The struggle to find consistency in 2023 resumes when Saints host Castleford Tigers on Friday night (June 30, kick-off 8.00pm).
An audible thud could be heard as Paul Wellens’ side crashed back down to earth on the wrong end of a 34-6 pasting at Hull FC last time out. That followed a six-game winning streak in all competitions which had us all believing that the champions had finally shrugged off their early season wobbles. Now - in modern sporting parlance - we go again as the jockeying for position within the top six throws up a different story each week.
Saints badly need a win in this one. Not only because a defeat could see them drop out of the six, but also to restore some confidence after taking a bit of a battering at Hull. If Saints were to go down to Andy Last’s Tigers and Hull KR win at schizophrenia’s Leeds Rhinos then Saints would be on the outside of the playoff places looking in. They’d still have a game in hand but sitting in seventh position after 16 of 27 league games would bring about a fair amount of discomfort to a side which has never failed to make the playoffs in the Super League era.
Cas currently have no such lofty ambitions. Before last week’s surprise win over Warrington they had only managed three wins from their opening 15 matches. Two of those have been against a Rhinos team for whom no shocking defeat is out of reach. The other was against Wakefield who have spent much of 2023 presenting their case for the title of the worst team ever to play in Super League. Yet even they beat Leeds. The Tigers are 10th and likely to stay there whatever happens in this one but they can go level on points with Huddersfield should they win and the Giants take an expected hammering against Wigan.
There are two changes to the Saints squad from the one which was named for the Hull defeat. Mark Percival is back after missing out at the MKM Stadium due to concussion protocols. He replaces Wesley Bruines - yet to make his debut for Saints and again finding himself the odd man out when more celebrated names are available. Curtis Sironen’s hamstring problem means he is not available so Sam Royle comes back into the reckoning. Or at least Wellens’ thinking. Royle hasn’t featured since the loss at Catalans in early May. Even with Sironen out his prospects of a 16th Saints appearance look bleak with the likes of Joe Batchelor, Sione Mata’utia and James Bell all ahead of him in the pecking order.
Mata’utia is likely to step up from the bench where he has been for the last five matches. He should partner Batchelor in the second row in front of Morgan Knowles at 13. Hopefully Wellens has dispensed with the idea of starting Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook in that role. If it is not Knowles then it should be Bell, though he will start on the bench in all likelihood.
The other mystery in the pack options is the fate of Joey Lussick. We’d all expect James Roby to start but will Lussick be the alternative hooker from the bench? The selection of Knowles at nine for the Hull game can most kindly be described as left field when you also have Lussick available. If Lussick doesn’t start whenever Roby cannot then you’d have to question exactly what the former Salford and Parramatta man is for.
Alongside Roby the front row is completed by Alex Walmsley and Matty Lees in what has become something of a holy trinity. Agnatius Paasi adds great impact from the bench and if Mata’utia is promoted to the starting side then it may create a bench spot for McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Royle or promising young front rower George Delaney.
Wellens has problems with his wingers. There is some talk that Tee Ritson may not make it because of a knee problem though he is included in the 21. Tommy Makinson is not after he was ruled out for around five weeks with the hamstring injury he sustained in the first encounter with Hull. The one which saw Saints ease through to the Challenge Cup semi-finals with a bit of help from Josh Griffin and his diplomacy skills. Jon Bennison should fill in but if Ritson doesn’t make it then we are likely to see one of Percival, Will Hopoate or even Konrad Hurrell shifted out to the wing from the centres. Two of those three would then be left to form the centre partnership.
Which just leaves the creative department. Fullback Jack Welsby has dropped some clangers this term but is indisputably Saints’ most potent attacking threat. For every try he offers up to the opposition he creates three for Saints. His wizardry is especially crucial given the beige form of the stifled Lewis Dodd at halfback. Yet the clamour for him to be replaced has so far had no influence on Wellens so you can expect him to continue in the halves alongside Jonny Lomax.
Last has made three changes to his 21 after that surprising win over Warrington and former Tigers coach Daryl Powell. Nathan Massey was a casualty of that win and drops out along with pack younglings Aaron Willis and George Hill. Albert Vete returns from a calf injury and is joined by former Hull FC error accumulator Mahe Fonua.
Former Wire man Gareth Widdop is the star turn if you’re talking about career accomplishments. He’s operating at fullback in the absence of Niall Evalds who is both injured and a constant topic of transfer gossip. Widdop and halfback Jack Broadbent could conceivably change places - at least at certain times - with Jacob Miller at stand-off. Riley Dean is on loan from Warrington and will hope to make a debut having been ineligible to face his parent club.
If Fonua plays he could slot into the centre alongside ex-Saint Jordan Turner. That would free up Alex Mellor to go back into the pack. Will Tate and the exciting Jason Qareqare started on the wings last time out but Last does still have the option of Bureta Fairamo.
Paul McShane remains the glue that holds the pack together, albeit you could argue that some of the adhesiveness is wearing off more rapidly with each passing season. Liam Watts still holds on to a starting prop spot alongside George Griffin - brother of jaw-wagging Josh. Vete adds impact from the bench while the back row will include two of Mellor, Kenny Edwards and Alex Sutcliffe ahead of amateur dick flick centrepiece Joe Westerman at loose forward.
These two met on the opening weekend of the season. On that occasion the since retired eccentric Jake Mamo cut Saints’ right edge defence to ribbons along with Evalds. Unfortunately for then coach Lee Radford the pair couldn’t find a pass between them and Saints eventually cruised to a 24-6 win thanks to a Walmsley double and tries from Ritson, Lomax and Welsby. It was a game that should also be forever remembered for Fairamo intercepting a pass late on, running 70 metres and then grounding the ball on the touch-in-goal line. An act of staggering incompetence which probably set the tone for much of what has followed during the Tigers’ season to this point.
A more famous meeting was perhaps the 2021 Challenge Cup final at Wembley. On that occasion Saints ended a 13-year spell without winning the competition with a 26-12 win courtesy of tries from Makinson, Roby, Theo Fages and Kyle Amor. Ten of that side could feature in this one while just five of the Cas 17 are in their 21 this week. Which perhaps says something about why their form has declined so sharply since those relatively heady days..
Don’t expect that form to improve here. Despite their win at Warrington I’m far from convinced that the 2023 Tigers can mix it with a Saints side coming off a jarring kick up the posterior. Motivation should be high and with home advantage I expect Saints to win with plenty to spare. Saints by 20.
Squads;
Saints;
1. Jack Welsby, 3. Will Hopoate, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Joe Batchelor, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. James Bell, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 25. Tee Ritson, 30. George Delaney.
Castleford Tigers;
3. Jordan Turner, 4. Mahe Fonua, 5. Bureta Faraimo, 6. Gareth Widdop, 7. Jacob Miller, 10. George Griffin, 11. Kenny Edwards, 12. Alex Mellor, 13. Joe Westerman, 15. Alex Sutcliffe, 17. Jack Broadbent, 19. Albert Vete, 20. Muizz Mustapha, 24. Cain Robb, 25. Brad Martin, 28. Sam Hall, 30. Jacob Hookem, 31. Jason Qareqare, 32. Liam Watts, 39. Will Tate, 40. Riley Dean
Referee: Aaron Moore
No comments:
Post a Comment