Who’s the only English Super League team that Saints haven’t beaten so far in 2023? None other than pre-season relegation favourites turned Challenge Cup winners and Grand Final contenders Leigh Leopards. The champions get a final chance to take the scalp of Adrian Lam’s side when they come to town on Friday night (September 8, kick-off 8.00pm).
Ok, maybe they wouldn’t be that big a scalp for the world and four-in-a-row-Super League champions. But there is no getting away from the fact this Leigh side - despite its absurd branding and its limelight addicted owner - is the real deal in 2023. They sit fourth in the table having won 15 of their 24 league games so far. That’s about as many as they managed in all of their previous attempts to crack Super League combined. If they beat Saints in this one they will get within two points of Paul Wellens men, though a modest points difference looks like it would still put paid to any hopes of making it into the top three.
Meanwhile Saints need the win to realistically stay in the argument for a top two finish. They are on a six-game winning streak which has seen them join both Wigan and Catalans Dragons on 34 points. It couldn’t be tighter with three games left to play. One of the top three will miss out on a home semi-final while only one will carry off the League Leaders Shield.
Wellens is forced into two changes to his 21-man squad for this one. Konrad Hurrell would have been banned (pending what would have been one of the club’s more sensible appeals) had he not aggravated the calf injury which had kept him out for four games before last week’s win at Wakefield. He is replaced by Wesley Bruines, more on whom later. Matty Foster is also called up to fill the spot left by Dan Norman after he fell foul of the concussion protocols.
Despite his recall it won’t be Bruines but Ben Davies who steps into Hurrell’s position in the team. Davies filled in admirably for Hurrell during his injury lay-off and so looks set to make his 10th appearance of the season. That is likely to see Mark Percival switch sides again having moved back to the left edge to accommodate Hurrell at Wakefield. If there was an up side to the Tongan’s unavailability it was that it allowed Percival to team up with Tommy Makinson to create a big problem for opposing sides.
Makinson is in a red hot run of try scoring form having bagged 10 in his last five outings. If he is teamed with Percival once more it will leave Davies to partner Jon Bennison on the opposite flank. Tee Ritson is in the squad but it would be a surprise to see Bennison relieved of the starting shirt he has worn in the last three. Jack Welsby is in charge of making miracles (and mistakes…occasionally) behind the three-quarters at fullback while Jonny Lomax - who turned 33 this week - partners Lewis Dodd in the halves.
The loss of Norman further reduces Wellens’ options at prop. Though Matty Lees has now returned from suspension Saints remain without Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi, gone for the year following the last encounter between these two sides. That has offered an opportunity for George Delaney to earn some valuable minutes he might not otherwise have had. Yet with Jake Wingfield also on the injury list the only experienced back-up from the bench is Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Mind, he has quite a lot of experience having made 367 appearances for the club since 2011. That’s more than any other active Saint except for all-time record holder James Roby who will complete the front row in game 547. By stark contrast his back-up Moses Mbye will be appearing for only the seventh time.
Morgan Knowles is fit enough to have been included in the 21 despite missing the trip to West Yorkshire with a groin injury. If Knowles is fit then Wellens may again think about utilising the 26 year-old at prop again for at least part of the game given the issues in that area. The coach can afford to do that thanks to the strength in depth in the back row where James Bell has established himself as a reliable option at either second row or loose forward. Not that there’s a whole lot of difference within the Saints style of play. Or anybody else’s for that matter.
But Saints are blessed in that area with the rock solid and creative Joe Batchelor in there alongside Sione Mata’utia on the back of signing a new deal to stay with Saints at least until the end of next season. Sam Royle is the current reinforcement with Curtis Sironen still injured. Wellens will have an even greater embarrassment of riches when the former Manly man gets back to fitness.
Now, about Bruines. Today (September 7) it was announced that the 22 year-old will leave the club after just one year. He has failed to make a single appearance but was a non-playing substitute in a 28-6 win over Warrington in April. Clearly it is not easy to break into Saints back line but when he arrived I had him down as one for the future. What some insist on calling ‘a project’. Now he is on his metaphorical bike to Warrington, so may yet feature in a Saints-Wolves fixture before too long.
No doubt given Wire’s apparent disinterest in developing young talent Bruines will go the way of Gary Wheeler and Andre Savelio who made similar switches. Which will be a pity because at Saints where youth development is consistently excellent he had a real opportunity to kick on post-Hurrell, which can’t be all that far away. It’s difficult to shake the feeling that something about Bruines- whether on or off the field - wasn’t wholly to Wellens’ tastes.
Leigh had a strange weekend last week as a floodlight failure at Leigh Sports Village meant that their clash with Huddersfield Giants started on Friday night and finished on Sunday afternoon. Like going to the pub with Gazza. They eventually overcame whiny Ian Watson’s process-driven outfit, bouncing them out of playoff contention in the er…process.
Coach Lam could call on exactly the same 17 who got that job done. Former Giants process follower Ricky Leutele is the only major absentee for Lam’s side although even that loss is rather offset by the arrival of Oliver Gildart, stopping off on loan en route to Hull KR for 2024 after his spell in the NRL with Wests Tigers never really got going. Still he has proven quality at Super League level.
Other former Wiganers lighting it up for Leigh this year are Super League’s leading try scorer in 2023 Josh Charnley and the evergreen but ever controversial Zak Hardaker. Even Jack Hughes and Joe Mellor haven’t been terrible. Hardaker now operates at centre with former Saints loanee Gareth O’Brien at fullback. Lam’s son Lachlan is probably destined for even better things than winning trophies with traditional relegation fodder but for now he leads the team around expertly alongside halfback partner Ben Reynolds.
In pack Taealoaloa - Tom - Amone is joined by a rejuvenated Robbie Mulhern and the explosive Edwin Ipape at hooker. Ex-Castleford man Oliver Holmes and Brisbane born ex-Canberra Raider Kai O’Donnell could again make up the second row with John Asiata behind them at loose forward. It was Asiata whose lazy, arm-deficient and reckless tackle ‘technique’ brought an early end to 2023 for Walmsley and Paasi in the cup semi-final. If duels with opposite numbers were still a thing Wellens might be tempted to leave Knowles in his customary loose forward role and allow him and Asiata to beat seven shades of the proverbial out of each other while the game goes on around them.
Lam’s bench options include not only Mellor but that rare beast - the mid-season signing that is Frankie Halton, Joe Wardle - whose brother plays for Wigan so close enough for Adrian’s tribute act - and former Salford prop Ben Nakubuwai.
As alluded to in the opening Saints have yet to beat Leigh this year in two attempts. They met at the LSV early in the season back in March when the hosts won 20-12. Saints spent large parts of that game in Leopards territory, scoring through Bennison and Lomax but never really made their early dominance count as Leigh’s strike players cashed in late on. In July Asiata, an interesting interpretation of what constitutes a fair contest for a loose ball and an all too familiarly insipid attacking display did for Saints hopes of a trip to Wembley.
It’s hardly a given but I am going to back Saints to just about get that win which will mean they’ve had success over 11 of the 12 Super League teams this term. The only other side Saints are yet to beat are the Dragons. And if all goes well they’ll probably see them down the line too…
Squads;
Saints:
Leigh Leopards;
1. Zak Hardaker 2. Tom Briscoe 3. Ed Chamberlain 5. Josh Charnley 6. Joe Mellor 7. Lachlan Lam 8. Tom Amone 9. Edwin Ipape 10. Robbie Mulhern 11. Joe Awardle 12. Jack Hughes 13. John Asiata 14. Ben Nakubwai 15. Ben Reynolds 16. Oliver Holmes 17. Gareth O’Brien 18. Matt Davis 23. Kai O’Donnell 27. Ava Seumanufagai 29. Frankie Halton 31. Oliver Gildart
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, 19. James Bell, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 24. Lewis Baxter, 25. Tee Ritson, 28. Matthew Foster, 30. George Delaney, 34. Wesley Bruines, 35. Moses Mbye.
Referee: Chris Kendall
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