In a season that just seems to get stranger it was a pleasant surprise to see Saints turn in a ruthless display in this 54-6 win over the Giants.
This week’s disruption started early. A couple of days before the game it was announced that one Saints player had tested positive for Covid-19 and that two further players would be required to isolate for a period in line with test and trace protocols. It was revealed that none of the players affected had featured in the previous week’s 32-18 success over Hull KR, but still there were six players named in Kristian Woolf’s 21-man squad for the Giants game who fit that description. In the event it turned out that Lewis Dodd was one of those affected and so was denied the opportunity to make a first team debut in place of the injured Theo Fages.
With neither Fages nor Dodd available there was an opportunity in the halves for Jack Welsby. He operated at stand-off in a move which saw Jonny Lomax switch to a more dominant halfback role on the occasion of his 30th birthday. Welsby had stood in for the suspended Tommy Makinson against Rovers so this week the right wing berth went to Matty Costello. That allowed Josh Simm to come in at centre for only his second Super League appearance.
The absence of Zeb Taia through injury saw Morgan Knowles fill in at second row. While the Cumbrian never lets anybody down a wider role is perhaps not his best position. Simm’s opportunities to shine were limited as a consequence, yet there were signs when he was involved that the young centre could cut it at this level. He managed 120 metres on 16 carries along with four tackle busts and a clean break. He was desperately unfortunate not to cap a promising performance with a try when he was called back by referee Liam Moore who had adjudged the pass from Knowles to be forward.
The new halfback combination flourished also, albeit that we must remember that this was a Giants side ravaged by injury. Coach Simon Woolford claimed that he only had 16 fit players for this one, though 17th man Kenny Edwards did make an entrance late in proceedings. The adage that you can only beat what is put in front of you holds true here. Welsby and Lomax can look back on fine individual performances. Both had a pair of try assists and Welsby showed that he has a short kicking game when the need arose. Last tackle options have been inconsistent at best with Fages in the seven position so it is perhaps beneficial to have another player who can contribute in that area.
Not that this was a day when Saints had to rely on attacking kicks. Woolf unleashed the kind of offload game that we saw demolish Leeds Rhinos last month. Saints had 13 offloads in total, seven of which were the work of either Alex Walmsley or James Graham. One of Walmsley’s better efforts led to an early try for Aaron Smith. The young hooker was another player enjoying extended game time because of injuries to others as James Roby missed out due to concussion protocols. Smith looked comfortable for the most part, adding an assist and six runs from dummy half to his try while doing his fair share of defensive work to the tune of 36 tackles, nine of which came from marker. Only back rower James Bentley bettered this tackle count among Saints, though the fact that five Giants made more tells a story about who won the battle for possession.
If there is a criticism of Saints’ style it is still that they often lack width. This was particularly evident in this game as it was against the Rhinos. Yet this is largely due to the level of dominance they had in the forwards in both games. Walmsley is all but unplayable when he comes back for a spell late in games against tiring opposition. It is often just not necessary to go wide when Saints are ploughing straight through the middle of a defence.
If it is not Walmsley that gets you it is often Graham, though in this game Saints biggest metre-maker in the pack was a resurgent Kyle Amor. He had 167 metres on 16 carries, while Walmsley, Graham, Bentley and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook all topped the 100-metre mark. The latter had a mad minute which typified everything about him. First he allowed Owen Trout to steal the ball from him and go 30 metres to score Huddersfield’s only try before the Londoner steamed on to Bentley’s pass to go over for a try and instantly pay off his debt.
Perhaps the only member of Saints pack who did not quite grab the opportunity presented to him was Jack Ashworth. He had a comparatively underwhelming 60 metres on 7 carries and was fortunate to escape disciplinary action after his part in a dangerous throw a few minutes before half time.
Despite the directness of Saints under Woolf it is comforting to know that when the ball goes into wide positions the ammunition is there to take advantage. We didn’t see much of Regan Grace but what we did witness from the Welshman was spectacular. Midway through the first half he pounced on Tom Holmes’ errant pass and streaked away to score. There was nobody else in the frame, such is Grace’s devastating speed. Half an hour or so later he was at it again, put clear by Lomax’s immaculate cut-out ball before stepping inside the Giants fullback Louis Senior without even seeming to break stride. Those two runs represented a large chunk of Grace’s 233 metres on the day. His pace and the sheer power of the front row are a combination that is currently going a long way to making Saints look like the class of the Super League field.
If there is a selection problem for Woolf to consider despite all the absences then it is probably one of those that coaches call ‘nice’ problems. When Taia returns to action it might not be a given that Knowles will revert to his customary loose forward role, at least not from the start. The strategy of employing Graham as an extra prop at 13 is currently very successful. There is little lost at the conventional prop position when Matty Lees can come in and rip off 99 metres on 14 carries and contribute 25 tackles on defence. Far from being disjointed and - in modern parlance - clunky, Saints looked like a team with more quality than Woolf knows what to do with at times. We may see Knowles and Graham sharing lock duties though you’d still expect the former to play big minutes even if he doesn’t always start. He’s not flash, but he gives the side too many of the little, often unseen things to be spending too long on the bench.
The strangeness continues this week with another meeting with Hull KR just 12 days after Saints last saw off Tony Smith’s side. Since then the Robins have had a morale boosting win over Wigan but they may find that Saints have also stepped up a couple of gears in that time. All eyes will be on whether Dodd gets the chance that Woolf has suggested he will, and which would have been his were it not for the very unusual circumstances in which the 2020 season is being played out.
It is a season which now sees Saints climb to the top of the Super League table in the wake of this impressive win. If it is looking ominous for the rest now, just wait until Woolf gets his first team back on the field.
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