great things for the club over the next few years. But we cannot rely on any player, home grown or otherwise, beyond the length of his current contract. The reality is that there has to be an element of short-termism about our thinking in this climate.
Thompson’s departure will free up a reasonable amount of space on the salary cap. Kyle Amor and Zeb Taia are two others whose deals end at the end of the current season. While there was a distinct lack of new players joining the club for this season the loss of Thompson and the doubts surrounding Amor and Taia among others may set in motion a chain events which sees plenty of fresh recruits arriving for 2021. Woolf’s job is to assess whether to fill the Thompson gap with a ready made replacement or else put his faith in Lees and/or Ashworth to step up. If one or both does Saints may delay the need to spend big on a prop for now, and maybe even negotiate further deals with the Rochdale-born players. If Woolf does not believe either can fill Thompson’s boots from next year then he may have to get the cheque book out. Perceived wisdom is that he might look to his contacts with the Tongan national team for a replacement.
What we must not do is make the mistake of spending huge amounts of money on a vanity signing. Certain other clubs would respond to this type of loss by signing the biggest name they could get their hands on irrespective of whether they required a player in that position. That might be good for ticket and merchandise sales but it isn’t going to help you balance your squad and be the best team you can be. You don’t put a pair of false boobs on a patient that needs a heart transplant. It’s a difficult problem for Woolf to ponder just a week into his first season at the helm. Yet you would like to think that he had been briefed on the possibility that this would happen when he took the job. In announcing this now Saints have given themselves 12 months to figure out how to cover the loss so there is evidence there of some forward planning. It also eliminates the speculation around Thompson’s future which threatened to be a distraction. The club had to deal with that throughout most of last year as Holbrook was courted by NRL clubs before finally joining Gold Coast Titans. Saints were unlikely to be keen on a repeat of that scenario with Thompson.
In his statement announcing Thompson’s decision to leave Saints Chairman Eamon McManus offered the usual crumb of comfort line. You know the one about how one day we might welcome Thompson back to the club? The only way I see that happening is if Thompson doesn’t succeed personally or professionally in Australia. That does happen. Wigan have welcomed back a number of their stars who went to test themselves in the NRL but didn’t stick at it for one reason or another. But a more likely outcome is that Thompson will emulate everything that Graham has done, earning the respect of everyone in the NRL and showing up in England only when there are home internationals taking place. If that transpires there should not be an emotional clamour for his return to Saints 10 years from now when he will be past his best. That’s why any thoughts of replacing Thompson with Graham now should be thought about wistfully for around three seconds and then dismissed.
Shaun Wane has just been appointed England coach and will hope to benefit from this move. Some say his predecessor Wayne Bennett selected NRL-based players purely because they plied their trade in the superior competition even if they were not necessarily better options. But if Thompson makes it as a front rower with the Bulldogs he will have earned an England shirt. He will probably take it right off the back of Graham. Before then his focus will no doubt be on adding to his medal collection with Saints. A third Grand Final ring will be the aim. It would be a fitting way to end more than a decade of association with his boyhood favourites.
Now, that career path looks set to be followed by Luke Thompson. It was announced today that the 24-year-old Saints academy graduate will leave his home town club at the end of the 2020 season to take up a three-year contract with Canterbury Bulldogs. Thompson has been with Saints since he was 11 years old, making his first team debut in 2013. He has played 157 times in the red vee and helped them to two Grand Final wins. Alongside Alex Walmsley and James Roby he is part of the most formidable front three in the club game. His Man Of The Match performance in the 2019 Super League Grand Final earned him the Harry Sunderland Trophy and marked him out as one of the hottest properties in the game.
It is no surprise then that the Bulldogs have swooped for his services now. This is the final season of his existing deal at Saints, meaning that no transfer fee will change hands. He is coming into what should be the prime years of his career. It was the Bulldogs who secured the services of Graham when he chose to try his hand in the NRL so they are a club who can vouch for the quality produced by Saints. A provider they can trust, if you will.
Which raises all sorts of questions not just about Saints but about Super League and the British club rugby league scene. For all the excitement around the arrivals of Sonny Bill Williams, James Maloney and Aiden Sezer into our competition the fact remains that we are powerless to stop our best home grown talent heading out of the league. If Saints - a club who have pretty much dominated the competition for two years and who must fancy themselves for a real tilt at the world title when Sydney Roosters come to town on February 22 - cannot persuade their best locally produced players to spend the peak years of their careers with them it is a worrying sign for all of Super League. Are our best clubs just becoming feeder clubs for their NRL counterparts?
The problem is largely but not solely financial. The marquee rule was introduced to Super League to help clubs keep their best players. Even taking into account that you can only offer marquee money to two players at any one time, theoretically Saints could have offered Thompson as much money as he will be making with the Bulldogs without it impacting too much on their salary cap. Yet you get a sense that even if they had done so - and who knows maybe they did - Thompson would still have chosen to take the opportunity to leave. The NRL offers a greater competitive challenge to the top players more regularly.
The predictability of Super League has been addressed to an extent by the salary cap. That is evidenced by Salford’s run to last season’s Grand Final. Yet there are still games which lack the level of intensity that is on show in the NRL from week to week. Thompson is not cruising at Saints. Far from it. Kristian Woolf and Justin Holbrook before him are Head Coaches who would never allow their players to get too comfortable and take their foot off the gas. But perhaps there are times when the very best players in Super League are not tested as much as they could be. If Thompson wants to find out what the true extent of his potential is he may be more likely to find out in a team which ran 12th in last season’s NRL table than in one that has looked on a different level to its Super League opponents over the last two years.
So if we accept the reasons for Thompson’s departure what can we do about it in terms of filling that gaping hole in the squad? There may not be any long term solutions. Fans will point to the next generation of academy graduate props, Matty Lees and Jack Ashworth as the men who could potentially be the next Luke Thompson. One or both of these may yet develop to the level that Thompson has reached. But if they do what is to stop them from trying their hands in the NRL also? Despite their youth and their attachment to the club through its academy there is nothing to suggest that either Lees or Ashworth would offer the best years of their careers to Saints if opportunities crop up south of the equator. They should of course continue to be developed. They can go on to do great things for the club over the next few years. But we cannot rely on any player, home grown or otherwise, beyond the length of his current contract. The reality is that there has to be an element of short-termism about our thinking in this climate.
Thompson’s departure will free up a reasonable amount of space on the salary cap. Kyle Amor and Zeb Taia are two others whose deals end at the end of the current season. While there was a distinct lack of new players joining the club for this season the loss of Thompson and the doubts surrounding Amor and Taia among others may set in motion a chain events which sees plenty of fresh recruits arriving for 2021. Woolf’s job is to assess whether to fill the Thompson gap with a ready made replacement or else put his faith in Lees and/or Ashworth to step up. If one or both does Saints may delay the need to spend big on a prop for now, and maybe even negotiate further deals with the Rochdale-born players. If Woolf does not believe either can fill Thompson’s boots from next year then he may have to get the cheque book out. Perceived wisdom is that he might look to his contacts with the Tongan national team for a replacement.
What we must not do is make the mistake of spending huge amounts of money on a vanity signing. Certain other clubs would respond to this type of loss by signing the biggest name they could get their hands on irrespective of whether they required a player in that position. That might be good for ticket and merchandise sales but it isn’t going to help you balance your squad and be the best team you can be. You don’t put a pair of false boobs on a patient that needs a heart transplant. It’s a difficult problem for Woolf to ponder just a week into his first season at the helm. Yet you would like to think that he had been briefed on the possibility that this would happen when he took the job. In announcing this now Saints have given themselves 12 months to figure out how to cover the loss so there is evidence there of some forward planning. It also eliminates the speculation around Thompson’s future which threatened to be a distraction. The club had to deal with that throughout most of last year as Holbrook was courted by NRL clubs before finally joining Gold Coast Titans. Saints were unlikely to be keen on a repeat of that scenario with Thompson.
In his statement announcing Thompson’s decision to leave Saints Chairman Eamon McManus offered the usual crumb of comfort line. You know the one about how one day we might welcome Thompson back to the club? The only way I see that happening is if Thompson doesn’t succeed personally or professionally in Australia. That does happen. Wigan have welcomed back a number of their stars who went to test themselves in the NRL but didn’t stick at it for one reason or another. But a more likely outcome is that Thompson will emulate everything that Graham has done, earning the respect of everyone in the NRL and showing up in England only when there are home internationals taking place. If that transpires there should not be an emotional clamour for his return to Saints 10 years from now when he will be past his best. That’s why any thoughts of replacing Thompson with Graham now should be thought about wistfully for around three seconds and then dismissed.
Shaun Wane has just been appointed England coach and will hope to benefit from this move. Some say his predecessor Wayne Bennett selected NRL-based players purely because they plied their trade in the superior competition even if they were not necessarily better options. But if Thompson makes it as a front rower with the Bulldogs he will have earned an England shirt. He will probably take it right off the back of Graham. Before then his focus will no doubt be on adding to his medal collection with Saints. A third Grand Final ring will be the aim. It would be a fitting way to end more than a decade of association with his boyhood favourites.
St Helens v Salford - Review
New season, same relentless, dominant Saints team. With no new additions to the playing squad for 2020 the only new face for the champions is Head Coach Kristian Woolf. Watching them over this 80-minute dismantling of Ian Watson’s 2019 Grand Finalists you would be forgiven for thinking that nothing whatsoever has changed at all for Saints. It’s clearly very early but Woolf’s side laid down a marker here. They won’t be easy to topple from their perch.
Looking back now at the 48-8 score-line it is hard to believe that it was the visitors who got on the scoreboard first. Much has been made pre-season of a directive for officials to crack down on incorrect play-the-balls. This had been largely ignored in the season opener between Wigan and Warrington 24 hours earlier despite the fact that players seemed to continue to step over the ball rather than play it with the foot.
It’s perhaps understandable that players would transgress given that many of them have known no other way. Playing the ball with the foot became a thing of the past around 20 years ago so it is going to take players some time to adjust. But if you’re going to have a clampdown on it then enforce it. No penalties were given at the DW Stadium despite no discernible change in the way the play-the-ball was executed, and it was a similar story here except for one occasion very early in proceedings when referee Liam Moore awarded a penalty against Jack Welsby.
The rest of the game passed by without a single intervention from Moore for play-the-ball transgressions. He gave a knock-on against Dan Sarginson for a very similar looking incident, but generally the concept of applying this interpretation consistently went straight out of the window after Welsby’s error led to Tui Lolohea’s penalty goal for the game’s first points. It’s especially perplexing because even if we humour Moore and agree that Welsby’s was the only play-the-ball which failed to involve the foot, the directive demands that the offender be punished with a scrum to the opposing team rather than a penalty.
So not only do we have no consistency in interpretation we also seem to have confusion about the appropriate sanction. At this stage, as players adapt to the new way, consistency would ruin the game and from that point of view might not be all that desirable. Who wants to watch a game in which five out of every six plays are pulled up for an infringement? But at the same time it can’t be applied just once in 80 minutes and then forgotten about. If it were whistled more regularly it would spoil a game or two, but surely if that were to happen players would learn more quickly? That’s the only way to get to where they seem to want to go, to a place where players play the ball with the foot automatically even if that does slow the restarts down a touch. If we’re not serious about that then we should just forget about the whole thing and let the play-the-ball continue as it has for as long as anyone can remember.
That early setback didn’t faze Saints who soon set about destroying Watson’s new-look side. This is a different Salford side from the one which reached Old Trafford in October. There were seven new faces in the line-up. Jackson Hastings was so important to Salford last year but with the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel now in Wigan the onus is on the ageing, injury-prone Kevin Brown to provide a creative foil for Lolohea. Brown had his moments but he and Lolohea were largely outclassed by Saints halfback pairing of Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages. Lomax put Zeb Taia over for the first of Saints eight tries and by the time he was done he had another two assists and had made over 100 metres on just 22 carries. Salford genuinely didn’t seem able to predict what Lomax was going to do at any given moment and he pulled them apart with ease at regular intervals. Fages too looked dangerous, never more so than when his show and go parted the Red Devils’ defence as he helped himself to Saints third try. Prior to that Alex Walmsley had taken several defenders with him on the way to the first of his two tries on the night.
We shouldn’t forget also that this was a result achieved without three key players from the last time Saints faced Salford and became champions. Tommy Makinson and Morgan Knowles are still recovering from shoulder surgeries while James Roby is out with what has been a persistent groin problem. In Knowles’ absence Woolf gave the start at loose forward to Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. The Londoner operates as an auxiliary prop when he plays at 13 and he brought his usual energy and endeavour to proceedings. He made 88 metres on 15 carries and put in a 24-tackle defensive stint. But with Knowles out Saints have two players of contrasting styles to lock the scrum. Joseph Paulo is an often maligned player who found himself left out of the Grand Final squad and maybe wondering about his future at the end of last season. But he came off the bench here after around half an hour and delivered a very enjoyable cameo. You don’t get the crash, bang, wallop that McCarthy-Scarsbrook brings but instead Paulo is a touch player more in the tradition of how loose forwards used to play. Smart, quick passing created an opportunity for Lomax who was well stopped but there was no holding Fages when Paulo found him in space moments later. Knowles should hold down the 13 position when he regains his fitness but both McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Paulo showed that Saints have options and real depth in that area.
Woolf might need to find a temporary solution at fullback too. Lachlan Coote had already been hit late on the game’s very first kick by Gil Dudson and hit high by both Brown and Kris Welham before he was finally forced out of the game by a knee injury picked up when trying to step inside Luke Yates. No blame could be attached to Yates for the challenge but having seen what had gone before it was hard not to draw the conclusion that Coote had been targeted. Early indications are that the Great Britain international has medial ligament damage. A scan later in the week will determine the extent of that damage but it will be a major surprise if he is fit to face Warrington in Round 2 on Thursday night (February 6). The priority should be getting him fit for Saints World Club Challenge clash with Sydney Roosters on February 22.
That temporary solution I refer to is likely to be Welsby. The teenager started the game on the wing in place of Makinson but switched to fullback when Coote was forced off. He went on to help himself to two tries, first taking Lomax’s delicious inside ball to score and then displaying some admirable footwork to dribble past a couple of defenders football-style before falling on the ball to score. Yet it was his assist for Kevin Naiqama’s first of two tries which caught the eye most. Arcing around behind the play-the-ball he delivered a stunningly timed catch and pass, in one movement with defenders converging on him, to the Fijian who provided a devastating finish. Naiqama repeated the dose soon after from Lomax’s pass and the rout was completed by Walmsley’s second as he charged through a massive gap in the tiring Salford defensive line.
Defensively there were few alarms for Saints with Ken Sio’s second half score the only occasion on which the line was breached. Sio has gone close earlier but put a foot in touch as had Rhys Williams. The former London Bronco also suffered the indignity of being run down by Luke Thompson when the game was still reasonably close in the first half. Welsby had vacated his wing looking to get involved in the play but when Williams intercepted a pass he looked like breaking clear. Thompson was having none of it, showing great desire to run Williams down almost immediately. Thompson rather spoiled it by throwing Williams down with a second effort to concede a penalty but even that didn’t change the fact that the Red Devils’ didn’t even have the speed out wide to out run the Saints prop forward. It must have been soul destroying for Salford fans as it became evident that a sizeable gap has opened up between these two teams from that last, more famous meeting in Manchester.
Salford won’t be the only side to find Saints too hot to handle in 2020.
Looking back now at the 48-8 score-line it is hard to believe that it was the visitors who got on the scoreboard first. Much has been made pre-season of a directive for officials to crack down on incorrect play-the-balls. This had been largely ignored in the season opener between Wigan and Warrington 24 hours earlier despite the fact that players seemed to continue to step over the ball rather than play it with the foot.
It’s perhaps understandable that players would transgress given that many of them have known no other way. Playing the ball with the foot became a thing of the past around 20 years ago so it is going to take players some time to adjust. But if you’re going to have a clampdown on it then enforce it. No penalties were given at the DW Stadium despite no discernible change in the way the play-the-ball was executed, and it was a similar story here except for one occasion very early in proceedings when referee Liam Moore awarded a penalty against Jack Welsby.
The rest of the game passed by without a single intervention from Moore for play-the-ball transgressions. He gave a knock-on against Dan Sarginson for a very similar looking incident, but generally the concept of applying this interpretation consistently went straight out of the window after Welsby’s error led to Tui Lolohea’s penalty goal for the game’s first points. It’s especially perplexing because even if we humour Moore and agree that Welsby’s was the only play-the-ball which failed to involve the foot, the directive demands that the offender be punished with a scrum to the opposing team rather than a penalty.
So not only do we have no consistency in interpretation we also seem to have confusion about the appropriate sanction. At this stage, as players adapt to the new way, consistency would ruin the game and from that point of view might not be all that desirable. Who wants to watch a game in which five out of every six plays are pulled up for an infringement? But at the same time it can’t be applied just once in 80 minutes and then forgotten about. If it were whistled more regularly it would spoil a game or two, but surely if that were to happen players would learn more quickly? That’s the only way to get to where they seem to want to go, to a place where players play the ball with the foot automatically even if that does slow the restarts down a touch. If we’re not serious about that then we should just forget about the whole thing and let the play-the-ball continue as it has for as long as anyone can remember.
That early setback didn’t faze Saints who soon set about destroying Watson’s new-look side. This is a different Salford side from the one which reached Old Trafford in October. There were seven new faces in the line-up. Jackson Hastings was so important to Salford last year but with the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel now in Wigan the onus is on the ageing, injury-prone Kevin Brown to provide a creative foil for Lolohea. Brown had his moments but he and Lolohea were largely outclassed by Saints halfback pairing of Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages. Lomax put Zeb Taia over for the first of Saints eight tries and by the time he was done he had another two assists and had made over 100 metres on just 22 carries. Salford genuinely didn’t seem able to predict what Lomax was going to do at any given moment and he pulled them apart with ease at regular intervals. Fages too looked dangerous, never more so than when his show and go parted the Red Devils’ defence as he helped himself to Saints third try. Prior to that Alex Walmsley had taken several defenders with him on the way to the first of his two tries on the night.
We shouldn’t forget also that this was a result achieved without three key players from the last time Saints faced Salford and became champions. Tommy Makinson and Morgan Knowles are still recovering from shoulder surgeries while James Roby is out with what has been a persistent groin problem. In Knowles’ absence Woolf gave the start at loose forward to Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. The Londoner operates as an auxiliary prop when he plays at 13 and he brought his usual energy and endeavour to proceedings. He made 88 metres on 15 carries and put in a 24-tackle defensive stint. But with Knowles out Saints have two players of contrasting styles to lock the scrum. Joseph Paulo is an often maligned player who found himself left out of the Grand Final squad and maybe wondering about his future at the end of last season. But he came off the bench here after around half an hour and delivered a very enjoyable cameo. You don’t get the crash, bang, wallop that McCarthy-Scarsbrook brings but instead Paulo is a touch player more in the tradition of how loose forwards used to play. Smart, quick passing created an opportunity for Lomax who was well stopped but there was no holding Fages when Paulo found him in space moments later. Knowles should hold down the 13 position when he regains his fitness but both McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Paulo showed that Saints have options and real depth in that area.
Woolf might need to find a temporary solution at fullback too. Lachlan Coote had already been hit late on the game’s very first kick by Gil Dudson and hit high by both Brown and Kris Welham before he was finally forced out of the game by a knee injury picked up when trying to step inside Luke Yates. No blame could be attached to Yates for the challenge but having seen what had gone before it was hard not to draw the conclusion that Coote had been targeted. Early indications are that the Great Britain international has medial ligament damage. A scan later in the week will determine the extent of that damage but it will be a major surprise if he is fit to face Warrington in Round 2 on Thursday night (February 6). The priority should be getting him fit for Saints World Club Challenge clash with Sydney Roosters on February 22.
That temporary solution I refer to is likely to be Welsby. The teenager started the game on the wing in place of Makinson but switched to fullback when Coote was forced off. He went on to help himself to two tries, first taking Lomax’s delicious inside ball to score and then displaying some admirable footwork to dribble past a couple of defenders football-style before falling on the ball to score. Yet it was his assist for Kevin Naiqama’s first of two tries which caught the eye most. Arcing around behind the play-the-ball he delivered a stunningly timed catch and pass, in one movement with defenders converging on him, to the Fijian who provided a devastating finish. Naiqama repeated the dose soon after from Lomax’s pass and the rout was completed by Walmsley’s second as he charged through a massive gap in the tiring Salford defensive line.
Defensively there were few alarms for Saints with Ken Sio’s second half score the only occasion on which the line was breached. Sio has gone close earlier but put a foot in touch as had Rhys Williams. The former London Bronco also suffered the indignity of being run down by Luke Thompson when the game was still reasonably close in the first half. Welsby had vacated his wing looking to get involved in the play but when Williams intercepted a pass he looked like breaking clear. Thompson was having none of it, showing great desire to run Williams down almost immediately. Thompson rather spoiled it by throwing Williams down with a second effort to concede a penalty but even that didn’t change the fact that the Red Devils’ didn’t even have the speed out wide to out run the Saints prop forward. It must have been soul destroying for Salford fans as it became evident that a sizeable gap has opened up between these two teams from that last, more famous meeting in Manchester.
Salford won’t be the only side to find Saints too hot to handle in 2020.
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