We’ll get to the result and another iffy performance in a minute. The first thing to say about being back inside the stadium that dare not speak its name is that it was an absolute joy. Everything about it from the sights, the smells and the dreadful muffled public address system to the needless heckling of the bloke a few rows away (open your fucking eyes Moore, you’re fucking stealing a living) made you realise just how much you’d missed it.
It was emotional too. The minute’s silence observed impeccably (as far as I could tell) before kick-off brought into sharp focus the reasons why we have been denied this privilege for the last 14 months. It was a time to remember not just the many that have passed away from the monstrous pandemic, but also those who have been lost for other reasons during its dark days. I count my own dad among them. Covid has not only brought death with it, but also the further trauma of severely restricted hospital visits for the sick and dying and reduced capacity, socially distanced funerals. While the talk continues of Indian variants and what will happen next it was at possible, at least for one night, to view our return to the stadium as the beginning of a healing process.
To the small matter of the sport, then. Saints maintained their 100% start to the Super League campaign with a 28-0 win over Salford Red Devils. It was a performance very much like its 2021 predecessors. A bit of a struggle. A slow burn of a win that had moments of comic ineptitude without ever making you feel like the result was in any doubt. Saints defence was back to its solid best, not always executing the tackle but always able to recover.
Saints missed 31 tackles in all, led by Joel Thompson’s five. It’s early days for Thompson at Saints but he arrived from Manly with a reputation as a good defender and a runner of ‘good lines’. This has always struck me as a euphemism up there with football’s ‘good engine’. The reality is that Thompson leads the league in missed tackles and has made two clean breaks in the opening six rounds. I can’t be the only one starting to wonder what he is for. I pine for Zeb.
Saints defensive qualities, as admirable as they are, further stifle any prospect of entertainment. There is often no jeopardy attached to watching Saints against weaker opposition. Their MO is to strangle the life out of the opponent’s attack before their defence gets tired and literally gets run over late in the game. And coach Kristian Woolf’s side are absurdly, almost annoyingly good at it. This was not the first time in 2021 that the first 40 minutes of a Saints game had been a painfully low scoring affair. It wasn’t quite the pointless nadir of the first half against Wakefield last month - the footage of which is now a genuine resource at insomnia clinics the world over. But at 6-0 thanks to Alex Walmsley’s solitary barge over converted by Lachlan Coote it wasn’t exactly warming the hearts of the 4,000 golden ticket winners as the late spring temperature plummeted. Good job we were all so happy to be there, even if I didn’t feel much like Charlie Bucket.
The errors didn’t help in that opening half. In all Saints managed to drop their lollies on 15 occasions over the 80 minutes. I’d guess that the bulk of those arrived in that disjointed first half. It wasn’t until Salford’s eyes got bigger than their collective bellies that Saints showed that they can dazzle in broken play. An overlap on the Salford right almost caught Saints out but Ken Sio’s bold chip ahead was scooped up by Theo Fages. The Frenchman not only prevented a try as Salford chasers converged, he then proceeded to start a counter attack which he finished himself after a sweeping passing movement involving Coote and Jack Welsby. A classy passage of play from Fages during a man of the match performance that was by far his best of the season.
Unfortunately it did not open the floodgates. It took until just before the hour mark for Kevin Naiqama to turn Saints 12-0 lead into a 16-0 lead. Again it came from short range, with that tiresome one lead runner, one out the back mode of attack that has been a Super League staple since the Wigan Warriors decided that variety in attack is a waste of everyone’s time and energy. In many ways we appear to be morphing into Wigan Warriors with each passing week. The execution is clinical and the finish from Naiqama impressive, but it’s very much the rugby league equivalent of route one and the Sam Allardyce POMO.
It could have been oh so different. Moments prior to his try Naiqama was back near his own line intercepting a Kevin Brown pass which might otherwise have led to a Salford try. As the Fijian took off down the south stand touchline my view from the opposite side took me back to the great long distance tries that used to be a regular occurrence for us to feast our eyes on. Anthony Sullivan, Alan Hunte or Darren Albert would have jogged home. But this side isn’t built for that. Naiqama might have plenty of NRL experience on the wing but he’s not the flyer he was. Maybe it’s his age - he turned 32 in February - or maybe it’s down to Woolf training the players for speed over shorter distances. Either way Naiqama was caught just after he’d reached the half way line by that well known speedster Tui Lolohea. Which is a bit like David Weir being caught by me.
There was one other moment of genuine excitement before the end. Regan Grace added to his try tally for the season on the very last play of the game thanks to a nice pass from Fages to Welsby who then produced a stunning touch pass for the Welshman to somersault over in the left hand corner. It was a pass to evoke memories of Jamie Lyon, Matt Gidley or the bookies favourite Martin Gleeson. Proper touch centres who are now all but extinct because they wouldn’t be any good in ‘yardage’. Let’s hope Welsby continues to be a throwback.
His masterful intervention had followed a more routine plunge from Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, accompanied by the obligatory histrionics that have somehow survived 302 games. The Londoner was one of only four Saints forwards to top 100m for the day with 106, the others being Walmsley (156), Kyle Amor (105) and Agnatius Paasi (102). McCarthy-Scarsbrook put in a decent shift defensively too with 34 tackles and is doing a pretty serviceable job as a starting prop while Matty Lees recovers from his broken ankle. Only Thompson (35) made more defensive efforts than the former London Bronco whose tally was matched by the ageless James Roby.
I keep saying a lot of the same things in these pieces so apologies for the repetition. I keep hearing the same thing in response too, which is that we will improve in attack. That we are just ‘clunky’. I don’t think we are ‘clunky’ any more than I think Harold Shipman was just a bit clumsy with needles. What we are doing in attack is by design. Woolf knows that we are fitter than most sides and have a deeper squad. He’s therefore decided that a low risk approach, with never more than two passes before contact with the defensive line is the way to exploit our advantages. And it will work, right up until the moment we come up against someone fit enough to avoid falling over in the last 20 minutes under the strain of the 10,000th Walmsley carry. The only question is whether such a team exists in Super League.
Anyway. There was a bigger picture this week. There are times when worrying about whether we’ll ever see a longe range try again or about just what in the Hell has happened to Lewis Dodd are secondary. It was a delight to be back and I’m sure we’re all desperate for it to continue on May 28 when Hull FC visit.
The match day experience might be dull for a large portion of the time, but it’s ours again.
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