A 2024 home opener against newly promoted London Broncos was never likely to trip Saints up. And it didn’t, as Paul Wellens’ side ran in eight tries to one to seal a comfortable 40-4 win.
Saints weren’t quite at full strength for the opening night. Agnatius Paasi has been out since last July with a knee injury infamously inflicted by Leigh Leopards’ John Asiata in last season’s Challenge Cup semi-final. Also missing were Morgan Knowles, Joe Batchelor and Moses Mbye. James Bell took the loose forward role normally occupied by Knowles while Curtis Sironen slotted in for Batchelor in the right second row berth. Mbye was used mostly as a hooker off the bench during James Roby’s last season before retirement. His absence left no obvious alternative to back up the new nine, Daryl Clark.
Clark was one of three men given a competitive debut by Wellens. St Helens born former Catalans Dragons back rower Matt Whitley got the nod to start over Sione Mata’utia who waited on the bench. In the backs Waqa Blake was utilised on the left wing.
As the number three on his back indicates, Blake is a centre by trade. He has played there for much of a career that has seen him make over 160 NRL appearances for Penrith Panthers and latterly Parramatta Eels. Yet Wellens chose to stick with the established centre pairing of Mark Percival and Konrad Hurrell. Blake’s positional switch meant that Jon Bennison could only find a place as the 18th man, there only in case of a head injury ruling out one of the selected 17.
The rest of Saints’ line-up had a familiar feel with Jack Welsby at fullback, Tommy Makinson on the right wing, Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd in the halves and a prop pairing of Alex Walmsley and Matty Lees. Accompanying Mata’utia on the bench were young prop George Delaney, centre Ben Davies and the returning Jake Wingfield,. His last appearance came in the 13-12 win at Leeds last May.
The Broncos are in the bizarre position of knowing that their IMG grading will get them relegated at the end of the year no matter how they do on the field. With that in mind they have only brought in Rhys Kennedy from Hull KR with any Super League experience. He started at prop alongside Rob Butler with Sam Davis between them at hooker. Skipper Will Lovell and Sadiq Adibiyi formed the second row with Dean Parata at 13.
In the backs Oli Leyland stood in at fullback after Josh Rourke had been lost to a long term injury before the season started. This week’s new recruit Lee Kershaw operated on one wing with Illies Macani on the other. Robbie Storey and Hakim Miloudi were the centres with a new halfback pairing of James Meadows and Jack Campagnolo.
The bench was occupied by Marcus Stock, Emmanuel Waine, Jordan Williams and Matt Davies. In all there were just eight survivors from the Championship Grand Final win over Toulouse last October.
It took only four minutes for the deposed champions to register their first try of the year as they bid to win back the Super League crown. Lewis Dodd was the man who crossed for it but it was created by Walmsley and Bell. The big prop showed he can pass close the defensive line as he put Bell through a gap with a well timed ball. Bell had Dodd supporting on his shoulder for an easy finish. Percival added the extras for a 6-0 lead.
Less than five minutes later Saints were in again. This time it was Welsby, latching on to Whitley’s deft short ball to stroll over to the left of the posts. Bell was involved again, finding Whitley on the edge before the former Widnes and Catalans man produced the offload which allowed Welsby to walk over for Saints’ second score. Percival could not add the extra two this time so Saints had to settle for a 10-0 lead,
It was another 15 minutes before the next Saints score arrived. When it did it was a perfect demonstration of what Clark will bring to the side this year. The former Warrington hooker burst past two defenders from dummy half before finding the supporting Walmsley on his shoulder. It was the big prop’s 50th try in his 12th season with the club. Percival was back on target from virtually in front and Saints led 16-0.
Saints added another before the break. This time it was Makinson who crossed. New skipper Lomax served up a beautifully lobbed pass to the England winger who had oceans of space with the Broncos’ edge defenders having drifted inwards while defending their line.
Makinson has been around even longer than Walmsley. This is his 14th season in the red vee, during which time he has amassed over 300 appearances for the club. This try left him just six short of 200 in Saints colours. Should he get there - and barring injury you’d have to expect that he will - Makinson will become only the eighth Saints player to reach the double century of tries for the club.
Percival’s second missed conversion left him with a 50% success rate in the first half as Saints went in to talk things over with a 20-0 lead.
Rudely, the upstart Broncos were next to score. Leyland - who had caught the eye all night at fullback – placed an angled kick towards the touchline. Kershaw gave chase and managed to get a boot to it just before it crossed the whitewash. Welsby had come forward to try to get to it first but was wrong-footed by Kershaw’s kick. It fell kindly for Storey who dived over in the right corner before Percival could react. Campagnolo could not land the goal from the touchline but the Broncos were on the board at 20-4.
Three minutes into the second half there was a debut score for Clark. He squeezed over from dummy half from just a few metres out. Percival landed what would be his final goal of the evening to push the lead out to 26-4.
Having seen Clark do it, Whitley then wanted a piece of the try scoring action. He took a pass from Welsby that helped him glide effortlessly between two London defenders for an easy score to the left of the posts. Makinson took over the kicking duties with Percival taking the rest of the night off. The winger was on target with his first effort, and Saints led 32-4.
Lomax’s try was perhaps the pick of the eight that Saints managed on the night. The captain started the move himself, finding Hurrell on halfway with a pass which put the Tongan centre in space down the right hand touchline. Suddenly the last London defender was faced with not only Hurrell running at him but also the supporting Lomax and Makinson either side of him.
Hurrell chose to use Lomax on his inside and the stand-off waltzed in for his first try of the season, his 134th for Saints since his 2009 debut. Makinson’s conversion effort was strangely wild, hitting the post from a position that was not too far from in front of the posts.
The final scoring act was reserved for Whitley. He grabbed a double from another Welsby pass in a fashion not dissimilar to the first hook up between the two. It was evident in the celebrations how happy Whitley is to be playing and scoring tries for his home town club. Most of his team-mates looked especially pleased for him too, judging by their reactions. Whitley was released by Saints as a youngster and has had to go away and forge a career elsewhere before getting the chance to represent the club. At 28 years old, Saints might just be getting him as he comes into his peak years.
Makinson’s conversion attempt was not much better than his last but it hardly mattered on a night where a dominant Saints only got out of second gear fleetingly. But then who is at their best in the season opener? The important things is that you get the result. That box was resoundingly ticked.
The goal-kicking may be an issue in a tighter game so the missed goals from both Percival and Makinson are a slight concern. We are still not seeing Dodd get involved in that equation so it currently looks a staight battle between the two three-quarters. Both have room for improvement.
On a more positive note Wellens would have been particularly pleased with the way the debutants fitted in, particularly Clark and Whitley. Both were among Saints’ best performers on the night. Clark played a lung busting 72 minutes before Wingfield was sent back on in relief of the ex-Warrington man.
It will be interesting to see if this is the norm going forward or whether some of those minutes will be shared with Mbye when he returns from injury. The number nine role had to be shared as Roby aged over the last few seasons. Perhaps Clark is still at a stage in his career where Wellens will be prepared to keep him out there for longer, particularly if the 31 year-old is having a major influence on a big game.
That’s not a knock on Mbye who has had a very positive impact on the side since replacing Joey Lussick during last term. But as someone once said, if you have a big gun you pull the trigger. Clark still looks like a big gun.
There is much more to come from Blake too. Running opportunities were few and far between for the Fijian out on the left wing but he is not the first player playing in that position for Saints in recent years to experience that problem. A move to his natural centre position would help get him more involved in the action but who do you drop?
Percival averaged almost eight metres a carry during his stint. Hurrell had well over 10 metres for every time he had it, although that average will have been helped by the break he made to lay on Lomax’s try. Both had five tackle busts and both look dangerous whenever Saints do decide to play with a bit more width. It is going to be intriguing to see how Wellens manages that trio including Blake as the season progresses. And what about Bennison? Where does he fit into the new plans?
The concession of only four points will probably be among the most pleasing things about the performance for Wellens. While some of us yawned and moaned our way through the less inspiring victories last year it was clearly Saints defensive qualities which allowed them to get to the brink of another Grand Final. They will need that solidity again, so it is encouraging to note that they conceded only a solitary clean break all night. They did miss 22 tackles, but that is the fewest of any of the teams in round one.
If anyone is any doubt about how desperate this side is to defend their line witness Welsby’s extroardinary try saver on Miloudi late in proceedings. Saints were already 36-4 up inside the last 10 minutes when the fullback - having swept up a low kick close to the Saints line - had a bit of a moment as he allowed the Broncos centre to steal the ball from him one on one.
Miloudi spun away and dived over for what he must have thought was another consolation try. There are fullbacks in this league who would have reasoned that with the game over another London try wouldn’t be the end of civilisation. Save your energy. Welsby took a different approach, desperately hauling Miloudi down and forcing him to lose the ball as he was about to ground it. Defence is an attitude and Saints have it throughout the squad.
With that though at times this group has been guilty of crossing a line on discipline. Knowles, Mata’utia and Sironen in particular received multiple bans last term while the late sin-binning of Lees in last year’s semi-final at Catalans was hugely costly.
On the admittedly small sample size of one game there are signs of improvement. On an opening weekend in which red cards were being handed out like tickets to see Wigan in the World Club Challenge Saints were one of five Super League teams to keep 13 players on the pitch at all times. Moreover, only two teams conceded fewer penalties than the six that were given against Saints by referee James Vella. That can’t all be down to the absence of Knowles.
Despite these encouraging signs in various departments we must remember that the quality of the opposition is going to get tougher. For all their endeavour, London are still the side which finished 18 points behind Featherstone Rovers in last year’s Championship table before pulling off a couple of miracles to get back into Super League, albeit temporarily. There is a good argument that no team should have the opportunity to win a competition and be promoted from it if they finish 18 points behind the leaders. They are arguably a side out of their depth.
A look at the stats shows what this writer knows about the state of Alex Walmsley. I have spent much of the off season fretting about the fact that the big man turns 34 in a couple of months. I wondered whether Wellens may be tempted to use him more as an impact substitute after spending so long as the leader and habitual top metre maker.
He started this one and managed to reel off 188 metres on 21 carries. Saints next best ground gainer after Walmsley was Sironen - some 31 metres back on 157. Bell chipped in with 150 while there were also 100 metre days for Whitley (135) and Makinson (117). London had nobody breaking through the century, with their best effort being the 92 made by Macani although as in the case of Hurrell a sizeable chunk of that arrived during one line break.
Top tackler in the red vee was Clark with 33. He was the only Saint over 30 but Wingfield had a creditable 28 on his return to action. For London, loose forward Parata was forced into 53 tackles while hooker Davis managed 40. Kennedy (33) and Butler (30) were also kept busy.
Next week Saints travel to Huddersfield, who got their campaign off to a very encouraging start with a 16-8 win at Leigh Leopards. Last year’s visit to the John Smith’s Stadium was a tense battle from which Saints emerged with a slender 14-12 win so minds will need to be focused if the red vee are going to again escape from West Yorkshire with another two points.
Knowles may return for that one which will give Wellens a decision to make on whether Bell continues to start or reverts to a bench role. If it is the latter, will we see Wingfield miss out or will it be Davies? His inclusion this week always seemed to suggest that there wasn’t 100% confidence in Percival’s ability to play the full 80 minutes. As it turned out, he did not. The question is whether he could have had the scoreline been much closer. And having been withdrawn early from this one is he fit enough to go the 80 next week?
For now Saints can feel contented with a comfortable win which doesn’t appear to have taken too much out of them. The Giants will provide a very different test, but the signs are mostly positive.
So far.
Saints: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Blake, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Whitley, Sironen, Bell. Interchanges: Mata’utia, Wingfield, Davies, Delaney
Broncos: Leyland, Kershaw, Storey, Miloudi, Macani, Campagnolo, Meadows, Butler, Davis, Kennedy, Lovell, Adebiyi, Parata. Interchanges: Stock, Williams, Waine, Davies.
Referee: James Vella
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