Saints will face bigger challenges in 2021 than they got from this willing but limited Hull KR side. Finding accurate stats for this game would be much more difficult for starters. Yet coach Kristian Woolf will be happy enough that his side now sit top of the incipient Super League table with two wins out of two.
Saints have conceded only six points across those two outings against Salford Red Devils and here against Rovers. In truth the Robins rarely looked like crossing the Saints try-line. Defence has been consistently outstanding so far this term and is the principal reason why Woolf’s side look a level above anything else we’ve seen in the first two rounds.
For a short while there were signs that Saints have an attack to match. The first 10 or 15 minutes of this one were perhaps the most exciting period of play since Woolf took over from Justin Holbrook at the end of 2019, with one obvious KCom Stadium post-inspired exception. Breaks were made, players supported, passes stuck. Simple but effective, pretty good looking rugby. It was a spell that yielded two tries and 10 points which - given the strength of Saints defence and the flaws in the KR attack - effectively ended the contest.
The first was scored by Regan Grace, who took Jonny Lomax’s looping pass out wide before producing a step of Robinsonian brilliance to beat Adam Quinlan to score. Grace flirted very closely with the sideline, but once he changed direction there was never any prospect of former Saints turnstile Quinlan stopping him. It was Grace’s second try of the season - his third would come later - and sent the Welshman’s touches to tries ratio into another dimension. He rarely gets a pass in Woolf’s centre-free, false halfback philosophy, but it seems when he does it results in four points. That’s not a bad trait to have in your game.
A few minutes later there was more dazzling skill on show as Theo Fages got in on the act. Taking a simple, none too threatening offload from James Roby the Frenchman swerved and stepped his way through a clutch of defenders before serving up an absolute dream of a ball around the corner to the supporting Jack Welsby. This was how Saints have traditionally played the game prior to Woolf’s arrival. The Tongan coach cannot be questioned for his results but he has made Saints a hard watch at times. Yet here they were going at a point a minute and threatening to embarrass Tony Smith’s side. It didn’t last.
Saints did not cross the try-line again until George Lawler was yellow carded inside the last 20 minutes for a professional foul. In fact they scored twice while Rovers were short handed. Soon after Lawler’s transgression Aaron Smith bundled his way to the line, injuring himself and ending his night in the process. Between Welsby’s try and that moment from Smith all Saints had to show for their attacking endeavours was a Tommy Makinson penalty goal and a Fages drop-goal. Smith’s effort made it 19-0 and left just enough time for Welsby to finally find his passing range to put Grace over for his second with a stunning cut out ball.
Stunning cut out balls are rather more regular when Lachlan Coote plays, and therein probably lies the problem in terms of Saints attack at the moment. Coote was again deemed not ready for action despite more positive noises about him from Woolf in the week leading up to kick-off. His absence continues to place too much responsibility on Lomax and unfair pressure on Welsby to deliver. It all adds up to an attack that is not quite clicking despite the early signs in this one. Saints face Leeds Rhinos in the Challenge Cup next week which could be a significant step up in class if Leeds get their first choice outside backs on the park. None of Konrad Hurrell, Harry Newman, Jack Walker or Ash Handley have featured so far for the Richard Agar’s side. Some of these are out long term but if any of them should return for the cup clash Coote could be a huge key to securing our progress. Which is essential since we haven’t won the thing since 2008.
Also missing from this one was Mark Percival. The centre left the field shortly after scoring against Salford last week and was not named in Woolf’s 21-man squad for Round 2. That gave an opportunity to Josh Simm to celebrate signing his new deal with the club with another opportunity in the first team. Simm never lets anyone down but is perhaps lucky that this game was played behind closed doors otherwise someone might have asked him for an entrance fee. Woolf’s tactical plan does not really concern itself with getting early ball to the centres. Simm and Kevin Naiqama carried the ball 21 times between them, often early in sets and deep in their own territory. This relative lack of involvement doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about their quality. Naiqama has played 113 NRL games and is the captain of Fiji, but his only opportunity to score in two games came when Krisnan Inu dropped the ball a couple of metres from his own line in Saints opener. Simm had one opportunity to stamp his mark on this game just after half-time but knocked on when it looked like Saints had numbers on their left edge.
Those unreliable stats prevent me from giving you an accurate analysis of how the pack went (Alex Walmsley 54 metres on only 5 carries, can this be true?), but as with the backs it is not the personnel but the philosophy which keeps them from shining too brightly. Sione Mata’utia, Joel Thompson and James Bentley all run hard and - according to those stats I have such trust issues with - made 91 tackles between them. Bentley is alleged to have made 46 of those which goes some way to explaining why he only has the energy for 52 metres on eight carries. Even if the true figure is twice that it is not quite the NRL-bothering stat-line that would explain to me why everyone you talk to has Bentley down as the second coming of Gorden Tallis. Which isn’t his fault necessarily. It is the Woolf way and we should probably get used to it until he we fail to win a title and the entire fan base is pointing out that the rugby is boring.
Which on this evidence doesn’t look all that likely for a while. Look around Super League in the first two rounds and you won’t find anything to match the dominant defence played by Woolf’s side. Clearly he believes that it is this - rather than passing the ball between your legs for an assist like Ben Currie or throwing it out to Tom Johnstone on your own goal-line and watching the carnage unfold as Wakefield did against Leeds in Round 1 - which wins championships. He’s probably right too, but he needs to be.
As each week passes it looks more and more like he’s staked his job on it.
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