Saints pulled clear at the top of the Super League table with an ultimately dominant home win over Hull FC on Friday night (May 13).
The champions had suffered the anguish of a Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Wigan just six days earlier. All eyes were on them to see if they could shake off that trauma and re-establish themselves as the team to beat in Super League in 2021.
Coach Kristian Woolf made just one personnel change to his starting line-up, though it did instigate other positional moves. Curtis Sironen came off the bench to start in the second row alongside Joe Batchelor meaning that Sione Mata’utia was switched to centre. That pushed Mark Percival to the left wing as Josh Simm missed out. The 22 year-old seemingly paid the price for a couple of striking errors in the Elland Road cup loss.
Jonny Lomax’s fitness has been the subject of much speculation in this column and on social media in the last week. Lomax spent much of his time at fullback against Wigan and defensively fulfilled the same role here despite Jack Welsby having been named in the number one position. Yet Lomax seemed every inch the playmaker in attack. Alongside him, Ben Davies kept his place in the stand-off role.
When the action got under way it didn’t last long for Hull FC’s unfortunate Brad Fash. Just three minutes had ticked by when he was on the end of a Matty Lees run which appeared to start on cricket’s proverbial back fence. Lees clattered into Fash and caught the Hull man with his arm as he raised it to protect himself. Fash was taken for an HIA which he subsequently and predictably failed. While he faces a spell on the sidelines Lees does not. I have seen red cards given for less but referee Jack Smith did not penalise Lees and the Saints prop was not among the list of players whose actions were scrutinised by the disciplinary committee this week.
Moments after Jack Brown had replaced Fash Saints spurned their first real opportunity of the game. James Roby served up the rarity of a pass from dummy half that was not inch perfect and Alex Walmsley was unable to handle it just a few metres from the visitors’ line.
Saints only had to wait another three minutes to open the scoring. Connor Wynne was penalised for running Tommy Makinson off the ball as the winger chased an attacking kick from Lomax. Roby thought several seconds ahead of the FC defence, tapping the penalty and faking to run left before shuttling back to the short right side. The skipper found Konrad Hurrell whose pass left Makinson with an easy run to the line. The 2018 Golden Boot winner could not convert his own try but Saints led 4-0. It was the only time all evening that Makinson would fail to get it through the aitches.
After Saints were caught offside and conceded a set restart Hull had their first opportunity. They were not nearly as clinical as Saints however, as Jake Connor’s pass was slightly behind Wynne who could not bring it in. At the other end Lomax’s kick towards the corner near the Hull try line went out on the full despite Percival’s efforts to gather it.
At this point Hull were competing well with the threepeaters. Danny Houghton - ageless and uber consistent like our own number nine - provided a spark when he went 30 metres from dummy half to put his side in an attacking position. The chance was blown when Houghton’s short ball to Ligi Sao was dropped over the line by the former Manly and New Zealand Warriors front rower. Saints’ famed defence - which has now conceded only 116 points in 12 Super League outings at an average of just 9.6 points per game - was bending but not breaking.
An uncharacteristic Morgan Knowles error put paid to Saints’ next attacking raid. After again being caught offside Saints compounded that error when Batchelor was guilty of pulling back Manu Ma’u as he put Joe Lovodua through a gap and tried to get up and support the Fijian. This time a penalty was awarded but Batchelor managed to escape a 10-minute stint in the bin. Again the imposing Saints defence held out as Brett Hodgson’s side elected to go for four and maybe six points instead of what would have been an easier two.
That defence was performing heroics again soon after. Wynne got away down the left flank courtesy of the increasingly influential Lovodua, but the young centre’s attempt to turn the ball back inside to Josh Reynolds was batted down and then picked up by a retreating Welsby.
Knowles was then found guilty of a shoulder charge on Sao. To the letter of the current law it was a fair enough decision by Smith. There was little if any attempt by Knowles to wrap his arms around Sao. Yet this is a law so absurd that even Donald Trump’s mates on the US Supreme Court would be embarrassed to take responsibility for it.
A shoulder charge was once one of the most exciting defensive plays in the game. Not only for its own spectacular nature but also for the enticing prospect of a ball carrier bouncing off it and haring down the field with try scoring intent. Anything to the head should remain outlawed and severely punished. We must protect the players to this extent. But the risk of serious injury from a shoulder to the body seems roughly equivalent to that of a currently legal big hit to the body where the arms are eventually wrapped.
FC’s next attack was launched off the back of an error by Hurrell. The Tongan made a hash of trying to pick up Connor’s long kick downfield and inadvertently set the black and whites up in Saints’ half of the field. From there Saints were again offside and it was left to Percival to sweep up Connor’s searching grubber close to the try line.
Percival was on the end of the game’s next shoulder charge as Sao sought retribution for Knowles’ earlier effort. Incidentally both Knowles’ and Sao’s shoulder charge offences were looked at by the disciplinary panel and neither were the subject of any further action. Saints couldn’t take advantage of the penalty this time as - despite a typical, vintage scoot from dummy half from Roby - Lomax’s low kick on the last was just too strong.
The scores were level moments later. Connor skirted across the face of the Saints defence 30 metres out and - while not looking particularly threatening - slid a superbly weighted kick towards Hull’s right edge where Darnell McIntosh won the race to touch down just ahead of Percival. Connor was not as accurate with his conversion as he had been with his attacking kick and the teams were locked at 4-4 with just under half an hour played.
The sides traded errors as first Josh Griffin had the ball dislodged from his grasp by a textbook tackle from Welsby, before Mata’utia failed to hang on to a Lomax pass just as Saints were looking threatening. Connor mounted a counter attack, finding Reynolds who made it into Saints territory. From that position Hull earned a fresh set of six when McIntosh - in danger of being forced into touch by Saints’ swarming defence - threw a desperate offload back into play which found only the turf but was adjudged to have been knocked forward by Sironen.
There was more pressure on Saints when they were deemed to have broken early from the resulting scrum. More and more now we are seeing teams holding the ball at the back of the scrum - rugby union style - in a bid to catch defenders unaware. It’s not something I find easy on the eye. If I wanted to see that sort of thing I’d have Rugby Special on series link instead of in my list of the world’s top 10 evils. Is Rugby Special still a thing? Is it still Nigel Starmer-Smith? Regrettably, until coaches wise up to union scrum tactics defensively or the game legislates against it we seem set for a lot more of it.
It didn’t lead to points this time thanks to great defensive efforts from Welsby, Roby and Lomax on Chris Satae and Batchelor and Bell on Mau. McIntosh was penalised for tackling Percival in the air as the pair competed for Connor’s smart lob. It seemed a harsh call with both players fixed firmly on the ball but it earned Saints a bit of respite and a chance to regroup.
The next threat to the scoreboard operator came when Welsby’s attempted dribble through the Hull defensive line was pounced upon by Houghton. That ended Saints’ march into Hull territory before Connor’s would-be 40/20 found touch just a fraction short of its target.
As the teams were preparing to receive their coaches’ words of advice at half-time Saints struck a crucial blow. From a penalty for offside Agnatius Paasi - on alongside Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook as Walmsley and Lees took a breather - found a great offload for Roby who darted deep into Hull territory and found Welsby on Saints left edge. The fullback twisted and spun out of the attentions of several defenders to ground the ball as he fell on his back. It was reviewed and confirmed by video referee James Child. Makinson found a faultless conversion from a difficult spot and Saints went to the break with a 10-4 advantage.
Very early in the second half Lomax produced evidence both in support of and against his return to the fullback role. It is easy to forget that he was a fixture there following the retirement of the great Paul Wellens and at a time under Keiron Cunningham’s tutelage when things weren’t going quite as smoothly as they have under Justin Holbrook and now Woolf. Lomax tossed the fullback’s manual out of the nearest window by allowing Connor’s bomb to bounce. Yet the man with the headgear made up for it instantly when - having seen Reynolds take possession of the loose ball - he turned the ex-West Tigers man on his back and held him up before he could get the ball to the ground.
Only recently back from suspension, Bell found himself in more trouble a couple of minutes later. Effecting a tackle on Carlos Tuimavave just inside Saints’ half alongside Sironen, Bell tipped the FC centre above a horizontal position and was promptly invited to sit down for 10 minutes by referee Smith. Fortunately, and perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Bell has also escaped a ban for this incident. Yet in the short term he put his team mates under some very unwelcome pressure with the second half barely three minutes old.
It took all of Batchelor, Welsby and Makinson to hold Wynne up over the line and prevent him from grounding the ball before Sao was caught in possession on the last play of the set by Sironen. Though they looked to be slightly under the metaphorical cosh Saints countered and went close to extending their lead despite playing a man short. Lomax aimed a lobbed kick to the left corner of the FC try line where it was competed for by Welsby and McCarthy-Scarsbrook as well as Connor. The Hull fullback could not claim it and it squirmed free into the in-goal area where it was touched down by Welsby.
There was quite a bit for Child to look at in the video booth. Ultimately, he decided that the ball had been knocked forward into the in-goal by McCarthy-Scarsbrook as he and Connor wrestled for control of the ball. In all probability that was the correct call. However, the evidence did not seem entirely conclusive. Since Smith had sent the incident up as a try there’s an argument that Child should have stayed with the original decision. Child obviously felt that he could be certain and disallowed the try.
Batchelor did well to snaffle a Lovodua offload which caught Reynolds by surprise. A scruffy next set from Saints was rescued by Roby who dragged his side into scoring range after a smart offload by Paasi. Roby even found time to have what appeared to be a dislocated finger popped back into place before rejoining the action and producing an accurate kick which forced McIntosh to concede the dropout from under his own posts.
For reasons best known to himself Connor decided this was the moment to try a short dropout. His kick trickled towards the Hull 10 metre line where he and Roby battled for it. Yet Smith felt that the dropout had not quite travelled the requisite 10 metres and duly awarded Saints a penalty. It was a gift two points which Makinson was not about to turn down. Still a man down with Bell in the sin bin Saints had nevertheless stretched their lead to a vital two score advantage at 12-4.
The home side threatened again when Welsby picked up a loose pass from Mata’utia and began a move which saw Roby, Lomax, Hurrell and Makinson all involved. It ended when the latter’s kick ahead was desperately covered up by McIntosh before any of the Saints chasers could reach it.
Makinson was starting to make things happen. He batted a Welsby bomb back inside to Batchelor who found Paasi. The ex-New Zealand Warrior moved it on to Sironen but he was brought to ground on the last tackle in a joint effort by Connor and Jordan Johnstone. The pressure was now growing on Hull. They had failed to make their numerical advantage count and had actually fallen further behind thanks to Connor’s botched dropout. A Saints try at this point would surely seal the points.
When it arrived it was one of the highlights of the night. Knowles and Lomax worked the ball to Hurrell on Saints’ right edge. The former Leeds Rhino got outside of Wynne into open space before finding the supporting Lomax who strolled in under the posts. Makinson’s conversion pushed Saints out to a healthy looking 14-point lead at 18-4 with just over a quarter of the game remaining.
Hull were becoming slightly desperate. Reynolds’ pass out wide to McIntosh succeeded only in finding the touchline. They then had to defend for their lives as the returning Bell and Welsby both had good runs to get Saints close before Lussick was held up over the line by a combination of Griffin, Wynne and Lovodua.
It only delayed the inevitable. Lomax and Hurrell were again at the centre of it, this time finding Makinson who stepped inside Connor with ludicrous ease to bag his second score of the night. It was a night when Saints’ top try scorer notched his 1000th point in Saints colours. He now has 1016 points for the club including 160 tries in his 276 appearances. His second try took him to 13 in the league this season, just one behind pace setters Jai Field and Ken Sio. The 1015th and 1016th points of Makinson’s Saints career put his side 20 points to the good at 24-4.
The Penrith Panthers would struggle to beat Saints from a position of 20 points down with less than 15 minutes to play. The fact is that Hull are not the Penrith Panthers. Black and white is about the only thing they have in common. That and the fact that comedy card collector Luke Gale is not currently deemed good enough to play for either. Gale watched all this from the stands having been left out by Hodgson and would have been further dispirited when Scott Taylor knocked on a metre short of the Saints line from Johnstone’s pass.
Fat ladies were exercising their vocal chords by now. A Sironen obstruction cost Saints an opportunity to add to their lead inside the last 10 minutes. Hull did manage to reduce the arrears late on. The hard working Batchelor moved into penalty machine territory with his fourth of the night, this time going high on Johnstone. That set up good field position for Hull and it needed a good tackle by Knowles to halt Reynolds’ progress to the line. A set restart gave Hull another chance which they finally took when Reynolds, Connor and Tuimavave stripped Saints’ left edge defence to give McIntosh a simple walk in. Connor was successful with the conversion but all it did was add more respectability to the scoreline at 24-10.
That’s how it stayed though it was Saints who went closest to changing that when Walmsley beat Johnstone to get close to the line but the big prop’s attempted pass to either Davies or Knowles was half stopped by Taylor and kicked dead by Griffin before being ruled forward in any case. There was no time to form the scrum as Saints secured a victory which puts them two points clear of both Catalans Dragons and Wigan in the Super League standings.
In addition, it was a win which secured the Steve Prescott Cup. Saints won it by an aggregate score of 62-16 having won 38-6 when these teams met at Hull back in February. The two-legged affair is played for annually between Saints and Hull in memory of their former fullback. During the years of his illness Prescott was an absolute champion for cancer awareness and cancer charities. The great work started by his foundation continues to this day.
Statistically it was a quiet night in attack for Walmsley who made only 91 metres. Saints’ biggest ground gainer was Mata’utia with 163 from centre. Makinson weighed in with 146, Sironen 133, Hurrell 127 and Batchelor 102. Hull’s best was Griffin who managed 119. Makinson has now made 1645 metres on the season. Only Field and Leeds Rhinos’ Ash Handley have made more so far in Super League in 2022.
Defensively Batchelor again worked tirelessly if a little outside the rules at times. He was the only player on either side to top 40 tackles with 41. Roby (38), Walmsley (33) and Knowles (30) were the other Saints to break the 30 mark. Jordan Lane has not had a mention so far in this column but he deserves one here for coming up with 38 defensive efforts for the visitors.
When asked afterwards Woolf nominated Percival as his Man Of The Match. The stats don’t quite back this verdict up but perhaps it is good management. Moved out of his natural centre role and asked to do a lot of things defensively that are different to his regular duties Percival handled it pretty well. It was an effort worthy of praise and shows Percival and the other players that big efforts in unfamiliar circumstances are appreciated by the boss. With key players injured adaptability is going to be one of the major keys to Saints’ chances of a fourth consecutive Super League crown.
Woolf and his troops now turn their attention to the trip to Warrington this Thursday night (May 19). Wire are in the midst of a crisis, sitting a lowly eighth in the league after somehow capitulating from 8-8 to lose 40-8 in 25 minutes against the Dragons on Saturday night (May 14). Yet Woolf will not allow his men to use Wire’s 2022 form as an excuse for complacency. With a week off that we didn’t want on the horizon as the Challenge Cup final takes place without us, expect a revved up Saints to give Daryl Powell’s beleaguered outfit all they can handle before they get to rest up until their second visit to Toulouse of the campaign.
Saints: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Mata’utia, Percival, Davies, Lomax, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Batchelor, Sironen, Knowles. Interchanges: Paasi, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Lussick, Bell
Hull FC: Connor, Shaul, Wynne, Tuimavave, McIntosh, Reynolds, Lovodua, Sao, Houghton, Taylor, Lane, M’au, Fash. Interchanges: Brown, Griffin, Johnstone, Satae
Referee: Jack Smith
Video Referee: James Child
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