It was never going to be flashy in the conditions, but Saints responded to last week’s hammering at Hull FC with this fairly routine 22-0 success over Castleford Tigers on Friday night (June 30).
The wretched conditions were no clue to the fact that this one was played on the last day of June. Yet as we go into July Paul Wellens’ side are fifth in the Super League table with a game in hand on all those above them. Victory at Warrington next Friday night (July 7) will take Saints above Daryl Powell’s side and into the top four. Possibly even higher if other results go their way.
If last week’s team selection was slightly eccentric from Wellens this week’s tinkering was more or less forced on him. Curtis Sironen joined Tommy Makinson on the injured list and so Sione Mata’utia started for the first time since the Challenge Cup win at Halifax in mid-May. His last start in Super League had been a month prior to that in the 14-6 defeat at Wigan on Good Friday.
On the other side of the back row Joe Batchelor was also missing. He pulled up with a tight hamstring earlier in the day and will miss a couple of weeks at least. His place in the side went to James Bell who had been unfortunate not to have made a start since the Magic Weekend drubbing of Huddersfield Giants. That has been mostly due to the presence of Morgan Knowles who was mercifully moved back into his familiar loose forward role after filling the hooking role last week. James Roby was restored to that position with Joey Lussick available off the bench as sanity prevailed.
Along with Makinson Saints were without Tee Ritson on the opposite wing. The ex-Barrow Raider had started the last nine in a row - scoring just the solitary try in the win over Warrington on April 20. A knee problem kept him out of this one which meant Jon Bennison kept his place. Makinson’s absence was covered by Will Hopoate, not required in the centres thanks to the return from concussion protocols of Mark Percival.
Riley Dean came in for a Tigers debut after joining on loan from Wire. He slotted into the halves alongside Jacob Miller as Jack Broadbent moved to nine to cover for the injured Nathan Massey. Joe Westerman was conspicuous by his absence so Sam Hall was given the loose forward role. This column will refrain from speculating about Westerman’s whereabouts but you can write your own jokes.
It was a very cagey affair early on. Both teams forced what turned out to be fruitless goal-line dropouts in the opening minutes. Castleford’s came on the back of a 40/20 by Dean who at times looked to be everything that Warrington are currently missing. But defences weren’t being tested by attacking play of any great complexity due to the persistent rain which was falling almost throughout and which had been around for hours before kick-off. Tackling was proving to be easier than handling in the soggy conditions.
The only try of the first half hour was scored by Mata’utia. Lewis Dodd lobbed a high ball towards the Saints left wing where Cas winger Will Tate spilled it. Mata’utia was first to react as he plunged over. It was his first try of what has been a stop-start season for him personally. It was a nice way to mark his 50th appearance for the club since joining from Newcastle Knights at the start of the 2021 season. Percival couldn’t add the extras so Saints led just 4-0.
All of which was reminiscent of Castleford’s second visit to Saints of 2019 when the only points in a 4-0 win were provided by a Regan Grace try. Saints won only 10-0 when the Tigers returned almost exactly a year later thanks to three Percival goals and a Theo Fages try. With the rain coming down sideways there was every chance that this was going to be a relatively low scoring clash.
The champions should have added to their tally when Jonny Lomax made inroads down the right and tried to find Konrad Hurrell in space close to the line. But as the defence closed in the Tongan centre was not able to take the pass in and the chance was gone.
The atmosphere was fairly flat at this point which is understandable. When you are cold and wet and defences are dominating the caution heavy attacks you don’t really have cause to get too excited. Jack Welsby improved the mood a few minutes before half-time when he crossed for Saints’ second try, his sixth try of the Super League season and his ninth in all competitions in 2023.
Kenny Edwards came up with an error deep in his own territory providing Saints with the field position. Roby picked up from the base of the scrum and found Lomax who shifted it on to Welsby. The fullback stepped casually inside the over-pursuing Alex Sutcliffe to go over untouched. This time Percival added the extras, at that point his 14th goal of the season and his 247th in 210 Saints appearances. A more than decent return for an occasional and often reluctant goal-kicker. He would improve on those figures by the end.
Saints were not exactly lighting up our Friday evening but nor did they look particularly threatened as the teams turned around with just those 10 points between them. Most of the action had taken place at the West end of the ground which Saints had been attacking even if Wellens’ side had not created bundles of chances. Their attacking play can best be described as functional, with a limited kicking game which for the most part was being dealt with by ex-England man Gareth Widdop at fullback. Widdop is a veteran of 195 NRL appearances during spells with Melbourne Storm and St George-Illawarra Dragons. He was not going to be easily flustered by the same old high balls, rain or no rain.
Dean came to the rescue to snuff out Saints’ first chance of the second half. He was on hand to intercept Percival’s attempted offload to Bennison close to the left touchline after Lomax had again been the architect of the opportunity,
Conditions were so bad that even Roby managed to butcher Saints’ next chance by knocking on at the play-the-ball just a few metres out. Yet the captain was inevitably involved when the third Saints try arrived. He linked up with Dodd and Lomax as they worked the ball out to Bennison on the left touchline. He seemed to have almost no room to work with but after skilfully skirting the sideline he showed great strength as he barrelled into Widdop and plonked the ball down as the Cas fullback tried to cover the danger. Percival’s second goal of the night pretty much put the result beyond doubt at 16-0.
There were some strange goings on as Percival jogged back to his own half for the restart. He was involved in what seemed a lengthy discussion with one of the medical team. As the conversation wore on it seemed that Percival was becoming more and more animated. It’s wild speculation but it looked a lot like the medical man was trying and failing to persuade Percival to leave the field.
I can’t imagine that it was anything related to another head knock. Had it been so he surely would have left the scene without any say in the matter. Gone are the days when players are able to decide for themselves how fit they are to continue, especially when it comes to injuries to the head. Percival made it through the remainder of the game so we can only assume (and hope) that whatever was being discussed did not present any risk to any part of his anatomy. He is going to be needed at Warrington this week.
When Cas came closest to scoring Saints had Hopoate to thank for a stellar defensive effort. Miller placed a lob to the left corner - not unlike the one Dodd came up with earlier for the Mata’utia try. Jason Qareqare - a man who has previous for scoring against Saints - reeled it in but before he could think about grounding the ball he was hauled into touch by Hopoate short of the line. The former Canterbury Bulldog didn’t offer much in attack - most of the 125 metres he gained were in other areas of the field - but he showed his defensive qualities and the value of his experience here. It was the most important of his 10 tackles while he did not miss one all night.
Lomax had two presentable opportunities to get over for a try but came up empty on each occasion. First he was unable to handle Bell’s pass close to the line before he was denied by a combination of the Tigers defence and the goalpost. Receiving it from Lussick the Saints stand-off jinked inside two Cas defenders and burrowed low for the line. As the defence desperately tried to push him back or at least get something under the ball to prevent the grounding Lomax appeared to collide with the post and land the wrong side of the try line from a Saints point of view.
When the final Saints try did arrive Lomax was inevitably involved. An error by former Saint Jordan Turner gave Saints good ball in Tigers territory to allow Lussick to feed Lomax. He found Percival on the left edge and - showing no obvious physical effects - the centre used Bennison as a foil before cutting inside and scoring his fourth try of another season which has been affected by injuries. It was only Percival’s 11th appearance of the season and his ninth out of a possible 16 Super League outings.
His fitness or otherwise could be a big key to igniting a Saints attack which has scored only 60 tries this term. Even allowing for the game in hand that is still a long way behind the 81 bagged by the Catalans Dragons who are the leaders in both try scoring and in the Super League standings. That’s probably not a coincidence. Saints have scored 135 points fewer than the Dragons in 2023. It seems clear where improvement is most needed. Percival goaled his own try to give him a 10-point haul for the night and Saints a 22-0 lead.
That was the way it stayed in what was an error strewn ending to the game for both sides. It all came to a conclusion when Widdop made a half break only to be pushed into touch by Hurrell. He had left the scene earlier but fears of any injury concerns look to have been allayed by his return. He did replace Hopoate however, which might not be great news considering his miserable fitness record during his two seasons in St Helens.
Though it was helped by the conditions and arguably the level of the opponent Saints’ defence was the major plus to take out of this one. It was their second clean sheet of the season having won 38-0 at hime to Wakefield on the last day of March. That was at a time when everybody seemed to be shutting out Trinity but overall the defensive numbers for Saints are still a source of great encouragement. They have the best defence in the league, conceding an average of only a hair above 14 points per game. The next best is Wigan who average around 15.5. The ability to keep opponents off your try line is always crucial but never more so than at playoff time. Providing they find enough consistency to stay in the top six Saints’ defence will give them a shot at going all the way for a fifth year in a row. Even if the attack veers between the chaotic and the toothless at times. Particularly when it rains it seems.
Bennison picked up the sponsor’s player of the match award and the statistics show why. He made more metres than anyone else on the field. Many of his 206 metres came from returning kicks but that is a valuable skill as it usually results in starting sets in good field position. Alex Walmsley was Saints’ next best with 138 followed by the 125 managed by Hopoate. Bell (115), Percival (112), Welsby (106) and Knowles (106) all topped the century mark also. Knowles’ effort was almost double his average per game for the season coming in. It would be nice to think that he is finding some form after what has been a pretty turbulent year so far for the England international.
Cas did not have a single player over the 100 mark which speaks to the quality of Saints’ defence and is a reasonable indicator of which part of the field most of the game was played in.
Saints’ top tackler was Bell with 41. Of the others only Roby was required to make more than 30. He registered another 31 to take him over 400 for the season at an average of 28.9 per game. That’s still a couple ahead of the industrious Bell who manages 27.3 per game. Perhaps because of the fact that Saints regularly dominate possession the only one of their number in the top 20 for tackles is Matty Lees. While restricting himself to 28 in this game Lees is the only Saint with over 500 on the year with 518 at an average of 34.5 per game. This was a relative night off for him, albeit a wet one.
No such rest for the Tigers players, seven of whom had to make over 30 stops. Broadbent’s workload soared with his switch to hooker as he led all tacklers with 53. Sam Hall recovered from an early HIA to make 37 while George Griffin had 36. Brad Martin (34), Liam Watts (31), Edwards and Sutcliffe (both 30) were the other overworked defenders for Andy Last’s side.
Considering the monsoon the error count was nothing extraordinary for either side. Saints came up with 11 which is only slightly up on their season average before kick-off of 10.4 per game. Cas managed to make only eight handling errors - a big improvement on the 13 per game they averaged coming in. But then you could make the argument that you are going to make fewer errors if you allow your opponents to dominate possession so much. Cas’ tally of just three offloads is an indicator of both their reluctance to be expansive in the deluge but also of the amount of time they spent playing without the ball. By contrast Saints came up with nine.
As much as I dislike conservative tactics sometimes you have to win ugly. This was one such occasion given the weather and I’m sure we’d all settle for something similar in the trip to Warrington in a few days time. Powell’s side are in the midst of a major wobble having won only three of their last nine league outings. That comes after winning their first eight in a row and threatening to have the League Leaders Shield in the bag by now. Instead they are fourth and will slip further if Saints can turn them over for a second time in 2023. Saints have a decent record at the Halliwell Jones Stadium having not lost there since before the start of the pandemic in 2020. It could be a vital two points this time around. Second place is well within reach now that the teams just below the Dragons have become bunched together so tightly.
The so-called ‘drive for five’ is alive.
Saints;
Welsby, Hopoate, Hurrell, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Mata’utia, Bell, Knowles. Interchanges: Lussick, Paasi, Delaney, McCarthy-Scarsbrook
Castleford:
Widdop, Tate, Turner, Mellor, Qareqare, Dean, Miller, Watts, Broadbent, Griffin, Edwards, Sutcliffe, Hall. Interchanges: Robb, Mustapha, Vete, Martin
Referee: Aaron Moore.
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