In the end - and as many of us had feared - this fairly routine victory over Tony Smith’s Hull FC side was not enough to get Saints into a top two spot.
Paul Wellens’ side have to settle for third place in the regular season table. That means an extra playoff round instead of a week off. If the champions come through that they then face the prospect of a semi-final away in Perpignan against Catalans Dragons. And perhaps worst of all - whether you care about it or not - Friday’s results (September 22) have decreed that Wigan have won something meaningful again. And nobody wants that.
No such concerns for Hull FC whose playoff hopes were extinguished once and for all when they took a 52-20 home larruping by Huddersfield a week ago. Nor were the black and whites involved in the relegation battle. Despite a classically Hull FC season of inconsistency which must drive their fans quite mad they still finished 12 points clear of the drop thanks to the stunning ineptitude of Wakefield Trinity and Castleford Tigers for most of the campaign. Nevertheless a 10th placed finish is unlikely to be what Smith signed up for. Expect changes for 2024 if Mr Pearson holds his nerve next time Jenna shoves a mic under his nose.
Optimists among the Saints fan base might have been excitedly waiting for a favour from either Leigh at home to Wigan or Salford who welcomed the Dragons to the AJ Bell while this one was playing out. Yet realistically the most exciting thing about this match-up for those of a red vee persuasion pre-game was the surprise return to action of Alex Walmsley. The talismanic prop had apparently been ruled out for the rest of the season after John Asiata’s tin man hearted assault on his lower limbs in Saints’ Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to the Leopards in July. Yet here he was lurking on the bench in one of the most spectacular recoveries since Daniel Laruso’s crane kick in The Karate Kid.
Wellens’ decision to introduce his surprise trump card from the bench meant that Sione Mata’utia continued at prop with Curtis Sironen again available to partner Joe Batchelor in the second row. James Bell was out with illness so George Delaney joined Walmsley, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Moses Mbye among the interchanges.
One of 11 men set to depart the club at the end of the year along with McCarthy-Scarsbrook and sporting legend James Roby, Will Hopoate nevertheless got the nod to start on the left wing ahead of the unfortunate Jon Bennison. The latter had started the last five during Hopoate’s most recent spell of inactivity but is in real danger of missing out on the playoff series to come given Wellens’ preference for the Tongan whenever he is fit. Saints’ other Tongan three-quarter - Konrad Hurrell - also returned for only his second appearance in the last eight. That left no place for Ben Davies who had been filling in at centre during that run.
FC need change urgently and Smith fielded several players who will be elsewhere next term. Jake Clifford’s star has shone brightly at times in his only campaign on Humberside. Sufficiently to earn himself a return to the NRL with North Queensland Cowboys for next year. Chris Satae will be among Steve McNamara’s front row options at the Dragons in 2024 while hooker Brad Dwyer - in for Danny Houghton for this clash - is hopping back to Warrington to replace Saints-bound Daryl Clark. Former Wigan Grand Final winner Scott Taylor is retiring.
There was no Adam Swift in the FC line-up so an opportunity arose for 19 year-old Hull-born Lewis Pearson. Carlos Tuimavave returned in the centres replacing Liam Sutcliffe.
Those of you who aren’t as fussy as I about your rugby codes might have sat through what must have been an extraordinarily turgid 80 minutes in which England’s rugby union team scored 27 points without scoring a try in the World Cup match with Argentina. If you are here for that sort of thing then you might not have minded the decision to go for two points inside the first 10 minutes when Morgan Knowles was obstructed off the ball by Satae.
Mark Percival’s goal-kicking has improved immeasurably over the course of the season which is a credit to him and his work ethic and determination. Yet I’m not sure it justifies taking the ultra conservative route so early in a game at home to an opponent which is 10th out of 12 in the competition, has nothing to play for and should really be fodder to the world champions.
Percival was involved in some much more exciting fare midway through the first half when he crossed for his ninth Super League try of the season. He was there to cut inside Tex Hoy and finish off a move which had involved James Roby, Lewis Dodd and Sironen. Percival had created the opportunity when he made a 30m burst from deep in his own half to set his side up in some attacking field position. He converted his own effort to push Saints out to an 8-0 lead.
It was around the 25-minute mark that Walmsley was unleashed by Wellens. The expectations of many Saints fans might have been lower than usual for a player who hadn’t featured for almost nine weeks but his stat line is ominously impressive for those who may have the job of stopping him over the coming weeks. He ran for 113 metres on 12 carries at an average of over 10 metres a clip. Given the paucity of 100 metre makers in the Saints pack in his absence - Mata’utia has been carrying the load for the most part - the fact that Walmsley has settled straight back into the habit could be crucial. The ex-Batley man also made 20 tackles and a couple of tackle busts. He gets the side down the field like nobody else on the team sheet which - taking into account the limitations of the Saints attack this term - is potentially huge.
Yet even with the territorial advantages afforded to them by Walmsley Saints are going to have to be more clinical than they were here. There were a series of misfires while in possession in good areas. Jack Welsby would remind us of his class late on but he helped squander his side’s next genuine scoring opportunity when his attempt to find Tommy Makinson 25 metres out only found touch after the fullback had been set free by a beautiful inside ball by Jonny Lomax.
Welsby erred again shortly after when - having supported a Batchelor break he took the former York man’s pass the remaining 30 metres to the try line before being brought down just short. He was then unable to resist a second go at putting the ball over the line and was whistled for a double movement by referee Ben Thaler.
It wasn’t only Welsby. Makinson allowed himself to be bundled into touch short of the line by a combination of Dwyer and Satae. The England winger looked a bit too keen to go for one of his trademark flying finishes when he may have been better served to step back inside as the covering defenders hared across to intervene.
Even Percival wasn’t immune. He was freed on the left edge by Hopoate but managed to choose the wrong option, opting to pass on his inside where a Hull hand waited to deflect it before recovering it five metres from their own line.
The visitors ended the first half in the ascendancy. Dwyer earned a great attacking opportunity for his side with his one and only 40/20 of the season. Then again nobody has more than the four executed by Blake Austin and Jake Connor in 2023. Sam Powell (really) and Warrington’s Danny Walker are the only hookers to pull off more than one. Both have two.
Dwyer’s effort didn’t yield a try. Smith’s men had time for a full set of six in the Saints red zone and forced a dropout when Hurrell scrambled to knock a Hoy grubber kick dead. There was no time for the restart and so Saints went for the mid-game briefing from Wellens with a lead of eight Percival points to nothing,
The next score after the recess was always going to be pivotal and it was Saints who grabbed it through Dodd. The halfback won the race to touch down Lomax’s searching low nudge into the in-goal. Those in the West Stand would have had the best view to determine whether Dodd grounded it before it crossed the dead ball line and with no video replays available Thaler decided that the try was a fair one. Video referees will be in action at every Super League game from 2024 as the IMG revolution draws ever nearer. Whether replays would have confirmed or denied Dodd’s effort it has always seemed quite insane to have two or three games in each Super League round effectively played under different rules to the remainder since 1996.
For now it was his eighth try of the season. If that sounds a reasonable return given that it is only one behind the tally of a genuine strike player like Percival it should be remembered that Dodd has been an ever present in Saints’ 27 regular season games while Percival has played eight fewer at 19. Percival was on hand to slot over the extras from virtually in front of the sticks to put Saints in a commanding position at 14-0.
Hull really needed some inspiration and despite the futility of their overall predicament in the grand scheme of things in 2023 they found it. Jordan Lane made a rare foray into hallowed territory before handing it on to Martin to do the rest. Hoy was unfazed by the task of converting the score and duly brought FC back within eight points at 14-6 with what looked an effortless extra two from the touchline.
Saints were still making errors. They should have added to the lead when Lomax exchanged passes with Batchelor but managed to fail to link up with Makinson with the final pass inside the FC 10 metre line. It was most out of character for the Saints stand-off who has ended the regular season with 20 assists. Only Welsby has more among the Saints ranks. Yet if you’re going to butcher a perfectly presentable scoring chance then the best course of action is probably to score one yourself to all but put the game into its metaphorical big, comfy four-poster.
When it came it wasn’t in the customary Lomax style. Instead he barrelled through three end of season efforts from the Hull defence to score his 11th try in the league in 2023. Again that is just a step behind Welsby’s tally of 12. It took him past the fullback at the time as Welsby was still keeping his late magic tricks firmly up his sleeve. Twenty-three league tries between your fullback and your stand-off isn’t a disaster but it possibly says much about the Saints attack overall that there is nobody between them and the club’s top meat pie collector Makinson who managed 20.
What it did provide was another routine two points for Percival from the conversion and the matter was virtually settled at 20-6. It should also be noted that the chance to bully your way past this level of non-defence as easily as Lomax was able to is probably not something that will be all that commonly offered at playoff time. You’d expect the intensity to ramp up just a little bit.
And so this is where the incomparable Welsby takes over the story. For better and a little bit of worse it would be fair to point out. I say incomparable…he did have a faint whiff of Connor about him at times but when the good stuff came it was way beyond anything we have seen from the snake in recent times.
Four minutes after Lomax’s effort Welsby scored the first of his two tries to eliminate any doubt there might have been. Mbye was the creator, by now having taken over number nine duties from Roby. The ex-Canterbury Bulldog and Wests Tiger shot out from dummy half and went about 30 metres untouched before finding Knowles on his inside. He maintained his composure to feed Welsby for the finish. Percival was presented with another straightforward two points from the conversion and Saints were finally out of sight.
At which point the downside you often get with any great risk taking playmaker reared its less than pretty head. Planning another raid on the FC line Welsby and his teammates ended up looking to the other end of the field as his pass out wide towards the right edge was plucked out of the air by Cameron Scott. He took it all the way for just his seventh four-pointer of another frustratingly run of the mill FC campaign. Hoy’s second goal of the night reduced the arrears to 14 at 26-12 but Saints and Welsby weren’t quite done.
The final try of the night was all about Welsby. Taking possession from inside his own 30m he burst away from a flagging and by this point gassed Hull defence and just kept on going. And going. And going. FC defenders flapped and flailed around him without ever seriously threatening to bring him down. Perhaps because of his slightly stooped gait Welsby has a deceptive amount of pace allied with some more recently acquired Super League strength. Those who did get a hand on him were easily shrugged off on his way to creating this final masterpiece. This is the sort of try that is the reason that leaving early when players like Welsby are still on the field seems like folly to me. The kind of try that had it been scored by Bevan French or Jai Field would have been talked about until Warrington win a Grand Final.
Dodd took over the kicking duties but couldn’t land it from the right sideline meaning the champions had to settle for an 18-point win by 30-12 and third place as Oliver Gildart’s controversially disallowed try at Leigh saw Wigan hang on for a 10-6 victory while Catalans held off the challenge of Salford. Consequently the Red Devils missed out on the top six and kept the Wire dream alive,
Meanwhile Welsby’s performance is just one of the many which have earned him selection to the Super League Dream Team recently. He has claimed the fullback role ahead not only of the much trumpeted Connor - whose year would be flatteringly described by the word ‘average’ - but even Field. Welsby is the sole Saints representative in a XIII which includes five players from the Leigh side which ended up finishing fifth and faces a tricky playoff trip to Hull KR to keep their season alive.
That league position is way above the expectations for a promoted side - as was winning the Challenge Cup for the first time in 52 years - but does it really justify the inclusion of so many when there were four teams more consistent than the Leopards this term? At the very least the name of Asiata should have been scratched the moment he decided to start targeting the knee joints of fellow professionals.
Back to Hull, who do emerge with some silverware from their 2023 mediocrity. Although Saints have won two of the three league meetings between the sides (there was a fourth in the Challenge Cup) it is the Humbersiders who take the Steve Prescott Cup on aggregate. That’s mostly down to a 34-6 pasting which Saints took in Hull in June just days after the cup quarter-final. This 12-point Saints win added to the eight-point margin achieved in the 20-12 home victory in March were not quite enough to repair the damage of the champions worst performance of the year.
Looking at the stats from this latest encounter it’s again Welsby who stands out among the Saints contingent. He ran for 217 metres to add to his two tries and had no fewer than 13 tackle busts. About half of those seemed to be accrued on that miraculous journey to the Hull line which ended proceedings.
After Welsby Saints’ next best ground gainer was Percival with 141. Tongan pair Hopoate and Hurrell racked up 124 and 120 respectively, while Knowles was just a metre ahead of Walmsley on 114. Hull’s best, and only centurion was Scott with an impressive 158.
Just two Saints were required to top 30 tackles. Batchelor led the way with 32 while Roby - playing his last ever regular season game - churned out another 30. For FC the standout was mullet and tash sporting Brad Fash with 45. Dwyer contributed a further 36.
In terms of the regular season’s overall stat leaders Makinson was Saints’ top try scorer with his 20, a tally good enough for fourth across the league behind only Tom Johnstone, Abbas Miski and Josh Charnley. Welsby’s two late scores in this one took him to 12 which left him in a tie for 16th. But he is so much more than a try scorer.
Matty Lees is the only Saint in the top 20 tacklers for 2023. His 790 efforts place him 12th in the division. Yet when you consider that only Wigan conceded fewer points than Saints in the weekly rounds you get an idea of how well Wellens’ outfit defends as a team. For the record Wattoball poster boy Luke Yates was the only man to make over 1,000 stops in 2023. Morgan Smithies’ third man in shithousery was only good enough for fourth on 972.
Lees is 10th on the list of botched tackles with 81, with Lomax a place behind on 79. Bell is a surprising fourth on the list with 90 but then those who go looking for enough defensive work are going to butcher their fair share. Nobody missed more than the 101 attempts fluffed by Wakefield Trinity’s Jacob Miller. The ex-Castleford half is the only century man in this category.
Welsby features high on the assist list with 27, but that’s still three behind the 30 managed by Wigan reserves star French. Lomax’s 20 see him sneak inside the top 10. Connor? A modest 14 and 17th place on the chart. Saintly Jack is also seventh on the error count with 33 mishaps but - as with tackling - there is a direct correlation between the amount of mistakes a player makes and the amount of involvements he has. Welsby is still a way behind league leader and scissor-mitted ex-Wigan flyer Joe Burgess who endured 45 cases of the dropsies.
Another Salford man takes the title of 2023 penalty machine. Copy and paste’s King Vuniyayawa has been whistled for 25 offences this time around. The worst offending Saint is Lees who is 12th on the list with 14 infringements. There is also a slightly surprising appearance in the top 20 by Percival who has felt the wrath of Kendall, Moore (x2), Smith, Griffiths, Thaler and co on 12 occasions.
The regular season may be consigned to history - and let’s please do that given the identity of the League Leaders Shield winners - but the business of crowning the universally recognised champions starts this weekend. Having missed out on the top two Saints’ route to stepping on the turf occasionally trodden on by Harry Maguire starts with the visit of Easter champions Warrington.
The teams met in Cheshire only a fortnight ago with Saints coming out on top 18-6 thanks to tries from Sironen, Percival and Mbye. There has been plenty of dark muttering about Saints’ inability to beat Wire in knockout football in recent years but if current form is a stronger barometer then the home side must go in as favourites. Wellens’ men are on a run of nine consecutive league wins while the Wolves’ win over Huddersfield which secured their top six spot was only their third over the same period. And it was against a team with nothing to play for sticking doggedly to Wattoball so scarcely even counts.
George Williams was absent from that game two weeks ago and will no doubt make a difference but his presence for most of 2023 hasn’t been enough to halt Warrington’s slide from their early season prominence. It probably won’t save them this week either. But just in case, remember to savour every moment spent on the field by Roby whose illustrious career will end abruptly and slightly prematurely the next time Saints lose. Or it will end with another Grand Final ring. Whichever happens first. If it is the latter it will be his seventh.
If the Warrington hurdle seems perfectly negotiable things get more complex thereafter. To reach a fifth consecutive Grand Final Saints will have to win in Perpignan against the Dragons. The French side have won both meetings between the sides in 2023, edging out Saints 14-12 on this side of the channel after winning 24-12 in France in May. It’s likely to be a close call.
Strap yourselves in.
Saints: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Hopoate, Lomax, Dodd, Mata’utia , Roby, Lees, Sironen, Batchelor, Knowles. Interchanges: Walmsley, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Delaney, Mbye.
Hull FC: Litten, McIntosh, Tuimavave, Scott, Martin, Hoy, Clifford, Satae, Dwyer, Taylor, Lane, Fash, Cator. Interchanges: Brown, Gardiner, Jebson, Lovodua
Referee: Ben Thaler
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