Saints made it three Super League wins in a row with a seven-try, 38-0 stroll over bottom club Wakefield Trinity on Friday night (March 31).
The Team News
Head Coach Paul Wellens made changes to the side which had edged past Huddersfield Giants the previous week. Mark Percival returned in the centres, a development which saw the unfortunate Jon Bennison miss out as Will Hopoate moved out to the left wing. That seemed incredibly harsh on the young winger who had been ever present in the Super League until then. Irrespective of his form or his woeful injury record since joining Saints the NRL experience of Hopoate always seems to get him back in the side whenever he gets the green light from the medical staff. Which admittedly is about as often as a James Bolam character in an 80s sit-com.
The other changes saw Morgan Knowles return from suspension to replace Sione Mata’utia and George Delaney step up to the bench for only his second first team appearance in place of the injured Agnatius Paasi. Mata’utia was ruled out under concussion protocols having failed a head injury assessment (HIA) in the early moments of the Giants game.
Wakefield boss Mark Applegarth gave debuts to Will Dagger - signed this week from Hull KR in a deal which saw Corey Hall move the other way - and Innes Senior who was beginning a third spell on loan from Huddersfield. Big name signing Kevin Proctor did not feature despite being named in the original 21-man squad, while Trinity were still without Lewis Murphy, Tom Lineham, Max Jowitt and Kelepi Tanginoa to name only a few.
The Game
For the second week in succession Saints suffered an injury blow very early in proceedings. Mata’utia lasted only 27 seconds of the clash at Huddersfield last week and though it was not as quick, the loss of Alex Walmsley to what is thought to be a hamstring injury after only two minutes was equally damaging if not more so. He now faces a race against time to be fit for the derby game at Wigan on Good Friday (April 7). More on the importance of that later.
Already without Paasi, the loss of Walmsley was no doubt a significant contributor to the anxiety in Saints play early on. Jonny Lomax was playing his 300th game for Saints and was twice denied tries on account of poor decision making by his team-mates. First Knowles broke through but chose to try to barrell through the last defender instead of making an easy assist to the supporting Lomax. Then Jack Welsby had similarly sticky fingers with options including Lomax either side.
Saints first try had come quickly. Only seven minutes were on the clock when a flowing right to left move culminated in a delicious catch and pass by Welsby to put Percival in for his second try of the season and his 110th in Saints colours. Tommy Makinson could not convert from out wide on the left touchline so the lead was restricted to 4-0.
It stayed that way for another 25 minutes as Saints struggled to find any attacking rhythm and Trinity grimly hung on. When the next score came it was Hopoate who crossed. Lewis Dodd linked with James Roby before feeding Lomax. The Saints stand-off then found a long ball out wide to Hopoate who had a clear run to the line. It is well documented that the Tongan international has only made 15 appearances in the red vee since signing at the beginning of 2022. What may be less well known is that this was only his second try in those 15 appearances. The other came in a 60-6 rout of Hull FC in August. Makinson suffered more difficulty with the conversion - from a similar position to his first attempt - so the lead stayed at 8-0.
Makinson did manage to trouble the scorers with four minutes left until half-time. But he did it with ball in hand rather than off the boot. Again it was Lomax providing the assist, looping a sublime pass out to the winger after combining again with Roby and Dodd. Makinson just sneaked in at the right hand corner without the need for his trademark diving finish. It was his second of the season after opening his 2023 account at Huddersfield last time out. Yet he did not attempt the extras, handing responsibility on to Percival. He fared no better with his first attempt so despite having crossed the Trinity line on three occasions Saints only held a two-score lead at 12-0.
That changed early in the second half when the centre converted a penalty to make it 14-0 before the try which more or less settled the dispute on 57 minutes. Dodd started and ended the move, first feeding James Bell and then being on hand to take the scoring pass from Welsby after he had been put through a gap by the former Toulouse and Leigh man. Percival’s task in front of goal was straightforward and Saints led 20-0.
Saints were playing with much more fluency now, albeit against a winless, tiring team devoid of anything that even looked like confidence. Even if you squinted really hard. The next score came just five minutes after Dodd’s effort when following a scrum the same trinity of Roby, Dodd and Lomax (see what I did there?) provided Konrad Hurrell with all the space he needed. He crashed through a weak attempt at a tackle by Mason Lino and ran over fullback Dagger for good measure as he plunged over for Saints’ fifth try of the evening. Percival’s third goal from four attempts pushed the lead out to 26-0.
Six minutes later Lomax grabbed the try that his all around performance deserved in his milestone game. Dodd’s high kick had Dagger and Senior in all sorts of trouble and when the ball was spilled it fell kindly to Lomax in enough space to scoot over between two Wakefield defenders. It capped a top performance from Lomax who finished with four assists and 20 tackles to go along with that try. The conversion was another simple one for Percival as Saints moved into a 32-0 lead.
The final try went to Hurrell. His second of the night and his 15th in 32 appearances for Saints arrived seven minutes from time. Again Lomax was the architect, taking Joey Lussick’s pass from dummy half before just holding Matty Ashurst in the Trinity defensive line long enough to then offer up a short ball for Hurrell to crash over. Percival’s final goal of the night - his fifth - rounded off a dominant performance particularly in the second half.
Wakefield Nil
You can’t be too sniffy about a 38-0 win in Super League but it has to be remembered that we were playing against an opposition which currently looks as weak as anything in Super League history. They have players to come back into the side so may yet improve but for the moment this is a Trinity side that has come up with a big fat zero on the scoreboard in four of its seven Super League outings so far. That might well be an unprecedented level of offensive incompetence in the summer era. This lot are making Castleford look like they might not be terrible.
Still, you can only beat what is put in front of you so Wellens can be pleased with his side’s defensive effort and by the fact Saints scored some quality, well-worked tries.
Has Percival Solved The Goal-Kicking Problem?
Was there a goal-kicking problem? Before this one Makinson had kicked nine of his 12 attempts at goal this season. A 75% success rate is not exactly a disaster and - in fairness to the England winger - the two he missed in this one before Percival took over the duties were from very difficult positions. Percival certainly had more luck with the opportunities he was presented with as the Trinity defence crumbled and Saints began to run in tries closer to the posts in the second half.
Considering that neither Makinson nor Percival is the first choice kicker - that was Dodd until he suffered a bad injury in the Good Friday derby last year which ended his season - then the situation could be viewed in a different light. Maybe we are fortunate to have two players who can step competently if not spectacularly into the role as we wait to see if and when Dodd will reclaim it.
The Stats Section
Walmsley is consistently among Saints’ top metre makers so it was always going to be interesting to see who would step up after the big prop forward left proceedings so early. Several men did. Six Saints topped the 100-metre mark led by Curtis Sironen with 174. Welsby added a further 160, Hurrell 153 to go with his try double, and there were 139 from another try scorer in Hopoate. Makinson reeled off 137 and finally Matty Lees chipped in with 114 in another all-action performance in both attack and defence.
Wakefield’s debutants were two of only three men in blue to get to the century. Dagger managed 125 and Senior 101. Sandwiched in between those was winger Lee Kershaw with 121.
Defensively look no further than Lees. He backed up the 68 tackles he made in the win over the Giants with another 47 in this one. Knowles had 35 on his return and predictably Roby was there or thereabouts among Saints’ best defenders with another 32. Trinity’s Jay Pitts pushed Lees all the way for the honour of being the game’s top tackler with 44, Jai Whitbread had 39 and Jordy Crowther 37.
Tellingly, Saints made eight clean breaks against what would you believe is only the league’s second worst defence (Hull FC have given up more points), while Trinity could only manage two. Saints’ 11 handling errors is about par for them particularly in a Wellens team which seems more keen on an offload than Kristian Woolf’s vintage ever did. Trinity coughed it up 17 times to take their season’s tally to 86. Yet surprisingly all of Castleford, Leeds and Wigan have all committed more mistakes than that. Wakefield’s problem is not so much dropping the ball but posting points after they have hung on to it.
Up Next
I think we all know what happens next. When it seems like the supermarkets are selling nothing but hot cross buns and chocolate eggs you know that a meeting with our nearest and dearest is on the horizon. This win has lifted Saints up to fourth in the table and although that might not be anything to shout about for a team which has won four Grand Finals in a row it does at least show that Wellens’ side are on an upward trajectory since those early defeats to Leeds and Leigh.
There is everything to play for and not just local bragging rights. Should Saints emerge from the DW Stadium with a win they would join Wigan on 10 points and will still have a game in hand. A win bigger than 25 points - although unlikely - would see Saints overtake Wigan in the league standings. Yet lose and we will fall four points behind the neighbours which is hardly ideal even at this early stage of the year.
Both sides are preparing against the backdrop of worrying hamstring problems to key players. We know Walmsley left this one just a couple of minutes in but 24 hours earlier Wigan flyer Jai Field suffered similarly. Both are key to their teams in different ways and both will be sorely missed if they don’t make it.
Whoever plays it should be an exciting contest which - although far from decisive - will at least offer the kind of test that just could not be provided by Mark Applegarth’s currently beleaguered outfit on this night.
Saints: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Hopoate, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Sironen, Bell, Knowles. Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Royle, Lussick, Delaney
Wakefield Trinity: Dagger, Kershaw, Lyne, Langi, Senior, Lino, Smith, Battye, Kay, Whitbread, Ashurst, Pitts, Crowther. Interchanges: Forber, Bowes, Butler, Eseh
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