Well, that was much more like it, wasn’t it? On the back of last week’s defeat to Catalans Dragons in Perpignan Saints bounced back in style. It was a win which not only dealt Hull FC a psychological blow ahead of next week’s reunion for the Challenge Cup semi final at Leigh, but one which has also shot Saints back to the top of the table after Wigan’s hilarious capitulation in France on Saturday (May 29).
Kristian Woolf still has a few injuries to cope with so his side was by no means at full strength. Regan Grace was the latest star to be sidelined after he picked up a concussion in scoring a late try against the Dragons last week. He joined Tommy Makinson, James Bentley and Matty Lees on the list of absentees for this one. That gave an opportunity to Josh Simm, whose last first team appearance for Saints had been the 12-10 defeat by Salford which ultimately cost Woolf’s side the League Leaders Shield back in October.
Simm’s loan spell at Leigh Centurions earlier this season yielded just one appearance in a 52-16 defeat to Castleford Tigers. Yet with Jack Welsby covering Grace’s wing position and Kevin Naiqama continuing to cover Makinson’s it was Simm who got the nod to partner Mark Percival in the centres. Interestingly, Woolf chose to switch Percival back to the left edge with Simm, who had caught the eye on that side during his six appearances in 2020, asked to play on the right. Fourteen carries for 102 metres represents a more than creditable return to the fold.
The only other changes saw Alex Walmsley restored to the starting line-up after a hopefully brief experiment as an impact player off the bench, while Woolf again rotated Lewis Dodd on to the bench in place of Aaron Smith. Agnatius Paasi stepped down from the starting line-up to the bench to accommodate Walmsley.
The changes had the desired effect as Saints made a rapid start. Marc Sneyd handed them the early initiative by fluffing Lachlan Coote’s opening kick-off and forcing Hull to drop out from beneath their own sticks. James Roby, Theo Fages and Jonny Lomax combined quickly to send Welsby over in the corner. Coote’s first goal of the day gave Saints a 6-0 lead.
It was a lead that should have been added to on five minutes when Fages put Percival through a gap but his return pass to the halfback was knocked down by Jake Connor. It would have been a walk in for Fages who along with Jonny Lomax and Percival repeatedly caused panic down that side of the field against Hull’s right edge defence. That near miss was a warning not heeded by Brett Hodgson’s side who fell further behind on the next set when Roby and Fages again combined before Coote dummied and shimmied over. The position had been set up by a strong carry by Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook who had one of his more effective outings, reeling off 122 metres on 16 carries. Only Walmsley (172) and Joel Thompson bettered that for Saints while only Josh Griffin (124) did so for Hull.
Coote could not add the extras to his own try and within three minutes FC were back in the contest. Percival had lost possession 30m from his own line in a crunching tackle from Chris Satae, setting up the position from which Connor grubbered into the left corner for Adam Swift to touch down. Sneyd could not convert but it was a one score game at that point at 10-4.
Amid the incisive rugby Saints were playing there were some misfires. Notably when Lomax again tried to find Welsby out on that left flank only to send the ball sailing into touch. Errors like this can frustrate but given what we have been served up stylistically by Saints in the opening seven rounds of Super League it was refreshing to see the intent to move the Hull defence around. It was still built on the back of some powerful bursts in the middle of the field but there seemed far more imagination in attack once the big men had punched their holes in the FC defence.
Roby and Walmsley provided a good example of this a few minutes after Lomax’s errant pass. Both left defenders on the floor to enable Saints to shift the ball out to Simm who attracted the attention of several black and whites defenders. With the line pulled out of position Fages was able to turn the ball back inside to Morgan Knowles who shrugged off two defenders and spun over for Saints’ third try. Coote’s goal gave Saints a 16-4 lead. They were in total command again.
It was a first half dominated by Saints who gobbled up a ridiculous 74% of the possession before the break. However good your defence is the best way of stopping your opponents from playing is to deny them any possession. Saints certainly achieved that.
When Hull did get an opportunity in that opening period they invariably blew it. Just after Knowles’ try Sneyd broke the line and put Manu Ma’u through a gap. However, the former Parramatta Eel seemed beset with panic as the covering Saints defenders converged. His return pass to Sneyd was a stinker which ended up on the ground. That was a chance that Hull could not afford to waste given the weight of territory and possession going against them at that time.
Saints were denied by the video referee as much as by their own lapses in concentration. Repeatedly video referee James Child gave a negative verdict when asked by Chris Kendall to adjudicate on a possible Saints try. On another day Saints could have joined Warrington, Leeds and Catalans in running up an embarrassing scoreline on this weekend of Super League blowouts. The first of these came just after Sneyd’s break. Saints again made inroads on their left and when Coote’s attempted offload went astray Lomax managed to get a boot to it. As the ball crossed the Hull goal line it was snaffled by Percival who touched down. It took an eternity to determine that Sione Mata’utia was stood in front of Lomax at the kick and was within 10 metres of Connor as he tried to deal with it. Mata’utia was making no attempt to get involved in the play but to the letter of a very questionable law he was offside.
There was time for Percival to break through again only to see Lomax’s pass batted down by Griffin to deny the opportunity before Saints were again unsuccessfully claiming a try. Swift lost the ball in a gang tackle and Fages found himself with the simple task of picking up and dotting down. Yet Kendall decided that the tackle on Swift had been completed before the ball came loose. In all honesty it looked a poor call and something of a sympathy vote given that Saints were threatening to run away with it at this point.
Coote added two more to Saints lead after Hull were caught offside. At this point were treated to a cameo from Paasi. The Tongan probably only played around 20 minutes, leaving the game after around 53 minutes with a slight concern over his hamstring. Yet he used the time he had well, earning a set restart on his first explosive carry and in all gaining 91 metres on just 11 carries with a couple of tackle busts. He even had a hand in Welsby’s second try six minutes before half time. Paasi showed he isn’t just a wrecking ball, linking up with Roby and Fages to send Welsby strolling over in the corner for his second try of the night. No Grace? No problem. Coote missed again with the conversion but Saints held an ultimately decisive 22-4 half time advantage.
Paasi was involved again when Saints were next rebuffed by Child. The big prop’s offload found Fages whose lobbed kick was plucked out of the air by Welsby. Though he gathered it cleanly enough he was just unable to ground it under pressure from Mahe Fonua. Paasi wasn’t done there, ringing Jordan Lane’s bell as the Hull man found himself in the unfortunate position of having to tackle the Saints prop one on one. Before his day was curtailed Paasi them went close to scoring as along with Coote the pair just failed to ground Fages’ neat grubber close to the line.
The Frenchman’s next attacking kick paid more dividends. It seemed a routine bomb of the kind that ordinarily induce steam from the ears but this was Fages’ day almost as much as it was Welsby’s. Connor flapped hopelessly at it allowing Welsby to snatch it from him to complete his hat-trick. Another Coote goal meant Saints led 28-4. They went close again on 51 minutes when Lomax released Naiqama down the right. Just as it looked like the Fijian would dive over in the corner he was bundled into touch by a spirited defensive effort by Sneyd and Swift.
Paasi’s exit was played down as precautionary by Woolf, along with that of Percival who had by now left with a hamstring issue of his own. Yet there was a notable drop off in performance when the pair left. The fitness of both will not be decisive at Leigh next week given the other weapons Saints possess but it would instil a lot more confidence that we can repeat this level of performance if those two are involved.
Fonua reduced the arrears on 58, barging through Lomax and Coote after being fed by an hitherto subdued Josh Reynolds. Sneyd’s goal made it 28-10, but 18 points was as close as Hodgson’s men would get. Lomax narrowly missed Welsby with a looping pass for what could have been his fourth try of the night before arguably the best score of the evening by Joe Batchelor. Knowles - a man who has been known to be questioned for his attacking inactivity on these pages - surged through a gap and found Lomax who had the presence of mind to turn the ball back inside to Batchelor to touch down. Neither Batchelor nor Knowles broke 100m which perhaps suggests that they could still contribute more in attack, but both were beautifully in sync here to stretch Saints’ lead to 34-10 once Coote landed his sixth goal of the game for a personal haul of 16 points.
The game was won, but Saints did deflate a little in the latter stages. Both McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Amor came up with basic errors as the intensity dropped just a little. That drop off culminated in Fonua scoring his second try of the game on the very last play, latching on to a Sneyd crossfield lob to grab another four. Sneyd’s conversion gave a final scoreline of 34-16 which arguably flattered Hull given Saints’ dominance particularly in the first half.
It all means that Saints lead the table, joining Wigan and Catalans with a record of seven wins and one loss from the first eight rounds. Meanwhile Hull have now lost three of their last four in the league after a promising start. They will now need to beat Saints by 19 points when they meet in Hull on August 1 if they are to win the Steve Prescott Cup played annually over the two league meetings between the sides.
None of which means that overcoming them when a place in the Challenge Cup final is on the line next week is a given. A performance as good as this one will do the job. That has to be the challenge now for Woolf’s side who proved here that they can turn it on in attack if they punch the right holes in the opposition pack. It will still be a forward orientated gameplan, but there is hope for the backs too on this evidence.
It’s still not the razzle dazzle of yesteryear nor the heart stopping, do everything the hard way approach of some other days gone by. But it’s a marked improvement on anything else we have seen from Saints in 2021. We’d all swap it for victory next week, but if Saints can show this kind of dominance
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