They got the win, but Saints performance in this one won’t have convinced everyone that they will have it all their own way against Castleford Tigers at Wembley next week.
No doubt coach Kristian Woolf is PR savvy enough to paint a tough test so close to the big one as a positive. After all you might not want go go into the biggest game of the season having not been tested or challenged at all. Yet inwardly, Woolf and his coaching staff will find much to concern them when they do their analysis this week.
Woolf’s eyes were sufficiently on next week’s prize to prompt one or two notes of caution in his team selection. Theo Fages had been left out of the 21-man squad altogether when it was named on Wednesday, while Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook missed out for the first time since a 36-20 win at Leeds in August 2019. That came a week before our last Challenge Cup final appearance which may or may not be a coincidence. Omen-fanciers will note that we lost at Wembley two years ago.
Off-setting that absence was the return to the 17 of Matty Lees who had not featured since a cup win over Leeds in early April during which he broke an ankle. Joel Thompson also returned from a shoulder injury but had to settle for a place on the bench as Woolf chose to keep Joe Batchelor in the starting line-up.
Yet perhaps the most keenly anticipated selection was that of Lewis Dodd. The 19 year-old got his first start in his favoured halfback position in Fages’ absence. Our League co-commentator Adrian Morley was moved enough by Dodd’s performance to name him as the man (player?) of the match. This was a slightly over the top assessment. Dodd did nothing wrong. His step inside two bewildered Wakefield defenders for his 23rd minute try was the kind of genius that Fages cannot even dream of. Yet overall Dodd was every bit as peripheral to the attack as Fages has been accused of on these pages in recent seasons.
You can only conclude that both men play to strict instructions from Woolf to let others dominate the ball and take the playmaking responsibility. Woolf just does not believe in halfbacks. Yet there will still be those who will insist that we are just ‘off’ and that ‘it will come’ for either Dodd or Fages. As underwhelmed as I am by Fages and as mystified as I am by the esteem in which the Frenchman is held by some fans, Dodd’s performance here was compelling evidence that Woolf is a much bigger problem than Fages.
It was a modest start by Lees on his return. He entered the fray for the last 25 minutes, at which point Saints held a slender two-point lead at 14-16. If nothing else that showed that Woolf has no concerns about throwing Lees in when the game is on the line. That said, we are going to need more go-forward than the 45 metres on four carries offered by Lees here if we are going to get over the top of the Tigers pack next week. I don’t know about you but I’m not comforted by the fact that we have McCarthy-Scarsbrook to come back in. Defensively Lees was more prominent, managing 20 tackles without a single miss.
In attack it was another reminder from Lachlan Coote of what we will be missing in 2022. He controlled Saints kicking game and remains the most creative player, albeit in a rather functional and robotic attacking structure. His double-pump and perfectly timed pass to put Mark Percival in for Saints first try was the kind of thing Ben Barba was rightly lauded for. It was Coote’s sixth assist of the season and he followed it with his fourth try of the year later in proceedings. Fifteen minutes remained with Saints holding a slender looking four-point lead at 18-14 when Coote was the one supporting on the inside as Sione Mata’utia made the crucial break. Coote then dazzled two defenders with a step to go over and seal the win. Just who is going to fill this creativity void when Coote heads to Hull KR? Hopes are high for Jack Welsby, but he has a heck of an act to follow. Then again, so did Coote. Not everybody worries about that kind of thing.
For his part Mata’utia had one of his best games for Saints since arriving from Newcastle Knights. He racked up 102 metres on 12 carries including four tackle busts to go along with that vital try assist. Alex Walmsley was the only Saints forward to gain more metres than Mata’utia. The big prop rattled off another 145 on 15 carries and still found time to make 23 tackles in another all-action display. He more than anyone could be the key to Wembley success.
A lot of positives so far then. So why was it so bloody close until Coote’s try? You have to give Wakefield a lot of credit, particularly for fighting their way back into the game after being 14-0 down. It would be easy to hold up the white flag when you are that far behind the champions as many sides have. But not Chris Chester’s side. Once they had breached the Saints line through Lee Kershaw on 26 minutes they grew in confidence, getting over twice more through loanee winger Innes Senior. Until Coote’s try Wakefield had actually scored more tries than Saints despite being behind on the scoreline. Fourteen of Coote’s 18-point haul had come from the boot. More on which later.
Along with Wakefield’s bold efforts the biggest reason that this was such a struggle was Saints poor discipline. The concession of repeat sets early in the count is now so frequent from Saints that it barely merits any comment. Yet it drew the ire of Chester who believes that it has become part of Saints strategy, particularly on the first tackle after a kick and chase as the defensive line scrambles to get organised. And Chester is absolutely right. Yet Saints are far from the only team abusing the six-again rule in this fashion. It is as rife as the Delta strain and hypocrisy about footballers from within the cabinet. The sooner we accept that the six-again rule has been a failed experiment which does not sufficiently reward the team that has been transgressed against the better.
Saints disciplinary problems were not confined to ruck offences and they did not lack variety. Percival was yellow carded early in the second half for a second effort on a tackled player and there were high shots by all of Walmsley, Thompson and Kevin Naiqama along the way. Fingers crossed that none of them fall prey to the RFL’s erratic disciplinary panel and their often baffling logic. There was also a costly penalty for a late hit on a kicker which piggy-backed Trinity 40 metres downfield just after half-time when a converted try for the Yorkshire side would have tied the game. Yet perhaps the most worrying aspect of the champions’ unruly behaviour were the two occasions on which Saints - having conceded a penalty - were marched a further 10m towards their own goal line for back chat at referee Ben Thaler. You can agree with Thaler’s calls or not, but crossing the line between protest and dissent is not going to help you win the biggest game of the year and maybe since 2008. I hope if he does nothing else this week Woolf rams home this message to his players.
Fortunately for Saints their opponents misplaced their angel wings and halos too at times. Most notably when James Batchelor was sin-binned for holding down Percival after he had supported a tremendous break from Morgan Knowles. The latter intercepted a pass to break up a dangerous Trinity attack before racing off downfield seemingly looking for people to run over. He smartly handed on to the speedier Percival who was only hauled down by a last gasp tackle. It was exactly the sort of situation that Saints excel at capitalising on and Batchelor knew it. He took his medicine. Although it was Wakefield who scored the only try while Batchelor was off the field the repeated indiscretions from Trinity allowed Coote to amass another six points from penalty goals which always just about kept Chester’s side at arm’s length.
About those penalties. There have been understandable questions asked about why Woolf’s side repeatedly elected to take the two easy points on offer rather than attempt to hammer home their advantage with another try or two. It speaks to a real lack of confidence in our attack in goal line situations. It’s a fear that might well be justified but at the same time it appears to send out entirely the wrong message to the opponent. It resulted in a bit of a death by a thousand cuts for Wakefield in this one, but not before it gave them hope and belief enough to stage that recovery from 14-0 down to 16-14 down at one point.
A try instead of a penalty goal at 14-4 or 16-4 probably would have broken the Trinity resolve. This was a side which claimed to have only 17 fit players and whose standout player was a winger playing at hooker. Liam Kay was a pain in the proverbial all night, eating up 64 metres on 10 carries as Saints struggled to contain his speed from dummy half. Yet we should have had enough confidence, enough ruthlessness to go for the jugular earlier. The Tigers will feast on any grain of hope they get next week.
After Coote’s score Wakefield finally did sag considerably and visibly. Tommy Makinson - who along with Regan Grace was on the missing person’s list in attack for much of the night - rounded off the try-scoring after good handling from Jonny Lomax, Dodd, Coote and Naiqama. It was only the winger’s second Super League try of the season which tells you everything about where the bulk of what passes for our attack is directed in the Woolf game plan.
Yet like Woolf or not he has the opportunity to be the one who brings the Challenge Cup back to the club after that long, much talked about 13-year wait. His side will start favourite but they must learn the lessons from this one if they are not to suffer the fate that Warrington did in the semi final when they were well beaten by an enterprising Tigers side.
I remain confident. We keep finding ways to win even if it looks ugly. What’s that phrase everybody keeps using at the moment....it’s coming home?
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