Your four-in-a-row Super League champions are just one step away from a shot at an unprecedented fifth consecutive Grand Final win as they prepare to face down Catalans Dragons in the Super League semi-final in Perpignan on Friday night (October 6, kick-off 8.00pm).
Paul Wellens side eventually made sure that it would not be Warrington’s year (again) with a 16-8 win in last week’s eliminator. Meanwhile the Dragons had their feet up watching on TV after they had already secured the top two spot which has earned them home advantage for this one. Both these sides and League Leaders Shield winners Wigan won 20 out of 27 regular season games and had to be separated by points difference. This could be a close one.
Fortunate then that Saints are virtually at full strength. The major absentee is back rower Joe Batchelor whose season looks to be over after he hopped off the field with a hamstring injury in the early moments of the win over the Wolves. Batchelor has been one of Saints most consistent performers over the last two seasons but second row is an area in which the world champions have real depth.
Curtis Sironen will hold down one spot in that department and with George Delaney returning from a one-game ban it possibly frees up Sione Mata’utia to move back from the front row where he has been filling in. James Bell and Morgan Knowles are also part of a very strong looking back row group.
Although Alex Walmsley has been involved in the last two after recovering more quickly than expected from a John Asiata-inflicted knee injury Wellens has so far chosen to keep his gun front rower on the bench from the start, introducing him around the 25-minute mark. Matty Lees therefore looks the only certain starter at prop with Delaney, Walmsley and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook all in contention for minutes in that area.
McCarthy-Scarsbrook and hooker James Roby get ready to again face the prospect of playing their final game before retirement. Win and extend your career by one more game. Lose and get out the pipe and slippers. Or the fireman’s helmet and hose. Will Hopoate is not retiring but also goes into this one knowing it could be his final Saints appearance after two injury ravaged seasons in the red vee.
Hopoate played at centre against Warrington after Konrad Hurrell was not selected. The reasons for this are shrouded in a fair amount of mystery but it’s reasonable to expect the former Leeds Rhino to be back in contention this week.
That could be bad news for Jon Bennison, whose wing spot could go to Hopoate if Hurrell is thrust back in at centre. Over on the other flank Mark Percival and Tommy Makinson are part of the furniture, although Percival may be switched back to the left edge should Hurrell be restored. Jack Welsby is the creative force surely on his way to his first Man Of Steel award at fullback. Helping him unlock doors will be ever-present halfback pairing Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd.
Steve McNamara’s side look in equally good health coming into this one. Matthieu Laguerre and Fouad Yaha are out but former Sydney Roosters prop Siua Taukeiaho comes back in. His first and only season in France has made Hopoate’s Saints spell look like a Roby-esque period of relentless consistency. Taukeiaho has made only seven appearances in between injuries and has been released from the remainder of his Dragons contract for family reasons. Yet don’t rule out a significant contribution to the Catalans effort before he returns to Australia. He’s a class act when fit and focused.
Former Wigan nuisance and beard-wearer Sam Tomkins is another for whom defeat will mean the end of the road. He’ll be taking up an off field role with the Dragons next term but is no doubt desperate to leave a lasting legacy as a player before then.
He has already won a Man Of Steel award with the French side while leading them to the 2021 Grand Final. Back then they ran into a Saints side on it’s way to what now looks a piffling three in a row. The sort of thing that lesser clubs like Penrith Panthers get up to. If the 35 year-old wants to add to the three Grand Final winners rings he won with Wigan the road runs through St Helens again.
Despite the absence of Yaha the Dragons have both an ex-Wiganer and a Man Of Steel contender in the wing berths. Tom Davies scored 30 tries in 62 appearances for the Warriors between 2017-19 while Tom Johnstone will challenge Welsby and Wigan’s Bevan French for this year’s top individual award.
Another ex-Sydney Rooster occupies one centre spot in the shape of Matt Ikuvalu, most likely partnered by one of a whole host of players set to stretch the limits of the Wigan salary cap in 2024 in Adam Keighran. It will be either him or Arthur Romano. In the halves another soon to be retired star Mitchell Pearce is joined by a former member of that overshadowed Panthers oufit Tyrone May.
Along with Taukeiaho McNamara can call on Romain Navarrete, Julian Bousquet, Tiaki Chan, Jordan Dezaria and Ben Garcia in what will be a very physical pack. With it the Dragons will hope to avoid being bullied by the destructive Walmsley in particular. Yet they are not always the most disciplined group which may be one area where they can be exploited. But you know…pots and kettles. Glass houses and stones. Saints will need to cut out the crap, too.
The back row includes oft rumoured Saints recruit Matt Whitley and England and former London and Castleford man Mike McMeeken. Garcia can play at 13 also but Mikael Goudemand is among those unavailable to McNamara.
The fact that the Dragons are the only team in Super League whom Saints have yet to defeat in 2023 is a slightly thorny issue. Wellens’ men were beaten 24-12 in France in May and were edged 14-12 in St Helens in July. Yet in playoff rugby it has been Saints dominating. This will be the third time the two have met on the last stop before Old Trafford with Saints winning 30-12 in 2014 and 48-2 in 2020. On both occasions Saints went on to beat Wigan at the home of a thousand Ten Hag polo necks. Omen? Who knows? Cling on to it. You never know.
The pair have met in the Grand Final too, when Tomkins’ 2021 dream was snatched away by two Kevin Naiqama tries in a 12-10 Saints win. If you’re looking for a notable occasion on which the Dragons got the better of Saints in knockout football you’ll need to focus on the 2018 Challenge Cup semi-final at Bolton when Justin Holbrook’s red vee outfit were blown away amid the tool downing of uber talented problem child Ben Barba. The Dragons went on to lift the cup with victory over Warrington at Wembley. Well course they did. Just wasn’t Wire’s year.
Perhaps against my better judgement I refuse to fall in line with the lazy perceived wisdom that it’s almost impossible to beat the Dragons in France. Saints pulled it off as recently as April of last year, breezing past McNamara’s side 36-20 thanks to tries from Percival, Dodd, Knowles and another who will be elsewhere in 2024 - Dan Norman. The only difference here is the added layer of pressure which comes with playoff football.
But Saints haven’t been too bad at that over the last few years. I recommend keeping the faith.
Squads;
Catalans Dragons;
1. Arthur Mourgue 2. Tom Davies 3. Adam Keighran 6. Tyrone May 7. Mitchell Pearce 8. Mike McMeeken 9. Micky McIlorum 10. Julian Bousquet 11. Matt Whitley 12. Paul Seguier 13. Benjamin Garcia 14. Alrix Da Costa 16. Romain Navarrete 18. Tiaki Chan 19. Arthur Romano 21. Matt Ikuvalu 22. Siua Taukeiaho 23. Jordan Dezaria 24. Tom Johnstone 26. Manu Ma’u 29. Sam Tomkins
Saints;
1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Will Hopoate, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 13. Morgan Knowles, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 16. Curtis Sironen, 19. James Bell, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 28. Matthew Foster, 30. George Delaney, 35. Moses Mbye.
Referee: Chris Kendall
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