Saints look for a third Super League win in a row when they host Huddersfield Giants on Sunday( August 13, kick-off 5.00pm).
The visit of Ian Watson’s side sees both sides play that long awaited game in hand that they have had over the rest of the league since Saints marched into Sydney and beat Penrith Panthers in their own back yard in February. The rest of Super League are taking a break this week except for Leigh Leopards and Hull KR. They met in what looked on paper like one of the most intriguing Challenge Cup finals of recent times. It did not disappoint when it came to delivering drama.
A win over the Giants will take Saints level on points with both the Leopards in third and Wigan in second in the Super League standings. Paul Wellens’ men would also open up a six-point gap on fifth placed Warrington with a victory. Three wins might be too much ground to make up for a Wolves’ side currently trying to distract the rugby league world from its floundering form with the appointment of Sam Burgess as head coach from 2024. Bold would be putting it politely.
Behind them come Rovers - who might take some time to come out of their emotional fog - and Salford whose coach is busy convincing his players and fans that there’s no hope because the world is against them.
The Giants’ interest in a playoff place hangs by a frail thread. Four wins in a row – including one in the back yard of the table topping Catalans Dragons – have kept alive their feint hopes although they still sit in a lowly 10th place. A win here will push them to within two points of the Robins who currently occupy the final playoff spot. A defeat would not be mathematically terminal to those feint hopes but would leave Watson’s men with a task of the kind of fiendish difficulty not seen since the last episode of Only Connect.
Wellens recently went three games without having to change his team but injuries and suspensions mean he is having to do some pack shuffling now. There are four changes to the 21 which he named for last week’s 18-15 win at Salford. Will Hopoate and Curtis Sironen are injured again while James Bell is suspended. Jake Burns appeared in the initial squad for the first time last week but misses out this week.
That’s partly down to the welcome return of some more experienced personnel. Joe Batchelor and Sione Mata’utia could form an entirely new second row from that which was in place at the AJ Bell. That could force Sam Royle back to the interchange bench. Morgan Knowles operates at loose forward.
Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook could be part of a prop rotation which is sorely missing Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi. McCarthy-Scarsbrook has been a dead cert to start on the Saints bench in recent years but if he plays it will be his first appearance since the cup semi-final defeat by Leigh.
Saints still have Matty Lees and James Roby available in the front row. Wellens may choose to add McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s experience to that department but George Delaney will hope for a third straight start. The 19 year-old has impressed in his 13 appearances this season to the extent that he is this week celebrating a new three-year deal which keeps him at the club until 2026. Dan Norman will likely feature off the bench for the third straight game.
Jon Bennison hasn’t featured since a week prior to the semi-final. His return offers competition for Tee Ritson on the left wing. With Konrad Hurrell and now Hopoate out the centre partnership looks like being formed by Mark Percival and Ben Davies, with Tommy Makinson on the right wing ahead of fullback and all around magician Jack Welsby. Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd continue in the halves.
Watson has named an unchanged 21 from his side’s 28-0 thumping of Castleford last time out. That means no Jermaine McGillvary who is out with a hamstring injury, or Luke Yates who has an ankle problem. Ash Golding could start again on the wing with Marmite Jake Connor at fullback.
Kevin Naiqama - who won three Grand Final rings in three seasons with Saints - is in contention for a return to the centres after missing out last week. Jake Bibby started at centre at Castleford but if Naiqama returns that could nudge the former Wigan man to the wing at the expense of Sam Halsall. Esan Marsters looks best placed to be Naiqama’s partner.
Ex-Saint Theo Fages is only in his second season as a Giant yet it has already been announced that he will move on at the end of the year. He will move to his native France to join the Dragons from the start of 2024. His latest injury saw him miss out at Castleford but he could feature in this one.
Tui Lolohea and Olly Russell as well as Connor and Will Pryce are Watson’s other main options in the halves. After receiving some fairly justified criticism for his team’s style of play the Giants coach seems to have responded by overloading his squad with playmakers. Which is messy but not as bad as forcing everyone to wear leopard print.
Doing the tough stuff up front will be former Leigh and Wire veteran Chris Hill along with Olly Wilson and Sebastine Ikahihifo. Nathan Peats and Adam Milner look after the hooking duties with another ex-Saint in Joe Greenwood hoping to leapfrog one of Leroy Cudjoe or Chris McQueen in the pecking order for back row slots. Matty English nominally fills Yates’ vacant loose forward role but is basically what modern parlance refers to as a ‘middle’. Or an extra prop.
Despite the postponement at the start of the year the teams have already met twice this season. Saints sneaked a narrow 14-12 win back in March thanks to tries from Makinson and Hurrell. The champions were far more dominant at the Magic Weekend in early June, scoring nine tries on their way to winning 48-6. Makinson grabbed four of those and had a hand in what is arguably the try of the season by the now departed Joey Lussick. On which subject look again for Moses Mbye to spell Roby as the need arises.
Huddersfield’s last win at St Helens was a 12-10 success in early March 2020, less than a fortnight before the game shut down as Covid set about changing the world. Fages and Naiqama played for Saints that night and Knowles was selected at centre. That’s hard to imagine, as is the fact that Aidan Sezer was the main difference between these two sides with a kicking masterclass.
Despite Huddersfield’s recent good run you’d probably still make Saints favourites to win at home. Especially given how players on the periphery like Delaney, Norman, Davies and Royle have held their own in the midst of an injury crisis. Saints by 12.
Squads;
Saints;
1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Joe Batchelor, 13. Morgan Knowles, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 20. Dan Norman, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 24. Lewis Baxter, 25. Tee Ritson, 28. Matthew Foster, 30. George Delaney, 34. Wesley Bruines, 35. Moses Mbye.
Huddersfield Giants:
Jake Connor, Esan Marsters, Kevin Naiqama, Jake Bibby, Tui Lolohea, Theo Fages, Chris Hill, Nathan Peats, Joe Greenwood, Chris McQueen, Ash Golding, Matty English, Sebastine Ikahihifo, Oliver Wilson, Leroy Cudjoe, Oliver Russell, Sam Halsall, Jack Ashworth, Sam Hewitt, Will Pryce.
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