Saints v Catalans Dragons - 2021 Grand Final Preview

 

Saints go in search of what would be a record ninth Super League crown when they take on Grand Final virgins Catalans Dragons on Saturday night at Old Trafford (October 9, kick-off 6.00pm).

Kristian Woolf’s side breezed into their record extending 13^th big dance with a 36-8 walloping of Leeds Rhinos last week.  Meanwhile the Dragons were fairly comfortable winners in the other semi-final, seeing off 2021 surprise package Hull KR 28-10 in Perpignan.  Now the league’s top two meet in a winner takes all shootout of the top prize. 

Given their dominance over the Rhinos in the semi-final it is no surprise to see that Saints’ 21-man squad is unchanged.  It remains without the injured Theo Fages and James Bentley but both Morgan Knowles and Sione Mata’utia have survived brushes with the game’s increasingly unpredictable disciplinary process.  Both were yellow carded in the win over Richard Agar’s side last time out but neither has been handed a suspension.  That must be a particular relief to Mata’utia who has already missed out on a Challenge Cup final appearance this year.  On this occasion his escape is justified considering how unfortunate he was to be sin-binned for head contact that he could do very little about.  Knowles can consider himself a little more fortunate after being sat down by referee Chris Kendall for a late hit.  It wasn’t even a good one, which is probably the main reason why the Cumbrian is available for his third Grand Final appearance. 

There is a group of Saints players looking to end their time at the club with another title win.  Lachlan Coote will move to Hull KR in 2022 but for now is still an automatic choice for Woolf at fullback.  Kevin Naiqama is heading back to Australia but will first play his final game of professional rugby league in the centres.  There he will partner Mark Percival, who spoke candidly and heart-wrenchingly this week about what this game means to him in view of his father’s terminal cancer diagnosis.  Percival has already endured the loss of his brother Chris in 2010.  If you are a neutral and you are unsure who to shout for in this one, shout for Mark Percival. 

Tommy Makinson and Regan Grace look nailed on for the wing spots so the only decision to make in the backs is again around the halfbacks.  Jonny Lomax was restored to the line-up for the semi-final despite the progress made by the pairing of Jack Welsby and Lewis Dodd.  It seems likely that Woolf will go for experience again, meaning that Welsby will probably have to wait for his moment off the bench.  While this will be a slight disappointment to him and to many of us who have watched how his influence on the team has grown in recent weeks, it is unlikely to be any great barrier to his hopes of imposing himself on this contest in some way or other.  All of which looked unlikely when he inched off the field holding his shoulder during that semi-final win over the Rhinos.  It didn’t look good initially, but there was a collective sigh of relief from everybody in the ground of a Saints persuasion when he returned to the game soon after. 

Up front the key to another dominant performance is Alex Walmsley.  The ex-Batley man settled for just the 184 metres against Leeds this time, having ripped off 275 when the sides met two weeks earlier.  Catalans first job is to stop him from causing seven kinds of mayhem, after which they then need to worry about stopping all-time great James Roby.  The skipper may be ageing but he is nevertheless producing eight out of ten performances with as much regularity as he ever did.  His try in last week’s win was a classic of its genre, exchanging passes with Walmsley before spinning out of a few desperate grabs from Leeds defenders to score.  The other front row spot looks to be between Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Matty Lees, with the latter seemingly having gained the upper hand in that little battle in recent weeks.  Joe Batchelor will replace Bentley in the back row alongside the reprieved Mata’utia and Knowles. 

The major team selection issue for Dragons’ coach Steve McNamara concerns the availability of Sam Tomkins.  The ex-Wigan fullback missed the win over Rovers but has been named in the Dragons 21-man party for this one.  He has recently picked up his second Man Of Steel Award after arguably producing his best form since his first spell at Wigan.  You get the feeling that his inclusion is a must for the Dragons, who will probably have rough diamond Arthur Morgue at fullback should Tomkins not make it. 

Tomkins is by no means the only threat, even if he is possibly the most important.  Wingers Tom Davies and Fouad Yaha have 14 tries each in Super League in 2021.  Only Ken Sio, Ryan Hall and Jake Mamo have more.  The same Jake Mamo who Warrington have seen fit to swap for Peter Mata’utia.  Centre pairing Samisoni Langi and Dean Whare is not too shabby either, while in the halves James Maloney will bring the curtain down on a stellar career alongside the rejuvenated and apparently deceptively quick Josh Drinkwater. 

If the Dragons really are going to challenge Saints then it is the forwards who are going to have to produce.  Sam Kasiano is a Dream Team prop who certainly has the size to match Walmsley, but saying it and doing it are not the same thing.  He will need help ex-Wigan pair Gil Dudson and Michael McIlorum as well as Julian Bousquet.  In the back row St Helens-born Matt Whitley stars alongside the excellent England international Mike McMeeken.  It is all tied together by the impressive Benjamin Garcia.  The Catalans pack arguably looks deeper than that of Saints, but it doesn’t really have anything to rival the destructive power of Walmsley or the consistent craft and work rate of Roby.  Those two are so good they make up for any deficiencies that Saints might have elsewhere and when you add in the defensive prowess of Knowles you start to see how it could be a long day for the Dragons’ big men. 

The sides have met three times already this season, which is significant in a Covid world in which some sides have managed to avoid crossing Saints’ path more than once.  The French side won a close encounter 20-16 in Perpignan in June, but were somewhat blown away when they turned up to St Helens without key personnel in August.  Which leads us to the elephant in the room that is that memorable Magic Weekend encounter at Newcastle a month ago.   The history books will say that the Dragons won it by a point, but any reasonable analysis of how the game went might lead you to believe that Saints are a heavy favourite here.  Woolf’s side controlled the game for 75 minutes, opening up an 18-point lead at which point they spectacularly imploded.  But frankly that was a one in a million event, not least because it involved Kasiano plucking a cross-field bomb out of the air like he was Steve Hampson.  Ask your dad.  If Catalans allow Saints to exert that kind of control of this contest then they can kiss it goodbye.  Valuable lessons needed learning from that debacle but even if they had not been it is very difficult to see a turnaround like that happening again for a very, very long time. 

I don’t expect a lot of points, although the weather may play a part in deciding what type of game we see.  Grand Final Saints under Woolf tend to be even more conservative than regular season Saints under Woolf.  I expect them to strangle the life out of the Dragons, Tomkins or not.  I don’t expect McNamara’s side to buckle like Leeds and end up on the wrong side of a heavy score-line but I just can’t see how they score enough points against this miserly Saints defence to bring home what would be a first Super League title after 15 years in the competition.  Saints probably won’t need to score more than around 16 points to win that ninth title, and become the first side to ‘threepeat’ since Leeds Rhinos in 2007-09. 

Squads;

St Helens;

 

1.       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.

 

Catalans Dragons;

 

1.       Arthur Mourgue, 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, 13. Ben Garcia, 15. Ben Jullien, 17. Mickael Goudemand, 20. Matthieu Laguerre, 22. Joel Tomkins, 27. Joe Chan, 28. Sam Kasiano, 29. Sam Tomkins, 30. Jordan Dezaria.

 

Referee: Liam Moore