Champions Saints look for a fourth consecutive league win when they host Hull KR on Friday night (August 18, kick-off 8.00pm).
Despite a consistently lengthy injury list and some self harming suspensions Paul Wellens’ side have managed to stay in the hunt for a top two spot in recent weeks. They have shown great resilience in responding to the disappointment of a Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Leigh with wins over Leeds Rhinos, Salford Red Devils and Huddersfield Giants. It’s a run of form which has all but guaranteed a place in the top four and which provides a platform to go higher.
Meanwhile Rovers suffered the even more intense cup heartbreak of Lachlan Lam’s golden point drop-goal at Wembley last week. Now they must refocus on their remaining Super league outings if they are to stay in the top six and make the playoffs. Currently they lie in sixth place but are just two points better off than Salford Red Devils and city rivals Hull FC. Rovers face Salford in their penultimate league game in September. However, before that they face not just Saints but also league leaders Catalans Dragons and a cup final rematch with the Leopards. There’s not a lot of time for Willie Peters and his men to feel sorry for themselves.
Saints were waiting on the outcome of yet another disciplinary appeal before finalising the initial 21 for this one. When it was all said and done Matty Lees failed to have his two-game ban overturned. He’d been given the punishment for the high shot on Joe Greenwood which goaded the former Saints back rower into getting himself sent off in last week’s win over the Giants. It’s the latest in a long line of suspensions handed to Saints players over recent seasons. For all the nonsense talk of a Match Review Panel vendetta against Saints organised from Paul Cullen’s evil lair there does at some point need to be a recognition that Saints’ own poor discipline is the common denominator. Just don’t hold your breath for it.
Without Lees Wellens is running out of front row options. He had already lost Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi for the season before this latest blow. A start for Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook seems likely while the silver lining is the opportunity to develop quickly which the situation has offered to George Delaney. He started all of Saints’ last three wins and is in line to do so again. Dan Norman is now the main back-up although it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that we might see Morgan Knowles move into the front row at times. Skipper James Roby - playing game 544 of his incredible career - takes care of the hooking duties along with his newest understudy Moses Mbye.
The transition of Knowles into the front row could be made smoother by the return of James Bell. The former Leigh man was another on the suspended list during last week’s meeting with Ian Watson’s Giants. Joe Batchelor was involved in that one for his first action since June and he - along with Sione Mata’utia and Sam Royle - is part of one of the league’s stronger second row departments. Wellens revealed that there was a need to restrict Batchelor’s minutes last week following his injury lay-off. That might be the case again here but the depth is there to afford the former York man his rest periods.
Saints still have two key men out in the back line. Tongan centres Konrad Hurrell and Will Hopoate are both out injured. Fortunately Mark Percival is in the midst of a run of availability and should start for the third game in a row. Alongside him Ben Davies has been quietly efficient in the last two and will probably get the nod again despite the inclusion of Wesley Bruines. As always one of the biggest keys to a Saints win will be the ability to create of halfback pairing Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd as well as fullback Jack Welsby. Jon Bennison is again named but will probably struggle to convince Wellens to move away from his preferred wing pairing of Tommy Makinson and Tee Ritson.
With playoff ambitions still high on the Rovers agenda it was always unlikely that Peters would rest players en masse following the cup final agony. As it is he has made just one change to his 21-man party. That’s an enforced one as Elliot Minchella serves a one match suspension for a late hit on Leigh’s Ben Reynolds which saw the Robins’ man sin-binned during the Wembley defeat. Replacing him is fullback Jack Walker whose presence might allow the exciting but unpredictable Mikey Lewis to move into the halves. Lewis was a peripheral figure in the cup final but may see more involvement were he to move up alongside Brad Schneider.
Elsewhere the changes should be kept to a minimum. Ethan Ryan and multiple Grand Final winner Ryan Hall should occupy the wings with ex-NRL pair Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Tom Opacic in the centres. Should Peters choose to keep Lewis at fullback then Rowan Milnes should be the preferred partner for Schneider with Jordan Abdull still injured.
Up front Rhys Kennedy and George King play in the front row either side of hooker Jez Litten. Joe Batchelor’s brother James picked up a bad injury earlier in the season but is back alongside second row partner Kane Linnett. On the bench Matt Parcell is one of the smartest hookers around while Matty Storton, Dean Hadley and Sam Luckley bolster the pack. With Minchella out Luis Johnson may come into the reckoning at second row with Hadley perhaps switching to Minchella’s regular 13 role.
Two Lewis tries contributed to Rovers’ 26-14 win in the only other meeting between the sides so far in 2023. Former Saint Lachlan Coote was a try scorer for the Robins that night too, but sadly has since had to retire from the game due to persistent concussion problems. Jez Litten also crossed during that April win for KR while Saints’ tries came from Lomax and the now departed Joey Lussick.
That was at Sewell Group Craven Park. For Rovers’ last win in St Helens you have to go all the way back to a 24-12 success in 2013. Saints’ try scorers that night were Francis Meli, Gareth O’Brien and Anthony Laffranchi. In 2020 KR came awfully close to repeating the trick, missing out to a Theo Fages drop-goal in a 21-20 Saints win in September of that year.
With Saints missing key cogs in the machine there’s little doubt that Rovers have the quality to cause an upset. But Saints have found some form in adversity and that - added to everything Rovers have been through in the last seven days - could give Wellens’ men a decisive edge.
Squads;
Saints;
1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. James Roby, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Joe Batchelor, 13. Morgan Knowles, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 19. James Bell, 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.
Rovers:
2. Ethan Ryan, 3. Tom Opacic, 4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 5. Ryan Hall, 9. Matt Parcell, 10. George King, 12. Kane Linnett, 14. Jez Litten, 15. Rhys Kennedy, 16. James Batchelor, 17. Matty Storton, 18. Jimmy Keinhorst, 20. Mikey Lewis, 21. Rowan Milnes, 22. Dean Hadley, 23. Louis Senior, 25. Luis Johnson, 26. Sam Luckley, 27. Yusuf Aydin, 34. Jack Walker, 37 Brad Schneider.
Referee: Tom Grant
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