Even when they were average Saints were different. They were the definition of mediocrity in the 1990/91 season, yet still found a way to stand out from the crowd. On the afternoon of November 11 1990 George Mann scored a try that will never be forgotten by those inside the old Knowsley Road ground. It instigated a rule change while at the same time cementing a place in Saints folklore for Mann and his accomplice, six-foot-seven forward John Harrison.
It had been a patchy start to the campaign by Saints, not that dissimilar to the one made by Kristian Woolf’s side in 2020 before the current suspension. The late Mike McClennan was in charge back then and his side opened their league programme with a defeat at Hull FC before home wins over Bradford Northern and Hull KR. They had been dumped out of the Lancashire Cup by Salford by then so when they went to Leeds and were thumped 23-4 there were already concerns for their prospects for the season. They had already lost half as many league games as eventual champions Wigan would in their entire 26-game league schedule.
League matters went on hold for the visit of the touring Australian Kangaroos. The tourists left Knowsley Road with a 34-4 victory under their belts as former Saint Mal Meninga’s try brace was eclipsed by Andrew Ettingshausen’s hat-trick. Michael Hancock, Steve Roach and Kerrod Walters also crossed for Bob Fulton’s side, whose only blemish arrived when Les Quirk got over for Saints.
When the league resumed there was a further set-back for Saints at Castleford’s pre-jungle Wheldon Road. There were no Tigers around in those days but Saints were nevertheless mauled by Graham Steadman. The former Great Britain fullback scored a hat-trick in a 29-16 win for a Castleford side coached by Darryl Van De Velde. As November began Saints got back on track with a 30-18 win over Rochdale Hornets in which five different players crossed for tries, including Mann. Quirk, Shane Cooper, Shaun Devine and Tea Ropati were also able to touch down as Saints recorded a third league win of the season to go with the three damaging defeats they had suffered.
Next to arrive at Knowsley Road were Sheffield Eagles. They were coached by Gary Hetherington in what seems like another life for the long-time Leeds Rhinos chairman. The Eagles were not considered glamorous enough for a date with the Kangaroos and their first round Yorkshire Cup exit to Bradford Northern meant they had managed to squeeze in a couple more league games than Saints by this stage. They had managed to win only two from their first eight, yet perhaps their best result was an 18-18 draw with champions Wigan on the opening day. They would finish the season second from bottom and were relegated from the top flight, which if nothing else proves that shock results still happened occasionally before the introduction of the salary cap.
There was no shock here. On any other day a 34-17 home victory by Saints over the Eagles might have been considered routine. That is if it were not for the contribution of Harrison and Mann in the 55th minute. Saints skipper Shane Cooper - himself no stranger to alternative methods that today’s risk-averse players would consider positively barmy - was tackled around five metres short of the Eagles line. He played the ball to Harrison who did not hesitate in holding the ball at head height before thrusting his neck muscles forward to propel the ball forward with his forehead. It looped over a bewildered Eagles defensive line but there was no surprise among the men in the red vee. Mann got to it first to ground it at the scoreboard end of the ground but had he not done so hooker Paul Groves was loitering in the vicinity having also been aware of Harrison’s intentions.
The story goes that Saints had planned the stunt to the extent that McClennan had checked with referee Gerry Kershaw before the game as to the legality of it. They had clearly been given the green light. It was not a knock-on as the ball was not propelled towards the Eagles’ try line with the hand or arms. The chasers had been careful to stay behind Harrison and therefore onside when the big man’s innovative bonce came into contact with the ball. Nevertheless the ruse was controversial and widely frowned upon. Shortly after the law was changed to ensure that it could not happen again. I do slightly lament the fact that we will never get to see Terry O’Connor - a man who reacts to a run-of-the-mill offload in the way most of us did when Michael Jackson held his baby over a hotel balcony - deal with a show of such flagrant audacity.
Aside from Harrison’s header the most memorable thing about Saints’ season was their Challenge Cup run. McClennan’s side went all the way to the final at Wembley, going down 13-8 having let John Monie’s side build up a 12-0 half-time lead. In the league Saints continued to have ups and downs, including an 18-8 defeat to the Eagles at Sheffield two days before Christmas. That was during a run of four consecutive defeats in all competitions for Saints which saw them dumped out of the Regal Trophy at Warrington and also lose at home to Wigan on Boxing Day and at Widnes on New Year’s Day 1991.
Four more league defeats followed as Saints limped to a sixth-placed finish. It was the kind of campaign that would have today’s social media coaches demanding the removal of the man at the helm but McClennan stuck around a while longer. Saints finished second the following season under his tutelage and could have got closer to Wigan were it not for some very unreliable away form. By 1992/93 the gap was even closer. The two rivals were separated only on points difference at the end of that season with the pivotal moment being a bruising 8-8 draw at Central Park over Easter, which back then was one of the last games of the season.
McClennan left Saints in December of the following season but he had made his mark, not just on the club which would end it’s long wait for a title three years later, but on the laws of rugby league.
Weekly comment and analysis on all things Saints with perhaps the merest hint of bias...
Super League 2020 - After Coronavirus
Most sports articles I’ve read in the last few days have emphasised how little sport matters in the midst of a global pandemic. I’m not even going to bother telling you that. It’s so jarringly obvious that it doesn’t need saying. Besides, anyone who has been subjected to the relentless doom-mongering of the terminally clueless on social media needs a distraction. I’m sticking to the rugby in my columns over the coming weeks and months. With that in mind I’m starting with a look at what might happen when we reach that joyous day when the authorities give the sporting organisations of the world the green light to get back to doing what they do.
Unlike some other sports rugby league has been halted at a relatively early stage of the season. Only seven weeks of competition have taken place and with further postponements for storms Ciara and Dennis and the World Club Challenge most teams have played fewer than seven games. That’s less than a quarter of the planned schedule. So there will be no talk of handing out trophies or even playoff places to those who have got out of the blocks quickly. That will be good news for Saints and new coach Kristian Woolf. If the current table were used to decide playoff positions Saints would miss out on the end of season jamboree for the first time since the playoffs were reintroduced in 1998.
It seems likely that the season will be shortened. It has been suspended initially until April 3 but all the evidence available right now suggests that date is wildly optimistic. China is only now starting to get back to something like normality after having their first case of coronavirus in mid-November. If the effects in the UK mirror those seen in China it will be somewhere around the end of May before we can think about allowing thousands of fans to gather for a Super League game, the first known case having been identified on January 31. That timetable is far from certain given that Boris Johnson has been rather slower in implementing the draconian measures utilised by the Chinese government.
There is the possibility to play games behind closed doors at an earlier stage but this is not an option favoured by the club owners. They are fearful for their clubs’ futures if they miss out on the gate receipts. Playing behind closed doors would likely need some kind of additional cash injection from Sky in order to cover the loss of those gate receipts in return for live rights to all of the games. That seemed feasible when rugby league was the only show in town this past weekend as the broadcaster scratched around for live content, but the closer we get to a resumption of the football season the less desperate Sky will be to fund our show in the meantime. That ship has probably sailed.
So if we are taking the end of May as a best case scenario that means eight or nine of the scheduled 29 rounds will be lost. That figure of 29 is what it is because of the presence of loop fixtures. Ordinarily each team would play all others home and away before playing a further three home and three away games - known as loop fixtures - based on last season’s league positions. Add in the Magic Weekend and you have your 29 games.
This year’s Magic Weekend falls within the period that we expect to be shut down in our scenario and can probably be written off. That would be a significant financial hit for the game but is perfectly expendable in the context of the integrity of the competition. Losing the loop fixtures is another option with purely financial implications but the problem there is that Toronto have already played their loop fixtures. The Canadian side cannot play at home in the early months of the season due to the harsh winter climate. Before coronavirus was a consideration it made sense to front-load their schedule with their loop fixtures. So simply eliminating the third meeting between any two sides in a fixture reshuffle could mean that some fans won’t get a trip to Toronto. For some fans that is the only thing persuading them that having a North American team in Super League is a good thing. They’ll tell you they’re genuine expansionists, but they’ll also tell you that they shouldn’t be asked to go to Hull on a Thursday.
If we were to scrap loop fixtures we might just squeeze all of the fixtures in in time for the scheduled start of the playoffs on September 17. Even that would probably require a midweek game or two to be slotted in. If the crisis were to go on any longer than we have seen in China there may be some appetite for scrapping the playoffs altogether. This would reduce the time needed to complete the season by three weeks assuming we held on to the concept of a Grand Final at Old Trafford on October 10. In this scenario the Grand Final could simply be a meeting of the top two sides in the table once the regular rounds are completed.
Don’t like that? How about we cull the Grand Final too? Many rugby league fans have long argued that the team finishing at the top of the table at the end of the regular season should be crowned champions. They are the most consistent side and the League Leaders Shield hasn’t been viewed as a credible reward for that consistency since someone had the brilliant idea of calling it the League Leaders Shield. It’s such an underwhelming name, an explicit reminder that you haven’t actually won anything at all and that the real battles are still ahead. Which of course is nonsense but is nevertheless the world we live in.
Of course no playoffs and no Grand Final would have a financial impact. The broadcasters would not be pleased and there would also be the small matter of the loss of revenue that would come from not bothering to sell 65,000 to 70,000 tickets for the Old Trafford showpiece. That is unlikely to be a pill that the club owners would swallow easily. More so than many sports rugby league is always concerned with finances. It exists hand to mouth and has shown in taking the Sky money and creating the Grand Final that it would struggle to exist professionally if left to its own devices.
If we want to keep the playoffs and Grand Final and fit in all of the remaining games on the schedule we will need to extend the season. Unlike football which has a raft of players whose contracts expire at the end of June, most rugby league players in the final year of their deals are contracted to their clubs until the end of November. That gives clubs a further six weeks from the current Grand Final date without having to worry about negotiating extensions to existing deals. That could be crucial because again unlike the billionaire football industry rugby league doesn’t have the finances to pay players for longer than has already been agreed.
Any extension could have a knock-on effect (see what I did there?) on the start of next season but there is precedent for this. When the sport switched to summer for the first Super League season in 1996 it meant a truncated final winter season in 1995/96. With a tweak or two to the programme it may be possible to start the 2021 season somewhat later than the last week in January. There is a good argument for a later start in any event given the frequency of weather-related postponements at the start of the campaign as the seasons shift and the harshest conditions drift into March. If that means taking one or two games out of the 29-game schedule for 2021 that may be something the game has to live with and adapt to. Having been through the experience of what looks set to be a challenging and fairly chaotic 2020 season by then the game’s decision makers may not consider a slight reduction in the schedule for 2021 to be quite the big deal it has always seemed.
If Woolf had a vote on these options it may go to the next alternative on the list, which is to forget about what has happened so far in 2021 and plot an entirely new competition schedule from whenever play is able to restart. In that scenario Woolf’s shaky start would be expunged from the record like it never happened. Woolf could wake up from those nightmares at Warrington and Castleford and at home to Huddersfield to find that Bobby Ewing is in his shower and it has all been a bad dream.
Others who have started the season better such as Castleford, Leeds and Wigan might not be so keen to erase that little bit of history. A total reset might be advantageous to us Saints fans but it wouldn’t sit well with this one. It would feel a little bit like those six league games are 480 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back. Like watching Catalans Dragons under Steve McNamara. I don’t feel great about them as it is, but at least if the results stand they will feel like part of some purposeful journey, even if it takes another five years to win a Grand Final again. Often it is only after you have been served up a large portion of dung that you can really appreciate the sweeter stuff. There’s something to be said for that even if it is totally invisible to a significant number of Facebook fans.
If the major movers in the game cannot agree on a way forward from any of these suggestions then maybe they will be left with one, solitary nuclear option. Just forget about it. Scrap the season. No champion, no relegation, no promotion from the Championship. But again there are financial issues to consider. Do the clubs really want to pay their players a full year’s salary if they are going to be inactive till pre-season starts up at the end of the year? And what about season ticket holders who have paid in advance for their 14 home games at their club? I’m quite happy to sacrifice my £300 if the games are played behind closed doors and I can continue my journey with the team from in front of the TV. I paid that money knowing that a certain amount of fixtures were going to happen without me due to my impending surgery in any case. I say impending, it gets further and further away with each day that coronavirus hangs around but that’s another, altogether scarier story. I’d be less happy about that outlay if we are just going to write the whole thing off. Some fans may be willing to let that money go for the good of their club’s financial future but if even a small percentage are not you have a problem. Either clubs face the financial burden of giving some or all of the money back from season ticket sales for a null and void season or there will be some grumpy fans out there who might think twice about buying a season ticket for next year lest the next biblical plague come down from the gods and interrupt proceedings. Either way there is the chance that clubs will feel it where it hurts them most. In the pocket.
Somehow, at some point, if rugby league as we know it is to survive and thrive the show must go on. It doesn’t matter when. None of it matters really in the current climate but it is far more constructive to think about what will happen when we get through this global crisis than it is to think too much about what happens if we do not.
Unlike some other sports rugby league has been halted at a relatively early stage of the season. Only seven weeks of competition have taken place and with further postponements for storms Ciara and Dennis and the World Club Challenge most teams have played fewer than seven games. That’s less than a quarter of the planned schedule. So there will be no talk of handing out trophies or even playoff places to those who have got out of the blocks quickly. That will be good news for Saints and new coach Kristian Woolf. If the current table were used to decide playoff positions Saints would miss out on the end of season jamboree for the first time since the playoffs were reintroduced in 1998.
It seems likely that the season will be shortened. It has been suspended initially until April 3 but all the evidence available right now suggests that date is wildly optimistic. China is only now starting to get back to something like normality after having their first case of coronavirus in mid-November. If the effects in the UK mirror those seen in China it will be somewhere around the end of May before we can think about allowing thousands of fans to gather for a Super League game, the first known case having been identified on January 31. That timetable is far from certain given that Boris Johnson has been rather slower in implementing the draconian measures utilised by the Chinese government.
There is the possibility to play games behind closed doors at an earlier stage but this is not an option favoured by the club owners. They are fearful for their clubs’ futures if they miss out on the gate receipts. Playing behind closed doors would likely need some kind of additional cash injection from Sky in order to cover the loss of those gate receipts in return for live rights to all of the games. That seemed feasible when rugby league was the only show in town this past weekend as the broadcaster scratched around for live content, but the closer we get to a resumption of the football season the less desperate Sky will be to fund our show in the meantime. That ship has probably sailed.
So if we are taking the end of May as a best case scenario that means eight or nine of the scheduled 29 rounds will be lost. That figure of 29 is what it is because of the presence of loop fixtures. Ordinarily each team would play all others home and away before playing a further three home and three away games - known as loop fixtures - based on last season’s league positions. Add in the Magic Weekend and you have your 29 games.
This year’s Magic Weekend falls within the period that we expect to be shut down in our scenario and can probably be written off. That would be a significant financial hit for the game but is perfectly expendable in the context of the integrity of the competition. Losing the loop fixtures is another option with purely financial implications but the problem there is that Toronto have already played their loop fixtures. The Canadian side cannot play at home in the early months of the season due to the harsh winter climate. Before coronavirus was a consideration it made sense to front-load their schedule with their loop fixtures. So simply eliminating the third meeting between any two sides in a fixture reshuffle could mean that some fans won’t get a trip to Toronto. For some fans that is the only thing persuading them that having a North American team in Super League is a good thing. They’ll tell you they’re genuine expansionists, but they’ll also tell you that they shouldn’t be asked to go to Hull on a Thursday.
If we were to scrap loop fixtures we might just squeeze all of the fixtures in in time for the scheduled start of the playoffs on September 17. Even that would probably require a midweek game or two to be slotted in. If the crisis were to go on any longer than we have seen in China there may be some appetite for scrapping the playoffs altogether. This would reduce the time needed to complete the season by three weeks assuming we held on to the concept of a Grand Final at Old Trafford on October 10. In this scenario the Grand Final could simply be a meeting of the top two sides in the table once the regular rounds are completed.
Don’t like that? How about we cull the Grand Final too? Many rugby league fans have long argued that the team finishing at the top of the table at the end of the regular season should be crowned champions. They are the most consistent side and the League Leaders Shield hasn’t been viewed as a credible reward for that consistency since someone had the brilliant idea of calling it the League Leaders Shield. It’s such an underwhelming name, an explicit reminder that you haven’t actually won anything at all and that the real battles are still ahead. Which of course is nonsense but is nevertheless the world we live in.
Of course no playoffs and no Grand Final would have a financial impact. The broadcasters would not be pleased and there would also be the small matter of the loss of revenue that would come from not bothering to sell 65,000 to 70,000 tickets for the Old Trafford showpiece. That is unlikely to be a pill that the club owners would swallow easily. More so than many sports rugby league is always concerned with finances. It exists hand to mouth and has shown in taking the Sky money and creating the Grand Final that it would struggle to exist professionally if left to its own devices.
If we want to keep the playoffs and Grand Final and fit in all of the remaining games on the schedule we will need to extend the season. Unlike football which has a raft of players whose contracts expire at the end of June, most rugby league players in the final year of their deals are contracted to their clubs until the end of November. That gives clubs a further six weeks from the current Grand Final date without having to worry about negotiating extensions to existing deals. That could be crucial because again unlike the billionaire football industry rugby league doesn’t have the finances to pay players for longer than has already been agreed.
Any extension could have a knock-on effect (see what I did there?) on the start of next season but there is precedent for this. When the sport switched to summer for the first Super League season in 1996 it meant a truncated final winter season in 1995/96. With a tweak or two to the programme it may be possible to start the 2021 season somewhat later than the last week in January. There is a good argument for a later start in any event given the frequency of weather-related postponements at the start of the campaign as the seasons shift and the harshest conditions drift into March. If that means taking one or two games out of the 29-game schedule for 2021 that may be something the game has to live with and adapt to. Having been through the experience of what looks set to be a challenging and fairly chaotic 2020 season by then the game’s decision makers may not consider a slight reduction in the schedule for 2021 to be quite the big deal it has always seemed.
If Woolf had a vote on these options it may go to the next alternative on the list, which is to forget about what has happened so far in 2021 and plot an entirely new competition schedule from whenever play is able to restart. In that scenario Woolf’s shaky start would be expunged from the record like it never happened. Woolf could wake up from those nightmares at Warrington and Castleford and at home to Huddersfield to find that Bobby Ewing is in his shower and it has all been a bad dream.
Others who have started the season better such as Castleford, Leeds and Wigan might not be so keen to erase that little bit of history. A total reset might be advantageous to us Saints fans but it wouldn’t sit well with this one. It would feel a little bit like those six league games are 480 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back. Like watching Catalans Dragons under Steve McNamara. I don’t feel great about them as it is, but at least if the results stand they will feel like part of some purposeful journey, even if it takes another five years to win a Grand Final again. Often it is only after you have been served up a large portion of dung that you can really appreciate the sweeter stuff. There’s something to be said for that even if it is totally invisible to a significant number of Facebook fans.
If the major movers in the game cannot agree on a way forward from any of these suggestions then maybe they will be left with one, solitary nuclear option. Just forget about it. Scrap the season. No champion, no relegation, no promotion from the Championship. But again there are financial issues to consider. Do the clubs really want to pay their players a full year’s salary if they are going to be inactive till pre-season starts up at the end of the year? And what about season ticket holders who have paid in advance for their 14 home games at their club? I’m quite happy to sacrifice my £300 if the games are played behind closed doors and I can continue my journey with the team from in front of the TV. I paid that money knowing that a certain amount of fixtures were going to happen without me due to my impending surgery in any case. I say impending, it gets further and further away with each day that coronavirus hangs around but that’s another, altogether scarier story. I’d be less happy about that outlay if we are just going to write the whole thing off. Some fans may be willing to let that money go for the good of their club’s financial future but if even a small percentage are not you have a problem. Either clubs face the financial burden of giving some or all of the money back from season ticket sales for a null and void season or there will be some grumpy fans out there who might think twice about buying a season ticket for next year lest the next biblical plague come down from the gods and interrupt proceedings. Either way there is the chance that clubs will feel it where it hurts them most. In the pocket.
Somehow, at some point, if rugby league as we know it is to survive and thrive the show must go on. It doesn’t matter when. None of it matters really in the current climate but it is far more constructive to think about what will happen when we get through this global crisis than it is to think too much about what happens if we do not.
Castleford Tigers 28 Saints 14 - Review
I’m writing this 24 hours on from Saints’ 28-14 defeat at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle. A couple of hours ago it was announced that Super League has been suspended until at least April 3 because of the coronavirus. It has decimated the sporting calendar, leaving governing bodies with the unenviable task of working out what to do with the remainder of their competitions once it is deemed safe to resume activities. Given the rate of infection so far and the experiences of other countries that were hit by the virus before the UK, the actual suspension could be months rather than weeks.
All of which serves at least to take much of the attention away from Kristian Woolf. Seven competitive games into his reign at Saints things are not going well for the new man. This was Saints’ third league defeat of 2020, matching their total for the whole of last year. It was perhaps the most abject. Saints were never in the game, dominated by a very useful Castleford Tigers side but not one likely to have troubled the Saints vintage of 2019. So, is the big, bad Woolf blowing our house down?
Changes were made from the side which went down 12-10 at home to Huddersfield Giants last time out. Lachlan Coote returned at fullback for the first time since the opening day win over Salford, while Aaron Smith was back from a one-game ban. Coote’s return added to the injuries to Mark Percival and James Bentley meant that Jack Welsby was asked to switch to left centre. It’s not outlandishly unfair to suggest that the youngster didn’t make the smoothest transition. Welsby was targeted defensively by the likes of Peter Mata’utia, Cheyse Blair and two-try Derrell Olpherts on the Tigers’ right edge. Welsby managed to miss five tackles on a fraught afternoon that seemed to further support the idea that he could use some time with the reserves. He has been catapulted into the first team spotlight which was all very well in the slick, confident side lead by Holbrook. When a team starts to struggle as Saints have in recent weeks then the rawness of young talent can be exposed.
But if we are taking a wider view the fault certainly does not lie with Welsby. Tactically Saints have become stale and predictable. Holbrook’s side was not exactly flamboyant but it looked flashy when compared to the stilted, robotic approach that is Woolfball so far. Three-quarters are an endangered species under the Tongan national coach so far, in part due to the absentees but also due to what appears to be a reluctance to put any air in the ball and use the width of the field. Tommy Makinson’s try was his first of the season while on the opposite wing Regan Grace is yet to cross the whitewash. Tellingly, front rower Luke Thompson is Saints’ leading try-scorer with three, including another one here when the game was way out of reach.
It’s early but it is difficult to shake the feeling that the future under Woolf - whenever it restarts - is a more conservative, forward-orientated game based on the kind of risk-averse philosophies which cost Keiron Cunningham his job. And he had credit in the bank from his monumental playing career. It will not take half as long - notwithstanding the current delay in proceedings - for this fan base to turn on Woolf.
While it is too early to judge Woolf it is perhaps instructive to take a look at Holbrook’s first seven competitive games in charge. If we assume the 45-0 Magic Weekend drubbing of Hull FC was the work of others the two coaches have similar win-loss records. Saints won four of the next seven after that Hull FC game but suffered losses to Castleford, Huddersfield (sound familiar?) and Leeds Rhinos. Saints’ next game would have been at Leeds before the intervention of Covid-19. There is time for Woolf to turn this ship around but the problems are manyfold.
One of the great paradoxes of the Woolf style so far is that although there is a tendency to stick it up the jumper in the forwards, Saints’ world class front row pairing of Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson feels under used. At Castleford the pair had just 15 carries between them. No Saints player had more than the 13 carries managed by Morgan Knowles and no Saints forward broke through the 100-metre barrier. This was largely due to the 13 errors in possession they made which made it difficult to get any field position and helped save the Tigers’ energy in defence. Yet it was also down to the reduced minutes afforded to Saints’ powerhouse props as the game slipped further and further away from them. If you are going adopt an ugly style you need your biggest, ugliest soldiers on the field as much as possible.
It’s also difficult to beat a team of Castleford’s quality if you haven’t got your full compliment of 13 players out on the pitch. Saints’ discipline was poor all day with referee Liam Moore pinging them for infringements on nine occasions but it was the yellow cards shown to Matty Lees and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook in fairly quick succession which inflicted the most damage. Lees was first to go for a high shot on Jordan Rankin as the Tigers fullback fell to the ground in possession. Lees was unfortunate and like McCarthy-Scarsbrook has escaped a ban following the disciplinary panel’s review of the weekend’s games. Yet it is not the first time his recklessness, euphemistically labelled enthusiasm by his fans, has got him and his team in trouble.
Lees is still only 22 and has time to learn. There is less mitigation for McCarthy-Scarsbrook who is over a decade older. The Londoner was given a short rest by Moore after clumsily making contact with the head of Danny Richardson. McCarthy-Scarsbrook was late and the Cas halfback - who seemed on a mission to show his former employers what they will be missing - made the very most of the incident. Yet if you put yourself in a position whereby you give a referee a decision to make don’t be surprised if you find yourself walking off.
Much has been made of Richardson’s performance versus that of Theo Fages, the man who pushed Richardson to the fringes and then the exit at Saints. Yet in many ways it is an unfair comparison at present. Richardson is being allowed to express himself in an exciting halfback combination with Jake Trueman while Fages appears bogged down by structure. He was never the dominant half under Holbrook but now seems to have disappeared completely into his shell, the effect of which is to place more pressure to create on Jonny Lomax alongside him.
With an extended break now likely Woolf has plenty of time to reflect on what has gone wrong these last two weeks in particular. The resumption of the season - whenever that may be - needs to be a fresh start for Woolf if he is not to follow in the footsteps of Cunningham the coach and have his tenure end prematurely.
All of which serves at least to take much of the attention away from Kristian Woolf. Seven competitive games into his reign at Saints things are not going well for the new man. This was Saints’ third league defeat of 2020, matching their total for the whole of last year. It was perhaps the most abject. Saints were never in the game, dominated by a very useful Castleford Tigers side but not one likely to have troubled the Saints vintage of 2019. So, is the big, bad Woolf blowing our house down?
Changes were made from the side which went down 12-10 at home to Huddersfield Giants last time out. Lachlan Coote returned at fullback for the first time since the opening day win over Salford, while Aaron Smith was back from a one-game ban. Coote’s return added to the injuries to Mark Percival and James Bentley meant that Jack Welsby was asked to switch to left centre. It’s not outlandishly unfair to suggest that the youngster didn’t make the smoothest transition. Welsby was targeted defensively by the likes of Peter Mata’utia, Cheyse Blair and two-try Derrell Olpherts on the Tigers’ right edge. Welsby managed to miss five tackles on a fraught afternoon that seemed to further support the idea that he could use some time with the reserves. He has been catapulted into the first team spotlight which was all very well in the slick, confident side lead by Holbrook. When a team starts to struggle as Saints have in recent weeks then the rawness of young talent can be exposed.
But if we are taking a wider view the fault certainly does not lie with Welsby. Tactically Saints have become stale and predictable. Holbrook’s side was not exactly flamboyant but it looked flashy when compared to the stilted, robotic approach that is Woolfball so far. Three-quarters are an endangered species under the Tongan national coach so far, in part due to the absentees but also due to what appears to be a reluctance to put any air in the ball and use the width of the field. Tommy Makinson’s try was his first of the season while on the opposite wing Regan Grace is yet to cross the whitewash. Tellingly, front rower Luke Thompson is Saints’ leading try-scorer with three, including another one here when the game was way out of reach.
It’s early but it is difficult to shake the feeling that the future under Woolf - whenever it restarts - is a more conservative, forward-orientated game based on the kind of risk-averse philosophies which cost Keiron Cunningham his job. And he had credit in the bank from his monumental playing career. It will not take half as long - notwithstanding the current delay in proceedings - for this fan base to turn on Woolf.
While it is too early to judge Woolf it is perhaps instructive to take a look at Holbrook’s first seven competitive games in charge. If we assume the 45-0 Magic Weekend drubbing of Hull FC was the work of others the two coaches have similar win-loss records. Saints won four of the next seven after that Hull FC game but suffered losses to Castleford, Huddersfield (sound familiar?) and Leeds Rhinos. Saints’ next game would have been at Leeds before the intervention of Covid-19. There is time for Woolf to turn this ship around but the problems are manyfold.
One of the great paradoxes of the Woolf style so far is that although there is a tendency to stick it up the jumper in the forwards, Saints’ world class front row pairing of Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson feels under used. At Castleford the pair had just 15 carries between them. No Saints player had more than the 13 carries managed by Morgan Knowles and no Saints forward broke through the 100-metre barrier. This was largely due to the 13 errors in possession they made which made it difficult to get any field position and helped save the Tigers’ energy in defence. Yet it was also down to the reduced minutes afforded to Saints’ powerhouse props as the game slipped further and further away from them. If you are going adopt an ugly style you need your biggest, ugliest soldiers on the field as much as possible.
It’s also difficult to beat a team of Castleford’s quality if you haven’t got your full compliment of 13 players out on the pitch. Saints’ discipline was poor all day with referee Liam Moore pinging them for infringements on nine occasions but it was the yellow cards shown to Matty Lees and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook in fairly quick succession which inflicted the most damage. Lees was first to go for a high shot on Jordan Rankin as the Tigers fullback fell to the ground in possession. Lees was unfortunate and like McCarthy-Scarsbrook has escaped a ban following the disciplinary panel’s review of the weekend’s games. Yet it is not the first time his recklessness, euphemistically labelled enthusiasm by his fans, has got him and his team in trouble.
Lees is still only 22 and has time to learn. There is less mitigation for McCarthy-Scarsbrook who is over a decade older. The Londoner was given a short rest by Moore after clumsily making contact with the head of Danny Richardson. McCarthy-Scarsbrook was late and the Cas halfback - who seemed on a mission to show his former employers what they will be missing - made the very most of the incident. Yet if you put yourself in a position whereby you give a referee a decision to make don’t be surprised if you find yourself walking off.
Much has been made of Richardson’s performance versus that of Theo Fages, the man who pushed Richardson to the fringes and then the exit at Saints. Yet in many ways it is an unfair comparison at present. Richardson is being allowed to express himself in an exciting halfback combination with Jake Trueman while Fages appears bogged down by structure. He was never the dominant half under Holbrook but now seems to have disappeared completely into his shell, the effect of which is to place more pressure to create on Jonny Lomax alongside him.
With an extended break now likely Woolf has plenty of time to reflect on what has gone wrong these last two weeks in particular. The resumption of the season - whenever that may be - needs to be a fresh start for Woolf if he is not to follow in the footsteps of Cunningham the coach and have his tenure end prematurely.
Castleford Tigers v St Helens - Preview
I’m not sure there is any point in writing this but like a Brexiteer in full blitz spirit mode I’m cracking on regardless. While coronavirus lays waste to the sporting programme over the coming weeks there is still, at the time of writing, a game at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle this weekend. Saints are the visitors for Castleford Tigers in Round 7 of the Betfred Super League this Sunday afternoon (March 15, kick-off 3.30pm).
Let’s make no bones about it, if this game goes ahead it is due in large part to the financial state of the game. The government’s advice that sporting events should not be cancelled at this stage has been widely ignored by a public which does not trust Prime Minister Boris Johnson despite the fact that they trusted him enough to give him a 50-seat majority in the General Election in December. They know best and they want all sport cancelled, especially if they support a football team that isn’t Liverpool. It doesn’t help that the gaffe-prone PM told everyone to expect the loss of loved ones. This stupefying level of tactless scaremongering is unbecoming of someone in the highest office in the land, but then we are dealing with a man who hides in a fridge to avoid being interviewed by an early morning family entertainment show.
Yet for rugby league the bottom line is their bottom line. Clubs already insist on six extra loop fixtures to keep them financially afloat, so the loss of fixtures due to cancellations related to the spread of coronavirus would have a severe impact. Handily they can continue safe in the knowledge that their decision is backed by the government who in turn have taken advice from health experts rather than Dave on Twitter. Johnson is guilty of all kinds of arsehole-ery, but he is not the architect of the delay strategy.
So back to the rugby then. Coach Kristian Woolf might be glad that the public has other matters on its collective mind. Otherwise he might be a man under a fair amount of pressure after Saints were humbled 12-10 at home by Huddersfield Giants last time out. The Giants midweek Challenge Cup exit to the previously winless Toronto Wolfpack puts that result in an altogether smellier bracket of awfulness. He needs a response from his side this week otherwise the knee-jerkers will have the Woolf Out banners at the ready.
He has made one change to his 21-man squad from the group which toiled so badly against Simon Woolford’s side. Aaron Smith returns from the suspension handed out to him for a dangerous tackle in the 32-0 win over Toronto on February 29. That should offer some relief to James Roby who may be more effective in shorter stints having had no recognised back-up at hooker last time out.
The problem position remains left centre. With Mark Percival still out and James Bentley not yet ready to return there were rumours in the week of a return to the club for the injury-prone Gary Wheeler. The centre was released by the Wolfpack this week as they made room for the return of their first ever Canadian player Quinn Ngawati and it was widely suggested that Wheeler would return to the club where he made 65 appearances between 2008 and 2014. If coronavirus doesn’t scare you then perhaps the prospect of the 30-year-old Mr Glass of rugby league returning to the Saints line-up would have. In the event the move did not happen, probably mostly down to the fact that it was never likely to happen in the first place and someone just had a few column inches to fill. Matty Costello must have been stunned that he did not get the nod to fill in for Percival last week as Morgan Knowles was the man offered up as the sacrificial lamb/fish up a tree in the three-quarter line. Both are included again in the 21 and it is to be hoped that Woolf has learned the lessons from last week and includes Costello while allowing Knowles to revert to loose forward, a move which would have the added bonus of reducing Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s always impactful but often manic contribution.
Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama and Regan Grace look the only safe bets in the three-quarter line. They will hope to operate in front of Lachlan Coote who is again named and again expected to return at fullback. We heard this story before last week, however, so don’t be too surprised if Jack Welsby is expected to continue as the last line of defence. Welsby has had some shakier moments in recent weeks after an excellent start to his Saints career and could do with a spell, but that will almost certainly depend entirely on Coote’s ability to take the field without further risking his fitness following his medial ligament injury in the opening day win over Salford.
Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages are again backed up in the halves by Lewis Dodd, but with Coote and Smith back it means there is no place in the squad for either Josh Simm or Tom Nisbet. Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson operate either side of Roby with Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux in the second row. The bench will feature McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Smith and probably Matty Lees with Kyle Amor, Joseph Paulo and Jack Ashworth left to fight it out for the other spot. It would be surprising to see a repeat of last week’s selection which saw Costello make the bench despite not being deemed good enough to start at centre.
Castleford come in off the back of a 9-8 defeat to Warrington last time out. It wasn’t much of a spectacle despite the views of both coaches who were no doubt thrilled to see their sides cut down on the error count. By the end they were like two drunks trying to complete the Krypton Factor assault course in their attempts to land the winning drop-goal. Blake Austin eventually managed it before extra-time took effect, though how Danny Richardson did not beat him to it only he will know.
The former Saint will be highly motivated to perform against the club who let him go at the end of 2019 despite having made the Super League Dream Team in Justin Holbrook’s side of 2018. Richardson now partners the equally exciting Jake Trueman in the halves ahead of a three-quarter line that features ex-Saint Michael Shenton, Cheyse Blair, the returning James Clare and 2019 Grand Finalist Derrell Olpherts. Jordan Rankin or Peter Mata’utia will operate behind them at fullback.
The big boost for Tigers coach Daryl Powell is the return to the fold of Liam Watts who missed the Warrington defeat with injury. He will bolster a pack which features his fellow England squad member Paul McShane as well as former England man and England Knights selection Mike McMeeken, wily veterans Grant Millinton and Nathan Massey and the explosive Jesse Sene-Lefao along with the dependable Adam Milner and another member of Salford’s Grand Final team George Griffin.
At the start of play Castleford sit third in the table, three places and two points better off than Saints but Woolf’s men would jump above the Tigers with a win. Only Catalans and Warrington have managed that in the Tigers’ six outings so far and this is not a Saints side in the peak of its form if last week’s events are any barometer. Castleford is always a tricky away fixture and I can’t help but look at it with a level of trepidation in anticipation of a Tigers win by something in the region of 6-10 points.
Squads;
Castleford Tigers;
1. Jordan Rankin 2. Derrell Olpherts 3. Peter Mata’utia 4. Michael Shenton 6. Jake Trueman 7. Danny Richardson 8. Liam Watts 9. Paul McShane 10. Grant Millington 12. Mike McMeeken 13. Adam Milner 14. Nathan Massey 15. Jesse Sene-Lefao 16. George Griffin 17. Alex Foster 18. Cheyse Blair 19. Daniel Smith 21. James Clare 22. Jacques O’Neill 24. Tyla Hepi 33. Bailey Hodgson
St Helens;
1. Lachalan Coote 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Kevin Naiqama 5. Regan Grace 6. Johnny Lomax 7. Theo Fages 8. Alex Walmsley 9. James Roby 10. Luke Thompson 11. Zeb Taia 12. Dominque Peyroux 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 14. Morgan Knowles 15. Matty Lees 16. Kyle Amor 17. Jack Ashworth 18. Joseph Paulo 19. Aaron Smith 21. Matty Costello 22. Jack Welsby 27. Lewis Dodd
Referee: Liam Moore
Let’s make no bones about it, if this game goes ahead it is due in large part to the financial state of the game. The government’s advice that sporting events should not be cancelled at this stage has been widely ignored by a public which does not trust Prime Minister Boris Johnson despite the fact that they trusted him enough to give him a 50-seat majority in the General Election in December. They know best and they want all sport cancelled, especially if they support a football team that isn’t Liverpool. It doesn’t help that the gaffe-prone PM told everyone to expect the loss of loved ones. This stupefying level of tactless scaremongering is unbecoming of someone in the highest office in the land, but then we are dealing with a man who hides in a fridge to avoid being interviewed by an early morning family entertainment show.
Yet for rugby league the bottom line is their bottom line. Clubs already insist on six extra loop fixtures to keep them financially afloat, so the loss of fixtures due to cancellations related to the spread of coronavirus would have a severe impact. Handily they can continue safe in the knowledge that their decision is backed by the government who in turn have taken advice from health experts rather than Dave on Twitter. Johnson is guilty of all kinds of arsehole-ery, but he is not the architect of the delay strategy.
So back to the rugby then. Coach Kristian Woolf might be glad that the public has other matters on its collective mind. Otherwise he might be a man under a fair amount of pressure after Saints were humbled 12-10 at home by Huddersfield Giants last time out. The Giants midweek Challenge Cup exit to the previously winless Toronto Wolfpack puts that result in an altogether smellier bracket of awfulness. He needs a response from his side this week otherwise the knee-jerkers will have the Woolf Out banners at the ready.
He has made one change to his 21-man squad from the group which toiled so badly against Simon Woolford’s side. Aaron Smith returns from the suspension handed out to him for a dangerous tackle in the 32-0 win over Toronto on February 29. That should offer some relief to James Roby who may be more effective in shorter stints having had no recognised back-up at hooker last time out.
The problem position remains left centre. With Mark Percival still out and James Bentley not yet ready to return there were rumours in the week of a return to the club for the injury-prone Gary Wheeler. The centre was released by the Wolfpack this week as they made room for the return of their first ever Canadian player Quinn Ngawati and it was widely suggested that Wheeler would return to the club where he made 65 appearances between 2008 and 2014. If coronavirus doesn’t scare you then perhaps the prospect of the 30-year-old Mr Glass of rugby league returning to the Saints line-up would have. In the event the move did not happen, probably mostly down to the fact that it was never likely to happen in the first place and someone just had a few column inches to fill. Matty Costello must have been stunned that he did not get the nod to fill in for Percival last week as Morgan Knowles was the man offered up as the sacrificial lamb/fish up a tree in the three-quarter line. Both are included again in the 21 and it is to be hoped that Woolf has learned the lessons from last week and includes Costello while allowing Knowles to revert to loose forward, a move which would have the added bonus of reducing Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s always impactful but often manic contribution.
Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama and Regan Grace look the only safe bets in the three-quarter line. They will hope to operate in front of Lachlan Coote who is again named and again expected to return at fullback. We heard this story before last week, however, so don’t be too surprised if Jack Welsby is expected to continue as the last line of defence. Welsby has had some shakier moments in recent weeks after an excellent start to his Saints career and could do with a spell, but that will almost certainly depend entirely on Coote’s ability to take the field without further risking his fitness following his medial ligament injury in the opening day win over Salford.
Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages are again backed up in the halves by Lewis Dodd, but with Coote and Smith back it means there is no place in the squad for either Josh Simm or Tom Nisbet. Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson operate either side of Roby with Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux in the second row. The bench will feature McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Smith and probably Matty Lees with Kyle Amor, Joseph Paulo and Jack Ashworth left to fight it out for the other spot. It would be surprising to see a repeat of last week’s selection which saw Costello make the bench despite not being deemed good enough to start at centre.
Castleford come in off the back of a 9-8 defeat to Warrington last time out. It wasn’t much of a spectacle despite the views of both coaches who were no doubt thrilled to see their sides cut down on the error count. By the end they were like two drunks trying to complete the Krypton Factor assault course in their attempts to land the winning drop-goal. Blake Austin eventually managed it before extra-time took effect, though how Danny Richardson did not beat him to it only he will know.
The former Saint will be highly motivated to perform against the club who let him go at the end of 2019 despite having made the Super League Dream Team in Justin Holbrook’s side of 2018. Richardson now partners the equally exciting Jake Trueman in the halves ahead of a three-quarter line that features ex-Saint Michael Shenton, Cheyse Blair, the returning James Clare and 2019 Grand Finalist Derrell Olpherts. Jordan Rankin or Peter Mata’utia will operate behind them at fullback.
The big boost for Tigers coach Daryl Powell is the return to the fold of Liam Watts who missed the Warrington defeat with injury. He will bolster a pack which features his fellow England squad member Paul McShane as well as former England man and England Knights selection Mike McMeeken, wily veterans Grant Millinton and Nathan Massey and the explosive Jesse Sene-Lefao along with the dependable Adam Milner and another member of Salford’s Grand Final team George Griffin.
At the start of play Castleford sit third in the table, three places and two points better off than Saints but Woolf’s men would jump above the Tigers with a win. Only Catalans and Warrington have managed that in the Tigers’ six outings so far and this is not a Saints side in the peak of its form if last week’s events are any barometer. Castleford is always a tricky away fixture and I can’t help but look at it with a level of trepidation in anticipation of a Tigers win by something in the region of 6-10 points.
Squads;
Castleford Tigers;
1. Jordan Rankin 2. Derrell Olpherts 3. Peter Mata’utia 4. Michael Shenton 6. Jake Trueman 7. Danny Richardson 8. Liam Watts 9. Paul McShane 10. Grant Millington 12. Mike McMeeken 13. Adam Milner 14. Nathan Massey 15. Jesse Sene-Lefao 16. George Griffin 17. Alex Foster 18. Cheyse Blair 19. Daniel Smith 21. James Clare 22. Jacques O’Neill 24. Tyla Hepi 33. Bailey Hodgson
St Helens;
1. Lachalan Coote 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Kevin Naiqama 5. Regan Grace 6. Johnny Lomax 7. Theo Fages 8. Alex Walmsley 9. James Roby 10. Luke Thompson 11. Zeb Taia 12. Dominque Peyroux 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 14. Morgan Knowles 15. Matty Lees 16. Kyle Amor 17. Jack Ashworth 18. Joseph Paulo 19. Aaron Smith 21. Matty Costello 22. Jack Welsby 27. Lewis Dodd
Referee: Liam Moore
Saints 10 Huddersfield Giants 12 - Review
It wasn’t like this with Justin. Actually it was occasionally. In August 2018, on their way to winning the League Leaders Shield by 10 points Saints went down 16-12 at home to Huddersfield Giants. Bad performances happen. Judging by some of the teeth-gnashing responses to the defeat on social media it would appear that there is a good portion of the support not prepared to accept that fact.
Notwithstanding the propensity of some for hysteria the difference here is credit in the bank. While the people calling for the removal of coach Kristian Woolf are very likely the kind of people currently racing down the aisle at Tesco panic buying toilet roll and paracetamol like Richard Madeley on an episode of Celebrity Supermarket Sweep, there are causes for concern here that were not evident in 2018. Back then Holbrook had been improving Saints for almost a year. He lifted them out of the doldrums of the Cunningham Energy Battle era and though he fell short of winning the big one that year even the most negative fan could see that progress was being made. That is more difficult to see when we analyse the evidence of Woolf’s tenure so far. But I’d ask you to remember that it’s a very small sample size.
Woolf has had six competitive games in charge so far. Five of those have come in Super League and the other in the World Club Challenge against back-to-back NRL Premiers Sydney Roosters. Holbrook’s two-year reign has taught us that we dominate Super League. With that in mind two defeats in five league outings represents a crisis for many. Not only that but the 2020 Saints have gone through long periods of impotence in their attack that would disappoint even Roy from Eastenders or that beardy dancing twat from the Viagra advert. They were nilled and humiliated at Warrington. They went 40 minutes without scoring a try in the first half at Hull FC before recovering to win 32-18. They butchered several opportunities in drawing another blank in the second half against the Roosters, though at the time most were happy to put that down to the quality of the opposition rather than any major shortcomings in the Woolf game plan. A solid if unspectacular nilling of pseudo North American comedy club Toronto Wolfpack had raised expectations that everything would be just fine and we would once again return to our rightful place atop the Super League tree.
And then this. It was undeniably awful. Largely the problems were tactical but individual mistakes were a significant factor also. Woolf cannot be blamed for the usually reliable Tommy Makinson botching his attempt to diffuse Aidan Sezer’s bomb which led to Adam O’Brien’s opening score. Nor can the coach be blamed for Jack Welsby’s token attempt to get a hold on Jacob Wardle as the Huddersfield centre streaked down the north touchline for the try which sealed the win. But Woolf is responsible for the often dire conservatism that defined Saints’ attacking approach and rendered Makinson, Regan Grace and Kevin Naiqama spectators for much of the evening. I can recall two moments of involvement for the Welshman. On one occasion he just failed to hang on to an interception that would have seen him go the length of the field untouched and in the other he flapped desperately at a Jonny Lomax pass that was several feet too high even if Grace were not vertically challenged.
Woolf is also responsible for team selection. Who didn’t glance at the Saints line-up on their way to the stadium and allow themselves to entertain the thought - just the thought - that this could be one of those nights? With Mark Percival out injured for the foreseeable future and James Bentley absent with an ankle injury Morgan Knowles was selected to play at left centre. This must have been jarring news for Matty Costello. Under Holbrook any injury to Percival immediately led to the selection of Costello. Employing Knowles there made no sort of sense and for me smacked of a loud and clear message from Woolf to Costello that he is not going to figure heavily in his long term plans unless something changes dramatically.
It looks as though Woolf has seen something in Costello - something that we are not privy to that happens away from the public glare - that he does not like. It will not have helped the young centre’s cause that after finally entering the fray 20 minutes from time he dropped the ball over the line destroying what would have been a certain try. From my position in the north stand I thought referee Gareth Hewer had given a forward pass in the build-up. Yet as everyone on the south and west sides will have seen at the time the highlights showed the true picture. It was ugly. Individual mistakes rearing their head again.
Knowles’ shift into the backs meant a start at loose forward for Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook with Kyle Amor coming on to the bench. Even the Londoner’s biggest fans would accept that his presence there rather than Knowles’ makes Saints demonstrably weaker. Aaron Smith’s suspension along with Bentley’s injury meant that James Roby had to go it alone at hooker without the opportunity to be spelled. These things are unfortunate but if anyone can explain to me why Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson spent so much time off the field at the same time then I’d be interested to know. A rudimentary grasp of Saints squad shows you that the level of the pack drops off considerably without one let alone both of those two in the action. Matty Lees is not yet the superstar that his biggest advocates think he is while Amor is on the downward slope of what has been a fine career without ever reaching elite levels. Those two combined for 132 metres between them on 15 carries which is one metre fewer than Thompson managed on his own from 18 and only two metres more than Walmsley managed on his 18. We must have greater output from our back-up props if we are to afford the luxury of sitting Walmsley and Thompson down at the same time. When the pair were on at the same time they were over relied upon in Woolf’s safety first structure.
Injuries play a part and could be cited in defence of Woolf and of his team’s performance. We have already seen the effect of Percival’s absence but there was another significant hole in the side that Saints struggled to fill. Lachlan Coote was named in the 21-man squad for this one but didn’t make it. This further exposed a wobbling Welsby who is showings signs that he needs a spell out of the first team firing line. You are likely to get inconsistent performances from young players with so little experience but Welsby has not looked comfortable since the opening night win over Salford. Yet if Coote is not 100% fit then Woolf does not have the option of protecting Welsby. The Australian fullback’s long term fitness cannot be risked. It is a long season and Coote is going to be a key figure if Saints are involved in the big games that come around in late summer.
Despite all of these problems this was a desperately close if fairly tedious contest. Like a recently unmasked villain in an episode of Scooby-Doo Saints could have got away with it had they managed the game better. Were it not for that pesky game management. Sezer put on a clinic in how to protect a lead in the final quarter, consistently kicking Saints into positions that their limited attacking approach was always going to struggle with. Contrast that with Theo Fages who has been praised recently by Woolf but who from where I am sitting has launched the same last tackle bomb 732 times already this season. I know, who’s counting? He’s industrious and he defends as well as any half but his lack of guile places an undue creative burden on Lomax at times, particularly in what looks a more rigid system under Woolf than under his predecessor.
We cannot move on to next week’s assignment at Castleford without addressing the very real concerns about Hewer’s performance. There is a certain truth to the notion that you spend 80 minutes inside a stadium screaming at the referee like Gordon Ramsey bellowing at an unsuspecting apprentice chef on his first day, only to go home and watch the footage and find that the referee got 95% of the calls correct. Still there was one decision in particular which is still arguable no matter how many times you view it.
Lomax had a try disallowed for an obstruction by Roby which could have proved the difference. Roby does stand between the would-be tackler, Jordan Turner, and Lomax as he receives the ball. There is a good argument that Roby raising his hands does not absolve him of responsibility if he is still in the way. Yet there is also a good argument that Turner makes no attempt to make the tackle, or that he would have made it had he made the effort. For too long now defenders have been allowed to take the easy option of doing nothing but throw their arms up in anticipation of a decision. Ordinarily this is more common in televised games because defenders know that the video referee will often find a reason to disallow a slightly contentious try even if it takes 62 looks at the replay. It is rarer and bolder for this to be called in a non-televised game. While I would hesitate to back Hewer’s decision 100% it was not the scandalous, terrible call that it has been branded by legions of understandably disappointed fans.
No. If we are looking to apportion blame then we ha e to point our fickle fingers at Woolf and the players. Just remember that it is too soon to make any overall judgements and that, contrary to what your filtered memory tells you, it was like this under Justin.
Well....once or twice anyway.
Notwithstanding the propensity of some for hysteria the difference here is credit in the bank. While the people calling for the removal of coach Kristian Woolf are very likely the kind of people currently racing down the aisle at Tesco panic buying toilet roll and paracetamol like Richard Madeley on an episode of Celebrity Supermarket Sweep, there are causes for concern here that were not evident in 2018. Back then Holbrook had been improving Saints for almost a year. He lifted them out of the doldrums of the Cunningham Energy Battle era and though he fell short of winning the big one that year even the most negative fan could see that progress was being made. That is more difficult to see when we analyse the evidence of Woolf’s tenure so far. But I’d ask you to remember that it’s a very small sample size.
Woolf has had six competitive games in charge so far. Five of those have come in Super League and the other in the World Club Challenge against back-to-back NRL Premiers Sydney Roosters. Holbrook’s two-year reign has taught us that we dominate Super League. With that in mind two defeats in five league outings represents a crisis for many. Not only that but the 2020 Saints have gone through long periods of impotence in their attack that would disappoint even Roy from Eastenders or that beardy dancing twat from the Viagra advert. They were nilled and humiliated at Warrington. They went 40 minutes without scoring a try in the first half at Hull FC before recovering to win 32-18. They butchered several opportunities in drawing another blank in the second half against the Roosters, though at the time most were happy to put that down to the quality of the opposition rather than any major shortcomings in the Woolf game plan. A solid if unspectacular nilling of pseudo North American comedy club Toronto Wolfpack had raised expectations that everything would be just fine and we would once again return to our rightful place atop the Super League tree.
And then this. It was undeniably awful. Largely the problems were tactical but individual mistakes were a significant factor also. Woolf cannot be blamed for the usually reliable Tommy Makinson botching his attempt to diffuse Aidan Sezer’s bomb which led to Adam O’Brien’s opening score. Nor can the coach be blamed for Jack Welsby’s token attempt to get a hold on Jacob Wardle as the Huddersfield centre streaked down the north touchline for the try which sealed the win. But Woolf is responsible for the often dire conservatism that defined Saints’ attacking approach and rendered Makinson, Regan Grace and Kevin Naiqama spectators for much of the evening. I can recall two moments of involvement for the Welshman. On one occasion he just failed to hang on to an interception that would have seen him go the length of the field untouched and in the other he flapped desperately at a Jonny Lomax pass that was several feet too high even if Grace were not vertically challenged.
Woolf is also responsible for team selection. Who didn’t glance at the Saints line-up on their way to the stadium and allow themselves to entertain the thought - just the thought - that this could be one of those nights? With Mark Percival out injured for the foreseeable future and James Bentley absent with an ankle injury Morgan Knowles was selected to play at left centre. This must have been jarring news for Matty Costello. Under Holbrook any injury to Percival immediately led to the selection of Costello. Employing Knowles there made no sort of sense and for me smacked of a loud and clear message from Woolf to Costello that he is not going to figure heavily in his long term plans unless something changes dramatically.
It looks as though Woolf has seen something in Costello - something that we are not privy to that happens away from the public glare - that he does not like. It will not have helped the young centre’s cause that after finally entering the fray 20 minutes from time he dropped the ball over the line destroying what would have been a certain try. From my position in the north stand I thought referee Gareth Hewer had given a forward pass in the build-up. Yet as everyone on the south and west sides will have seen at the time the highlights showed the true picture. It was ugly. Individual mistakes rearing their head again.
Knowles’ shift into the backs meant a start at loose forward for Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook with Kyle Amor coming on to the bench. Even the Londoner’s biggest fans would accept that his presence there rather than Knowles’ makes Saints demonstrably weaker. Aaron Smith’s suspension along with Bentley’s injury meant that James Roby had to go it alone at hooker without the opportunity to be spelled. These things are unfortunate but if anyone can explain to me why Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson spent so much time off the field at the same time then I’d be interested to know. A rudimentary grasp of Saints squad shows you that the level of the pack drops off considerably without one let alone both of those two in the action. Matty Lees is not yet the superstar that his biggest advocates think he is while Amor is on the downward slope of what has been a fine career without ever reaching elite levels. Those two combined for 132 metres between them on 15 carries which is one metre fewer than Thompson managed on his own from 18 and only two metres more than Walmsley managed on his 18. We must have greater output from our back-up props if we are to afford the luxury of sitting Walmsley and Thompson down at the same time. When the pair were on at the same time they were over relied upon in Woolf’s safety first structure.
Injuries play a part and could be cited in defence of Woolf and of his team’s performance. We have already seen the effect of Percival’s absence but there was another significant hole in the side that Saints struggled to fill. Lachlan Coote was named in the 21-man squad for this one but didn’t make it. This further exposed a wobbling Welsby who is showings signs that he needs a spell out of the first team firing line. You are likely to get inconsistent performances from young players with so little experience but Welsby has not looked comfortable since the opening night win over Salford. Yet if Coote is not 100% fit then Woolf does not have the option of protecting Welsby. The Australian fullback’s long term fitness cannot be risked. It is a long season and Coote is going to be a key figure if Saints are involved in the big games that come around in late summer.
Despite all of these problems this was a desperately close if fairly tedious contest. Like a recently unmasked villain in an episode of Scooby-Doo Saints could have got away with it had they managed the game better. Were it not for that pesky game management. Sezer put on a clinic in how to protect a lead in the final quarter, consistently kicking Saints into positions that their limited attacking approach was always going to struggle with. Contrast that with Theo Fages who has been praised recently by Woolf but who from where I am sitting has launched the same last tackle bomb 732 times already this season. I know, who’s counting? He’s industrious and he defends as well as any half but his lack of guile places an undue creative burden on Lomax at times, particularly in what looks a more rigid system under Woolf than under his predecessor.
We cannot move on to next week’s assignment at Castleford without addressing the very real concerns about Hewer’s performance. There is a certain truth to the notion that you spend 80 minutes inside a stadium screaming at the referee like Gordon Ramsey bellowing at an unsuspecting apprentice chef on his first day, only to go home and watch the footage and find that the referee got 95% of the calls correct. Still there was one decision in particular which is still arguable no matter how many times you view it.
Lomax had a try disallowed for an obstruction by Roby which could have proved the difference. Roby does stand between the would-be tackler, Jordan Turner, and Lomax as he receives the ball. There is a good argument that Roby raising his hands does not absolve him of responsibility if he is still in the way. Yet there is also a good argument that Turner makes no attempt to make the tackle, or that he would have made it had he made the effort. For too long now defenders have been allowed to take the easy option of doing nothing but throw their arms up in anticipation of a decision. Ordinarily this is more common in televised games because defenders know that the video referee will often find a reason to disallow a slightly contentious try even if it takes 62 looks at the replay. It is rarer and bolder for this to be called in a non-televised game. While I would hesitate to back Hewer’s decision 100% it was not the scandalous, terrible call that it has been branded by legions of understandably disappointed fans.
No. If we are looking to apportion blame then we ha e to point our fickle fingers at Woolf and the players. Just remember that it is too soon to make any overall judgements and that, contrary to what your filtered memory tells you, it was like this under Justin.
Well....once or twice anyway.
Saints v Huddersfield Giants - Preview
Saints will look to keep up with the early season pace-setters when they host Huddersfield Giants in a Betfred Super League Round 6 clash on Friday night (March 6, kick-off 7.45pm).
Kristian Woolf’s side recovered from their gallant defeat by Sydney Roosters in the World Club Challenge to brush aside Toronto Wolfpack at Warrington last time out. Saints held the Canadian side scoreless in a 32-0 success which leaves them third in the table going into this weekend’s games, but crucially with a game in hand over Wigan Warriors and Castleford Tigers who currently sit above them.
The champions have received a major boost with the news that Lachlan Coote could be ready to make a return to action. The Great Britain fullback has not been involved since suffering medial ligament damage in the 48-8 win over Salford Red Devils on opening night, but is named in Woolf’s 21-man party for this one. Coote’s addition is one of two changes to the squad that took on the Wolfpack last week. Centre Josh Simm is included while Aaron Smith sits this one out through suspension and James Bentley is missing with an ankle injury.
Should Coote be fit to play he should take his regular place at fullback behind a three-quarter line that will have Tommy Makinson and Regan Grace on either wing and Kevin Naiqama at right centre. The other centre slot is a little more up for grabs. With Mark Percival a long-term absentee with a shoulder problem and Bentley’s injury, Simm will compete for the spot alongside Matty Costello and perhaps Jack Welsby given that he would be shunted from the fullback position should Coote make the line-up. Costello would have been very disappointed to miss out on selection last week in favour of Bentley. Woolf’s decision on whether to play Costello with both Percival and Bentley out could be an instructive one in terms of Costello’s long-term prospects at the club.
With Smith and Bentley out there is the possibility that Theo Fages could move from his regular scrum-half role to help cover James Roby in the hooking position. Woolf has spoken of Roby’s ability to play 80 minutes if necessary but you get the sense that the coach would prefer not to over work his veteran skipper if it can be avoided. A move for Fages may not be all that likely, but it would solve the problem in that spot and would have the added attraction of offering a first opportunity at Super League level for the much talked about but yet to be seen Lewis Dodd. Dodd has made every 21-man squad so far this season without ever seeing any action but perhaps this is the kind of game that would be perfect for him to make his first appearance at this level.
Woolf has also made noises about Morgan Knowles or Dominique Peyroux spending some time in the number nine role. Knowles was plunged into emergency service as a centre in the win over Toronto following Bentley’s misfortune, but whenever Roby is on the field you can expect the Welsh international to occupy his usual loose forward role behind the second row partnership of Peyroux and Zeb Taia. The former Catalans Dragon and Gold Coast Titan may be advancing in years but he leads Saints in both carries and metres made so far in 2020. He continues to be influential, while the front row of Roby, Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson is without peer in this particular kingdom. The usual suspects of Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Matty Lees and Joseph Paulo should make the bench with any one from five or six others in with a shot at taking the last spot there. Woolf could go with another front row forward in the shape of Kyle Amor or Jack Ashworth, or he could choose the versatile Welsby or any one from Costello, Simm and Dodd. There are a few more variables than is the norm with team selection this week due to the injuries and the suspension of Smith, so it could be an interesting announcement once the team is made public.
Huddersfield boss Simon Woolford has a suspension problem of his own to ponder. Front rower Suaia Matagi is banned after being found guilty of a trip in the Giants 42-10 defeat to Wigan last time out. It was the Giants first defeat of a season that had started well for them with victories over Catalans Dragons in Perpignan and further road victories at Salford Red Devils and Hull KR.
Huddersfield were well in the game against the Warriors also, but fell away after the sin-binning of halfback Aidan Sezer late in the first half. Keeping him on the field will be crucial to any hopes that they harbour of knocking off a Saints side that is still the team to beat in Super League terms. They have other star names like England international Jermaine McGillvary, former Saints Jordan Turner and Lee Gaskell, ex-Catalan back rower Kenny Edwards and the exciting Darnell McIntosh but everything flows through Sezer since his move north from Canberra Raiders at the end of 2019.
Louis Senior is out which may see McIntosh restored to fullback after he missed the loss against Wigan. Innes Senior is a candidate to come in on the wing with Turner likely to be partnered in the centres by Jake Wardle. Gaskell and Sezer form an exciting halfback partnership behind a pack that although shorn of the services of Matagi still features Ukuma Ta’ai, Michael Lawrence, the industrious Adam O’Brien and another ex-Saint Paul Clough. Matty English is another key cog in the Giants wheel who misses out but they can call on the services of James Gavet, a veteran of 74 NRL appearances in spells with Canterbury Bulldogs, Wests Tigers, Brisbane Broncos, New Zealand Warriors and Newcastle Knights.
Despite the Giants good early season form Saints will be expected to pile the sort of misery on them that Wigan managed last weekend. The Giants were never likely to spend very much time near the top of the table after hobbling to a 10th placed finish last season. The addition of Sezer and Gavet will help but this is largely the same squad which only managed to avoid relegation on the final weekend of 2019. At home and with the likes of Roby and Coote back in the fold Saints should be far too strong for the Giants. Yet there is recent precedent for a Giants win on Saints soil. A week after they were blown away 35-16 by Catalans Dragons in the 2018 Challenge Cup semi-final Saints suffered the aftershock of a 16-12 home humbling by a Huddersfield side who would go on to finish that season 19 points behind the league leaders. It’s tough to see a repeat of that who seem to be suffering no such ill effects from recent defeats to Warrington and the Roosters, so expect Saints to win by something upwards of 20 points.
Squads;
St Helens;
1. Lachlan Coote, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 5, Regan Grace, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Theo Fages, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9, James Roby, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Dom Peyroux, 13. LMS, 14. Morgan Knowles, 15. Matty Lees, 16. Kyle Amor, 17, Jack Ashworth, 18. Joseph Paulo, 21, Matty Costello, 22. Jack Welsby, 26. Josh Simm, 27. Lewis Dodd.
Huddersfield Giants;
2. Jermaine McGillvary 3. Jake Wardle 4. Jordan Turner 5. Darnell McIntosh 6. Lee Gaskell 7. Aidan Sezer 8. James Gavet 9. Adam O'Brien 11. Kenny Edwards 12. Joe Wardle 13. Michael Lawrence 15. Oliver Wilson 16. Aaron Murphy 17. Ukuma Ta'ai 18. Paul Clough 22. Tom Holmes 23. Oliver Russell 25. Innes Senior 26. Sam Hewitt 27. Sam Wood 29. Jon Luke Kirby
Referee: Gareth Hewer
Kristian Woolf’s side recovered from their gallant defeat by Sydney Roosters in the World Club Challenge to brush aside Toronto Wolfpack at Warrington last time out. Saints held the Canadian side scoreless in a 32-0 success which leaves them third in the table going into this weekend’s games, but crucially with a game in hand over Wigan Warriors and Castleford Tigers who currently sit above them.
The champions have received a major boost with the news that Lachlan Coote could be ready to make a return to action. The Great Britain fullback has not been involved since suffering medial ligament damage in the 48-8 win over Salford Red Devils on opening night, but is named in Woolf’s 21-man party for this one. Coote’s addition is one of two changes to the squad that took on the Wolfpack last week. Centre Josh Simm is included while Aaron Smith sits this one out through suspension and James Bentley is missing with an ankle injury.
Should Coote be fit to play he should take his regular place at fullback behind a three-quarter line that will have Tommy Makinson and Regan Grace on either wing and Kevin Naiqama at right centre. The other centre slot is a little more up for grabs. With Mark Percival a long-term absentee with a shoulder problem and Bentley’s injury, Simm will compete for the spot alongside Matty Costello and perhaps Jack Welsby given that he would be shunted from the fullback position should Coote make the line-up. Costello would have been very disappointed to miss out on selection last week in favour of Bentley. Woolf’s decision on whether to play Costello with both Percival and Bentley out could be an instructive one in terms of Costello’s long-term prospects at the club.
With Smith and Bentley out there is the possibility that Theo Fages could move from his regular scrum-half role to help cover James Roby in the hooking position. Woolf has spoken of Roby’s ability to play 80 minutes if necessary but you get the sense that the coach would prefer not to over work his veteran skipper if it can be avoided. A move for Fages may not be all that likely, but it would solve the problem in that spot and would have the added attraction of offering a first opportunity at Super League level for the much talked about but yet to be seen Lewis Dodd. Dodd has made every 21-man squad so far this season without ever seeing any action but perhaps this is the kind of game that would be perfect for him to make his first appearance at this level.
Woolf has also made noises about Morgan Knowles or Dominique Peyroux spending some time in the number nine role. Knowles was plunged into emergency service as a centre in the win over Toronto following Bentley’s misfortune, but whenever Roby is on the field you can expect the Welsh international to occupy his usual loose forward role behind the second row partnership of Peyroux and Zeb Taia. The former Catalans Dragon and Gold Coast Titan may be advancing in years but he leads Saints in both carries and metres made so far in 2020. He continues to be influential, while the front row of Roby, Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson is without peer in this particular kingdom. The usual suspects of Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Matty Lees and Joseph Paulo should make the bench with any one from five or six others in with a shot at taking the last spot there. Woolf could go with another front row forward in the shape of Kyle Amor or Jack Ashworth, or he could choose the versatile Welsby or any one from Costello, Simm and Dodd. There are a few more variables than is the norm with team selection this week due to the injuries and the suspension of Smith, so it could be an interesting announcement once the team is made public.
Huddersfield boss Simon Woolford has a suspension problem of his own to ponder. Front rower Suaia Matagi is banned after being found guilty of a trip in the Giants 42-10 defeat to Wigan last time out. It was the Giants first defeat of a season that had started well for them with victories over Catalans Dragons in Perpignan and further road victories at Salford Red Devils and Hull KR.
Huddersfield were well in the game against the Warriors also, but fell away after the sin-binning of halfback Aidan Sezer late in the first half. Keeping him on the field will be crucial to any hopes that they harbour of knocking off a Saints side that is still the team to beat in Super League terms. They have other star names like England international Jermaine McGillvary, former Saints Jordan Turner and Lee Gaskell, ex-Catalan back rower Kenny Edwards and the exciting Darnell McIntosh but everything flows through Sezer since his move north from Canberra Raiders at the end of 2019.
Louis Senior is out which may see McIntosh restored to fullback after he missed the loss against Wigan. Innes Senior is a candidate to come in on the wing with Turner likely to be partnered in the centres by Jake Wardle. Gaskell and Sezer form an exciting halfback partnership behind a pack that although shorn of the services of Matagi still features Ukuma Ta’ai, Michael Lawrence, the industrious Adam O’Brien and another ex-Saint Paul Clough. Matty English is another key cog in the Giants wheel who misses out but they can call on the services of James Gavet, a veteran of 74 NRL appearances in spells with Canterbury Bulldogs, Wests Tigers, Brisbane Broncos, New Zealand Warriors and Newcastle Knights.
Despite the Giants good early season form Saints will be expected to pile the sort of misery on them that Wigan managed last weekend. The Giants were never likely to spend very much time near the top of the table after hobbling to a 10th placed finish last season. The addition of Sezer and Gavet will help but this is largely the same squad which only managed to avoid relegation on the final weekend of 2019. At home and with the likes of Roby and Coote back in the fold Saints should be far too strong for the Giants. Yet there is recent precedent for a Giants win on Saints soil. A week after they were blown away 35-16 by Catalans Dragons in the 2018 Challenge Cup semi-final Saints suffered the aftershock of a 16-12 home humbling by a Huddersfield side who would go on to finish that season 19 points behind the league leaders. It’s tough to see a repeat of that who seem to be suffering no such ill effects from recent defeats to Warrington and the Roosters, so expect Saints to win by something upwards of 20 points.
Squads;
St Helens;
1. Lachlan Coote, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 5, Regan Grace, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Theo Fages, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9, James Roby, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Dom Peyroux, 13. LMS, 14. Morgan Knowles, 15. Matty Lees, 16. Kyle Amor, 17, Jack Ashworth, 18. Joseph Paulo, 21, Matty Costello, 22. Jack Welsby, 26. Josh Simm, 27. Lewis Dodd.
Huddersfield Giants;
2. Jermaine McGillvary 3. Jake Wardle 4. Jordan Turner 5. Darnell McIntosh 6. Lee Gaskell 7. Aidan Sezer 8. James Gavet 9. Adam O'Brien 11. Kenny Edwards 12. Joe Wardle 13. Michael Lawrence 15. Oliver Wilson 16. Aaron Murphy 17. Ukuma Ta'ai 18. Paul Clough 22. Tom Holmes 23. Oliver Russell 25. Innes Senior 26. Sam Hewitt 27. Sam Wood 29. Jon Luke Kirby
Referee: Gareth Hewer
Saints v Giants Classics - Quinlan's Fleeting Glory
Two years of Justin Holbrook’s leadership have left the Keiron Cunningham era feeling like the sort of strange dream that I imagine you might have if you had an experimental approach to recreational substances. We never finished outside the top four during Cunningham’s tenure, but it nevertheless occupies a space in mind reserved for turmoil, angst and Travis Burns.
Yet there were some bright moments. Moments of genuine excitement which if nothing else were faithful to the Saints tradition of coming away from the game and thinking ‘what the actual fuck have I just witnessed?’. One such moment came in 2015 when a man on debut crossed for a hat-trick of tries as Saints beat this weekend’s opponents Huddersfield Giants by the odd point in 69. Adam Quinlan didn’t even play that well. There were signs even on this night of the open all hours defending that would eventually see him packed off to Hull KR where they like that sort of thing.
Saints had started that season superbly in terms of results. Six wins on the spin to open their defence of the Super League crown had everyone excited about the prospect of a repeat performance. All of Catalans Dragons, Salford, Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity, Widnes Vikings and Warrington Wolves were vanquished in February and March. It wasn’t until late March that Saints suffered their first defeat of the campaign, a 24-22 reverse at Hull KR in which Atelea Vea picked up an injury that would see him fail to ever recapture the form he had shown in that early part of his Saints career. By 2017 both he and Cunningham were putting the band back together in Leigh to allow Holbrook to transform Saints fortunes. But there had been promise in Vea after his move from London Broncos.
After that Hull KR defeat it was a mixed bag for Saints for much of the rest of the way. Fullbacks came and went like storms with unnecessary, alphabetically ordered names. Two further defeats followed the one at Craven Park as both Wigan and Hull FC got the better of Saints over Easter. It was the Giants who provided Saints next win in a quite dreadful affair that ended 11-8 to the visitors at the John Smith’s Stadium. Eventual treble-winners Leeds Rhinos were on a path to greatness at this point and they emphasised that by royally stuffing Saints 41-16 in mid-April, before Saints recovered with wins over Widnes and Wakefield. Saints lost 33-26 in Perpignan but then went on a five-match winning streak started by victory over York City Knights in the Challenge Cup sixth round and continued with success over Hull FC, Warrington, Salford and, most enjoyably, Wigan. A one-point loss at Castleford preceded further progression in the Challenge Cup at the expense of Widnes. Then it was on to Headingley to face the champions elect once more. It was a very similar experience to the home fixture, as Saints were blitzed 46-18 by Brian McDermott’s side.
There was some mitigation for Saints iffy progress in Super League. By the time Saints brought Quinlan in from Parramatta Eels Cunningham had been forced into using no fewer than six fullbacks during the campaign. Paul Wellens and Lance Hohaia both retired midway through the season while Jonny Lomax and Tommy Makinson were both sidelined through injury. The same fate befell Shannon McDonnell, who some of you might recall spent two and a half seasons at Saints after spells with both Hull clubs. There was no reserve team in 2015 so Quinlan was brought in initially on a short-term contract to fill the void. His impact was instant, but hardly enduring.
Wearing the number 37 shirt because, frankly, Saints were that deep into their squad with all the injuries they had suffered, Quinlan reacted first in the 16th minute to James Roby’s grubber which ricocheted off a Giants defender. The diminutive Quinlan picked the ball up to scamper over and around under the posts for his first try in the red vee. Jack Hughes cancelled that out six minutes later, but before the half hour Quinlan was over again. This time he benefitted from some good fortune as Andre Savelio lost the ball close to the Giants line and it travelled backwards and kindly into the path of Quinlan who scooped it up to score.
The first of Jermaine McGillvary’s brace on the night followed just three minutes later. The England winger latched on to Scott Grix’s kick close to the Saints try-line to touch down in the corner and bring the Giants level on the scoreboard at 12-12. Yet before half-time Quinlan had completed an unlikely hat-trick, supporting Roby’s sensational break to take his pass and go over for what was undoubtedly the pick of his tries. Leroy Cudjoe (remember him?) was next to score and we were all tied up again at 18-18 just a few minutes into the second half. Mark Percival was next to score following Luke Walsh’s hopeful kick which absolutely epitomised the Cunningham era in the space of a few seconds. Seconds that were joyous and yet agonising in equal measure. Yes, we had scored, but God it was ugly. McGillvary completed his brace on 55 minutes and the sides were locked up again at 24-24.
Another forgotten man got on the scoresheet next. Joe Greenwood, a man who somehow ended up at Wigan via a stint with Gold Coast Titans and who was recently farmed out on loan to the most underwhelming Leeds Rhinos side since last year, put Saints back in front with just over 20 minutes remaining. Saints looked to have settled the argument when Percival went over for his second from Walsh’s pass with 16 minutes remaining. Crucially, the Australian halfback could not add the extras this time and when Eorl Crabtree spun out of a three-man tackle to score by the posts the Giants were back within range at 34-30. Further trouble was brewing, as Aaron Murphy crashed over to once again level the scores at 34-34. A game of eye-poppingly low quality had nevertheless morphed into something of a classic. The last word went to Walsh, who took Roby’s dummy half pass with two minutes to go and expertly slotted over the winning one-pointer.
Quinlan’s star never shone so brightly again in a Saints shirt. Saints fell one game short of the Grand Final in 2015 after losing 20-13 to that all-conquering Leeds side, a side that had also knocked them out of the Challenge Cup at the semi-final stage. It would take four more years to get back to and win a Grand Final. By then, Quinlan had played the last of his 12 matches for Saints. He moved back to Australia for a spell in 2016, making four appearances for the other Saints of St.George-Illawarra in the NRL, before returning to England to join Hull KR where he still can be found occupying their treatment table. He has scored 25 tries in 51 appearances for Rovers, yet it is a safe bet that none of them were quite as unexpected or curiously exciting as his debut hat-trick for Saints.
Yet there were some bright moments. Moments of genuine excitement which if nothing else were faithful to the Saints tradition of coming away from the game and thinking ‘what the actual fuck have I just witnessed?’. One such moment came in 2015 when a man on debut crossed for a hat-trick of tries as Saints beat this weekend’s opponents Huddersfield Giants by the odd point in 69. Adam Quinlan didn’t even play that well. There were signs even on this night of the open all hours defending that would eventually see him packed off to Hull KR where they like that sort of thing.
Saints had started that season superbly in terms of results. Six wins on the spin to open their defence of the Super League crown had everyone excited about the prospect of a repeat performance. All of Catalans Dragons, Salford, Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity, Widnes Vikings and Warrington Wolves were vanquished in February and March. It wasn’t until late March that Saints suffered their first defeat of the campaign, a 24-22 reverse at Hull KR in which Atelea Vea picked up an injury that would see him fail to ever recapture the form he had shown in that early part of his Saints career. By 2017 both he and Cunningham were putting the band back together in Leigh to allow Holbrook to transform Saints fortunes. But there had been promise in Vea after his move from London Broncos.
After that Hull KR defeat it was a mixed bag for Saints for much of the rest of the way. Fullbacks came and went like storms with unnecessary, alphabetically ordered names. Two further defeats followed the one at Craven Park as both Wigan and Hull FC got the better of Saints over Easter. It was the Giants who provided Saints next win in a quite dreadful affair that ended 11-8 to the visitors at the John Smith’s Stadium. Eventual treble-winners Leeds Rhinos were on a path to greatness at this point and they emphasised that by royally stuffing Saints 41-16 in mid-April, before Saints recovered with wins over Widnes and Wakefield. Saints lost 33-26 in Perpignan but then went on a five-match winning streak started by victory over York City Knights in the Challenge Cup sixth round and continued with success over Hull FC, Warrington, Salford and, most enjoyably, Wigan. A one-point loss at Castleford preceded further progression in the Challenge Cup at the expense of Widnes. Then it was on to Headingley to face the champions elect once more. It was a very similar experience to the home fixture, as Saints were blitzed 46-18 by Brian McDermott’s side.
There was some mitigation for Saints iffy progress in Super League. By the time Saints brought Quinlan in from Parramatta Eels Cunningham had been forced into using no fewer than six fullbacks during the campaign. Paul Wellens and Lance Hohaia both retired midway through the season while Jonny Lomax and Tommy Makinson were both sidelined through injury. The same fate befell Shannon McDonnell, who some of you might recall spent two and a half seasons at Saints after spells with both Hull clubs. There was no reserve team in 2015 so Quinlan was brought in initially on a short-term contract to fill the void. His impact was instant, but hardly enduring.
Wearing the number 37 shirt because, frankly, Saints were that deep into their squad with all the injuries they had suffered, Quinlan reacted first in the 16th minute to James Roby’s grubber which ricocheted off a Giants defender. The diminutive Quinlan picked the ball up to scamper over and around under the posts for his first try in the red vee. Jack Hughes cancelled that out six minutes later, but before the half hour Quinlan was over again. This time he benefitted from some good fortune as Andre Savelio lost the ball close to the Giants line and it travelled backwards and kindly into the path of Quinlan who scooped it up to score.
The first of Jermaine McGillvary’s brace on the night followed just three minutes later. The England winger latched on to Scott Grix’s kick close to the Saints try-line to touch down in the corner and bring the Giants level on the scoreboard at 12-12. Yet before half-time Quinlan had completed an unlikely hat-trick, supporting Roby’s sensational break to take his pass and go over for what was undoubtedly the pick of his tries. Leroy Cudjoe (remember him?) was next to score and we were all tied up again at 18-18 just a few minutes into the second half. Mark Percival was next to score following Luke Walsh’s hopeful kick which absolutely epitomised the Cunningham era in the space of a few seconds. Seconds that were joyous and yet agonising in equal measure. Yes, we had scored, but God it was ugly. McGillvary completed his brace on 55 minutes and the sides were locked up again at 24-24.
Another forgotten man got on the scoresheet next. Joe Greenwood, a man who somehow ended up at Wigan via a stint with Gold Coast Titans and who was recently farmed out on loan to the most underwhelming Leeds Rhinos side since last year, put Saints back in front with just over 20 minutes remaining. Saints looked to have settled the argument when Percival went over for his second from Walsh’s pass with 16 minutes remaining. Crucially, the Australian halfback could not add the extras this time and when Eorl Crabtree spun out of a three-man tackle to score by the posts the Giants were back within range at 34-30. Further trouble was brewing, as Aaron Murphy crashed over to once again level the scores at 34-34. A game of eye-poppingly low quality had nevertheless morphed into something of a classic. The last word went to Walsh, who took Roby’s dummy half pass with two minutes to go and expertly slotted over the winning one-pointer.
Quinlan’s star never shone so brightly again in a Saints shirt. Saints fell one game short of the Grand Final in 2015 after losing 20-13 to that all-conquering Leeds side, a side that had also knocked them out of the Challenge Cup at the semi-final stage. It would take four more years to get back to and win a Grand Final. By then, Quinlan had played the last of his 12 matches for Saints. He moved back to Australia for a spell in 2016, making four appearances for the other Saints of St.George-Illawarra in the NRL, before returning to England to join Hull KR where he still can be found occupying their treatment table. He has scored 25 tries in 51 appearances for Rovers, yet it is a safe bet that none of them were quite as unexpected or curiously exciting as his debut hat-trick for Saints.
Toronto Wolfpack 0 Saints 32 - Review
The first ever meeting of Saints and Toronto Wolfpack might not live long in the memory, despite its historic significance. The champions eased to a 32-0 victory over Brian McDermott’s newly promoted side without ever really threatening to get anywhere near their best on a cold night in Warrington. The game has been switched to the Halliwell Jones Stadium after plans to hold it at the home of Saracens rugby union club hit the buffers when they ran into some problems with their salary cap.
Jonny Lomax was again a key figure for Saints, crossing for two first half tries as the Wolfpack goal-line defence wilted. Lomax was a handful all night, busting out of nine tackles and breaking the line twice as he ran for 72 metres on 17 carries. Toronto had no answer to the skill and industry of Lomax who continues to be one of the most effective players in Super League and a genuine contender even at this early stage of 2020 for the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel Award.
In many ways Toronto were masters of their own downfall. The much trumpeted Sonny Bill Williams - a man who apparently is reason enough for many to have stumped up the extortionate £31 that it cost to visit the Halliwell Jones Stadium for this one - gifted Saints a try when he chose to offload to nobody in particular deep in his own territory. We are certainly yet to see the best of Williams since his big money switch back to league from rugby union. Thirty-one tackles with three misses represents a reasonable defensive stint from the former All Black but if he is going to continue to be used in the second row then McDermott might reasonably expect more attacking productivity than the 79 metres on 14 carries that he mustered here.
Tony Gigot is another who has arrived to add some Super League quality to a threadbare squad but he also made a crucial error inside his own quarter which led to a Saints try. The Wolfpack came up with 19 errors and never really got going as an attacking force as a result. It was an epidemic of the dropsies for the Canadian side. When they had possession they were pinned back near their own line much of the time. This forced them to take risks in the wrong parts of the field which were punished by a Saints outfit in third gear throughout.
We are used to seeing Saints play with great width but in these conditions it was the middle of the field which brought the biggest dividends. All five of Saints tries were run in right under the posts making it an easy night for stand-in goal-kicker Tommy Makinson who was a perfect six from six with the boot. Time and again the Wolfpack rearguard crumbled in the middle, with Saints racking up seven clean breaks and a quite ridiculous 49 tackle busts. Along with Lomax’s try double there were meat pies for James Bentley, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Aaron Smith as Saints moved up to second in the table ahead of Sunday afternoon’s fixtures (March 1).
Bentley’s selection at centre had provoked a bit of head scratching in some quarters. Saints are without Mark Percival for what could be a lengthy period after he had surgery on a shoulder problem. Matty Costello has been the deputy to Percival of late but Regan Grace’s absence from the Roosters game last time out saw Costello moved out to the wing to allow Bentley to fill the left centre role. Grace returned for this one but Bentley kept his place in the three-quarters which left no room in the 17 for Costello. Just as he might have wondered what that selection decision meant for his prospects of first team football in the longer term Costello was perhaps thrown a lifeline as Bentley suffered an unfortunate ankle injury.
Coach Kristian Woolf has already said the problem will keep Bentley out for at least a couple of weeks. If Costello gets his chance at home to Huddersfield Giants on Friday night (March 6) he needs to grab it with both hands. He should get that opportunity. Woolf chose to move Morgan Knowles into the three-quarters after Bentley’s exit which would seem to suggest that he does not see either Dominique Peyroux or McCarthy-Scarsbrook operating in that position as they might have in past emergencies. And who could argue with that assessment having been subjected to the efforts of both there in recent years? Youngster Josh Simm is another option but if he were to get the nod it would probably leave Costello frantically calling his agent. Whatever the weather, Knowles is not the answer to the conundrum.
The game was over as a contest well before one of its major talking points emerged. Bodene Thompson was dismissed by referee Marcus Griffiths for a shoulder charge to the head of Matty Lees. It looked fairly innocuous from the wide TV angle but when you see the head on shot there is no doubt that there was direct contact with the head of Lees and no attempt by Thompson to wrap his arms around and complete a legal tackle. There were still 15 minutes left when Thompson trudged off and with the score already at 26-0 by then it was perhaps something of a surprise that Saints only added six more points to their tally. They came courtesy of Smith just two minutes after the dismissal. Saints all but declared at that point although they could have had another score in the final few minutes when Luke Thompson - mystifyingly reintroduced for the last five minutes when it might have been better to give him the rest of the night off - went over only for referee Griffiths and video referee Tom Grant to both rule that Hakim Miloudi had been obstructed by Lees in the build-up.
So after their second consecutive game against non-European opposition Saints can boast a record of three wins and one defeat in the league ahead of the visit from Simon Woolford’s men next weekend. Woolf will be particularly pleased with the fact that his side was able to keep the Wolfpack scoreless. There doesn’t seem too much wrong with Saints defensively even if we are yet to see the best of them as an attacking force so far this year. It was the first time that the Wolfpack has been nilled in what was their 93rd match since arriving on the scene in 2017. It was also a fifth successive defeat to start the season for McDermott’s men who are finding out very quickly what it takes to compete against the very best sides. And Saints are certainly that, even if on this night they were playing within themselves at times.
Jonny Lomax was again a key figure for Saints, crossing for two first half tries as the Wolfpack goal-line defence wilted. Lomax was a handful all night, busting out of nine tackles and breaking the line twice as he ran for 72 metres on 17 carries. Toronto had no answer to the skill and industry of Lomax who continues to be one of the most effective players in Super League and a genuine contender even at this early stage of 2020 for the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel Award.
In many ways Toronto were masters of their own downfall. The much trumpeted Sonny Bill Williams - a man who apparently is reason enough for many to have stumped up the extortionate £31 that it cost to visit the Halliwell Jones Stadium for this one - gifted Saints a try when he chose to offload to nobody in particular deep in his own territory. We are certainly yet to see the best of Williams since his big money switch back to league from rugby union. Thirty-one tackles with three misses represents a reasonable defensive stint from the former All Black but if he is going to continue to be used in the second row then McDermott might reasonably expect more attacking productivity than the 79 metres on 14 carries that he mustered here.
Tony Gigot is another who has arrived to add some Super League quality to a threadbare squad but he also made a crucial error inside his own quarter which led to a Saints try. The Wolfpack came up with 19 errors and never really got going as an attacking force as a result. It was an epidemic of the dropsies for the Canadian side. When they had possession they were pinned back near their own line much of the time. This forced them to take risks in the wrong parts of the field which were punished by a Saints outfit in third gear throughout.
We are used to seeing Saints play with great width but in these conditions it was the middle of the field which brought the biggest dividends. All five of Saints tries were run in right under the posts making it an easy night for stand-in goal-kicker Tommy Makinson who was a perfect six from six with the boot. Time and again the Wolfpack rearguard crumbled in the middle, with Saints racking up seven clean breaks and a quite ridiculous 49 tackle busts. Along with Lomax’s try double there were meat pies for James Bentley, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Aaron Smith as Saints moved up to second in the table ahead of Sunday afternoon’s fixtures (March 1).
Bentley’s selection at centre had provoked a bit of head scratching in some quarters. Saints are without Mark Percival for what could be a lengthy period after he had surgery on a shoulder problem. Matty Costello has been the deputy to Percival of late but Regan Grace’s absence from the Roosters game last time out saw Costello moved out to the wing to allow Bentley to fill the left centre role. Grace returned for this one but Bentley kept his place in the three-quarters which left no room in the 17 for Costello. Just as he might have wondered what that selection decision meant for his prospects of first team football in the longer term Costello was perhaps thrown a lifeline as Bentley suffered an unfortunate ankle injury.
Coach Kristian Woolf has already said the problem will keep Bentley out for at least a couple of weeks. If Costello gets his chance at home to Huddersfield Giants on Friday night (March 6) he needs to grab it with both hands. He should get that opportunity. Woolf chose to move Morgan Knowles into the three-quarters after Bentley’s exit which would seem to suggest that he does not see either Dominique Peyroux or McCarthy-Scarsbrook operating in that position as they might have in past emergencies. And who could argue with that assessment having been subjected to the efforts of both there in recent years? Youngster Josh Simm is another option but if he were to get the nod it would probably leave Costello frantically calling his agent. Whatever the weather, Knowles is not the answer to the conundrum.
The game was over as a contest well before one of its major talking points emerged. Bodene Thompson was dismissed by referee Marcus Griffiths for a shoulder charge to the head of Matty Lees. It looked fairly innocuous from the wide TV angle but when you see the head on shot there is no doubt that there was direct contact with the head of Lees and no attempt by Thompson to wrap his arms around and complete a legal tackle. There were still 15 minutes left when Thompson trudged off and with the score already at 26-0 by then it was perhaps something of a surprise that Saints only added six more points to their tally. They came courtesy of Smith just two minutes after the dismissal. Saints all but declared at that point although they could have had another score in the final few minutes when Luke Thompson - mystifyingly reintroduced for the last five minutes when it might have been better to give him the rest of the night off - went over only for referee Griffiths and video referee Tom Grant to both rule that Hakim Miloudi had been obstructed by Lees in the build-up.
So after their second consecutive game against non-European opposition Saints can boast a record of three wins and one defeat in the league ahead of the visit from Simon Woolford’s men next weekend. Woolf will be particularly pleased with the fact that his side was able to keep the Wolfpack scoreless. There doesn’t seem too much wrong with Saints defensively even if we are yet to see the best of them as an attacking force so far this year. It was the first time that the Wolfpack has been nilled in what was their 93rd match since arriving on the scene in 2017. It was also a fifth successive defeat to start the season for McDermott’s men who are finding out very quickly what it takes to compete against the very best sides. And Saints are certainly that, even if on this night they were playing within themselves at times.
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Up The Jumper - Are modern tactics killing our game?
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