Given the way Saints had been playing in 2021 it always felt like a question of when and not if their winning run would come to an end. The fixture list had so far been kind. Of the sides Saints faced in the opening six rounds of Super League only Huddersfield Giants were considered playoff contenders before the season began. Even they are only now starting to find form after a torrid start under new coach Ian Watson. A trip to Perpignan to face Steve McNamara’s Catalans Dragons was viewed by many as Saints first big test of the campaign. It was a test they failed.
There was a slight surprise in Kristian Woolf’s starting line-up. Alex Walmsley - who has been arguably Saints most important player given their forward-orientated, grinding game plan - was left on the bench at the beginning of the game. Agnatius Paasi got the nod to start in the front row alongside Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and hooker James Roby.
Walmsley wasn’t the only key player who did not make it on to the field from the outset. Woolf was still without the injured trio of Tommy Makinson, Matty Lees and James Bentley. With these players missing altogether it was a brave and slightly curious decision to hold Walmsley back. It was probably exactly what McNamara might have wished for. His side had endured late problems of its own. They had to find a way to settle in to their biggest game of the season without the talismanic Sam Tomkins at fullback and starting centre Samisoni Langi. Both had been named in the side an hour before kick-off but both withdrew late on in circumstances mysterious enough to evade the investigative skills of Bill Arthur and the Sky commentary team. Still, you don’t expect a man who can’t tell the difference between Kevin Naiqama and Regan Grace to get the scoop on last-minute team changes. You might as well ask your cat to rustle you up an omelette.
Woolf made another change to his 17 in bringing back Lewis Dodd into the fold. The young half had missed the previous two games but was preferred on the bench to Aaron Smith for this one. My attempts to work out what is going on here between Woolf and these two players have so far proven fruitless. Just what is happening? It’s a real head-scratcher. What exactly is the criteria here? Does Woolf believe that some games suit the genuine back-up nine that is Smith and others call for the silkier skills of Dodd? Is there a rota system being employed here, like Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence alternating in goal for England in the 1970s and 80s? Or does Woolf just play eenie meenie miney mo with the two of them each week? If you know then please enlighten me because I’m genuinely baffled. I feel like a contestant due to to appear on Catchpoint who has wandered into the wrong studio and ended up on University Challenge answering questions about Norwegian literature.
The game might have gone differently had Naiqama not been rumbled putting a foot in touch before claiming a 7th minute try. It was a close call but referee Robert Hicks and his touch judges were 100% correct to disallow the effort. Television replays showed the Fijian had clearly stepped on the whitewash before diving over. But that evidence came later after Hicks had decided to back his own judgement and that of his fellow officials. Given the technology is available it is perhaps arguable that it was worth a review. Yet as every Saints fan knows to their cost Hicks has previous for placing absolute faith in his own decision making and spurning the opportunity to double check. As we also know he is not always right. He was in this instance but there is some debate about whether he was correct about a subsequent incident involving Mike McMeeken in the build-up to an ultimately crucial Benjamin Jullien try. More on which later.
It was another five minutes before either side broke the deadlock. McCarthy-Scarsbrook was pinged doing McCarthy-Scarsbrook things, horsing around in the tackle in front of his own posts. But hang on! Isn’t this now a set restart? Where is the line at which it becomes a penalty? I’m not sure what McCarthy-Scarsbrook was up to. He left his arm in on the tackled player which helped dislodge the ball as he got up to play it. The Saints man’s clear intention was to slow the attack down but I’m not sure that it constituted foul play. Can a set restart not be awarded if the ball is lost by the attacking team as a result of the offence? Can they not just go back to the mark with a fresh set? If not, why don’t we see more attacking players let go of the ball when they fancy a relieving penalty or a shot at goal instead of what might only be one or two extra tackles?
A penalty may have helped a desperate Saints late in the game when the Dragons started lying on for as long as they could, safe in the knowledge that Hicks would only order a set restart. Saints were awarded one with 15 seconds left when they were deep in their own territory and four points adrift in pursuit of a game-saving try. It was a bit like winning a speedboat on Bullseye when you live in Coventry. There is scope for the referee to award a penalty if he thinks the interference is cynical but the Dragons wisely deduced that by the time Hicks started viewing it as such the clock would wind down sufficiently to preserve the win. It was what you might euphemistically term a professional use of the law. It is a confusing, inconsistent and unfathomable law that simply has not worked. It should be consigned to the dustbin of tried and failed rugby league innovations along with Clubcall. Nevertheless McCarthy-Scarsbrook was penalised and James Maloney kicked Catalans into a 2-0 lead.
Maloney scored the game’s first try also, and it came on 22 minutes after another decidedly Hicksy call. That is to say possibly correct to the letter of the law but only called when the mood takes the overly demonstrative, champion beard wearer. Naiqama had fought hard to get back into the field of play and avoid a goal-line dropout after retrieving a searching kick but was then judged to have played the ball incorrectly. And he did, failing to get to his feet before placing the ball on the ground and rolling it back with his foot as the law states. But his attempts to do so were hampered greatly by a couple of Dragons defenders who were McCarthy-Scarsbrooking for all they were worth having frankly been embarrassed by Naiqama’s escape.
If that was unfortunate then it didn’t necessarily have to lead to a try. Saints have been immense in defence for most of 2021 but were found wanting on the ensuing set when Maloney glided between Jonny Lomax and Sione Mata’utia to score. He converted his own try to push the Dragons out to an 8-0 lead.
Naiqama had a busy last few minutes before half-time as Saints tried to get a foothold. First he was the victim of a fairly scandalous third man in tackle by Dragons centre Mathieu Laguerrre who had only been drafted in after the late loss of Langi. It was an unnecessary, dangerous intervention from the 22 year-old which went unpunished by Hicks. We are seeing far too many of these in the modern game and far too little is being done to legislate against them. I expect we will see some unfortunate soul have his season ended and his career threatened by one before we start seeing some positive action from referees or the disciplinary panel. A red card and a minimum three-game ban would be a good starting place.
Thankfully recovered, Naiqama came close to putting Saints back in the contest when he went over from Mark Percival’s pass late in the half. The problem was that Percival’s pass was so far forward it landed in 2022. Play was brought back for a Saints penalty because Jullien had hit Theo Fages late in the build up. This caused some confusion among fans who thought Hicks had failed to play an advantage.
Percival’s mistake was not just throwing a forward pass but throwing any sort of pass at all. He had already convinced the defender that he was going to throw it out to Naiqama and the defender had already moved over to try and cover the winger. All Percival had to do was hold on to the ball and he would have strolled over. It is hard to be too harsh on Percival. He did manage two tries in Saints spirited late fightback. Yet there is a certain irony in a player often criticised for having hands of glue electing to pass when he doesn’t need to and making an absolute pig’s arse of it. The sort of thing Alanis Morrissette might have been interested in. Instead of six Saints settled for two as Lachlan Coote slotted the penalty to make the half time score 8-2.
Two minutes into the second half Saints took out the big spade and dug themselves into a hole from which they would not escape. Coote fielded Maloney’s kick and defied every rule in the Woolf coaching manual by throwing a fairly speculative pass in the direction of Grace. Ninety-nine times out of 100 Saints backs returning kicks take the tackle and start the set. Not this time. As if to prove beyond question the Woolf philosophy that passing equals risk Coote’s pass headed only vaguely in the direction of Grace. He couldn’t handle it which enabled McMeeken to swoop on the loose ball and release a lovely offload for Dean Whare to stroll in. Maloney’s third goal of the afternoon gave the Dragons a 14-2 lead.
Eight minutes later Saints finally crossed for their first try. As is the standard these days it was a shorter range effort. Coote and Roby linked up well on the right to allow Percival to do the rest. The thought of passing this one never crossed his mind. Coote was unable to add the extras so Saints still trailed 14-6 with half an hour left. It was at this point that a point of genuine controversy arrived. Saints had struggled with the speed and footwork of Arthur Morgue and Tom Davies all evening and when they failed to halt the progress of the ex-Wigan winger the ball found its way to McMeeken. The former Castleford man crabbed across the defensive line from right to left before suddenly straightening up and bursting towards the line. Theo Fages grabbed a hold of his ankles and appeared to have effected a last ditch tackle. Yet just at the point where McMeeken hit the ground he also slipped from Fages’ grasp. Hicks - who last week awarded a golden point penalty to Leeds for activity he deemed to have taken place after the tackle - decided that this one had not been completed allowing McMeeken to get up off the floor and continue the movement which culminated in a try for Jullien.
It was a borderline call which Hicks may or may not have been right about. But even if he was right it seems negligent, borderline arrogant not to send it up to the video referee for a quick check. No doubt Hicks will say he was certain and I can’t sit here and categorically state that he was wrong. I’m not sure. But I can categorically state that he was certain that Morgan Knowles hadn’t scored in the early moments of the 2019 Challenge Cup final. I know, let it go. But Hicks is a man who seems quite immune to learning from the past. He has been the victim of his own hubris before. Rob, you might be right. You might not. But make sure while you have the technology. If not, let’s just scrap it and accept all calls by the referee unquestioned.
Maloney’s conversion of the Jullien try gave Saints real problems at 20-6 down but again it was Percival who gave us hope. He scored with 10 minutes to go after good work by Fages and Coote. It was a try that came with an assist from Hicks too, who awarded Saints three consecutive penalties to set up the field position. Were this try scored against Saints the social media conspiracy theorists would absolutely credit it to Hicks and offer him their sarcastic congratulations. In this reality it was just a well worked movement from Saints finished off by Percival who was returning to try-scoring form. Coote could not convert and Saints still trailed 20-10.
Yet Woolf’s side were not quite done, and nor was the controversy. It’s no coincidence that as they emerged from their five-drives-and-a-kick shell late in the game Saints started to trouble the Dragons defence more. Four minutes remained when Lomax sent a missile out to Grace’s wing to send him over for his seventh try of the year. In a desperate bid to stop him McMeeken hit Grace suspiciously high. Not as hard as it might have appeared from the Welshman’s reaction. He spent several minutes receiving treatment from the medical staff. But it was high, and given the crackdown we have seen on contact with the head on the other side of the world the shouts for a foul in the act of scoring and an ‘8-point’ try were not as desperate as they might seem. Contrary to popular belief it was reviewed by video referee Ben Thaler (it must have been tricky if Hicks wasn’t certain) and he decided the contact did not warrant a penalty. Another call that was not quite scandalous, not even outright incorrect, but one which could have gone the other way on another day. But this was not Saints day.
In analysing why we must not look to the ever eccentric Hicks but to the continuation of Woolf’s stifling tactics. Saints remain stale and predictable in attack and they no longer possess the dominant pack of Justin Holbrook’s side with which to lay the platform to bring the backs into play. Particularly with Walmsley on the bench and McCarthy-Scarsbrook not being Luke Thompson and all.
The halves are asked to do very little creatively as a result and were subsequently outplayed by the Dragons pair of Josh Drinkwater and - probably enjoying his best game since arriving from the NRL amid much fanfare - Maloney. Calls for Dodd to be drafted into replace Fages are understandable but are akin to moving deck chairs on the Titanic if we continue down this tactical route.
Which we will. Next up are back to back league and cup clashes with Hull FC. One disappointing defeat will not convince Woolf to change course. He will still believe that his safety first grind is the most likely method of winning those two games. He won’t make excuses. Talk of early mornings and European travel issues are the preserve of fans desperate to find any reason for a loss other than We Weren’t Good Enough. Saints had a choice about whether to travel on the day or stay overnight. They made it and they live with the consequences. But Woolf will know also that in this system and league structure one defeat is just a minor inconvenience, hardly even qualifying as a setback. He’ll keep faith with the methods that brought him success last season and earned his side six wins out of six to start this campaign before the defeat to the Dragons.
So the wait will go on for those of us who seek entertainment as well as success. Yet if losing becomes a habit playing this way the dissenting voices will grow. He’s betting everything on results and he’s just learned that his team are vulnerable.
No comments:
Post a Comment