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