It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t even Saintsy. But the champions continued their recovery from some early season jitters as they clung on to win at the home of the Giants on Thursday night (March 23).
The Team News
Head Coach Paul Wellens welcomed no fewer than four players back into the 17 from the side which had beaten Hull FC at home on Friday night (March 17). Back came Sione Mata’utia - very briefly as it turned out - and Konrad Hurrell from suspension while Will Hopoate returned in the centres. Sam Royle earned a place on the bench ahead of Jake Wingfield.
For Ian Watson’s Giants the headline was the long awaited second debut of fullback/stand off and wind-up merchant Jake Connor. However, he was only fit enough for the bench and with Tui Lolohea also unexpectedly out at fullback it meant Will Pryce stood in there behind an awkward looking starting halfback pairing of Olly Russell and Esan Marsters.
Building A Lead
Things haven’t been going totally to plan for Wellens in his rookie head coaching year. Saints have already suffered two defeats from their first four league outings. They started in similarly unfortunate fashion here as the returning Mata’utia was knocked out of the game in the opening set. Just 27 seconds had elapsed when the former Newcastle Knight was pushed backwards by the enthusiastic Giants defence, falling on the back of his head. He failed his subsequent head injury assessment (HIA) and will now also miss the home clash with Wakefield Trinity next week (March 31).
Saints took the lead late in a first half which - though scoreless for a long time - did not lack for excitement. When the champions went over for the first points of the night it was Hurrell wreaking the havoc. Watching the defeat by Leigh in particular it had struck me how little creativity we had in the backs. It needed a difference maker with ball in hand. Hurrell proved to be that in the opening half here, scoring his first try since the World Club Challenge defeat of Penrith Panthers before laying on the second for Tommy Makinson to help Saints to a 12-0 lead.
Hurrell doesn’t convince everyone and I must admit to having my doubts when Kristian Woolf brought him to Saints from the Rhinos in 2022. Even here he left me with the impression that he would make a great NFL running back more so than a rugby league centre. Running backs are typically destructive or elusive runners who do a lot of damage to opposition defences but crucially they do not have to make any tackles. In American sports they have people for that. Hurrell regrettably does have to muck in defensively and he showed his frailties in that area at times during this game. But his attacking contribution was something we had clearly been lacking in the two games in which he was suspended. And it was ultimately decisive.
The 12-point lead that the Tongan centre did so much to create would have been a great reward for a first half which the Giants may argue that they edged. To that point most of the problems caused by Watson’s side were created by Pryce’s elusive and powerful running. Yet the Giants’ route back into the game came just before half-time and was provided partly by a man who has won three Grand Finals with Saints.
Kevin Naiqama’s retirement after his 2021 Grand Final glory with Saints lasted about as long as one of Charlie Brooks’ Eastenders sabbaticals. He was first tempted back by Sydney Roosters in the NRL before somehow being persuaded to play Wattoball in front of 4,500 every week at The John Smith’s Stadium. I can’t have been the only Saints fan reflecting on this as the Fijian’s body-skittling run set up the position from where Ash Golding dummied Lewis Dodd into a costly over-read and plunged over from dummy half. Russell’s conversion meant that Saints were only a converted score ahead at the break at 12-6.
Hurrell was involved again as Saints crucially nudged the lead out to eight points 10 minutes after the break. He was caught high as he threatened again, this time beneath the shadow of the posts to allow Makinson to slot over another easy two points from the resultant penalty.
Green Card
There was controversy soon after when the green card - a device aimed at stopping players from feigning injury to give their side a breather when under pressure - a device long insisted upon by Woolf having seen one too many attacks broken up this way during his tenure - was shown to Jonny Lomax after he was hit late by former Saints team-mate Jack Ashworth.
The controversy stemmed from the fact that Ashworth was not even penalised while Lomax was the one forced out of the action for two minutes. I’m not sure that this was how Woolf saw it playing out when he called for something to be done about so-called football-style play acting or what the NBA refers to as ‘flopping’. Besides - much to the disgust of the rest of rugby league watching public- Jon Wilkin on comms for Sky repeatedly insisted that Lomax does not feign injury. He should know. He’s his mate. So suck it up Buffet Warriors.
The Senior Controversy
The controversy continued when the Giants finally registered their second try with just 15 minutes to go. It was an enterprising move which saw the ball switched to the Giants left. Hurrell had been targeted all night defensively and it was in that area that Innes Senior was put in space for a diving finish.
The on-field decision of Jack Smith was crucial here. Without really having the best view he sent Senior’s iffy grounding up as a try to video referee Liam Moore. Replays showed that Senior only really grounded the ball with his wrist or forearm. But they also showed that that there had been no separation between his arm/wrist and the ball. With pictures inconclusive except to those who wear their club’s special 3-D glasses 24 hours a day there was little option but for Moore to support Smith’s on-field decision. Had Smith sent it up as no try then that decision would have had to stand too. Like it or not that is the protocol under which our video review system currently runs. Do you know who I blame? The people who wanted more technology in the game as if it would somehow eliminate all wrangling over calls.
Russell produced another great conversion to bring his side to within two points at 14-12 but in truth there were not too many alarms after that. Huddersfield had plenty of the ball as Hurrell’s ball-carrying prowess receded under the weight of the defensive examination he was given but there were no real heart-stopping moments as Huddersfield threw everything - including their would-be saviour Connor at the Saints line. We grimly hung on without really threatening to score again ourselves but in the context of defeats to Leigh and Leeds already in 2023 the result was always going to be the most important thing.
Matty Lees’ Busy Day
With Saints’ signature flair still AWOL a lot of the post-game focus fell on the amazing defensive efforts of Matty Lees. The Saints prop clocked in with a back-breaking 68 tackles. To put this context the last Saints player to even reach 50 tackles in a game was Lussick in a 13-12 win at Wakefield in July of last year.
I think we can all agree that this is a phenomenal defensive effort from Lees. And needed too given the pressure that the Saints defence came under in that difficult second half. Yet what it says about our team’s performance is more troubling. Should any of our players be needing to make that many defensive efforts? Not if we are exerting the kind of control on a game that Wellens would like us to, I’m sure.
Yet it is great to see Lees receive the plaudits for once. Like pretty much any prop who has put on a Saints shirt over the last 10 years - except maybe Luke Thompson for a year or two before his departure to Canterbury Bulldogs - Lees has been in the shadow of Walmsley. The recent eye-test suggests that Walmsley’s influence may be starting to drop off slightly from the ridiculous heights of a season or two ago when he was racking up 200 metres with ludicrous regularity. Lees has not yet proven to be that kind of metre eater with ball in hand but sooner or later someone is going to have to take over the mantle of being Saints’ premier front rower from the man who will turn 33 on Easter Monday. Lees’ time may just be coming.
Phil Clarke & Cheating
With the two points safely in the bag those of us watching on television in hospital rooms (I came home today, Friday, thank you for asking) were subjected to what could be a significant moment in the somehow long-running punditry career of Philip Clarke.
In Lees’ post-game interview he let slip the not-at-all-surprising-to-me revelation that one of the ways in which Saints had managed to hang on under the weight of the hosts possession late in the game was by slowing down the ruck and accepting a few extra ‘6 again’ calls from Smith. Blackrod’s finest - who as we all know has been supporting Wigan for longer than Billy Boston - grasped this opportunity to club Saints over the head with a perceived wrongdoing.
Harking back to a Saints win over Salford Red Devils (the 2022 Super League semi-final I think, it can get confusing when a patient starts rambling) - Clarke pointed out that similar tactics had helped them through to the Grand Final which they went on to win against Leeds Rhinos. Only he didn’t stop at that suggestion, instead going on to describe that philosophy as ‘cheating’. Inflammatory Language Klaxon.
Look, I don’t like the practice of slowing down the ruck either but it is not cheating by any stretch of the imagination. Saints - and it must now be said other clubs who have learned the same lessons - are able to slow it down near their own line at the cost of only an extra set of six because that is what the ill thought through ‘6 again’ rule allows. Doing it early in a defensive set is just the logical conclusion of smart rugby league coaches finding ways to exploit the rules. If you can do something to avoid conceding a try to the cost of only having to defend a tackle or two extra then why wouldn’t you? The problem is not Saints or any other club ‘cheating’. The problem is the rule itself. It has to go.
Of course we should not dismiss the possibility that Clarke knows this. He has been sliding down the Sky punditry batting order for the last 20 years and desperately needs something other than his wardrobe choices to stay relevant. So as much as his anger seems to come from a place of pro-Wigan/anti-Saints sentiment it is also very likely a last ditch career move. After all, accusing the four-in-a-row champions of cheating is very good telly.
Next Up
Having secured a third win in five Super League outings the Saints ship has now somewhat steadied. They are up to sixth in the table which - if the season finished tomorrow - would be enough to maintain the club’s proud record of competing in every playoff series in Super League history. Yet finishing sixth in the table is also the sort of result which will get a Saints club legend sacked and have fans making all sorts of revisionist theories about his playing career. We have seen it before. There is more for Wellens to do.
That starts on Friday (March 31) when Wakefield Trinity come to town. Fortunately for Saints and Wellens the start made by Trinity has most observers - including their own fans - wondering whether Mark Applegarth’s (who?) side are up there among the worst to have ever played in the top flight in the summer era. They are winless through their first six games, have been held scoreless in half of those games and scored just seven tries. By comparison the half-firing Saints have crossed for more than twice as many (16) despite having played one game fewer. A Trinity win would be a seismic shock.
With that, perhaps the focus should be on establishing a bit more fluency around our lumpy attack. Percival’s availability would help. And what will the next seven days hold fitness wise for our one in five man Hopoate. Can he string two games together? Should Wellens give him the opportunity anyway? Will he let the shackles off Dodd? There is plenty of intrigue remaining in what should really be a routine win.
All of which you should be able to read about here next week, with your preview coming on Wednesday. See you then.
Giants; Pryce, Golding, Halsall, Naiqama, Senior, Marsters, Russell, Hill, Peats, Trout, McQueen, Livett, Yates. Interchanges: Connor, Ikahihifo, Rushton, Ashworth
Saints; Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Hopoate, Bennison, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Mata’utia, Sironen, Bell. Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Paasi, Royle, Lussick
Referee: Jack Smith
Saints Prop Matty Smith? I did know it was Lees.
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