Threepeating, league leading Saints face another tricky away day when they visit the AJ Bell Stadium to take on Salford Red Devils on Sunday (July 31, kick-off 3.00pm).
The champions were given a scare last weekend, taken all the way to golden point extra time at lowly Wakefield. Jack Welsby’s drop-goal saw Saints escape with a win. In doing so Kristian Woolf’s side opened up a six-point gap at the top of the Super League table over nearest challengers Wigan. At the time of writing that gap is down to four points again after our neighbours’ emphatic win over Hull KR on Thursday (July 28). Victory here would restore that six-point advantage with just six regular season games to play. It wouldn’t guarantee Woolf a first League Leaders Shield but it would be a giant step along the way.
Meanwhile Salford have been quietly mounting their own playoff push. Paul Rowley’s side currently sit inside the playoff spots in sixth having won four of their last five league games. Since losing at home to Wigan on June 10 the only blemish on the Salford record is the 30-18 loss to Huddersfield Giants at the Magic Weekend. That run has included rattling 74 points past Trinity as well as wins over Warrington, Catalans and Toulouse. Barely noticeable for much of the season, Salford are suddenly more likely to be involved in knockout football in September than not.
Woolf has previous for selecting weakened squads in late season visits to Salford. It is a policy which has arguably cost him the last two League Leaders Shields. Yet he can point to his two Grand Final successes as evidence that the policy has worked in terms of achieving the primary goal. This time he has chosen not to go down the play-the-kids-at-Salford route. He has made just one change to the 21-man squad selected for the trip to Wakefield. Morgan Knowles returns from a one-match suspension, replacing Dan Norman who will miss a couple of games with what Woolf describes as a minor glute injury.
Not that the coach is without his selection problems. Such is the extent of Saints’ injury and suspension problems that all of Lewis Baxter, George Delaney and Taylor Pemberton keep their places in the 21. Should any of them feature it will be only their second first team appearance having all made their debuts in defeat at Castleford at the end of April.
The most significant problems are in the back line. Will Hopoate is still recovering from his latest setback while Tommy Makinson and Mark Percival are also still out. Welsby looks set to continue at fullback meaning James Roby will partner Jonny Lomax in the halves. Sione Mata’utia had been deputising for Percival at centre before he was hit with a three-game ban for picking up Huddersfield’s Danny Levi as the Giants man declined to get up after a heavy tackle. The absence of the former Newcastle Knight should mean Ben Davies gets another run at centre. Jon Bennison, Konrad Hurrell and Regan Grace should complete the three-quarters.
Roby’s potential move to the halves will offer another start to Salford old boy Joey Lussick at hooker. Lussick played 59 times for Salford between 2018-20, including in the Red Devils’ 23-6 Grand Final defeat to Saints in 2019. He then moved on to Parramatta Eels in 2020 before joining Saints for the start of 2022. He is the only ever-present in Woolf’s 17 in his debut season as a Saint, but if he does get the nod from the start it will be for only the sixth time in 24 outings. Such is life when you are a number nine at the same club as Roby.
Either side of Lussick at prop will be testimonial man Alex Walmsley and his fellow England international Matty Lees. Curtis Sironen and Joe Batchelor are both in excellent form in the second row, while Knowles should slot back in seamlessly behind them at loose forward. That would shunt Jake Wingfield back to the bench alongside interchange regulars Agnatius Paasi and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. James Bell looks a good bet for the last place on the bench but don’t rule out a surprise selection for one of the youngsters. This is Salford away, after all.
Salford’s good run of form is all the more remarkable for the fact that they have barely had 17 fit and available players for much of that time. Two more names have been added to the list of absentees this week. Ryan Brierley will not feature while Danny Addy has suffered an Achilles injury which will rule him out of not only the run in to the playoffs but also the World Cup. Addy was in line to represent Scotland having done so on 18 occasions since 2013.
Those two join back rowers Shane Wright, Harvey Livett and James Greenwood, ex-Wigan forward Jack Wells, former Leeds man King Vuniyayawa, prop Tyler Dupree and ex-Saint Matty Costello on the sidelines.
The league’s strongest squads would do well to absorb nine absentees so it is testament to Salford’s resilience and Rowley’s pack-shuffling skills that they are going so well. Of those that remain Brodie Croft and Marc Sneyd are forming one of the most effective halfback partnerships in Super League with a three-quarter line which features 21-try winger Ken Sio, speedster Joe Burgess, talented ex-Saint Deon Cross and the skilful if a tad unpredictable Tim Lafai. Dan Sarginson and Chris Atkin are among the options to replace Brierley at fullback.
In the forwards Andy Ackers is key at hooker while Alex Gerrard, Ryan Lannon, Sitaleki Akauola and Jack Ormondroyd have the job of trying to control Saints’ formidable pack. Elijah Taylor partners former England centre turned back rower Kallum Watkins in the second row. Back-up nine Amir Bourouh is another of the absentees.
These two have met once already this season. An epic encounter at Saints in late April saw the home side sneak a 14-10 win. Yet that was only after Knowles miraculously ran down Atkin late in the game to produce a game saving cover tackle which would have been the envy of any fullback. Handy for Saints then that Knowles returns this week should any similar heroics be required.
As mentioned Saints have lost on their last two visits to Salford. Their last win on Red Devils territory came in February 2019 when Justin Holbrook’s side prevailed 26-4 courtesy of a Roby double and further scores from Percival, Grace and Lomax. Among the more memorable meetings are Saints’ 25-24 win in June 2017 thanks to a very late Matty Smith drop-goal, and a Challenge Cup semi-final at Wigan in 1997. That was a day when Alan Hunte and Anthony Sullivan scored hat-tricks and Keiron Cunningham stampeded through what seemed like the entire Salford team for another Saints score as they ran out 50-20 winners en route to a second successive Challenge Cup victory.
This one looks set to be a closer affair. Other than the defensive masterclass against Huddersfield on July 15 Saints have looked a little sketchy of late, not helped by all of the changes that have been forced on Woolf. By contrast Salford’s lack of options has forced them into fielding a much more consistent selection of players. They are close to breaking point but while they have 17 to put on the park their combinations and cohesion are improving quickly. Still you get a sense that Croft and Sneyd hold the key for the Red Devils. Bothering them into mistakes will be vital. That’s another reason to be cheerful about the inclusion of Knowles although Batchelor has shown himself to be pretty adept at halfback bothering too.
Better weather than was in evidence at Wakefield would help Saints’ cause. Regardless, I’d just about back them to snap the trend of the last two years and finally head home from the AJ Bell with a win. Saints by 14.
Squads;
Salford Red Devils;
2. Ken Sio 3. Kallum Watkins 4. Tim Lafai 5. Joe Burgess 6. Brodie Croft 7. Marc Sneyd 8. Sitaleki Akauola 9. Andy Ackers 10. Greg Burke 13. Elijah Taylor 16. Ryan Lannon 18. Chris Atkin, 19. Jack Ormondroyd 22. Rhys Williams 23. Dan Sarginson 26. Sam Luckley 28. Deon Cross 29. Alex Gerrard
St Helens;
1. Jack Welsby, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Jonny Lomax, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 12. Joe Batchelor, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. LMS, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. Jake Wingfield, 20. James Bell, 22. Ben Davies, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 27. Jon Bennison, 28. Lewis Baxter, 29. Dan Hill, 31. Taylor Pemberton, 34. George Delaney.
Referee: Jack Smith
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