Saints v Leeds Rhinos - Preview

Saints are just 80 minutes away from a 13th Grand Final appearance as they prepare to take on Leeds Rhinos in Friday’s Super League semi-final (October 1, kick-off 7.45pm). 

 

Such is the structure of the competition you can basically forget everything that has gone before this season because it all comes down to these last two weeks.  It’s not quite Bobby Ewing rocking up in the shower after returning from the dead but suffice to say that not much of what has gone before is going to help you now. Win and Kristian Woolf’s side can prepare for a shot at a third consecutive title.  Lose and they can start thinking about 2022. Unlike in Dallas, there’s always another series. We just don’t want to have to contemplate it yet.

 

Woolf has brought an entire arsenal of ten gallon-hatted big guns back into his squad for this episode.  A whole host of star names were rested for the 26-14 defeat at Salford in the last week of the regular season.  None of them have played since Saints last meeting with Leeds, a 40-6 blowout home win on September 10.  Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Kevin Naiqama, Morgan Knowles, James Roby and Joe Batchelor all return to the fold.  Jonny Lomax is also included after making his return to action during that Salford loss. 

 

Coote is likely to come back in at fullback in place of Jonathan Bennison, who scored on his debut at the AJ Bell but is one for the future.  Regan Grace is perhaps the only member of the starting back line at Salford likely to start this one.  Tommy Makinson should replace Shay Martyn on the opposite wing to Grace, with Josh Simm and Ben Davies probably missing out to make way for Naiqama and Percival.  Lomax is in contention for another start at stand-off but this is one area where Woolf has a genuine selection dilemma.  Jack Welsby has made the Super League Dream Team (albeit as a centre, strangely) and a place in the line-up will surely be found for him.  Besides, his halfback partnership with Lewis Dodd has arguably made Saints’ attack much more potent.  On the flip side of that, Lomax has made the Dream Team as a stand-off and is one of five nominees for the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel award.  It is perhaps a testament to Dodd’s quality that the one option I haven’t considered here is playing both Lomax and Welsby in the halves and leaving Dodd out. 

 

Last time Alex Walmsley ran into Leeds he did not so much run into them as run over them.  The former Batley man ripped in for 275 metres in one of the most dominant prop forward performances in recent years.  He will return to lead the pack, with one of Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook or Matty Lees starting in the front row alongside him and hooker James Roby.  Living legend Roby announced his retirement from international rugby league this weekend but remains vital to everything that Saints do.  Sione Mata’utia injured an ankle in that Leeds win but has been passed fit to play.  He should partner Batchelor in the second row.  The former York man seems to have established himself as a first choice in that position ahead of Joel Thompson with James Bentley now officially ruled out for the season and – consequently – the remainder of his time at Saints.  The former Bradford Bulls man has agreed to join Leeds for next season and beyond. He misses the opportunity to face his future employers for one last time before his move.  Another Dream Teamer will complete the line-up in the shape of Morgan Knowles.  

Leeds arrive here by virtue of an 8-0 win over Wigan in one of the most dire games of rugby league if not in living memory then certainly since the last time Leeds played Wigan. The Rhinos final league placing of fifth has their fans talking up the prospect of a repeat of their successes of the past from that position. This has spooked a few Saints fans who - abandoning all rationality in the way that sports fans must - have seemingly forgotten that this Leeds side does not possess four or five all time greats as those sides did. In fact it has no such players. It doesn’t even have Luke Bloody Gale. This is a very ordinary Leeds side and to lose to it at home even in the high pressure environment of a playoff semi-final would be an underachievement of European Ryder Cup team proportions. In that respect there is probably more pressure on Saints than on Leeds.

Rhinos coach Richard Agar has named an unchanged 21-man squad following last week’s borefest at Wigan. Aside from Gale the only major absentees are young fullback Jack Walker and Sutcliffe brothers Liam and Alex. Without Walker Ritchie Myler has been the regular choice at fullback behind a three-quarter line that includes quality in the shape of Ash Handley and Harry Newman and which may feature another set of brothers in Tom and Luke Briscoe. Trying to crash that party will be fit again and allegedly Saints-bound Tongan bulldozer Konrad Hurrell.  Creativity in midfield will be the responsibility of makeshift scrum-half Kruise Leeming and the man who is seemingly the world’s oldest playmaker Robert Lui. The former Salford man has made only nine appearances this season but the Rhinos recent upturn and subsequent surge of optimism has a lot to do with his return to the side.

The forward pack have it all on to stop Walmsley and company. This is the area where Leeds fell so short against Saints three weeks ago. The likes of Mikolaj Oledzki, Alex Mellor and Zane Tetevano will help make sure it is not quite the same turnstyle-mimicking rabble that turned up that night and in Matt Prior, Brad Dwyer and Rhyse Martin they have other consistent performers. Their challenge - like that of many others this year - will be to hold Saints powerful ball carriers for the duration of the game. So often this year Saints have controlled games without looking particularly fluent or dangerous, only to pull away late when opponents have defended one set too many. Leeds will hope to hang in there, minimise opportunities for Saints’ array of attacking weapons and hope that their own backs can take their opportunities when they come.

Frankly it doesn’t seem all that likely. Saints are fresh from a week off - arguably two when you consider the team selection at Salford - while Leeds have been playing for their playoff lives for well over a month now. There is an argument that this offers them an edge in as far as they will be more battle hardened than their hosts but it is not a theory I’m buying. Their desperation at Wigan was just as heightened as it will be in this one but that is not a fact which managed to inspire them in attack. If they play that conservatively and make that many mistakes against Saints they will find points hard to come by. After all, this is a Saints defence which conceded an average of only 10.9 points per game during the regular season. By contrast the Rhinos shipped in almost twice as many at 18.3 per game. If Leeds make this a defensive grind they will fall over first while we all stifle a yawn. If they make it a shoot-out, well then they will be more JR than Bobby Ewing. Only the identity of the shooter could be anyone of nine or 10 of Saints’ skilled assassins. 

As I write Catalans Dragons have just secured the first place in the Old Trafford Grand Final. Over to Saints then to set up the ending to this soap opera of a season that many have been anticipating for some time.

Squads;

St Helens;

1. Lachlan Coote, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5, Regan Grace, 6, Jonny Lomax, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Joel Thompson, 13, Morgan Knowles, 14. Sione Mata’utia, 15, LMS, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 18. Jack Welsby, 19, Aaron Smith, 20, Joe Batchelor, 21. Lewis Dodd, 23, Jake Wingfield, 29. Ben Davies.

Leeds Rhinos;

2. Tom Briscoe 3. Harry Newman 4. Konrad Hurrell 5. Ash Handley 6. Rob Lui 8. Mikołaj Oledzki 9. Kruise Leeming 10. Matt Prior 11. Alex Mellor 12. Rhyse Martin 13. Zane Tetevano 14. Brad Dwyer 16. Richie Myler 17. Cameron Smith 18. Tom Holroyd 19. King Vuniyayawa 20. Bodene Thompson 24. Luke Briscoe 25. James Donaldson 27. Jack Broadbent 31. Morgan Gannon

Referee: Chris Kendall

Salford Red Devils 26 Saints - 14 - Review

It was a very different looking Saints team which ultimately came up just short in the last game of the 2021 regular season at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford.

The champions came into this one knowing that they could not finish the regular season any higher or lower than second irrespective of the result. With that in mind coach Kristian Woolf took the opportunity to rest most of his first choice players. As he had done at the same venue a year ago, Woolf also handed out a smattering of first team debuts. Fullback Jonathan Bennison, winger Shay Martyn and back rower Sam Royle all saw Super League action for the first time. Like last year Woolf’s experimental line-up could not come back from Salford with the result. But you get a sense that the payoff from this team selection will become apparent further down the track.

The youngsters all offered some promise. It was perhaps Bennison who made the biggest impression, scoring a try on his debut after a Regan Grace break had been well supported by Lewis Dodd. It was a special moment for Bennison who also looked consistency safe under a barrage of Tui Lolohea kicks. He didn’t shirk the job of returning the ball either, a vital role given the absence of perhaps the league’s best kick returner in Tommy Makinson. In all Bennison carried the ball 14 times for 75 metres at an average of five metres per carry. He also managed a tackle bust and an offload in what should be a confidence boosting performance.

Grace was very prominent, especially early in the game. He ended it with 157 metres on 18 carries at an average of 8.7 metres per carry. The Welshman came into this game averaging 98.75 metres per game in Super League in 2021. It is not outlandish to suggest this increase in his output was down to the work done by Ben Davies on his inside at left centre. Davies ran for 126 metres on 18 carries of his own but his willingness to look for Grace and to make space for him was a feature of what we should remember was only his second first team appearance. That is not necessarily a criticism of the man he stood in for - Mark Percival - who frankly is so good sometimes that he doesn’t need a winger. But it is a quality that will do Davies no harm if he wants to develop into a top class centre. He was also a fraction away from getting his own name up in lights on the scoreboard as he narrowly failed to chase down a searching kick from Dodd in the second half when Saints had been under what pundits call the cosh.

When your dad is a bona fide legend not only of the club but of the sport it is always going to place a little more pressure on you as an individual. Sporting history is littered with examples of talented offspring who just couldn’t carry the burden. The first team debut of Martyn - son of the great stand-off half of the 1990s and 2000s Tommy - was always going to grab the attention. Unlike his dad, Shay is pacy enough to have been selected on the wing where another Tommy fast approaching iconic status normally resides. Martyn’s running chances outside the returning Josh Simm were few and far between. Yet he managed 85 metres on 10 carries which maths geniuses among you will have observed is only a tad below Grace’s average per carry on the other side. Martyn is also an accomplished goal-kicker, converting both Saints tries on the night and also landing a penalty which put Saints 14-4 up and at that time looking in control.

The final debutant was Sam Royle, a back rower who this week signed a new deal at the club together with Matty Foster. That in itself shows how the Saints coaching staff and hierarchy view his potential. It’s an area which does need development with James Bentley and Joel Thompson heading for the exit at the end of this season. Joe Batchelor has established himself of late as a reliable partner for Sione Mata’utia. The club have also moved to bring in Curtis Sironen from Manly while rumours of Konrad Hurrell arriving from Leeds to play second row persist. Royle may have to bide his time but the club clearly see a future for him. In this game he was limited to 67 metres on 10 carries but he got them without making any errors - something Woolf lives for - and Royle also contributed 28 tackles in defence. Only Wingfield and Matty Lees managed more among Saints defenders. 

Along with the newbies a group of fringe players were also given their chance to impress ahead of the bigger games to come this year and the challenges of 2022. Chief among these was Aaron Smith, for once given the starting hooker’s role while James Roby was wrapped in as much cotton wool as Woolf could find lying around. Smith was backed up by Josh Eaves - a man who seems to be permanently on loan elsewhere and unable to get back. Like Keith Barron in Duty Free. There were also starts for Kyle Amor, Wingfield, Simm and Thompson. Dan Norman - a man who we might easily have forgotten about such has been the scarcity of his appearances since joining from London Broncos - was given a run out off the bench. 

In truth, very few of these stood out or made it difficult for Woolf to leave them out of the 17 for the playoffs. Amor has done enough this year to persuade the club to offer him another one year deal. A deal which he has gratefully accepted but not one which is particularly popular with the very same people who were delighted by Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s new contract. Perhaps the thinking is that two ageing, hardly explosive props is one too many. On this night Amor could only manage 60 metres on nine carries and 15 tackles. These are not stats likely to make Alex Walmsley feel like help is on the way in that front row. It is becoming a problem area for Saints which probably goes some way to explaining how both Amor and McCarthy-Scarsbrook will both be with us again next year. There doesn’t seem to be any Super League-ready talent coming through at prop. Lees has been the great hope but he has been hit by injuries and flattered to deceive at times. Walmsley is the only Saints prop - indeed he is the only Saints player - in the top 20 for metres made in Super League this year.

Norman, Wingfield, Thompson and Lees combined for just 333 metres between them. To put that in context Walmsley made 275 by himself in the win over Leeds Rhinos last week. So the numbers don’t blow you away. The question is are these underwhelming numbers the reason that Saints lost control of a game in which they were well on top for 30 minutes, or have we arrived at these numbers because of that loss of control? From the minute Martyn’s penalty gave Saints that 10-point lead going into the break anybody watching this one had to get used to turning their gaze towards the end that Salford were attacking. 

The Red Devils scored four tries and 22 points without reply in that second half as Saints appeared to run out of steam. This is probably understandable when you have a team that is largely an amalgamation of untried youngsters and senior pros who have often found themselves sitting it out on game day due to the depth of the squad. Of this 17 only Lees, Dodd, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Grace, Jack Welsby and the returning Jonny Lomax look likely to be included when the knockout stuff starts next week. Salford may be the side sitting second from bottom of the table - a fact which appears to have cost Richard Marshall the head coach’s job - but they are still a Super League outfit and able to take advantage of an under-strength Saints.

At the hub of everything they did was halfback Chris Atkin. He scored a try and caused some consternation when he declined the obvious opportunity to claim a second and instead passed the ball from behind the sticks to Ken Sio for his second. He had scored his first in the opening half when he raced on to a neat crossfield kick by Lolohea, one of few that Bennison did not manage to cover. Atkin’s gesture of apparent generosity to Sio could easily have been construed as showboating. Taunting even. Yet it is probably worth remembering that his two tries on the night took Sio to the top of Super League’s try scoring charts for the 2021 regular season. In a long hard, slog of a season perhaps the Salford players were comforted in the knowledge that they could at least have a hand in achieving that. There were suggestions that Sio might leave the Red Devils even before Marshall’s exit and he looks to have the ability to play for a top four club. So not Hull FC.

Atkin’s try had been the second of those four second half scores which turned this game around. The first had been a sweet moment for Matty Costello as he scored against the club that let him go at the end of 2020. That brought Salford back to within four at 14-10 after Bennison’s opener for Saints had been added to by a Lomax effort. Lomax chased down Grace’s clever kick to touch down just inside the dead ball line. Had Lomax been able to repeat the trick when haring after a Dodd grubber just before half-time then we may have seen a very different denouement. 

As it was Atkin’s score put Salford in front for the first time and his assist for Ellis Robson’s try stretched the lead further before the final nail of that gift to Sio. Saints chances were few and far between thereafter but when they did get them they misfired. An Amor knock on here, a Wingfield error there. Grace uncharacteristically losing his bearings and stepping into touch when Saints were in a good attacking position. When it’s not your night, it’s not your night. 

The game ended in a fair degree of farce when a group of Salford fans ran on to the field despite there being one play left for a Saints penalty. Quite apart from their premature celebrations, how did they get on there in an era where pitch invasions are hugely frowned upon and tightly guarded against? And what were they celebrating anyway? I can only think that they were celebrating the fact that a miserable campaign for them has come to an end. Certainly a win over an under-strength Saints team that could do nothing to alter Salford’s lowly league position is not enough to take away the pain of the year they’ve endured. Perhaps they were not celebrating but protesting in the style of Oldham Athletic’s fans in recent weeks. If the departure of Marshall is anything to go by then it is fair to say that the ownership of both Latics and the Red Devils are having problems locating the plot. Either way, you always look silly when you peak too early. As a certain Magic-related gif of Mr McManus currently doing the rounds on social media no doubt proves.

For Woolf the interesting decision is what to do with Lomax now that he appears to have proved his fitness. Lomax has been a crucial player for a number of years but in his enforced absence the Dodd-Welsby partnership has flourished. That is sometimes how a player’s time as a first choice regular ends. Unexpectedly, quickly, and due to a relatively minor injury absence during which others excel. There is no doubt that Saints have had more zest and creativity in attack with the two younger heads at the hub. But on the flip side would Lomax’s experience have prevented that Magic Weekend collapse - for example? Will his reliability be invaluable when the bums start to squeak at playoff time? My suggestion on this week’s 13 Pro-Am Rugby League Show (live every Monday from 7.00pm and then available as a podcast since you ask) was that all three of Lomax, Dodd and Welsby should be in the 17. Quite how you slice that is Woolf’s conundrum to solve. Welsby to start or Lomax? Or both with Dodd off the bench? It’s nice to have options.

The future - despite this defeat - looks promising. It’s now time to focus on the present and the nerve-jangling jeopardy of a semi-final.

Salford Red Devils v Saints - Preview

Saints round off their regular season campaign when they visit the AJ Bell Stadium to take on Salford Red Devils on Friday night (September 17, kick-off 7.45pm).

There’s nothing really riding on this game for Saints. They are certain to finish second in the table and get the first week of the playoffs off. After which they will face the highest ranked qualifier from week one of the playoffs at home for a place in the Grand Final. 

The lack of either jeopardy or incentive is perhaps reflected in Kristian Woolf’s 21-man squad selection. It includes four new faces and is shorn of the suspended Lachlan Coote and Agnatius Paasi, the injured Theo Fages, James Bentley, Sione Mata’utia and Mark Percival, and a whole host of rested regulars. Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, James Roby, Morgan Knowles and Joe Batchelor will all have their feet up in preparation for knockout football in a fortnight. Percival and Mata’utia are also expected to be fit by then. Percival suffered a head knock in the 40-6 routing of Leeds Rhinos which keeps him out, while the ankle injury sustained by Mata’utia in that game is not thought to be as serious as first feared. 

So many absences make it particularly difficult to predict what the Saints line-up will look like. Jack Welsby is included and may - in Coote’s absence - get the opportunity to have a run out in the fullback role which Woolf has earmarked for him in 2022. With that in mind the possibly surprising return of Jonny Lomax is timely. Lomax hasn’t featured since injuring a hamstring in the win over Leigh on August 26. He was expected to be out for four weeks but is deemed fit enough for inclusion here. He could slot back into his regular stand-off position alongside halfback Lewis Dodd. Another option is to leave Welsby at 6 and move Lomax to the fullback role he occupied until the 2017 arrival of Ben Barba and the subsequent signing of Coote. Jonathan Bennison is a fullback who will be hoping that Woolf goes down a different route. 

Shay Martyn - son of the legend that is Tommy Martyn - is one of only two recognised wingers in the squad along with Regan Grace. Therefore it would not be surprising to see Martyn make a first team debut. Martyn has played at centre also, but Woolf has named both Josh Simm and Ben Davies who are both slightly more experienced. 

Alex Walmsley’s 275-metre tear-up against the Rhinos last week wasn’t enough to earn him a week off. All of Saints available front line props are included, with Matty Lees, Kyle Amor and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook all in the reckoning. Dan Norman would have had high hopes of making the 17 last week. If he does not get the gig this week then he would be forgiven if he started to question his future at the club. The former London Bronco has featured only once in the first team, and that was a brief appearance in the Challenge Cup semi-final win over Hull FC in June. 

The back row looks set to be experimental, with only Joel Thompson and Jake Wingfield having significant recent first team experience there. Reece Sumner is an option, as is Sam Royle who along with Matty Foster has just signed a new deal with the club. Aaron Smith will hope to start at hooker in Roby’s absence but faces competition from Josh Eaves and another youngster Taylor Pemberton. All of Saints current group of number nines - including Roby - will have been interested in this week’s news that Joey Lussick has signed a three-year deal from next season. Lussick is currently injured but could yet return to the Parramatta Eels line-up for the remainder of the NRL playoffs. He seems a more likely heir to Roby’s throne than either Smith or Eaves in the short term.

Salford are involved in this dead rubber for very different reasons. Richard Marshall spent two season’s as an assistant at Saints but his first year at the Red Devils’ helm hasn’t gone quite as he would have liked. Ian Watson’s shoes were always going to tough to fill after he led the club to Grand Final and Challenge Cup final appearances in successive years. Yet just six wins from 21 league outings in 2021 is a massively disappointing return for Marshall whichever way you slice it. Only Leigh Centurions sit below Salford in the league table and that won’t change regardless of the result in this one. Salford are one of only two teams to lose to the Centurions in a miserable campaign which has seen the Leigh side drop straight back down to the Championship.

Despite the relatively low stakes Marshall has gone as strong as possible with his squad selection. And why not? There are no playoff games for Salford to rest players for. Mad Monday is on the horizon. You’d have to think that there will be changes to the Salford playing staff in the winter but until then the players have one last chance in 2021 to show Marshall that they are worth persevering with.

Among those who won’t feature are ex-Leeds and England star Kallum Watkins, former Wigan speedster Joe Burgess, retiring prop Lee Mossop, Harvey Livett, James Greenwood and Lussick’s brother Darcy. Kevin Brown will bring the curtain down on his career and there has been speculation about the Salford futures of Ken Sio, Tui Lolohea and Sebastine Ikahihifo. Krisnan Inu has already declared himself a free agent. Others such as Dan Sarginson, Rhys Williams, Chris Atkin, Pauli Pauli, Oliver Roberts and Danny Addy will be looking to show Marshall that he has the nucleus of a competitive side already at his disposal. Ellis Robson is also included for what could be his last appearance for Salford on loan from Warrington.

There might be a slight feeling of deja vu about this one. Late last season Saints visited Salford for a game in which Woolf handed debuts to five youngsters. That experimental Saints side went down to a 12-10 defeat but it was experience which has proved invaluable to the likes of Welsby, Dodd and Wingfield who have since developed further. It may be that Woolf is less concerned about the result than with finding out how the youngsters and the fringe players handle the challenge. 

The teams have met twice already this season and the stats make grim reading for Salford fans. Marshall’s side have scored only six points in those 160 minutes of rugby league, going down 29-6 on opening day in March and 28-0 when crowds returned in mid-May. This could be somewhat different given Saints’ squad selection. There’s every chance that the Red Devils may just edge it. 

Squads;

Salford Red Devils;

1. Morgan Escare 2. Ken Sio 4. Krisnan Inu 6. Tui Lolohea 7. Kevin Brown 9. Andy Ackers 10. Sebastine Ikahihifo 11. Ryan Lannon 12. Pauli Pauli 13. Elijah Taylor 14. Danny Addy 15. Oliver Roberts 16. Greg Burke 17. Josh Johnson 18. Chris Atkin 22. Rhys Williams 23. Dan Sarginson 24. Matty Costello 25. Jack Ormondroyd 30. Connor Aspey 35. Ellis Robson

St Helens;

5.   Regan Grace, 6. Jonny Lomax, 8. Alex Walmsley, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Joel Thompson, 15.    LMS, 16. Kyle Amor, 18. Jack Welsby, 19, Aaron Smith, 21. Lewis Dodd, 22. Josh Simm, 23, Jake Wingfield, 24, Josh Eaves, 25, Dan Norman, 29. Ben Davies, 30. Sam Royle, 31. Jonathan Bennison, 32. Shay Martyn, 33. Taylor Pemberton, 34. Reece Sumner.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths

Saints 40 Leeds Rhinos 6 - Review

Saints secured spot with a dominant dismantling of playoff chasing Leeds Rhinos. 

Slipping out of the top two never seemed all that likely, but Saints went into this one needing a win to make absolutely sure. All of which is significant because the top two get the first week of the playoffs off and are just one home win away from the Grand Final. Almost as important as that was the need to move on from the aberration of the last five minutes against Catalans Dragons at Newcastle last week. Those memories were suitably banished, especially during a first half that saw Saints threaten to run up the proverbial cricket score. On days when cricket is not cancelled, you understand. 

Although this was a Leeds team hit by injuries there was a nervousness coming into it for Saints fans as a consequence of our own absentee list. In particular there was a problem at prop with Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook out injured and Agnatius Paasi missing through suspension. Dan Norman was named in a 20-man squad on Wednesday but coach Kristian Woolf chose not to give him the chance to add to his one brief first team appearance. That meant just a three-man rotation of specialised props with Alex Walmsley and Matty Lees starting and Kyle Amor coming in off the bench. Joel Thompson came back into the 17 and he would have to muck in in the middle off the bench along with Jake Wingfield. Jack Welsby and Lewis Dodd continued their burgeoning halfback partnership with Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages both still out, while Joe Batchelor deputised at second row for James Bentley. 

It turns out that three props is plenty if one of them is Alex Walmsley. The former Batley man put on a clinic in how to play the front row position. Sky’s coverage suggested he made 254 metres - which is itself off the charts - but the official stats from Super League calculate that he stomped for 275 metres on 23 carries at an average of 11.95 metres per carry. To put that into context the league’s best average for the season is the 11.62 managed by our very own Aaron Smith. Yet Smith has carried the ball just 21 times all year in a season of reduced first team opportunities. Perhaps a more useful barometer is the 10.99 metres per carry managed by Wakefield winger Tom Johnstone on 115 attempts. 

Playing longer minutes due to Saints’ scarcity of props Walmsley was unplayable for much of his opening 30-minute stint. He ended the night with a try, an assist, 13 tackle busts and four clean breaks. On a weekend in which Emma Raducanu pulled off one of the greatest and most memorable triumphs in the history of British sport Walmsley produced a front row performance for the ages. I have been watching Saints since the mid-1980s and I have rarely if ever seen a prop forward produce that level of performance. At times he looked like a 16 year-old playing in an under-10s game. It was almost laughable at certain points. Leeds defenders regularly tumbled in his wake like incompetent villains in a Home Alone movie. 

About that defence. Ok, it wasn’t great and there were clearly some stern words spoken by Leeds coach Richard Agar as it improved after the break. But there probably hasn’t been enough credit given to Walmsley and Saints as the experts clamoured on TV and social media to pillory the Rhinos for their failings. It can’t be easy with Walmsley running at you but there were others stepping up also. Morgan Knowles showed some of the attacking involvement that this column has regularly asked for with two tries in a 12-carry, 102-metre performance. Lees added another 106 metres and Amor 122 while in the backs Tommy Makinson gobbled up 232 and there were 130 and 126 for Regan Grace and Lachlan Coote respectively. Leeds were not at their best in that first 40 minutes but it is doubtful whether any Super League side could have coped with the onslaught. In any case, Phil Clarke’s analysis was very much undermined by his assertion that Alexander The Great was a Russian Tsar.

It took Saints only three minutes to open their account for the night. Welsby had already forced a dropout with a searching kick when Dodd and Coote combined to send Grace over for his 12th try of the season. It was reviewed as the Welshman only just managed to make it to the line before the Rhinos cover converged. When it was rightly awarded Coote tacked on the extras to give Saints a 6-0 lead. 

For a short time Richie Myler almost single handedly repelled Saints attacks, diffusing Coote’s persistent bombs and being on hand to snuff out shorter attacking kicks by Welsby and Batchelor.   Yet a sustained spell of Saints pressure always seemed likely to tell, which it did when Welsby scored Saints’ second try on 16 minutes. Dodd and James Roby combined and the hooker’s offload found Welsby who proceeded to dance through the challenges to put Saints 10-0 up. Coote could not add the conversion this time but Saints’ dominance was starting to pay off. 

Walmsley’s first eye-catching break of the night set up the position from which Knowles scored Saints’ third try. Coote’s kick was batted dead by Jack Broadbent and from the resulting dropout Roby threatened the line before finding Knowles who spun out of the tackle of the Leeds youngster. Coote’s second conversion of the evening gave Saints a commanding 16-0 lead. 

There was no stopping Walmsley by this point. On the very next set he ripped through the Leeds line from inside his own quarter and set off on a 30 metre jaunt down the middle of the field. He found Makinson on his shoulder and the England winger did the rest despite a valiant chase from the other side of the field by Ash Handley. Another Coote goal put Saints 22-0 up.

Walmsley was next to cross as he capped a monstrous spell with his 5th try of the season. Myler handed Saints the i initiative when his kick went out on the full. Dodd and Batchelor linked up well, with Batchelor offloading in the tackle to enable Dodd to find Walmsley who crashed over from close range. It was becoming almost unfair on Leeds and Woolf took pity on them by giving Walmsley his first rest of the evening as Coote was adding the extras to put Saints 28-0 ahead. 

It is often said - with some justification - that Saints experience a drop in their level whenever Walmsley leaves the field. Much like all of the other Super League clubs, Saints don’t have another forward quite like him in terms of his sheer size, strength and phenomenal work rate. So there was a certain inevitability about the blip that followed his exit. Grace was caught out flapping at a Myler skyscraper which put the Rhinos in position to strike. Bodene Thompson was held up just short of the line but on the next play Brad Dwyer sneaked over from dummy half. Rhyse Martin is second on the league’s goalscoring list in 2021 with 77 and he was successful with his only opportunity of the night to cut the arrears to 28-6 at the break.

It was a fast start to the second period for Saints. They extended their lead on 44 minutes through Sione Mata’utia. Batchelor had already been held up on the last near the Rhinos line and Saints were unfortunate when referee Chris Kendall incorrectly deemed that Welsby had passed the ball off the ground in the next set. Thankfully that infringement does not come at the cost of a penalty these days so Saints were still able to profit. Dodd put a pinpoint kick into the Leeds in-goal area and Mata’utia won the race to touch down. Coote was on target again with the conversion to push the lead out to 34-6. 

Which is where things started to get a bit less jovial. Two minutes later Mata’utia suffered a nasty looking ankle injury in a tackle by Thompson and Leeming. The former Newcastle man was helped off, took no further part and was hobbling around on crutches after the game. Yet although Woolf has suggested that he will miss Friday night’s visit to Salford the coach also reckoned that it is not serious enough to keep Mata’utia out of the playoff semi-final on the weekend of October 1-2. If that turns out to be the case then Saints will have dodged a bullet. Mata’utia is in great form at the moment and with Bentley’s fitness also in doubt the loss of another second rower is one Saints can do without. Woolf could have faced a scenario in which he was trying to win a Grand final with back up pairings in both the halves and the second row. That would have been quite a challenge and one that hopefully he will not have to meet.

Unfortunately the injury issues did not end there in what turned out to be a disjointed second half performance. At times it was hard to keep track of who was playing in which position as both Welsby and Percival left the field for head injury assessments. Welsby was cleared and returned to the fray but Percival’s night ended when he was involved in a head clash with Luke Briscoe. There didn’t look to be too much in the Leeds man’s challenge in truth, but it was awkward enough to inflict a heavy blow on Percival. He didn’t look too clever as he was assisted to the sideline by the medical staff. Happily Woolf has confirmed that his centre is ok and that his withdrawal was just precautionary owing to the way he was hit and subsequently fell.

It took until seven minutes from time for a Saints side clearly trying to manage the game after last week’s trauma to add to their tally. When it came it was Knowles again, whose second try of the night meant that he had doubled his line-bothering exploits for the season in 80 minutes work. Whisper it, but Knowles is starting to add the attacking facets to his game which if done consistently will perhaps one day turn him into the player that he is often touted as. This try was another example of his strength and persistence as he took Welsby’s well timed pass to crash through Myler and Tom Briscoe to go over. Coote’s sixth conversion of the night ended the scoring at 40-6. 

It’s all about the playoffs now for Saints. Next week’s trip to Salford has no significant consequences for either club. The eyes of the Super League watching public will be on the battles involving Leeds and Hull KR and Daryl Powell’s attempts to beat his future employers Warrington to ensure Castleford’s place in the top six. With that in mind Woolf may choose to do what he did at Salford late last season and rest most of his star men. And that decision was taken when Saints still retained an interest in the League Leaders Shield. That’s gone for this year - and how rugby league is it that the match which saw it presented to Catalans Dragons wasn’t televised? - but still Woolf has suggested that he wants to go into the playoffs with a bit of winning momentum. 

Which means we may still not see Dan Norman.  

Saints v Leeds Rhinos - Preview

Have you recovered yet? Whether you’re over Saints’ freestyle riff on the English batting collapses of the 1990s or not there’s another game fast approaching. Saints handed the League Leaders Shield to Catalans Dragons with their late disintegration at Magic but they can still secure second place with victory over Leeds Rhinos on Friday night (September 10, kick-off 7.45pm).

Crucially, that second spot would see Saints skip the first week of the playoffs and mean that they face only one home game to get back to the Grand Final for a third year in succession. Other results will likely see them get them that privilege anyway, but it’s nice not to have to rely on others. Besides, Saints probably need a win as quickly as possible to get them over their recent trauma. 

Working against that aim is the fact that coach Kristian Woolf has only been able to select a 20-man squad for this one rather than the standard 21. Saints have injury problems that are worryingly increasing. Theo Fages was already gone for the year when Jonny Lomax was lost for a month thanks to a hamstring injury picked up in the win over Leigh on August 26. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook has not recovered from whatever ailed him enough to prevent him lining up against the Dragons at Newcastle, and he is joined now on the sidelines by James Bentley.

Bentley is out after damaging spinal ligaments, depriving us all of the opportunity to see him start needless rows with as many of his future Rhinos colleagues as possible. Woolf has expressed his deep disapproval of the tackle which seemed to cause Bentley’s injury, but for which Dragons prop Sam Kasiano was punished only with a yellow card but no subsequent suspension. Kasiano found more than one way to hurt Saints, it seems. If, as Woolf has suggested, Bentley is out for a significant period then that will have an impact on their hopes of a third straight title. It could also mean we’ve seen the last of Bentley in a Saints shirt, a prospect that will likely divide opinion.

The other notable absentee from Saints’ ranks is prop Agnatius Paasi. The Tongan took extreme measures to stop Samisoni Langi tearing up our right edge defence. He introduced his shoulder to Langi’s head with sufficient force to delay the game for several minutes while the Catalans centre was treated. Thankfully Langi suffered no lasting damage but Paasi was invited to sit down for two weeks. Frankly, it could have been more. 

The positive news is that James Roby - who left the field late at Newcastle - has sufficiently recovered to take his place in the squad. Whether he will play 80 minutes will depend on whether there is any lingering risk and on how much Woolf values the prospect of wrapping up that second spot quickly. Aaron Smith will hope the coach fancies winging it without his captain. 

With two props out there is a vacancy to be filled. Alex Walmsley and Matty Lees can expect to play big minutes along with Kyle Amor. Dan Norman - whose Saints career so far has consisted of a few minutes towards the end of the Challenge Cup semi final win over Hull FC at Leigh before a spell on loan at Salford - has been added to the squad and will be hopeful. In the back row Joel Thompson is back in contention having not played since the derby win at Wigan on August 20. He will vie to replace Bentley along with Joe Batchelor. Sione Mata’utia is in the best form he has enjoyed since arriving from the other Newcastle and looks the only certain starter in the second row with Morgan Knowles in behind them. 

There’s little reason to change the backs. Lachlan Coote was outstanding for 70 minutes against Catalans before a fraught 10 minutes which in fairness affected everyone.  On the wings Tommy Makinson and Regan Grace are the envy of most other Super League clubs even if they are criminally underused. Kevin Naiqama and Mark Percival should hold down the centre slots, especially since Josh Simm is not present. Ben Davies is but it would be eyebrow-raising were he to add to his one first team appearance to date.

That was in the late season loss to Salford last year in which Woolf handed out four other debuts. Two other youngsters involved in the 12-10 defeat that day have graduated to become Saints interim halfback partnership with Lomax and Fages out. Jack Welsby and Lewis Dodd continue to improve and are already starting to make the time when they represented a risk feel like a bygone age. 

Leeds will be looking for the win that guarantees their top six playoff spot following their very different golden point experience at St James’ Park.  The Rhinos beat playoff hopefuls Hull FC 25-24 thanks to Kruise Leeming’s extra time drop-goal. However, like Saints they have developed a lengthy injury list at the end of another trying, Covid-ridden season.

Konrad Hurrell is widely believed to be heading in the opposite direction to Bentley in 2022 but he is one of several Rhinos missing here. Mikolaj Oledski, Alex Mellor, Jack Walker, Liam Sutcliffe, Luke Gale, Callum McClelland, King Vuniyayawa and Rob Lui are all out injured while suspension’s Zane Tetevano has again been rumbled by the disciplinary committee. Young hooker Corey Johnson retired from the game at the start of 2020 but is back in the fold after a spell with York City Knights. He is in contention to add to the one first team appearance he managed against Warrington in a simpler time before Covid. 

While there may be absentees there is still enough in Richard Agar’s selection to trouble Saints, particularly if that defensive door opens up as spectacularly as it did last time out. Harry Newman is starting to look like what we suspected he was all along - one of the best British prospects at centre for years - while Jack Broadbent is another youngster of great potential. Leeds’ hooking 1-2 punch of Leeming and Brad Dwyer is arguably the best in the game while Ash Handley, Rhyse Martin, Richie Myler and Matt Prior add further experience and quality. When Bentley, Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin are added to this group for next year there should be no need for late season playoff rescue missions. 

Remarkably - or not in these odd times - the teams have yet to meet in the league in 2021. The only head-to-head form guide we have for this year is Saints 26-18 win over the Rhinos in a Challenge Cup third round tie back in April. In that game both Makinson and Grace bagged a brace of tries and Lees broke an ankle which saw him out of action until July. There’s always something happening when these two meet. 

Predictions are difficult given the injuries in both camps and the uncertainty about exactly what Saints’ priorities are from here on in. All things being equal I’d expect Saints to edge it, but any sign of weakness or indifference may be leapt upon by a Rhinos side whose desperation is still palpable. 

Squads;

St Helens;

1. Lachlan Coote, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5, Regan Grace, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Joel Thompson, 13, Morgan Knowles, 14. Sione Mata’utia, 16. Kyle Amor, 18. Jack Welsby, 19, Aaron Smith, 20, Joe Batchelor, 21. Lewis Dodd, 23, Jake Wingfield, 24, Josh Eaves, 25, Dan Norman, 29. Ben Davies.

Leeds Rhinos;

2. Tom Briscoe 3. Harry Newman 5. Ash Handley 9. Kruise Leeming 10. Matt Prior 12. Rhyse Martin 14. Brad Dwyer 16. Richie Myler 17. Cameron Smith 18. Tom Holroyd 20. Bodene Thompson 21. Alex Sutcliffe 22. Sam Walters 24. Luke Briscoe 25. James Donaldson 26. Jarrod O’Connor 27. Jack Broadbent 28. Corey Hall 30. Levi Edwards 31. Morgan Gannon 32. Corey Johnson

Referee: Chris Kendall

Saints 30 Catalans Dragons 31 - Review

I’m not totally sure how we got here.  

The Magic Weekend turned out to be anything but for Saints as they somehow, bewilderingly allowed a 30-12 lead to evaporate in the last five minutes before losing to James Maloney’s extra-time Golden Point drop-goal. The Dragons’ highly improbable victory meant that they secured a first ever League Leaders Shield. Saints will have to settle for second but optimists are right to point out that they did so last year before bouncing back to claim Grand Final glory with a miracle of their own. The glass half fulls would also be correct in highlighting that although losing this game deprives Saints of another League Leaders Shield the playoffs are structured in such a way that it does not in itself do any major harm to their chances of defending their title.  It would surprise nobody if this match-up were repeated at Old Trafford on October 9. 

Which on the evidence of how 70 minutes of this one panned out should not cause too many sleepless nights. Saints were in total control for most of it. Should they produce a performance of this quality again then the chances are they will be celebrating a Grand Final and Challenge Cup double. The likelihood of being hit with another comeback of this magnitude is what people in TV legal dramas call vanishingly small. Huge credit to Catalans for hanging in there and inflicting the kind of madness on Saints that they used to dish out regularly to others. Wembley 96, Warrington in 2005, Wide To West. But the fact is that the Dragons are going to need to do better if they are going to beat Saints again. 

Coach Kristian Woolf kept changes to a minimum. That seemed a fair enough call coming in off the back of an impressive performance and win at Warrington. The only change saw Kyle Amor come on to the bench in place of Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Woolf explained that McCarthy-Scarsbrook has a slight injury concern and would not be risked ahead of bigger games to come. Which first of all tells you how highly Woolf rates the achievement of winning the League Leaders Shield and secondly says something about where standards are in the game compared with 15-20 years ago. McCarthy-Scarsbrook would not have played A Team rugby for Saints in the days of Keiron Cunningham, Paul Sculthorpe, Sean Long and Jamie Lyon. Now he is a prized asset to be rested for when it really matters. All Hail the salary cap.

Let me take you all the way back to the start before we address the elephant in the room that is Saints stunning late collapse. The Dragons started the game well, Sam Tomkins going over after only three minutes after Jack Welsby appeared to fall over in the defensive line. There were some suggestions on social media that he was impeded but referee Liam Moore thought not. Had it been reviewed there is a reasonable chance that the decision would have gone Saints way. There was a considerable amount of contact on Welsby, deliberate or otherwise, and we have become used to those being chalked off in televised games. Welsby did most of his defending on the right hand edge where the Dragons found more and more space as the game wore on. Samisoni Langi had an outstanding afternoon, reeling off a ridiculous 232 metres on 26 carries. He ended the day in hospital as Agnatius Paasi’s ill judged high challenge earned him the game’s third yellow card. But the Dragons centre had made his point.

The first yellow card arrived after only six minutes with Catalans up 6-0. Again Tomkins was involved, stepping away from Mark Percival before the Saints centre hooked the ex-Wigan beard-wearer around the neck with a slightly desperate lunge. It wasn’t the worst act of violence you’ve ever seen on a rugby league field but in the current climate where almost any high contact results in a sin-binning there is little to complain about. 

It didn’t seem to hamper Saints too much. Even with 12 men on the field they dominated, and were next to score when Tommy Makinson got over on 12 minutes. As he so often is Lachlan Coote was the main architect, slipping a perfectly timed pass out to the winger who dived over in the corner. Coote could not add the extras out wide. There was no indication at that point of just how crucial that would turn out to be. 

Seven minutes later Coote grabbed a try of his own. Lewis Dodd shifted it left to Coote and he executed a textbook give and go with the returned Percival before touching down. Coote was on target with the conversion this time and Saints led 10-6. Saints were beginning to dominate but it took them another 15 minutes to add to the lead. Dodd was involved again, linking up well with Welsby before Sione Mata’utia’s strength proved too much to handle for Tomkins and Mike McMeeken. Coote’s second conversion of the day moved Saints out to an 18-6 lead.

A few minutes before half time there was an incident which looked like it might have significant consequences for the Dragons but ended up arguably costing Saints also. Sam Kasiano was deemed to have put too much pressure on the neck of professional hot head James Bentley, a crime for which the giant Catalans prop also was ordered to take a 10-minute break. Woolf looked mystified in the coaches box but again in the present arena where player safety is paramount it seemed a reasonable call. 

It was the toll it took on Bentley which may have proved more influential. The Leeds-bound back rower sat out the second half with what Sky Sports described as a back injury. It’s all hindsight but his defensive presence on that right edge might have helped when Langi started running riot. Also, he’s exactly the sort of exponent of shithousery who would have laid on the tackled Catalans player until the hooter sounded rather than allow the play-the-ball which lead to Josh Drinkwater’s crossfield bomb and subsequently Kasiano’s late, scarcely believable try. But more on that shit show later. 

Back now to a time more fondly remembered, when things were going swimmingly for Woolf’s side. There was one more pivotal moment before the break. Two minutes before the interlude Dodd’s cute kick bounced kindly for the chasing Joe Batchelor. Seeing this, Maloney took it upon himself to stick a shoulder into the Saints man with enough force to make the ball squirt away from Batchelor. It was checked by the video referee who strangely found nothing wrong with it. The assessment of the disciplinary panel is that it was shoulder to shoulder contact. This smells like nonsense to me. I would argue that Maloney knew exactly what he was doing. Given what we have seen in Super League to this point it looked a certain yellow card. Regardless, had Saints gone in to the sheds with a 24-6 lead rather than an 18-6 advantage then the task of recovering would probably have been beyond Catalans despite their late heroics.

Saints recovered well from that disappointment initially. Six minutes after the restart Mata’utia notched his second try. The same triumvirate did the damage with Dodd and Welsby combining before the former Newcastle man jinked away from two defenders to score. Another successful Coote conversion and it was almost time to put the cigar on at 24-6. 

The Dragons then lost half of their Tomkins quota, but unfortunately for us it was the less hirsute, less talented one who left the scene. Joel sustained a neck injury which also needed hospital treatment. Still well on top at this point, Saints almost scored again through Makinson. Welsby sent a long ball out to Kevin Naiqama and he handed on to Makinson who was hauled down just short of the line. Crucially, he could then not resist attempting to get up and plant the ball down as the tacklers fell away. Inconveniently there was a Dragons defender still in contact with Makinson, grimly hanging on to his boot, which constituted a completed tackle and a double movement. It was another misfire which didn’t seem to matter all that much at the time.

Even when Julian Bousquet crashed over after an exchange of passes between Maloney and Kasiano there was no great cause for alarm. It was goaled by Maloney to draw the French side to within 12 points at 24-12, but it came largely against the run of play. There were less than 25 minutes remaining and the highest points total conceded by Saints in a Super League game to this point in 2021 had been the 20 managed by Castleford in mid-August and by the Dragons themselves back in May. Not much chance of conceding 12 more in 25 minutes then, right? 

Just to make absolutely sure that Catalans didn’t go getting any funny ideas about ridiculous comebacks Saints scored again 12 minutes from time. Morgan Knowles deserves the highest praise for a monumental solo effort in which he barged and twisted his way through no less than five would be defenders. It was outstanding, possibly the best thing Knowles has done in an attacking sense in his life. Yet from a Catalans point of view the defending was pretty woeful. They were more like ushers than defenders. If Saints allowed an opponent to score in those circumstances the inquest on Facebook would break the internet. It was the kind of defending you would see from a team which is being soundly beaten and knows it. 

Which makes the events of the last 10 minutes of the game all the more unfathomable. There were a couple of warnings, first when Sam Tomkins was held up over the line and then moments later when Dean Whare dropped the ball close to the line under good pressure from Makinson. Yet the reprieve was temporary. A Coote knock-on near half way was compounded by the concession of a set restart, allowing Mikael Goudemand the opportunity to run at Welsby and offload for Whare to correct his earlier mistake. Maloney landed the extra two to cut the lead to 30-18. Still not exactly time to jump into the panic room and sound the alarm.

It got a bit more jittery two minutes later when outstanding youngster Arthur Morgue danced through a suddenly fraught Saints defence before finding Gil Dudson. The Welsh international strode over fairly easily and when Maloney tacked on two more points it was suddenly, somehow, a one score game at 30-24. Steve McNamara’s side launched one last attack as the clock ticked around to 80 minutes. Drinkwater’s kick seemed to hang in the air forever, yet never looked like being claimed by any of the by now shell-shocked Saints defenders. The panic room was now full to capacity with Saints defenders. Panic button pressed, lights flashing, police dogs barking and I’m certain I heard an air raid siren as that ball floated over. 

With the Saints defence paralytic it was left to Kasiano to climb highest, claim possession and fall to the ground for an easy put-down. It was reviewed, but this felt like nothing more than cruel false hope. Maloney’s conversion completed an incredible comeback and sent us to Golden Point extra time. If momentum is a real thing then there was only ever going to be one winner from this point.

And so it proved. Saints could have still rescued it had Coote been more accurate with a lete drop-goal attempt. Yet by then Saints were playing with 12 men again. Paasi decided to solve the problem of Langi’s influence by aiming a shoulder to the head of the Dragons man. There was a lengthy delay while Langi was treated and eventually carried off, at the end of which Paasi was given 10 minutes for the double whammy of use of the shoulder and contact with the head. He has received a two-match ban and can have few complaints. With Saints all but certain to finish second whatever the results of their final two games against Leeds and Salford it may not turn out to be a significant punishment in any case. 

There were less than two minutes on the clock when the end came. Believe it or not the authorities have not yet completely obliterated the concept of a draw. There was a certain inevitability about the winner despite its late arrival, and also about the fact that it was Maloney who dealt the final blow. His had been a performance of persistent nuisance value, of creativity, of goal-kicking accuracy and on one notable occasion of blatant cheating. He didn’t get a lot of elevation on his game winner but it arrowed flatly with just enough on it to get over the bar. As Alice Cooper once said about Barbara Streisand - it was ugly but it worked. 

In many ways the anarchy of this game defies analysis but for the record along with Langi’s supreme effort Tom Davies helped himself to 201 metres while in the pack all of Kasiano, Matt Whitley, McMeeken and Dudson broke the 100 metre barrier. Saints best ground-gainer was Percival with 166. Walmsley (147) and Mata’utia (121) were the only Saints forwards to get there yet an acceptance that we are too reliant on the big former Batley man seems no nearer to arriving.

James Roby came off late with a knock and that, added to Bentley’s injury and Paasi’s ban could mean a few changes for the visit of Leeds this week. It Walmsley is going to get the help he needs it is imperative that Bentley and Roby in particular are fit for the playoffs. Nobody would blame Woolf if he wrapped both in cotton wool until then. 

The best thing Saints and Woolf can do is park this one and move on. Shit happens. Learn the lesson that you have to respect the game and your opponent for 80 minutes but don’t let it inhibit you going forward. It really, really won’t happen again. 

Probably.

 

Saints v Catalans Dragons - Preview

There’s something a little different about the Magic Weekend this year. 

Normally held much earlier in the season, the September date for this year’s event means there will be far greater consequences for those who lose - and potentially greater rewards for those who win. That is especially the case for Saints and Catalans Dragons when the top two meet in the middle game of three on Saturday (September 4, kick-off 5.15pm).

For the Dragons the equation is simple. Win and they will pick up the League Leaders Shield for the first time since their 2006 launch. The only other silverware they have got their hands on in that time is the 2018 Challenge Cup. The League Leaders Shield is sneered at by many as fan, coaches and players prioritise the Grand Final. Yet don’t be surprised if - should the Dragons win it - the broadcaster devotes generous amounts of time to celebrating it. Close your eyes, count to 10 and remember that they will do so as evidence of the success of expansion and not because they have a personal vendetta against you and your team.

Trying to prevent - or at least delay - the Dragons success are Kristian Woolf’s not-so-bad-themselves Saints. The coach has named an unchanged 21-man squad from the one on duty at Warrington on Monday night (August 30). That probably means we can expect few if any changes to the 17. What shuffling there might be is more likely to come in the pack where the decision over whether to start Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook or Matty Lees at prop alongside Alex Walmsley is a toss-up. In the back row Jake Wingfield made the bench in the win over Warrington but remained unused. That’s highly unusual in the modern game and will have raised the hopes of Joel Thompson that he might see a return to action after being left out of the previous two games. The retiring Thompson will be replaced by his former Manly team-mate Curtis Sironen for next season. If Sironen is half as good for Saints as Thompson has been well...then I hope Mr McManus has kept the receipt. 

The rest of the pack is fairly well established with James Roby completing the front row and James Bentley, Joe Batchelor and Sione Mata’utia competing for two second row spots ahead of nominal loose forward Morgan Knowles. After that it’s a scramble for bench spots with Agnatius Paasi and Kyle Amor also in the mix. 

The most intriguing area of the back division at the moment is in the halves. Jonny Lomax’s untimely injury added to the long term loss of Theo Fages has seen youngsters Lewis Dodd and Jack Welsby thrown together. The pair dealt with the responsibility superbly at Warrington and we should have few worries about them. The Dragons twosome of Josh Drinkwater and James Maloney are two of the best and most experienced knocking around Super League but so are Wire duo George Williams and Gareth Widdop and they didn’t turn out to be an insurmountable challenge for Saints young stars. But more than their quality, Welsby and Dodd just make Saints infinitely more fun to watch. Woolf should be forbidden to coach that out of them under any circumstances. I won’t be getting my hopes up. 

Tommy Makinson’s return certainly helped against Warrington and he and Regan Grace will be the battering rams width outside of the newly Newlovian Mark Percival and Kevin Naiqama. Lachlan Coote is apparently declining according to some, an assessment which honest to God has nothing to do with his decision to move to Hull KR for 2022. For now, he will continue to be the best player on the park amid the grumbling and the he’s-not-as-good-as-he-was’ that will doubtless be trotted out.

Catalans lost at Saints as recently as August 7. They did so comfortably, going down 34-12 in a St Helens monsoon which was even further away from Perpignan climate-wise than Newcastle will be.  That loss for Steve McNamara’s side was down to many things, chief among which was the half arsed team he picked for what turned out to be a phoney war. Sam Tomkins, Sam Kasiano, Drinkwater, Matt Whitley, Tom Davies, Michael McIlorum and Julian Bousquet all missed that game but all feature in McNamara’s 21 this time. There is still no place for Benjamins Garcia or Julien but as well as the players who are returning the Dragons possess plenty of firepower elsewhere. It’s not that long since Mike McMeeken was an England international while Fouad Yaha’s 14 tries in Super League in 2021 make him the joint top scorer along with Ken Sio, Ryan Hall and Jake Mamo. Artur Morgue is a special talent for whom McNamara will no doubt find a role even if Tomkins makes a rare appearance against Saints. The ex-Wigan man is in great form this year but you feel his side’s chances diminish if he doesn’t shake his recent habit of managing to be absent when Saints turn up on the agenda. 

Catalans do have a win against Saints this year, but their 20-16 home success in May was only their third in the last 10 meetings between the two. There was an 18-10 success in April 2019 and of course the 35-16 humbling in the Challenge Cup semi-final a couple of months later, but largely Saints have been dominant against the French side. They hammered the Dragons 48-2 in last season’s Super League semi-final, and scored 50 in a 2019 win just three weeks after that 18-10 loss. The advice would be to just not make them angry.

How much Saints need this one depends on how highly you value the League Leaders Shield. Failing to win it did not stop them from winning the Grand Final last year and the way the playoffs are structured again this year means it should not be a significant barrier this time around either. Yet Saints can still find motivation even if topping the table isn’t floating many boats. The recent home defeat by Castleford appeared to spark something in Saints who look out to prove that they are not as vulnerable as their rivals would hope as we enter the stage of the season when the medals get handed out. Or is it rings? Whether Saints end up with the League Leaders Shield or not this game represents an opportunity to dent the optimism of the side which - looking at the state of some of the other playoff probables - looks the likeliest to stop Saints pulling off a third title win in a row. That opportunity should be sufficient motivation and it persuades me that Woolf’s side will squeak through this one by four. 

Squads;

St Helens; 

1. Lachlan Coote, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5, Regan Grace, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Joel Thompson, 12. James Bentley, 13, Morgan Knowles, 14. Sione Mata’utia, 15. LMS, 16. Kyle Amor, 17, Agnatius Paasi, 18. Jack Welsby, 19, Aaron Smith, 20, Joe Batchelor, 21. Lewis Dodd, 23, Jake Wingfield, 29. Ben Davies.

Catalans Dragons;

1. Arthur Morgue 2. Tom Davies 3. Samisoni Langi 4. Dean Whare 5. Fouad Yaha 6. James Maloney 7. Josh Drinkwater 8. Gil Dudson 9. Micky McIlorum 10. Julian Bousquet 11. Matt Whitley 12. Mike McMeeken 17. Mickael Goudemand 20. Matthieu Laguerre 22. Joel Tomkins 23. Mathieu Cozza 27. Joe Chan 28. Sam Kasiano 29. Sam Tomkins 30. Jordan Dezaria 31. César Rouge

Referee: Liam Moore