A much changed Saints side slipped to a second Super League defeat of the season at Castleford on Friday night (April 22).
On the back the Easter weekend double header and with the Challenge Cup semi-final with Wigan on the horizon coach Kristian Woolf named no fewer than nine new faces in his 21-man squad two days before the game. Seven of those were named in the match day 17 and made their senior debuts. Jumah Sambou, Daniel Hill, Daniel Moss, Taylor Pemberton, Lewis Baxter, George Delaney and McKenzie Buckley all got a first taste of Super League action.
Regular visitors to these pages will have noticed the glaring absence of a preview piece ahead of this game. That is because I didn’t want to insult your intelligence by suggesting that I could have made so much as a guess at how Saints were going to line-up. There were nine players in the original 21 that I had not heard of. Rio Osaywanbo Corkill and Ellis Archer might consider themselves unlucky that they did not make the final cut.
Around the youngsters was a smattering of experience in the shape of Kyle Amor and Joey Lussick. Jon Bennison, Sam Royle, Jake Wingfield, Josh Simm, Dan Norman, James Bell, Ben Davies and Shay Martyn all have prior first team experience but it should be remembered that they have a total of 56 first team appearances for Saints between them. Simm has 16 of those and Wingfield 15. This was a team picked purely to protect star names for bigger games ahead. It was not a team picked with any genuine designs on winning at Castleford.
So how do you feel about that? If you have found your way here then chances are you are a Saints fan. That being the case the likelihood is that you’re not particularly bothered. After all, the Super League format dictates that those finishing top of the table and so winning the League Leaders Shield get forgotten about unless they go on to win the Old Trafford Grand Final. And anyway In Woolf You Trust. Why wouldn’t you? He’s won the last two Grand Finals and his side - when it reappears - are hot favourites to win under Woolf for a third time. It would be the club’s fourth in a row after also winning in 2019 under Justin Holbrook.
So yeah, I get all that. Your only concern is Saints. I fully understand that one Super League loss at Castleford in April does nothing to affect our chances of lifting the Super League trophy again in October. Nor would a loss in last week’s derby with Wigan have had any effect on that aim. Yet I suspect there would have been a different reaction from the fan base had this 17 been sent out to face Matty Peet’s side. To my mind it matters little who the opponent is. All Super League regular season games are worth two points. It does not sit right with me for any Saints coach to send out a team which he knows has no hope of winning.
Concern about Saints and caring about the impact of their actions on the wider game are not mutually exclusive positions. We are yet to see that impact play out fully. What will the team finishing just below Castleford come the end of the season say if these two points allow the Tigers to squeeze into the playoffs at their expense? Or avoid relegation? There is certainly a debate to be had about what this sort of team selection does to the integrity of the competition.
At the same time it is easy to understand why Woolf went down this route. His job is to win trophies for Saints. As long as the Grand Final winner carries the champions title then he will continue to prioritise it over the League Leaders Shield. It is not his first rodeo in that sense. Saints have never won the League Leaders Shield under Woolf despite being far and away the best side in the competition during his tenure so far. This is largely down to weakened sides that he fielded in late season fixtures against Salford in readiness for the playoffs. At least we can say that someone other than the Red Devils benefitted on this occasion. Otherwise people might have begun to talk. Saints play Salford at home this coming weekend. Eight days before that Challenge Cup date with Wigan. Team selection will again be fascinating.
What is the solution for those of us who are not comfortable with weakened sides? Short of going back to a first past the post system - which frankly is about as likely as Jamie Jones-Buchanan finishing a sentence - there is very little that can be done. You could ask clubs to name a set number of players - say 30 - for their first team squad at the start of the season and then hand out sanctions if any club selects players outside of that 30. Under the current conditions I’m not aware that Woolf has broken any rules so sanctions at this stage would be inappropriate.
Sky seem to influence a lot of things in Super League so it is hard to imagine that they were too happy with Woolf’s selection. Perhaps a bit more flexibility from the broadcaster about which games to televise might be better for the sport in terms of growing the TV audience.
There was an early season relegation battle between Leeds and Toulouse on the same night that Saints went to Castleford. Perhaps a late switch to cover that match instead might have been a winner. After all it was well known when Woolf named his squad 48 hours before kick-off that this would be a severely weakened Saints team. Maybe the fact that Leeds have already been on live TV 432 times this season despite being utterly dismal had something to do with it. Or perhaps the current broadcast deal does not allow for the live schedule to be changed once it is announced. Whatever the finer detail is the current situation is presenting a bad look for the sport. Even if you don’t care as long as Saints win.
Irrespective of all this there was still a game to be played. It started pretty terribly for Saints too. Jason Qareqare had come in to the Tigers team in place of Greg Eden for only his fifth appearance and took less than a minute to score. The ball was shifted left to Qareqare’s wing and he tore down the sideline leaving Saints tacklers in his wake for a sensational try. Gareth O’Brien could not add the extras but at that stage the surprisingly large number of travelling Saints fans might have been forgiven for fearing the worst.
Derrell Olpherts was next to go close for the home side but he was forced into touch by some tenacious defence by Bennison, Martyn and Moss. Both sides seemed a bit jittery as each managed to spill a high ball in the following exchanges. First it was Sambou looking a bit nervy before the far more experienced James Clare gifted Saints an opportunity. Amor went close in the ensuing set but was held up just short of the line.
Desperate Saints defence was needed to stop Mahe Fonua going over for Cas but between them Bennison, Simm and Sambou did the job of halting the giant centre. Saints were still holding firm at this point after that early shock and they might have done more with the opportunity provided to Bell when Moss - playing at scrum half alongside Davies at 6 - poked through the line and found a skilful offload which Bell could not take.
Ordinarily a centre, Davies had a promising outing in the halves and took on a lot of the tactical kicking responsibility. It was Davies who snuffed out Castleford’s next threat as be plucked Liam Watts’ pass out of the air just when the Tigers prop had begun to look dangerous. On Saints’ next significant attack Davies’ kick was just too strong, running dead in-goal after Simm had been hauled down just short on the right.
Fonua and Watts were a continuing nuisance. Both went close soon after but Saints completed an outstanding defensive set when Bell forced O’Brien into an error close to the line after Cas had been awarded a set restart by referee Jack Smith. There was more pressure on Saints when Amor came up with a basic error inside his own 40 metre line. Yet the following Tigers raid ended when Sambou intercepted Kenny Edwards’ attempt to get the ball out wide to Qareqare. Sambou was having an eventful debut, soon taking O’Brien’s bomb well but losing possession to Fonua. Sambou was then involved along with Bennison and Simm in the desperate defensive effort which was enough to halt the former Hull FC man’s progress to the line.
Cas finally made the pressure tell 25 minutes in when Olpherts crossed for their second try of the evening. O’Brien and Clare combined to put the former Salford winger in space to touch down in the right hand corner. O’Brien failed again with his conversion attempt so the Tigers lead was restricted to just 8-0.
It was Saints turn to put Castleford under pressure a few minutes later when a Davies kick to the in-goal area resulted in a dropout as Clare was trapped by Bennison. When Joe Westerman went high on Amor in the resulting set Saints felt confident enough to eschew the opportunity to kick for goal and bring the deficit down to within a converted try. Lussick nearly made his way to the line as did Davies but the set ended in disappointment when Moss’ pass to Bell was ruled forward.
Bennison had a wobble when his attempt to control the ball with his foot got away from him but he had the presence of mind to regather before the Tigers chase arrived. Yet there was no escape soon after when Castleford added their third try. Clare put Jake Mamo into space and he streaked away down the right flank before turning the ball inside for the supporting Jake Trueman to go over. Paul McShane took over the goal-kicking and was successful where O’Brien had failed to stretch the Tigers’ advantage to 14-0.
In the build-up Bell was guilty of a late hit on O’Brien as the one time Saint got his pass away to start the movement. It was hardly a shoulder from Bell - more of an ice hockey-style check. It was not dissimilar to a celebrated, unpunished hit by Davies on Qareqare a few moments later which saved another Castleford try and cleaned up a TV cameraman at the same time. Nevertheless the disciplinary committee have seen fit to hand Bell a two match ban for his tardiness. It means the ex-Leigh man - who has been in great form since making his competitive Saints debut against Wigan on Good Friday - will now miss this week’s visit of Salford and the Elland Road meeting with the Warriors.
In the dying embers of the opening half Saints made attacking inroads of their own. Hill broke free on the left but with not enough support and time ticking away his offload hit the turf in what was the last significant action before half-time.
The second period started with a degree of farce for Saints as another debutant, interchange George Delaney, found himself in the way of Lussick’s attempt to clear Saints lines with a kick downfield. Instead of defending in the opposition half Saints were again under pressure. Another set restart culminated in Simm being somewhat harshly adjudged to have used a shoulder on Fonua. Yet Saints repelled this latest wave when George Lawler was tackled standing up in-goal and Qareqare was forced into touch by a combination of Sambou and the by now defensively ubiquitous Davies.
Saints could not take advantage of their next attacking opportunity, Royle bundled into touch inside the Tigers 10 metre line. For all their effort and endeavour Woolf’s young side were understandably lacking a little cutting edge and flair at this level. They had also lost Bennison too by this point. The young fullback - who has been making a name for himself on the wing in Super League in recent weeks - left the action with a facial injury. Hill moved into the number one spot to cover.
Both teams found it hard to hang on to possession for a spell. Baxter recovered a Tigers mistake only to see Royle mugged one on one by Mamo. When Royle tried to steal the ball back for Saints he was penalised as there were two other Saints defenders involved in the tackle. That penalty led to Olpherts’ second try and the one that probably removed any lingering doubt about the result. McShane, Watts, O’Brien and Mamo linked up to allow Olpherts to dot down his sixth try of the season. McShane could not repeat his earlier success with the boot but the Castleford lead looked unassailable at 18-0.
Not that the young Saints side were in any mood to accept their fate just yet. Indeed they soon embarked upon a mini-revival. Hill gave his side a spark when he embarrassed Westerman by picking his pocket when in possession. Saints were not even deterred when they lost Lussick to injury with over 20 minutes still to play. An error by Qareqare gave Saints field position. The winger flapped at Davies’ towering kick which - though rather rushed after the ball had gone to ground on the last - was pretty effective.
Amor was held up over the line after Saints were awarded a repeat set. Norman also went within a metre of getting Saints on the scoreboard. Not to be denied, they got there when Davies found Simm who drew in two defenders and produced an imaginative flick pass to Sambou to go over for a debut score. Martyn was the one with the goal-kicking responsibilities but be could not find the mark. Saints were off their duck but still trailing by 14 at 18-4.
Until they weren’t. Minutes later Adam Milner was guilty of a pretty basic error at the play-the-ball inside his own half. From there Pemberton - who had injected no small amount of urgency to the attack after replacing Lussick - found Davies who in turn fed Bell to crash over for a second score in short order. Martyn kicked the extras this time to pull Saints to within eight at 18-10. Maybe they were still in this thing?
Or maybe not. Whether it was fatigue, nerves or sheer over excitement, an error by Baxter on Saints next set coming away from their own quarter proved costly. It gave McShane the opportunity to ghost across the Saints defensive line before finding Westerman with a well timed pass. The ex-Wakefield man notched his first try of the Super League season. McShane’s second goal of the night pushed the lead back out to 14 points at 24-10.
Saints then trapped Mamo on the last tackle but were unfortunate not to be able to take advantage of it. Royle was adjudged to have lost possession when it seemed the ball had been taken away with more than one Tiger in the tackle. Bell then caught Mamo high to put Saints under more pressure which ended when Fonua found his way over after good work by Clare and Trueman. McShane’s goal absolutely settled the issue at 30-10 with under 10 minutes to play.
Great efforts by Moss and Hill stopped Mamo from adding to the scoreline and Baxter made an important tackle on Qareqare after he had fielded a Saints kick and engineered some space for himself. The teams traded tired errors. Mamo and McShane for Cas and Norman for Saints. The visitors had one last chance to score and give the result a bit more of a healthy sheen but Martyn lost possession trying to reach out and score after he was released by Bell.
Taking a look at the key performers it is unsurprising to note that the majority of the big metre makers were in Tigers colours. Qareqare led the way with 174 - greatly helped by that first minute foray - and just edging out Mamo who contributed 172. Lawler (155), Fonua (151), Massey (114), Westerman (109) and Olpherts (102) also topped the 100 metre mark. For Saints only three players managed it - Amor leading the way with 156 and joined by Norman (120) and Wingfield (102). After that the next best effort was Baxter’s 85.
Though some of Saints errors in possession were frustratingly basic they only committed 11, four of which were from Royle. That compares favourably with a team average of 12.1 per game coming in. It also far fewer than Castleford’s 17, but the home side can argue that they had far more possession from which to make those errors.
Defensively Saints worked really hard, with Davies in particular coming up with some crucial efforts at moments of real pressure. He weighed in with 31 tackles from stand-off. Only Lussick (37) and Bell (32) came up with more defensive efforts for Saints. They were all outworked by McShane who had 47 tackles. Lawler added 39, Westerman 33 and George Griffin 32. Saints’ young stars were bound to find the step up tough physically, and 50 missed tackles to Castleford’s 23 tells that story.
Next up for Saints is a home assignment with a Salford side which sits ninth in the table having won only three of their first 10 outings. Yet they ran Wigan close last time out. With the semi-final in such close proximity Woolf must again decide whether to risk his star names. If the likes of Hopoate and Grace are going to feature in Leeds they arguably need game time, as does Morgan Knowles who has been ineligible for the last two due to concussion protocols. If in contention for the cup game, Sione Mata’utia could also do with a run out.
As for the rest, maybe I’ll take a guess when I see Woolf’s initial 21 on Wednesday (April 27).
Castleford Tigers; Clare, Olpherts, Mamo, Fonua, Qareqare, Trueman, O'Brien, Griffin, McShane, Watts, Lawler, Edwards, Westerman.
Interchanges; Milner, Massey, Smith, Martin.
St Helens; Bennison; Sambou, Simm, Hill, Martyn; Davies, Moss; Amor, Lussick, Norman, Royle, Bell, Wingfield.
Interchanges; Baxter, Pemberton, Delaney, Buckley.
Referee: Jack Smith
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