Saints make their fourth trek across the English Channel of 2022 when they travel to face Catalans Dragons at the Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan on Saturday night (July 2, kick-off 5.00pm BST).
As they do so Kristian Woolf’s men sit comfortably atop the Super League table. They have a four-point lead over nearest challengers Jai Field and Bevan French Wigan having lost only two of their first 16 Super League matches. One of those was in France when the Threepeaters were shocked 22-20 by Toulouse. They come in to this one on a six-game winning streak in Super League. Besides Toulouse the only other club to lower Saints’ colours in the league this year is Castleford where a virtual Saints academy side went down 30-10 at the end of April. Last time out the champions were tested for a while before eventually reducing Leeds Rhinos to cheap shots and toddler tantrums in a 42-12 win.
The Dragons have also had a strong year for the most part. Their loss at Castleford last week was more surprising than that of Saints earlier in the season, simply because they appeared to take it more seriously. A strong-looking Dragons side went down to a 17-16 golden point loss thanks to former Saints halfback Danny Richardson’s drop-goal. He’d also converted the Tigers’ last try from the touchline to force the extra period. Nobody said the lad wasn’t good at kicking. That’s not why he’s not here anymore.
Notwithstanding that nasty jolt the Dragons have been good enough to this point to sit fourth in the standings. They have won 11 of their 16 matches. That defeat at Castleford is one of five in the league this term starting at Saints on opening night back in February. They have also lost to Huddersfield twice and even managed to go down to a 14-8 defeat to Hull FC in April. Yet Steve McNamara’s side are hanging in there to the extent that a win in this one would bring them back within four points of their guests.
Woolf has made two changes to the 21 which were on duty for the visit of Leeds. Suspended pair Sione Mata’utia and James Bell are free again to further enhance the already impressive back row options at Woolf’s disposal. That’s bad news for Sam Royle who drops out of the squad but will be consoled by the fact that he had signed an agreement to stay with the club for 2023. At 22 he has enough time on his side to develop and earn a spot in the side when the options ahead of him aren’t quite so numerous.
If Mata’utia - who has been excellent when he hasn’t been injured or banned - is to come straight back into the starting line-up it could be at the expense of either Curtis Sironen or Joe Batchelor. That would be tough on either. Sironen is coming off arguably his best game for Saints last time out while Batchelor has been very consistent since holding down a regular spot. Bell and Morgan Knowles complicate the back three picture even further in the pack. It’s a nice problem for Woolf to have.
The same cannot be said of the headaches caused by Will Hopoate’s fitness problems. Here we are about to embark on Round 17 of his first season with the club and Hopoate finds himself having made only six Super League appearances. The last of those was at fullback in the 26-18 home win over Hull KR on June 12. He has played centre just twice, flattening the notion that he would be a good fit to replace Kevin Naiqama. Konrad Hurrell has done that better than this scribbler expected. With Mark Percival also out Ben Davies has been getting his chance to impress in his favoured position after filling in at stand-off earlier in the year. Yet with Mata’utia back in the reckoning Woolf may again choose to alleviate the congestion in the back row by deploying the former Newcastle Knight in the threequarters. Again that would be harsh on Davies but I guess that’s life as part of the league’s strongest squad.
The solution to The Hopoate Situation last week was Jon Bennison and could very well be again. That frees up Jack Welsby to partner Jonny Lomax in the halves with the wing spots virtually owned by Tommy Makinson and Regan Grace.
At the front end of the pack there has been yet more staff retention. Dan Norman made a try-scoring contribution off the bench against Rohan Smith’s Rhinos and followed that up by signing a deal which keeps him at Saints until at least the end of 2023. With Norman there are echoes of the way Joe Batchelor has established himself at Saints after seeing very little playing time initially. The ex-London Bronco has featured in eight matches in all competitions this year after managing just two appearances last term. The return of Bell might make it more difficult for Norman to hold on to a bench spot this week but the new deal shows he is willing to fight for playing time in the immediate future.
While doing so he is sure to learn a thing or two from Alex Walmsley who is the regular starter and talisman in the front row where he is joined by Matty Lees and the legend that is James Roby at hooker. Agnatius Paasi scored his first try for Saints last week at the 39th attempt and provides exceptional impact and offload-related excitement from the bench. Joey Lussick - having been one of the few regulars tasked with going to Castleford for that defeat back in April - is the only ever present in the Saints squad this year and there is no reason why that would change here. His dummy half play is invaluable in its own right but the bonus is his ability to protect Roby by reducing his minutes as he winds down in what he is still telling everyone is his final season before retirement.
Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook is still out which opens up a bench spot. Yet as Saints get closer to full strength there’s a scramble for it. Jake Wingfield is the man in possession and will hope to hold on to it.
McNamara’s preparations have been hit by the loss of two key players since the defeat at Castleford. Former Wigan winger Tom Davies will need to see a specialist about a knee injury while England back rower Mike McMeeken has a broken thumb which could see him miss the next 6-8 weeks. The Dragons were already without Arthur Mourgue after he picked up an ankle injury in France’s 34-6 win over Wales a fortnight ago.
That still leaves McNamara with some pretty handy cards to play. Sam Tomkins is still one of the best in the business at fullback, while the recently returned Josh Drinkwater was building a formidable halfback partnership with Mitchell Pearce before his injury. Tyrone May is a possible trump card as he returns having missed the trip to West Yorkshire.
Matthieu Laguerre is back and he along with Dean Whare and Samisoni Langi give McNamara real strike at centre. They will miss Davies but on the opposite wing Fouad Yaha has that modern winger’s combination of pace and power that is currently in vogue. He has found his way to the try line on 10 occasions in Super League this year with only Makinson, Ken Sio and Ryan Hall managing to do so more often.
It’s going to be all change in the front row for Catalans next year as both Gil Dudson and Sam Kasiano head for Super League’s baron featureless desert otherwise known as Warrington. Not that McNamara has to this point gone into a Matty Peet style rant about two rugby league professionals choosing to take up an offer from another club. For now Perhaps the rumoured capture of Sio Siua Taukeiaho from Sydney Roosters is a softening of the blow that poor old buffet building Matty just doesn’t have. Mike Cooper just doesn’t have the same ring to it. For now Kasiano and Dudson remain in the French camp and will lead the battle against Walmsley et al along with Julian Bousquet and Dylan Napa. Fresh from his re-emergence as an international player under best mate Shaun Wane Micky McIlorum should start at nine backed up by Alrix Da Costa.
In the back row Matt Whitley is perhaps the one that got away for Saints having arrived in France from Billinge via Widnes. He’s a classy operator but the hole left by McMeeken alongside him is significant. Mikael Goudemand or Joe Chan could fill it with the impressive Ben Garcia at 13.
The French side have a somewhat shorter Super League history than most having only joined the competition in 2006. Despite that there have been many memorable tussles between these two. The Dragons reached the Challenge Cup final in only their second season but were undone by an Ade Gardner double and tries from Paul Wellens, Paul Clough and a 21 year-old Roby as Saints won 30-8 to lift the first of what would be three Challenge Cups in a row in 2007.
Catalans gained a modicum of revenge for that when they surprisingly thumped the then league-leading Saints 35-16 in the 2018 Challenge Cup semi-final at Bolton. The Dragons went on to win the cup for the first time that year beating Warrington in the final.
Turning to Super League the sides did of course meet in last season’s Old Trafford Grand Final. It was a tight affair, Saints edging it 12-10 to pick up that third successive Super League title. Eleven of the Saints 17 from that night could feature here while 12 of those on duty for Catalans are again in the mix for this one.
The other notable Super League clash between these two last year came at Newcastle at Magic Weekend. Saints managed to turn a 30-12 lead into a 31-30 defeat in not much more time than it took Nadine Dorries to demonstrate exactly why she shouldn’t be anywhere near any Rugby League World Cup promotion events today. That’s rugby LEAGUE Nadine. Perhaps you should stick to drinking Pimms on Henman Hill. Where’s Prince Harry and Clare Balding when you need them? Even Tony Adams knew his Kangaroos from his Wallabies. This just in…Clare is drinking Pimms on Henman Hill.
Back to the plot, and overall Saints have won 28 and lost 16 of the previous 44 Super League meetings between the clubs. The champions recorded a 36-20 Challenge Cup win in Perpignan earlier this season but haven’t won there in the league since a 26-22 success in September 2018. They went down 20-16 in May of last year, didn’t travel in 2020 due to Covid and were beaten 18-10 in April 2019.
It is a pivotal period for Saints if they have genuine designs on staying top of the pile and collecting the League Leaders Shield going into the playoffs. All of the other top four clubs are on the agenda over the next three weeks. After this it’s Threepeat vs Matty Peet at Magic before a Huddersfield Giants side unashamedly auditioning for a job as a Woolfball tribute act rolls into town on July 15. Three wins and you’d have to think that all the tinkering in the world wouldn’t stop Saints winning the LLS for the first time since 2019. Any bumps in the road during this run could allow one of the other three - possibly the Dragons - to pounce as Saints take their now traditional late season breather.
Catalans are defending the shield so should be desperate for the win which will keep them in the hunt to do that. That depends on whether McNamara puts the same premium on it having already put it in le cabinet a trophees a year ago. Coming in off the back of that Tigers defeat won’t help confidence levels and with the loss of Davies and McMeeken I’m backing Saints to get the first of the three wins they need to put them in a position of real comfort ahead of the playoffs.
Did you expect any other prediction? A fait accompli, if you will.
Squads;
Catalans Dragons: 3. Samisoni Langi 4. Dean Whare 5. Fouad Yaha 6. Mitchell Pearce 7. Josh Drinkwater 8. Gil Dudson 9. Micky McIlorum 10. Julian Bousquet 11. Matt Whitley 13. Benjamin Garcia 14. Alrix Da Costa 15. Benjamin Jullien 16. Paul Seguier 17. Mickael Goudemand 18. Matthieu Laguerre 19. Arthur Romano 20. Tyrone May 22. Dylan Napa 27. Joe Chan 28. Sam Kasiano 29. Sam Tomkins
St Helens: 1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Jonny Lomax, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Joe Batchelor, 13, Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. Jake Wingfield, 20. James Bell, 21. Josh Simm, 22. Ben Davies, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 24. Dan Norman, 27. Jon Bennison, 29. Dan Hill.
Referee: James Child
Video Referee: Tom Grant
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