Saints secured a fourth league win in five league outings with a narrow but ultimately deserved victory over Leeds Rhinos at Headingley on Friday (March 15).
Paul Wellens’ side entered this one on the back of a rare loss having gone down to Salford a week previously following Mark Percival’s red card early in the second half. If the question of whether Saints could bounce back offered one layer of intrigue another was provided by the fact that the Challenge Cup draw had paired Saints and Leeds together at Headingley exactly one week on from this league meeting. Yet this was no phoney war.
Initially Wellens had made three changes to the 17 which lost to the Red Devils. With Percival suspended Konrad Hurrell was due to return from his own ban to partner Waqa Blake in the centres. Yet Tommy Makinson suffered a hamstring injury in the warm-up meaning Blake had to move out to the wing. Despite Ben Davies’ presence as 18th man and designated concussion substitute it was back rower Matt Whitley who was asked to fill Blake’s vacant centre spot. Jon Bennison continued on the wing but switched to the right flank to operate outside Hurrell with Whitley and Blake on the left.
That wasn’t the end of the switcheroo. With Whitley having vacated one of the second row berths and Curtis Sironen out Joe Batchelor stepped up from the bench to start alongside Sione Mata’utia. Batchelor’s interchange spot went not to Davies but to George Delaney who had originally been set to miss out as Matty Lees returned.
Leeds were still without David Fusitu’a - when are they not? - so Luis Roberts deputised. Rhyse Martin switched to centre from second row to cover the injury absence of Paul Momirowski. James Donaldson and Sam Lisone were also missing and there was a place on the Rhinos bench for young fullback Alfie Edgell.
Whether it was the pre-game disruption or not Saints made a sluggish start. Or perhaps Leeds made a fast one. Either way nerves were frayed as first Lewis Dodd had to clean up deep in his own territory when Jack Welsby played the ball to a non-existent dummy half, and then a Brodie Croft bomb was somehow allowed to bounce in Saints territory before Welsby finally mopped up possession.
It was no surprise when Rohan Smith’s side created the first real scoring opportunity. Harry Newman was set free down the Leeds right and was able to jink effortlessly inside Welsby on his way to the line. He didn’t quite get there due to the hustle and effort of Dodd. The halfback not only chased down the England centre but was able to drag him down just short of the line. We didn’t know it at the time - just seven minutes in - but with points turning out to be at an absolute premium Dodd’s effort was potentially a difference maker. He has been praised by the fans and by the Head Coach for his form in the early part of the year and his defensive contribution should not be a forgotten part of that.
Yet Dodd could do nothing about Leeds taking the lead a few minutes later. Saints put themselves in a bad spot, first by being caught not square at marker as Leeds moved out of their own end and then in giving away a set restart in much more dangerous territory. Andy Ackers, Cameron Smith and Croft moved the ball right to Roberts who stepped inside as several Saints defenders took themselves out of the play with an over pursuit. Only Dodd and Blake stood between Roberts and the opening score and the Rhinos man was able to absorb the contact and twist over. The grounding was reviewed but never really looked in doubt. When Martin slotted the conversion from out wide the home side led 6-0.
During this early period of Rhinos ascendancy fullback Lachie Miller was a particular irritant. Miller is a 2020 Rugby Sevens Olympian who has found himself at Leeds via spells in the NRL with Cronulla and Newcastle. His speed and elusiveness was causing Saints problems in the early going. He ended his night with 150 metres to his name. Only Martin and Ash Handley could better that on the Leeds side and it was more than anyone on the Saints side other than Hurrell and James Bell. Yet it was noticeable how Saints adjusted to this threat and that Miller’s threat seemed to lessen as the night wore on. It helped that the 29 year-old has a mental mistake in him, too.
The first signs of life in the Saints attack arrived when Lees - who has missed the last two games with a chest problem - set off on a rare clean break. The prop was put through by a glorious pass at the line by Morgan Knowles and made it all the way to within five metres of the Rhinos line before Miller hauled him down.
Having survived that Leeds extended their lead. Batchelor was found guilty of stealing the ball from Miller with Jonny Lomax also in attendance. That gave Martin a shot from 30 metres out in a fairly central position. He doesn’t need asking twice and he duly edged the Rhinos out to an 8-0 advantage with just over 20 minutes played. At which point - albeit with a few minor scares - Saints’ defence took over proceedings,
Having gained a level of control Saints were threatening as half-time approached. They might have scored earlier if Lomax’s pass to Whitley had not gone forward inside the Leeds 10. Yet it was a temporary reprieve as just two minutes later Blake registered his first try as a Saint. Dodd was at the heart of it, lobbing the ball to the left edge where Welsby got to it before his former team-mate James Bentley.
The fullback was only able to bat it backwards but that was enough for Moses Mbye to seize the opportunity to take possession and slip Blake in at the left hand corner. Again it was reviewed but again these were just formalities. Lomax became Saints’ fourth goal-kicker of the season already and - on this evidence - the best by some distance as he landed the extras from the touchline to bring Saints to within two at just 8-6 down at the break.
Having grabbed his try it was Blake’s defensive qualities which were called upon early in the second half. A Welsby error had cost Saints a chance as they pressed the Rhinos’ line before Mbye was caught on the last on the visitors’ next raid. Eventually Leeds wrestled back some field position and it was Blake in the right place to knock a dangerous Croft crossfield bomb dead in-goal. On the next set Blake was needed again, this time to somehow shuffle Matt Frawley’s kick dead for another Leeds dropout. The technique didn’t look convincing from Blake but it was important that he was there to snuff out the danger.
The Fijian hasn’t exactly wowed his new club’s fans over the first month of the season but that first try, these quickfire defensive interventions and 120 metres on 15 carries show that he is contributing. It hasn’t been flash but it should also be remembered that he has missed a game through illness and had to split his playing time between centre and wing as circumstances have dictated.
Another who had to adapt to changing circumstances was George Delaney. The young prop was not due to be involved at all in this one before the late withdrawal of Makinson. That despite featuring in 17 out of 18 since the middle of 2023. This is is a tough environment in which to keep hold of your playing shirt. Yet he was ready when called on. A return of 44 metres on 6 carries and 10 tackles is a modest stat line but he did it error free and can certainly claim to have done his bit in helping turn the game Saints’ way in the second half.
Sixteen minutes of that second half had elapsed when Saints made an impression on the scoreboard which would prove pivotal if not decisive. Roberts had been deemed to have lost the ball 30 metres from his own line despite the suspicious contributions of Lomax and Mbye. That set Saints up in the field position they needed as they went right through Mbye, Welsby, Bell, Didd and Lomax whose final pass gave Bennison the room he needed for his second try of the new season and his 16th in Saints colours.
Like Blake, Bennison has had his form questioned early in the year. It seems clear that he is not an out and out winger, and when his name appears on the team sheet as a wide man he becomes a lightning rod for a lack of pace in the back division.
But the truth is that we have lacked pace in the side since Kristian Woolf was telling us that we were just a bit ‘clunky’. We were not clunky then and we are still not. We were and are built to be functional and reliable rather than explosive. Bennison is part of that but it is hardly his fault if he continues to be selected in a position which traditionally requires a bit more speed. He is a consistent presence, and when the alternative is the underwhelming Tee Ritson it’s not like we could be so much better without Bennison. Whether rumours linking Makinson with a move to France for next year are true or not it’s fairly obvious that a winger should be high on next season’s shopping list.
While we could also use a goal-kicker Lomax continued to do a passable impression of one as he made another from out wide to stretch Saints’ lead to 12-8.
Miller was entering the period of the game where he started to flag. He had a gift for Saints immediately after the Lomax conversion as he promptly launched the restart out on the full. A little too much adrenaline perhaps but it nevertheless created another scoring opportunity for Saints who made good ground from the resulting penalty on halfway. When the try came it was not a surprise in itself, but perhaps the manner in which Moses parted the defence was a little eyebrow raising.
He was standing in his now customary dummy half position just a few metres from the Leeds line when he was faced with only Jarrod O’Connor at marker. Mbye produced an extravagant mime of a pass to his right which the son of Tez couldn’t help but bite on. That left nobody in front of Mbye who gleefully dived over to essentially make the points safe. Lomax was faced with the simplest of his three conversions since resuming the extra adding duties. He duly notched his 114th goal of a Saints career currently spanning 331 appearances and counting, He’d also put his side 10 points up at 18-8 with a quarter of the game remaining.
At this point it’s always nice to be able to reintroduce your most reliable, impactful forward so it felt like a potentially game sealing luxury when Walmsley re-entered the fray. Within seconds the big prop found himself caught up in the excitement of the whole thing to the extent that he placed a low kick into the Rhinos in-goal which was a bit too strong and trickled dead. Clearly you don’t really want your prop forwards in charge of your short kicking game. We have other staff for that. However as strange as it was to see it wasn’t the worst effort you’ve ever seen from someone wearing a red vee on their shirt.
Certainly it didn’t deserve the level of scrutiny offered to it by Walmsley’s former team-mate Mr Wilkin in the commentary box. Saints were feeding a scrum deep in their own half fully two minutes later when he was still going on about how bad it had been. Wilkin is entitled to an opinion but you’d think he’d tone it down a bit given that no forward in Saints history has misplaced more attacking kicks than he did when he was pretending to be a halfback during the Cunningham years. Ok so it wasn’t great, but a little understanding, eh Jon?
Leeds had a spell late in the game when if they had taken a chance they could have set up a wild finish. However first Justin Sangare put down Cameron Smith’s pass within a few metres of the Saints line and then Newman rather butchered a drop-off from Frawley with Leeds in good field position again. As the errors piled up the broadcasters focused more and more on two Leeds United footballers and their reactions to the lost opportunities. It always seemed like overkill of the mildly interesting fact that two of their number had come out to watch the Rhinos. And then the truth outed itself in the form of an on-screen advert for an RL related film they’re involved which is apparently available On Demand.
Unlike points against this Saints defence. Wello’s Wall has now played out five entire halves of rugby in 2024 during which they have not conceded a single point to their opposition. When you consider they have only played 10 halves so far in the entire season that tells you exactly how stingy this defence is. Half of the six tries it has conceded in 2024 were shipped in the 35 minutes or so that they were down to 12 men against Salford. If Saints keep 13 on the field they are going to be seriously hard to beat this year.
On the subject of discipline it appears to be improving with no charges incurred this week. There had been fears that Mata’utia’s ouch-inducing creasing of Bentley late in the game would attract the attention of the Match Review Panel. Referee Jack Smith considered it late and penalised Mata’utia but no further action was taken by the video referee Liam Moore. Given his record for picking up bans for late tackles I would prefer it if the former Newcastle man didn’t take the risk but it certainly was a hit to appease those who threaten to boycott the game every week on the grounds that it now lacks the requisite level of violence.
We’ve had a peek at the stats so just to tidy up Bell led Saints in the business of metre making with 156, just a notch ahead of Hurrell on 154. After that come Walmsley on 122, Blake’s 120, Lomax with 112 and Bennison on 107.
Defence was prominent all night and a special mention must go to Batchelor for his 49 tackles. He conceded four penalties which is far too many but we’ll cut him some slack given that he had been preparing for minutes off the bench for his first appearance of the season and ended up being thrust into the starting line-up. Lomax’s 37 tackles embellish another classy, industrious and intelligent performance from the skipper while Knowles weighed in with 34 stops.
Leeds’ best on the night going forward was Handley on 169 just ahead of Martin on 161 and Miller’s 150. There are only three of them but these numbers are evidence of a bend don’t break defensive philosophy from Wellens’ side. He may have had his clocks cleaned by Mata’utia but Bentley still managed to be the Rhinos’ busiest defender with 39 tackles as both Smith and Andy Ackers managed 36. James McDonnell offered 35.
A sense of deja vu awaits next week as Saints head back to Headingley for the Challenge Cup clash. Wellens did not seem optimistic about Makinson’s chances of recovering in time at his post match interview while Percival will still be suspended. That could offer an opportunity to Ritson while Leeds fans will no doubt sweat on the outcome of Bentley’s late acquaintance with Mata’utia.
As we hit the first break in Super League matters Wellens and his squad can be satisfied with their start to the year. The next two weeks mean slightly more with our cup fate on the line followed by a derby visit from Wigan. They are big games but we couldn’t really be better placed to face them.
Unless we had a bit more pace in the side. We could really use that…
Leeds Rhinos: Miller, Roberts, Newman, Martin, Handley, Croft, Frawley, Oledzki, Ackers, Sangare, Bentley, McDonnell, Smith. Interchanges: O’Connor, Goudemand, Holroyd, Edgell
Saints: Welsby, Bennison, Hurrell, Whitley, Blake, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Mata’utia, Batchelor, Knowles. Interchanges: Bell, Mbye, Wingfield, Delaney.
Referee: Jack Smith
Video Referee: Liam Moore
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