Table-topping, threepeating, six points better than Wigan Saints look for one of the two wins they need to seal the Super League Leaders Shield when they entertain Hull KR on Friday night (August 19, kick-off 8.00pm). One win will be enough if it happens to come against Wigan on the final weekend of August, or if the Warriors suffer an unlikely slip at home to Toulouse this week.
After the blush-worthy blip of that fearful battering at Salford Saints have got back on track with a home win over Castleford followed by an 11-try destruction of Hull FC on what my dad used to call their own midden. Couple those wins with Wigan’s (ahem) unfortunate loss at Wakefield last time out and it all means that Kristian Woolf’s side have established an almost unassailable six-point lead at the top of the pile. Irrespective of whether Saints finish the job of winning the League Leaders Shield – which they should – they are still guaranteed to be spending week one of the playoffs with their feet up ahead of a home semi-final in week two.
Things are not so straightforward for Rovers. Having come within 80 minutes of a Grand Final appearance in 2021 they are barely clinging on to hopes of a top 6 spot this time around. Defeat to Leeds last week left them in eighth spot, three points off the top 6. After visiting the champions they still have to welcome Wigan to what we are now calling Sewell Group Craven Park before ending the regular season with a Hull derby.
Facing Hull may not seem like the scariest prospect right now but derbies are a different proposition. Different to say…going to the MKM with no three-quarters and still absolutely mullering Brett Hodgson’s side to within the proverbial inch of the end of their existence. That probably won’t happen to Hull on derby day. Probably. No promises. What is safe to say is that Rovers need wins urgently if they are going to stay in the playoff mix. A trip to St Helens is not exactly what interim coach Danny McGuire and his troops need right now.
Of course, another game means another selection problem for Woolf. Sione Mata’utia returned from suspension at Hull but promptly suffered a foot injury which is likely to keep him out for a few weeks. Further back row woe comes from the suspension of Morgan Knowles, banned for one game for a shoulder charge that was lacking in both violence and intelligence.
Curtis Sironen serves the second of his two-game ban for a high tackle in the Castleford game so a fair amount of reshuffling at second row is required. Favourite to start there along with Joe Batchelor is probably James Bell, although he and Jake Wingfield are pretty much interchangeable in those back three positions. And we should not forget that That Saints Blog favourite Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook has plenty of experience in both the second row and at loose forward. Sam Royle is included in the 21 also having been brought back from a loan spell with this week’s opponents.
Now the good news. Jack Welsby is set to return to the side. The fullback or stand-off missed the Hull game with a variety of minor injuries. Cue the jokes about whether he will get back in the starting 13 when we have just blasted 60 points past FC without him. Where he plays may depend on Will Hopoate. The Tongan was another who returned last week but his inability to string a run of games together is approaching Josh Perry status. Should Hopoate slip in the shower or turn an ankle going for a quick single in the back garden with the kids then Woolf has the option of using Welsby at fullback. The coach is perhaps more likely to move Jon Bennison back there from the left wing. That could at last offer an opportunity to Josh Simm with Danny Hill still out with a shoulder problem.
There’s still no sign of Mark Percival. The silence around his fitness or otherwise is fairly deafening. Mata’utia deputised at left centre at Hull but with that option off the table expect Ben Davies to revert to his natural position after filling in at stand-off alongside Jonny Lomax last week. Along with Lomax Tommy Makinson and Konrad Hurrell are just about the only members of Saints’ back division likely to feature in the positions they would probably occupy if everybody was fit.
Considering the problems in the backs and the back row of the pack it is comforting to know that the front row looks in fine fettle. Alex Walmsley and Matty Lees are the regular starters with Agnatius Paasi and McCarthy-Scarsbrook certainties for the bench if fit. Joey Lussick is another who takes some shifting from the interchange list. He will see game time in relief of James Roby at 9. The last spot could go to Bell or Wingfield depending on which of them starts but Dan Norman will also hope for an opportunity. Youngsters Taylor Pemberton and Lewis Baxter have been drafted back into the 21 in place of Mata’utia and Knowles.
McGuire can only name 19 players in his party due to injuries and suspensions. The Robins have lost the excellent Shaun Kenny Dowall for the remainder of the season after he picked up an MCL injury in the loss to Leeds. Ex-Saint Greg Richards is another whose injury in that game has put an end to his season. Not wishing to be unkind but you get the feeling that the absence of the former will cause Rovers the greater headache.
Rovers seem to be suffering from a similar problem to Saints when it comes to the back line. Ben Crooks is also out along with suspended winger Ethan Ryan, while halfback Jordan Abdull was ruled out long term some time ago. McGuire has been using Will Dagger in the halves along with Jez Litten. That pair have done ok but should one or both of Mikey Lewis or Rowan Milnes be deemed fit enough to return it will be a major boost for McGuire. Rovers do look set to welcome back three-time Grand Final winner and all around RL legend Lachlan Coote after he missed the last two. Nobbled by the Warriors at the DW (Dirty Wigan) Stadium. Serial Grand Final winner Ryan Hall is also included after making a try-scoring return against his old club last time out.
Matt Parcell is another key absentee after he picked up a one match ban following the game against his former team-mates. In his absence Litten might find himself in the hooking role, directly competing with Roby. Korbin Sims is out but there is better news about Albert Vete who is back in contention after a calf injury followed by an abscess. He will compliment George King in the front row while the back row is developing nicely thanks to the presence of Matty Storton, Frankie Halton and Elliott Minchella.
This will be the third meeting between these two in 2022 thanks to the madness of loop fixtures. Saints won 42-8 in Hull in March but it was much closer on KR’s last visit to St Helens as the champions edged it 26-18 in June. Rovers’ last win over Saints was a 24-22 success all the way back in March 2015. Rovers’ very own Agent Travis Burns kicked three goals for Saints that night but crucially not the last minute conversion of a Jordan Turner try which would have salvaged a draw. No Golden Point in those days. It was a much more sensible time.
Saints crossed through McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Makinson as well as Jon Wilkin and Turner while Richards was in the Saints 17. Saints’ chief tormentor that night was Blast From The Past Albert Kelly who scored two great individual tries. Another was added by Ken Sio, currently found racking up the points at Salford.
Rovers’ last win in St Helens was in June 2013 when a Michael Dobson-inspired visiting outfit won 24-12. Perhaps the try scored by Burns that night was influential in the ultimately misguided decision to recruit him. The Robins won twice in St Helens that year, also knocking Nathan Brown’s side out of the Challenge Cup following a 26-18 success. Makinson and McCarthy-Scarsbrook featured in that game too. Come the nuclear winter, McCarthy-Scarsbrook will emerge from the rubble and immediately seal a new one-year deal.
If you are looking for some more famous past meetings how about the 36-16 Saints triumph in the 1984/85 Premiership Trophy Final? What the cool kids today refer to as the Grand Final. Only you didn’t get the championship trophy or the title and there was no hype from Barrie McDermott. It was one of 31 Saints appearances by Mal Meninga. Naturally, he scored twice as Saints lifted the trophy which was on offer at Elland Road.
It hasn’t always gone Saints way. KR beat the red vee 23-10 in a Championship semi final in 1968 (think Super League playoff without Jon Wells’ touchscreen) and a 1981 Challenge Cup semi-final (22-5). Sadly for them they subsequently lost at Wembley to Widnes.
With both sides dealing with their injury and suspension problems you’d have to favour the team with the deeper squad, particularly at home. A win would leave Wigan in the last chance saloon next week in terms of the League Leaders Shield and I expect our boys to get it by around 18 points.
Squads;
Saints;
1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Will Hopoate, 6. Jonny Lomax, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 12. Joe Batchelor, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. LMS, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. Jake Wingfield, 20. James Bell, 21. Josh Simm, 22. Ben Davies, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 24. Dan Norman, 26. Sam Royle, 27. Jon Bennison, 28. Lewis Baxter, 31. Taylor Pemberton.
Hull KR;
1. Lachlan Coote 5. Ryan Hall 8. Albert Vete 10. George King 12. Kane Linnett 13. Matty Storton 14. Jez Litten 17. Elliot Minchella 18. Jimmy Keinhorst 20. Mikey Lewis 21. Rowan Milnes 22. Will Maher 24. Sam Wood 27. Frankie Halton 28. Will Tate 29. Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e 31. Connor Moore 34. Zach Fishwick 38. Connor Barley
Referee: Chris Kendall
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