A dazzling first half performance earned Saints a fifth successive Super League win and kept hopes alive of not only a top two finish but maybe even a 10th League Leaders Shield.
Sadly, if we are talking merely about playoff implications, there isn’t a whole lot of difference between finishing first and finishing second in the table. Both provide the opportunity for a home playoff game in which the prize for victory is a place at Old Trafford. Yet for those of us brought up on the idea that the team finishing top takes the title there is still a degree of kudos to be gained from sitting atop the pile. All those formative years spent watching Wigan or Widnes win numerous titles that way have had a lasting effect. It still matters to me even if the game’s authorities have decreed - in conjunction with the broadcaster - that it’s not that important.
If the route to Old Trafford is almost identical for those in first and second there is a sizeable difference if you finish third. In that scenario you face a home game against a lower ranked qualifier before you can even think about getting into a semi-final. And if you do get that far then that semi-final will be away at one of the top two. We have not won away at Catalans, Wigan or even Leigh so far in 2023.
Back-to-back defeats for the Leopards have shrunk the chances of Saints finishing outside the top three but any position within that trio remains firmly on the table. Wigan’s 34-0 drubbing of Catalans Dragons in Perpignan left the French side just two points ahead of both of the old foes from either side of Billinge Lump with only four games left to play. Top spot is there now as a realistic possibility. We can smell it. But there’s also the beginnings in our nostrils of the rancid stench of third. At least Wigan and now the Dragons are in the same boat. None of them have a top two spot guaranteed.
Castleford began this one contemplating very different problems. They sit just two points above bottom club Wakefield Trinity with the pair now cut 10 and 12 points adrift of the top 10 respectively. Only one of them will go down to the Championship and even then it won’t be long before their fates and those of many others will be decided by IMG. Still, it can’t be a comfortable place to sit if you’re a Tigers fan who feels like it was only five minutes since facing Saints at Wembley in the Challenge Cup final or taking on Leeds Rhinos in the Grand Final.
For the visit of the champions new head coach Danny Ward was without his newest recruit in Blake Austin as well as the prolific Greg Eden. Jack Broadbent was also unavailable along with Nathan Massey and Suaia Matagi. Will Tate came in on the wing while Joe Westerman moved from his familiar loose forward role into the halves alongside Jacob Miller. Alex Mellor stepped up from the bench to start in the second row while Jordan Johnstone, Sam Hall and Billy Tsikrikas were all among Ward’s interchange options.
Saints were unchanged from last week’s home win over Hull KR. Jon Bennison continues to keep Tee Ritson out while Ben Davies is deputising for Konrad Hurrell. Morgan Knowles is making a decent fist of his switch from loose forward to prop and Sione Mata’utia and Joe Batchelor are a formidable back row pairing ahead of the impressive and versatile James Bell. George Delaney now has five consecutive starts under his belt.
At home to Rovers a week ago Saints didn’t really come alive until the second half. After leading only 6-0 at the break on that occasion they ran in 22 second half points to win 28-6. This week they did all their hard work in the first half. Head coach Paul Wellens gave his half-time address to a team which by then was already 30-0 up. While it is fantastic to see these devastating spells in which Saints pile on the points it is perhaps also a little concerning that they are only producing the goods for half a game, whether that be the first or second period. In this one you can perhaps put it down to a little complacency or a desire to save energy once the game was done. But the Hull KR game was a genuine struggle in the first half when the result was still in the balance.
Perhaps this is also down to the current injury situation. With Alex Walmsley out as well as Curtis Sironen and Agnatius Paasi Wellens is inevitably having to move down the pecking order when he gives his remaining stars a rest. You could certainly make the argument that it won’t matter if we’re blowing teams away before the changes are made but there is just the nagging feeling remaining that we’re going to need 80 minute performances against the bigger cheeses when the season goes on the line in September and October.
For now let’s celebrate the good stuff. The world champions produced a positively Saintsy first 40, running in five tries without a single point in reply. What is more, Mark Percival converted all of them. Saints have been scratching around for a reliable goal-kicker since Lewis Dodd’s Achilles injury in last year’s Good Friday derby. The halfback has only kicked one goal since then while Tommy Makinson has good days and bad days with the boot. Percival has only made 45 attempts since taking the role over from Makinson but he’s currently converting at 84%. That could be huge in tight knockout games.
Percival has also been doing his regular job pretty well of late. His 100th Super League try started the rout as he exchanged passes with Makinson to drift over with some ease. And he wasn’t finished with milestones there as his five goals took him past 1000 points in a Saints jersey. He has been operating on the right edge close to Makinson since Hurrell picked up an injury in the win over Leeds at the end of July. Percival’s form has been so impressive that there is a good argument for leaving him on the right side even when Hurrell returns. The Tongan could switch to the left to play alongside Bennison or Ritson but there are those who would argue that this would leave Saints vulnerable defensively. That’s certainly a consideration but there seems little doubt that Percival’s attacking output has improved since he switched flanks. Something for Wellens to ponder at least.
Also hitting a milestone of sorts was Makinson. The England winger picked up another brace and now has eight tries in his last four appearances and 18 in Super League this year. But perhaps more pertinently he crossed for his 171st and 172nd tries in Super League history which puts him outright ninth on the list of the competition’s all time top try scorers. He only needs one more to move alongside former Saint Leon Pryce in eighth, though he is still some way short of Danny McGuire’s record of 247. Thirty-one year-old Makinson is currently only contracted to Saints for next year but could extend further and move higher up that list. Incidentally the highest St Helens player on that list is a chap named Paul Wellens who is fifth on 199.
Makinson’s first was provided by a combination of James Roby, Jack Welsby and Batchelor and put Saints well in command at 12-0 up. His second was the result of an equally slick attacking movement but this time involving Moses Mbye, Bell, Jonny Lomax and Welsby. That was the final four-pointer of a dazzling opening half and it ensured that Saints hit the 30-point mark before the break. In between Makinson’s two efforts Bennison and Batchelor both went over as Saints settled the argument early. Bennison cut back across the face of an over pursuing defence having been fed by Mata’utia while Batchelor profited from a great break by Welsby after good work by Roby, Knowles and Lomax.
Lomax was the only Saint to get over in the second half, starting and finishing a move which went to Saints’ right through Welsby and Percival before reaching Makinson who came up with his second assist of the night to go with his try double. Percival missed his conversion for the first and only time from the right touchline but Saints still led 34-0.
Statistically Percival was Saints’ top ball carrier with 137 metres, just one ahead of Mata’utia on 136. Bell managed 125 while Makinson ended on 104. Readers of last week’s column may remember my observation that despite the growing praise he had received Delaney had yet to break the 100-metre barrier. That applies no more as the young prop came up with 107, just three ahead of Makinson’s 104-metre effort.
For the hosts only Hall (134), Charbel Tasipale (127) and Liam Watts (119) managed a century. Saints’ top tackler was Bell with 37 as no other visiting player was required to reach 30. Stand-in hooker Liam Horne led the way for Cas and for all involved with 40 tackles with George Lawler managing 34.
Maybe Wellens and his players might be slightly irked by their failure to keep a zero next to the Tigers name. The home side got on the board when a former Saints favourite in Jordan Turner touched down on the left edge after the ball had been worked to him by Miller, Westerman, Gareth Widdop and Foster. Widdop couldn’t add the extras but he and his team-mates can maybe console themselves in the knowledge that they are still 44 points better off than Wakefield should the relegation scrap come down to that particular tie-breaker. Ward’s men should perhaps have scored again after Sam Royle was yellow carded for a professional foul but Westerman’s pass to Elliott Wallis on the right wing was as forward as it was inaccurate.
Trinity are Saints next opponents as the run-in begins in West Yorkshire. The red vee also host Leigh and Hull in their last four as well as visiting Warrington. All are winnable but that outcome wouldn’t guarantee a top two spot should both Catalans and Wigan also win out from here. The Dragons have three out of four on the road with visits to Hull KR, Wakefield and Salford and just the one home game against Leeds. Wigan have Salford and Castleford at home and also go to both Leigh and Leeds. It’s been a season of surprises and fine margins so it is virtually impossible to predict the order in which the expected top three will finish.
The question is will the odd one out from that trio also be the team to miss out on a Grand Final appearance?
Castleford: Widdop, Wallis, Tasipale, Turner, Tate, Westerman, Miller, Watts, Horne, Griffin, Mellor, Edwards, Lawler. Interchanges: Foster, Johnstone, Hall, Tsikrikas
Saints;
Welsby, Makinson, Percival, Davies, Bennison, Lomax, Dodd, Delaney, Roby, Knowles, Mata’utia, Batchelor, Bell. Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Norman, Royle, Mbye.
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