Sunday felt like a special occasion. After almost five months of inactivity Super League made it’s return. Having been involved in the last game before the suspension of play due to the Covid-19 outbreak Saints were also in action first after the restart. They took on Catalans Dragons on the neutral territory of Headingley in Leeds. There were no fans inside the ground but that couldn’t detract from the excitement of finally seeing some live, competitive rugby league on British soil after such a long and desperate absence.
Unlike that last game before the suspension - a 28-14 defeat to Castleford Tigers on March 15 - this was a Saints performance worth the wait. Kristian Woolf’s side had been stagnant before lockdown. The loss to the Tigers had been one of three early season setbacks as the transition from the Justin Holbrook era to the Woolf tenure proved a little bumpy. Defeats to Warrington and Huddersfield had preceded the Tigers defeat, and even one of the three games that Saints had won to that point has been expunged from the record. The Toronto Wolfpack fell victim to a putrid cocktail of their own hubris, over-spending, visa issues and the bleeding obvious and undeniable truth that running a North American side in a mainly British League is all but unworkable. As such Saints’ 32-0 success over the Wolfpack at Warrington on February 29 now exists only as a matter of statistical record.
It left Saints lying eighth out of 11 before the start of play against Steve McNamara’s side. The Dragons came in to this one with just a single defeat from their opening four games before the competition’s shuddering halt. Yet they were blown away by a Saints side seemingly refreshed and with a whole new approach to attacking rugby. That approach was perhaps influenced by the introduction of the “6 again” set restart rule which sees the tackle count restart after ruck infringements where previously a penalty would have been awarded. From the start the emphasis seemed to be on making a big but rather sluggish Catalans side defend as many second phase plays as possible.
Saints came up with 17 offloads, more than double the amount they had been averaging in Super League games until this one. Tommy Makinson and Mark Percival had three each while Alex Walmsley and the returning James Graham managed two apiece. Graham was named in the starting line-up after the surprise omission of Matty Lees from the squad. Lees was suffering from a sore throat which in these strange times is justification enough for caution. Having seen everyone involved in the game work so hard to get things under way again the last thing anybody wants is to risk even a minor outbreak which could once again put the completion of the 2020 season in doubt.
Dominique Peyroux and Joseph Paulo also missed out with muscle problems. James Bentley slotted into the second row alongside the incomparable Zeb Taia, while Lees’ absence created a vacancy on the bench which Joe Batchelor stepped up to fill. Kyle Amor was afforded more minutes as a result and he didn’t miss his opportunity. The Cumbrian made 110 metres on 11 carries and alongside Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook (114 metres on 16 carries) provided excellent cover for Walmsley and Graham. The latter’s 84 metres on 13 carries looks like modest impact, but his ability to not only offload but also pass before he reaches the defensive line adds another dimension to the Saints front row. Walmsley was Walmsley, crashing through all comers for a breathtaking try to cap a 153-metre effort in attack and 24 tackles in defence.
Yet in terms of the pack and although it was Morgan Knowles who claimed Sky Sports’ Man Of The Match award it was Taia who stood out. His magical inside ball to Lachlan Coote to set up the first of Saints’ six tries was another example of his class. He will leave a huge hole in the side when he departs at the end of the season. For now we got to sit back and enjoy a performance that yielded 144 metres on 16 carries, a try and two assists including that sensational, instantaneous catch and pass which gave Coote the first of his two scores in a personal tally of 18 points. Bentley was a try-scorer too, and has given Woolf a possible selection poser should Peyroux return to full fitness in time for the meeting with Leeds this coming Sunday (August 9). As well as scoring his try, his 46 tackles was more than any other Saint managed on the day, though the 45 made by Knowles is certainly worthy of recognition.
Coote only played twice before lockdown thanks to a medial ligament problem. His return to fitness could be a major factor in a real upturn in Saints’ form on this evidence. In front of him Makinson ripped off 220 metres including a typically brilliant, winding run to the line for what is surprisingly only his second try of 2020. There will be more if Woolf continues with the more open style on display here. Percival too was outstanding. He did not cross for a try himself but managed 182 metres on 19 carries to go with those three offloads. Had the nearest player in support to Percival’s searing first half break been Makinson, Coote or Regan Grace rather than James Roby then the England centre would most likely have had a try assist also. Like Coote, Percival has missed much of the early part of 2020. He damaged a shoulder in defeat at Warrington in early February but is one of those players whose season might just have been saved by the extended break.
If we are looking at what could have worked better there are a couple of very minor gripes to note on an overwhelmingly positive day overall. Saints’ kicking game still has questions to answer, although the tactical acumen of Theo Fages and Jonny Lomax in this department was not really tested. The Dragons defence did not force the Saints attack into enough last tackle situations as they were carved open regularly. The Saints halfback pair each grabbed an assist but it is still Lomax who carries much of the creative burden between the two.
Support play is another area where strides could be made before next week. As refreshing as it was to see Saints forwards refusing to resort to the knees and elbows fair of years gone by there were still times when a little more push at the line could have been fruitful. Thirty-four points is not a bad effort by any stretch of the imagination but I just felt that there were even more points there for the taking if Saints had backed up even more. Taking those sorts of opportunities could be key against a Rhinos side who, as we saw in their win over the Huddersfield Giants immediately after the Saints game, are not to be given an inch even when way down on the scoreboard.
The “6 again” rule was a controversial introduction given that it has happened after the season has already started. Yet it added to the spectacle in the sense that it quickened the pace of the game. There was barely a stoppage in the first 10 minutes of the Saints win and the first half zipped by in a flash. That was helped further by the other major alteration to the rules, the removal of scrums. The players had apparently requested that some down time be inserted at the handovers that have replaced scrum situations but that didn’t seem to happen. The players of both Saints and Catalans seemed happy to get on with it without a breather except where there was an injury requiring a stoppage. It’s a small sample size but the evidence so far is that the absence of scrums won’t impair the game in the way that some - me included - had feared. You don’t really need set scrum moves and six defenders out of the way when the game is being played the way that Woolf’s side approached it here.
It really felt like a new era, different even to the one we embarked upon in January as Woolf stepped into Holbrook’s shoes. Everything is different post-Covid, but that could be great news for Saints going forward.
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