It was another week when free-flowing rugby proved elusive as Saints stuttered towards this 32-18 victory over Rovers.
If the best we can say about it is that it was a win and two more competition points there was plenty of mitigation. As a performance parts of this were about as convincing as Jude Law’s turn in Anglo-Australian soap fiasco Families. Yet Kristian Woolf’s side were never going to be at full throttle given that they started without all of Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival and Morgan Knowles and lost more key players along the way.
Knowles’ late withdrawal was due to the fact that he was ‘crook’ according to Woolf. If you’re up on your Australianisms you’ll know that that suggests he was unwell. Speculation that Knowles began to feel queasy right after agreeing to be coached by Shaun Wane at international level is unconfirmed. But it meant that his place at loose forward was occupied by James Graham with Matty Lees coming into the starting front row alongside Alex Walmsley and James Roby. The latter did not last long in that department, moving into the halves when Theo Fages had his day ended by a hyperextension of his knee after only half an hour.
Fages now looks likely to recover in time to face Huddersfield Giants on Friday (September 4) but his injury has nevertheless opened up the debate about Lewis Dodd’s immediate first team prospects. Woolf spent some time during the build up to this one talking Dodd up, declaring that he expects the young half to take to Super League very quickly once he gets the opportunity. Irrespective of Fages’ fitness the time for that chance may have come. Is it time for Woolf to back up his verbal show of faith in Dodd with actions?
If there is any doubt about Fages then it should be. Roby did a sterling job in an emergency. The highlight was an absolutely magisterial pass across the face of the Rovers defence and straight on to the chest of Jack Welsby for his second try in his first game since the restart. Yet to move the captain to the halves from the start against Simon Woolford’s side would have been a wasted opportunity. As it turns out he is ruled out with a head knock sustained late in the game.
But the most convincing argument for Dodd’s inclusion - whether this week or in the weeks to come - is Dodd himself. If he does have the kind of potential that Woolf and a growing number of fans believe he has then he should be given the chance to prove it. It is not as if Fages has been lighting it up at the halfback position in any case. His involvement in the attacking scheme is fleeting compared with that of many great sevens and his last tackle options have been an area in need of improvement for some time.
Back to Hull KR. In a close first half Saints’ main problem - apart from the loss of Fages and Zeb Taia which led to some challenging positional reshuffling - was a lack of ruthlessness. They were not clinical enough with the chances they did create. Welsby could have had more than the one first half try he did manage had it not been for errant final passes by Lachlan Coote and Kevin Naiqama with the Rovers defence busted. Saints paid for that profligacy too, hardly touching the ball for 15 minutes before half-time as Rovers’ unheralded halfback and one-time Saint Jamie Ellis ran the show. It was a spell that yielded two tries as between them Regan Grace and Matty Costello failed to stop first Adam Quinlan and then Ethan Ryan from scoring.
For the first Grace inexplicably opted to stay out on Ryan when it was clear both that Costello needed help with Quinlan and that Ryan was too close to the touchline to receive a pass in any case. For the second the Welshman flapped at a high ball but it is fair to suggest that he was not offered the greatest protection by Costello on his inside. In many ways Saints were fortunate that Rovers did not have the nous to persist with a line of attack on that edge. After shutting out their opponents in their last two games suddenly Saints had shipped two tries in three minutes against the league’s bottom side. When you have Welsby on the wing, Costello and James Bentley at centre and Roby in the halves there is certainly mitigation. But there is also an argument that says lads, it’s Hull KR. A Hull KR that were playing just their second game since the restart and who had not seen action since losing to Warrington on August 8.
Watching this unfold, what we didn’t know that we know now is that due to what turned out to be a false positive Covid test for a Saints staff member the entire coaching staff - including Woolf - had been self isolating and had played no part in any of the training sessions leading up to the game. The only communication they’d had with the players was through 2020 must-have gizmo Zoom. From that standpoint their second half performance in particular is an achievement worthy of our praise. Ellis became less of a factor as it wore on, Coote and Naiqama produced one of the prettiest examples of pass-timing and line-running you are likely to see in this or any other season, while Smith proved he can sniff out a try as he scooted over from dummy half.
And there was that Roby pass to Welsby, which had followed on from one of the more positive moments of the first half when Jonny Lomax looped a sublime delivery into Welsby’s path for his first score. Alex Walmsley - who had opened the scoring after five minutes with a typically unstoppable run complete with side-step - returned late in the game to help Saints wrest back control. He ended the day with 132 metres on 16 carries with bench men Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Kyle Amor also breaking the 100 metre barrier for the red vee.
It’s a result that leaves Saints nicely poised in second place, two points behind temporary leaders Wigan. If you have been watching the Tour De France think of Wigan as a middling journeyman rider who has broken away for his shot at the glory of winning a stage. Yet he won’t win the overall race and he knows it. In fact, it’s almost an inevitability that the peloton will reel him in before he even wins the stage. September 30 is fast approaching and if Saints find their very best form that night then a midnight kick-off will not save the Cannonball Kids.
Saints did what they had to in trying circumstances here and after a pretty horrific first 40 minutes. They will probably need to be that resilient again this weekend against the Giants with Makinson and Percival still out and Taia rated extremely doubtful by Woolf because of the short turnaround. But they are able to replace the soon to be departing back rower with Dominique Peyroux who came back into the fold for this one, and should have Knowles back also. That kind of depth is ominous for the rest. It must inspire great admiration from Huddersfield who showed in defeat to Hull FC how reliant they are on Aidan Sezer and Lee Gaskell.
The continued disruption in the Saints squad might not mean a return to the dazzling form we saw against Leeds a few weeks ago, but after a shaky start before lockdown there are signs now that Woolf’s men are becoming a consistent winning machine once more.
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