Let’s forget about our shaky Super League form for a week eh? It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day and Saints enter the Challenge Cup feeling semi-good as they visit Halifax Panthers for a sixth round tie on Friday night (May 19, kick-off 7.45pm). That’s the last 16, if you were wondering.
It’s fair to say it has been a mixed start to life under first year Head Coach Paul Wellens. Last week’s 26-12 victory over Salford was only his sixth win in 11 Super League games in charge. But that followed the glory of winning the world title against another set of Panthers - those of Penrith - in their own back yard in February. Perhaps Wellens is a knockout football specialist.
He certainly can’t be accused of taking Championship Halifax lightly judging by the make-up of his 21-man squad. Captain and record breaker James Roby will have to wait another week for game 533 but other than that Wellens has selected a squad that is just about as strong as it could be.
Other than Roby the major absentees in the pack are the suspended pair of Curtis Sironen and Matty Lees. Sironen has picked up a one game ban for a late hit on Brodie Croft in the Salford win while a midweek tribunal decided that Lees’ high shot on Shane Wright was worthy of a two-game rest. They’ll be missed but it could be worse. They could be Ivan Toney.
Besides there are some useful operators coming back to pick up the slack. Morgan Knowles is back in contention after a five-game ban for a derby day hip drop on Mike Cooper, while Agnatius Paasi and Sione Mata’utia are also included after spells on the sideline through injuries picked up in the Easter fixture. Paasi has had an ankle operation while Mata’utia has been handled very carefully after picking up a couple of concussions in a short space of time.
Wellens didn’t seem convinced about Mata’utia’s fitness when he spoke earlier in the week. It seems a wait and see approach is being taken with the ex-Newcastle Knight this week. If he cannot start - or take any part - then James Bell would be the sensible choice to partner Joe Batchelor in the second row now that the former Leigh man looks set to vacate the loose forward spot he has been covering for Knowles. Sam Royle would disagree and may yet get the nod after being left out last week.
Paasi’s return is timely given Lees’ absence. It gives Wellens options in the front row with Alex Walmsley, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and George Delaney also included. Dan Norman may get an opportunity to break up that quartet while Jake Wingfield can also operate in the middle. With no Roby it looks like Joey Lussick will earn a recall after being surprisingly omitted from the 17 to face the Red Devils. He wasn’t great the previous week in France but that could apply to the other 16 on duty that night too. There is no other specialist hooker in the 21 so Lussick’s inclusion looks a no brainer.
Konrad Hurrell and Mark Percival continue to be the main losses in the back division. Hurrell missed out on the Salford game with a neck injury. It appears he will continue to sit it out until consultations with the specialist can provide more clarity on the problem. It’s not an area of the anatomy to be taking chances with. Percival is still nursing the hamstring injury that has prevented him from playing since the defeat at Hull KR in mid-April. All of which could provide another opportunity for Ben Davies to partner Will Hopoate in the centres although Wesley Bruines is another with a realistic shot of making the line-up for what would be his debut.
Tommy Makinson is included but must be a candidate for a rest. He has a chequered fitness record, is not getting any younger and yet is one of the most crucial pieces of the Saints puzzle. It could be imperative that he is at his best late in the season - assuming Saints make the top six - so this one could offer a chance for him to take a breather. If he does Saints will still have Tee Ritson and Jon Bennison to fill the wing spots. Bennison is also a candidate for the fullback role should Wellens decide to give Jack Welsby a break.
Or…Welsby could move into the halves. There are arguments for going without either of Jonny Lomax or Lewis Dodd this week. Lomax was fantastic last time out against Paul Rowley’s men but has all the same issues as Makinson - and the same level of importance - which could tempt Wellens into a change. Meanwhile Dodd’s form is underwhelming. Yet Wellens has so far shown no appetite to sit the youngster down for a bit of thinking time.
The hosts currently sit fourth in the second tier with a record of seven wins and four losses from their 11 league outings so far. They warmed up for their crack at the world champions with an 11-try 60-0 demolition of Whitehaven at The Shay. Winger Lachlan Walmsley helped himself to four tries while both James Woodburn-Hall and Eribe Doro grabbed two each.
There is a smattering of Super League experience within Head Coach Simon Grix’s squad. Adam Tangata spent two years on loan at Wakefield, joined them permanently in 2021 before realising the error of his ways and beating a hasty retreat back to Halifax where he had started his professional career in 2015. Ben Kavanagh has also spent time at Wakefield but more impressively made 54 appearances for Hull KR in 2017 and 2018. Matty Gee started out with Salford before making 70 appearances for London Broncos.
Among those you may be more familiar with are former Wakefield (again) and Huddersfield hooker Kyle Wood, ex-Salford back rower Ryan Lannon and 14-cap French international Kevin Larroyer who has turned out for both Toulouse Olympique and Catalans Dragons as well as Hull KR and Castleford. Halfback Louis Jouffret is another French international and he will likely be partnered in the creative department by Ireland’s former London Bronco Joe Keyes.
Halifax come in to this one on a run of four consecutive wins in the league. Their last defeat was a 26-22 reverse at home to Bradford Bulls in a televised Monday night encounter more than a month ago. Whatever team Wellens puts on the field are likely to represent too much of a step up in class for Fax but it will be a great opportunity for them to test themselves against a Saints side which - though in some rather patchy form at present - are world champions after all.
These two met in the Challenge Cup just four years ago when Halifax went on an incredible run to the semi-finals. They’d seen off Hunslet, Dewsbury Rams and London Broncos as well as the Bulls before going down 26-2 to Saints at Bolton. Tangata and Kavanagh both featured in that one while Jacob Fairbank and Brandon Moore are among those in with a chance of facing the champions again. Just four Saints who were in the 17 that day are in line to feature this week. Alex Walmsley, Makinson, Lomax and McCarthy-Scarsbrook were involved as were the currently absent Roby, Percival and Lees.
Perhaps the most famous cup clash between the sides came in the final in 1987. I told you I’d mention it. My 11 year-old self looked on miserably as two disallowed Mark Elia tries made Andy Platt cry all the way to Wigan within a year and made a hero out of Fax fullback Graham Eadie as player-coach Chris Anderson - who would go on to take charge of the Australian Kangaroos - led his side to a 19-18 win. It was their fifth and - to date - last Challenge Cup win. During which time Saints have lifted the trophy on eight occasions to take their tally to 13 overall. But none of them have quite made up for Platt’s forward pass and his subsequent tears and treachery. Well…maybe 96…
On the face of it there isn’t much chance of Grix’s men emulating the class of ‘87. I’m not going out on too much of a limb by forecasting a Saints win by upwards of 24 points.
Squads;
Halifax Panthers;
1. James Woodburn-Hall 2. Lachlan Walmsley 3. Zack McComb 4. Ben Tibbs 5. James Saltonstall 6. Louis Jouffret 7. Joe Keyes 8. Adam Tangata 9. Brandon Moore 10. Dan Murray 11. Ben Kavanagh 12. Matty Gee 13. Jacob Fairbank 14. Kyle Wood 16. Will Calcott 18. Brandon Pickersgill 19. Ryan Lannon 20. Tom Inman 21. Eribe Doro 22. Jake Maizen 31.Kevin Larroyer
Saints;
1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Will Hopoate, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 8. Alex Walmsley, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Joe Batchelor, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 18. Jake Wingfield, 19. James Bell, 20. Dan Norman, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 25. Tee Ritson, 30. George Delaney, 34. Wesley Bruines.
Referee: Aaron Moore
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