We start with a disclaimer.
I do not know more about rugby league than Kristian Woolf. He is a two-time Super League Grand Final winning coach. He is now a League Leaders Shield winning coach. He is a Challenge Cup winning coach (but then, so are Lee Radford, Richard Agar and Steve Price). Woolf is also an international head coach. He masterminded Australia’s first defeat to anyone other than England, Great Britain or New Zealand since 1978 when his Tonga side took down the Kangaroos 16-12 in 2019. The point is he knows a thing or two about the game. I, meanwhile, am an opinionated blogger with a rabid dislike of going through the processes.
I’m stating this to remind those people who need reminding of it as I am about to disagree with the soon to be ex-Saints boss. Whenever I do that I’m bombarded with fatuous comments from outraged Woolf-a-maniacs whose sole aim is to shut down debate without even bothering to explain why they hold the opposite view. They just do. If Woolf says or does something it must be right. The impolite term is happy-clappers.
There is precious little happiness (or clapiness) here so we are going on to discuss Saints’ first and only home loss of 2022, inflicted by second-to-bottom Wakefield Trinity on Monday afternoon (August 29). Woolf’s men - boys actually - went down 34-18. Fortunately, Wigan’s loss at Hull KR meant that Saints could nevertheless celebrate a record 10th League Leaders Shield since the inception of Super League in 1996. This is a fabulous achievement that should be celebrated with much more enthusiasm and excitement than it will be. Saints’ 1996 win - before a Sky executive invented the Grand Final - is still my favourite of all of the club’s nine Super League crowns. Though the Old Trafford finale now diminishes it, winning the league is still a big deal to me.
Yet the way it happened - with the only two teams left in contention basically throwing their games by filling their match day squads with youngsters - dampens the celebrations somewhat. If you are so inclined you can read more about exactly why I object to the selection of weakened teams in my review of the loss at Castleford in April here. I really, really dislike it. And I’m never going to agree with it just because Kristian Woolf is Kristian Woolf and I’m not. But we’ve been through it all before on these pages so now that I have made my point let’s switch our focus to the game itself.
Woolf has injuries and suspensions to contend with. There is no getting away from that. He’s had difficulties since Lewis Dodd was ruled out for the season back in mid-April. With Theo Fages now playing Wattoball (like Woolfball only far less effective) in Huddersfield the only cover in the halves for Dodd is Jack Welsby. Sadly, since Lachlan Coote has also moved on and Will Hopoate has an injury record that would make Monty Python’s Black Knight blush Welsby has more often than not been required at fullback. These are problems that have forced the likes of Jon Bennison and Ben Davies to mature quickly as they have been pressed into first team action earlier in their careers than they might have expected.
On top of all that Mark Percival has been out since early May. Regan Grace missed much of the first half of the season also. He came back to flicker briefly before a ruptured Achilles and an agreement to move to French rugby union ended his Saints career in July. Just nine of the Welshman’s 142 Saints appearances came in 2022.
Then there are the repeated suspensions incurred by second row pairing Curtis Sironen and Sione Mata’utia. You can also throw fans’ favourite Morgan Knowles in there too. He has collected his own fair share of bans and - like Sironen - was unavailable for this visit of Willie Poching’s side. Even if Woolf never had any inclination to select any of them. These transgressions have a positive side in that they have facilitated the speedy development of Joe Batchelor to the point where now - arguably at any rate - if everybody ever does get fit and clear of suspension at the same time then the ex-York man starts in the second row alongside one of Mata’utia or Sironen.
At the moment their repeated absences are unhelpful. Woolf should take some responsibility for them in that it is his job - for now - to get the message across to the players about keeping their discipline. Yet ultimately, these three in particular have to also look at themselves. They are failing to learn in an admittedly tough environment of strict liability and zero tolerance of foul play. That failure hurts the team tenfold when you are also in the midst of an injury crisis.
And yet it was not so bad that it warranted Woolf’s eye-popping, Castleford-esque team selection. Another four youngsters made their debuts. Keane Gilford lined up on the right wing. Ben Lane started on the opposite flank and Ellis Archer at scrum half. They are all 18 years old while Rio-Osayomwanbo Corkill - who came off the bench - is 19. Not many of us can say that the number of years we have lived is fewer than the number of letters in our name.
Four more of the 17 - Daniel Moss, Lewis Baxter, Tyler Pemberton and George Delaney had just one senior appearance to their name. That was that notorious defeat at Castleford the last time Woolf considered the need to rest his players to be more important than the result. That decision and subsequent result could still have a massive impact on the playoff picture. If Castleford win at Leeds on Saturday (September 3) then those two points gained by the Tigers will be decisive. Knocking Leeds out of the playoffs by fielding the kids may be top bantz but it is an awful look for the integrity of the game.
There were some older heads around this time. Tommy Makinson is just about the only one of those who can call himself a regular starter. Yet even he played in the unfamiliar territory of centre rather than in his regular right wing slot. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook - now well more advanced in years than in letters in his name - is a regular feature in the strongest 17 and he was elevated to a starting role here. Joining him in the front row was occasional first team member and fellow former London Bronco Dan Norman. Joey Lussick remains the only Saint to have played in every game this season including that one at Castleford. He was promoted to the starting line-up with Pemberton backing him up at 9 off the bench. Sam Royle, James Bell and Jake Wingfield made up the back row.
Alongside Makinson in the backs both fullback Jon Bennison and centre Ben Davies offered experience to an extent. Yet despite both having featured in the last seven - and Bennison in the last 11 - they have just 33 first team appearances between them.
The visitors were first on the board when walking sweet advert Harry Bowes fed Brad Walker who put Corey Hall over on the right edge. Bowes was playing at hooker in place of regular pivot Liam Hood, and Walker at halfback for Mason Lino. Saints were not the only side significantly below strength for this one. Unlike Saints - who came into this one still needing to avoid defeat to seal top spot - Trinity had very little to play for. Their Super League safety had been assured when Toulouse lost to Catalans Dragons a few days earlier. Max Jowitt could not add the extras to Hall’s opening score - his sixth of the season - but Poching’s men led 4-0.
Former Saint Lee Gaskell would have an eventful - eventually successful - afternoon at the left centre position but it was his two errors which gave Saints the chance to strike back. First he put down Jowitt’s pass just outside his own 20m line before he could only deflect Bennison’s ball that was intended for Gilford. That set up the position from where Lussick and Moss combined to put Davies in on the left edge. It was the centre’s seventh try of the season. Having missed the loss at Wigan Makinson was back on goal-kicking duties and he edged Saints in front 6-4.
Next came a harsh lesson for Gilford. He rather flapped at a high cross-field tester from Jacob Miller and in the next set Trinity bagged their second try. Miller combined with Jowitt to tee up Lewis Murphy for the first of four tries on the day. It was the kind of flying finish patented in Super League by Makinson. And one Murphy would go on to repeat in a stellar performance which had many fans hoping he could be the man to replace Grace next year. Woolf was cool on the idea when it was put to him at a fans forum this week. Jowitt was off beam again with the conversion so the Trinity lead was a slender one at 8-6.
Gilford was having a hard time settling under Wakefield’s aerial assault. When Walker launched one in the youngster’s direction it forced another error, compounded when Saints conceded a penalty at the resultant scrum. Then it was the turn of Miller again, tying the Saints defence in knots with his kicking game as his low in-goal finder hit the outstretched leg of Bennison and popped up kindly for Murphy to register his second try. Jowitt found the range to give the visitors a two score lead at 14-6.
The champions were given a chance to cut that deficit when Yusuf Aydin spilled possession deep in his own territory. Woolf’s young charges pushed, making it to within a few metres of the Trinity line before one of the more senior players fluffed the opportunity. Wingfield hit McCarthy-Scarsbrook as he charged on to it at as much pace as his 36 year-old legs can muster. Only he forgot to hold on to the ball and the chance slipped away.
To be fair McCarthy-Scarsbrook wasn’t the only Saints regular suffering a bout of the dropsies. The normally reliable Makinson shelled one on his own 30 metre line in the tackle of Miller and Matty Ashurst - a former team-mate of the Saints star. The mistake eventually led to Murphy’s hat-trick try - a spectacular dive in at the left corner from Gaskell’s pass after a good combination between Miller and Jowitt. The latter was proving a little wayward with the boot and so despite scoring four tries to Saints’ one the Trinity lead was just two converted tries at 18-6.
Wakefield’s fifth try was a stellar effort regardless of opposition. Hall and Jack Croft linked up to send Kyle Evans galloping down the right hand touchline. The Welshman was making only his third appearance of the season since joining Wakefield from rugby union. We can only speculate on how far he might have got had Saints’ own Welsh winger been stood in direct opposition to him but in the event Evans showed great composure to find Jowitt in his inside. The fullback crossed for his seventh try in 15 appearances in 2022. Yet he’d seen enough of his own goal-kicking, handing on the responsibility to Gaskell who duly obliged for a 24-6 Wakey advantage.
Saints spurned another good opportunity when a comedy of errors put them within range. Gaskell attempted to offload to Murphy but the pass deflected off Gilford. Murphy managed to catch up with it but his momentum took him into touch giving Saints great field position. Jordy Crowther then went high on Delaney but with a fresh set deep in Trinity territory Wingfield’s pass went forward off Bell just a few metres from the try-line.
Delaney was showing some decent touches even if he looks a little physically under done to be mixing it with Super League front rowers right now He was held up over the line by Jowitt and Rob Butler before Archer’s intelligent cross-field kick proved just beyond the grasp of Makinson. Had the England man been able to reel it in it looked a certain try. It was the last meaningful chance of the opening half as Saints’ young prospects went to hear the wisdom of Woolf trailing by 18 at 24-6.
Saints carved out the first chance after the break. A tip tackle on Lane by Croft was jumped on by referee Tom Grant to set up the position, but in the end it was Wingfield who on this occasion couldn’t take Lussick’s pass close to the line. There was no shortage of endeavour from this experimental line-up but the attacking execution was just about where you might expect it to be from a side so raw and inexperienced.
They were punished for their profligacy when Gaskell crossed for a neat try on his old stomping ground. Miller and Jowitt worked the ball left and out to Gaskell who pulled off a dazzling exchange of passes with Murphy to score. It would have been an enjoyable moment for the man who was once touted as the playmaker Saints craved going into the 2010s but who ended up making just 43 appearances in three years, scoring 14 tries and 12 goals. And a drop goal in a 19-6 win over Huddersfield in August 2011. He added two more points to his Wakefield tally following his second try of the current season to put Trinity out of sight at 30-6.
Out of sight they may have been but Wakefield weren’t able to really pull away on the scoreboard. There was plenty of fight in the home side and they were rewarded when Davies crossed for his second score of the game and his eighth of this breakthrough season. This one was created by Moss whose nicely timed pass gave Davies just the room he needed. Makinson popped over a fairly straightforward conversion to bring Saints back to within 18 at 30-12.
With his confidence perhaps boosted Moss then gave Jowitt a scare when his towering kick eluded the Wakefield man close to his own line. In a state of panic not seen since Bevan French saw Makinson’s drop goal attempt ping off the Hull upright in the dying moments of the 2020 Grand Final Jowitt was fortunate to be able to turn and boot the ball dead. From the resultant dropout all of the air went out of the Saints balloon as McCarthy-Scarsbrook lost possession on the visitors’ 20.
A succession of errors followed from two teams who were perhaps tiring. Not a lot of them on either side were regulars at this level. Gaskell’s attempted flick pass to Murphy went forward. Moss got himself into a tangle at the play-the-ball. Perhaps strangest of all Davies collected a wild Wakefield hack which appeared to be going over the sideline but the centre then produced an equally wild pass which was intercepted just inside the Wakefield half. Even old hands like Miller had the bug, putting it down on the last just outside the Saints 20.
The madness was interrupted by a super try from Bennison as Saints got within 12. Archer’s suspiciously forward pass put fellow debutant Rio Corkill through a hole and he had Bennison on his left shoulder to ease over under the posts. Makinson’s conversion - his third goal of the game and the 1119th point of his 285-game Saints career had Wakefield if not sweating then starting to heat up just a little at 30-18.
Saints rolled the dice in a most un-Woolf-like way to try to get back further into the contest. If Davies had his time again he might hold on to Royle’s pass rather than attempt to tip it on to Lane outside him. His effort found touch giving Wakefield the field position to finally kill Saints off. When they did it was Murphy - inevitably - crossing for his fourth try when Gaskell, Hall and Jowitt all combined to give him what little space he appears to need. Gaskell couldn’t land the extras this time and so Wakey had to settle for a 16-point margin at 34-18.
There was still time for Gaskell to get himself sin-binned in the dying moments, interfering at the ruck as Saints pressed for another consolation. I did say the former Saints, Salford, Bradford and Huddersfield man had an eventful afternoon.
The stats show that although Saints had their chances they were mostly second best. Only Bennison gained more than 100m with ball in hand. His 128 was almost 50 better than the next best effort which was Norman’s 89. If your pack isn’t taking you forward then it is even more difficult for your fresh-faced backs to make an impression. By contrast Wakefield had six players over the 100-mark but only one of them - Eddie Battye with 138 - is a forward. Despite watching his opposite winger score four tries it was Evans who excelled the most at getting Trinity down the field with 150 metres. Murphy managed 125, while Hall added 110 and Croft 106.
Defensively Saints have had to work much harder over this double header weekend than in the comfortable wins over the Hull clubs leading into it. Lussick topped the tackle count on either side with 44 while all of Wingfield (39), Bell (36), Royle (36) and McCarthy-Scarsbrook (35) were required to make more defensive efforts than the top tackler on Poching’s side which was Crowther with 34. If Woolf cares about this game enough to worry about anything from it then it will be the 52 tackles missed by his side. Wakefield only botched 17. A gargantuan difference.
Saints also made significantly more errors with 16 to nine, but fewer breaks (5-7) and offloads (5-9). A lesson for Wakefield might be that if they had kept their discipline a bit better than the 8-4 penalty count suggests they might have made things easier for themselves.
Wakefield have one more dead rubber to play at Huddersfield before they re-emerge to put the plastic chairs out and annoy expansionists in 2023. Meanwhile Saints are entering the crucial part of this season. The home game with Toulouse will be a celebration of their achievement of finishing top, but they also need it to avoid entering the semi-final on a three-game losing streak. Woolf still has absences to deal with but the selection of a significantly stronger squad for the French side’s last Super League game for now suggests that he is aware of the impact another loss could have.
After that his players get to sit back for a weekend and watch on as they find out who wins through to face them on September 17. By which time Woolf is hopeful that all of Hopoate, Percival and Alex Walmsley will be back on deck to give him a real tilt at reaching another Grand Final before he becomes the Phil Neal to Wayne Bennett’s Graham Taylor at the Redcliffe Dolphins.
Saints: Bennison, Gilford, Makinson, Davies, Lane, Moss, Archer, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Lussick, Norman, Royle, Bell, Wingfield. Interchanges: Baxter, Pemberton, Delaney, Corkill
Wakefield: Jowitt, Evans, Croft, Gaskell, Murphy, Miller, Walker, Battye, Bowes, Aydin, Ashurst, Hall, Crowther. Interchanges: Kay, Butler, Shaw, Adebiyi
Referee: Tom Grant
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