Boring tactics and a tendency to be blown away by teams playing expansively and at pace notwithstanding, two weeks without a Saints game has felt like an awfully long time.
Paul Wellens’ side were inactive last week as the Challenge Cup semi-finals took centre stage. Now they return, hosting Leeds Rhinos on Friday night (May 24) as Super League gets back under way.
When the pause button was pressed Saints sat second in the Super League standings, one of four sides with eight wins and 16 points. Wigan lead the way on points difference but also have a game in hand due to their involvement in the World Club Challenge at the start of the year. Warrington and Catalans Dragons make up the quartet but one of them will lose ground on the other this week as they meet in Perpignan on Saturday (May 25).
A win over the Rhinos will guarantee that Saints stay in the top three and very likely keep them in the top two such is their points difference advantage over both the Wolves and the Dragons. They may even reclaim top spot with Wigan’s points difference currently only five better than that of the 2023 World champions. Wigan go to Salford on Sunday (May 26) and let’s not forget that Paul Rowley’s side would have beaten the league leaders earlier in the season had it not been for Marc Sneyd’s short dropout brain explosion.
Meanwhile - and despite an unconvincing league campaign so far which has yielded six wins and five losses - the visiting Riders Of Rohan are only four points off that leading group. That leaves them just outside the playoff places in seventh but a win here coupled with defeat for Salford against the Warriors could see the Rhinos back in the mix. Mathematically they could also leapfrog Hull KR into fifth but that would need the Robins to suffer a gargantuan defeat at London Broncos on Sunday. It’s not something I’d recommend you rush out and put your money on.
Wellens has had a triple injury blow to deal with in the buildup to this one. Jake Wingfield only returned to action in the 60-6 pummelling of Castleford Tigers in Saints’ last match a fortnight ago, but suffered a recurrence and now needs surgery. The prognosis is that he will miss the next four months which pretty much rules him out for the remainder of the regular season. Yet if the surgery and rehab goes well he could be a handy addition to the resources come playoff time.
Matt Whitley missed the Castleford game with a shoulder problem of his own which also requires surgery. He is set to be out for around 12 weeks. That puts him in contention to return ahead of the Magic Weekend clash with Wigan at Elland Road on August 17. Were the former Widnes and Catalans Dragons man able to make that he would still miss the next 10 league games. It’s a sad interruption to what has been a fine start to his time with his boyhood club.
The third man facing a lengthy layoff is Morgan Knowles. The loose forward and occasional prop also missed the trip to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle with a groin issue which is now expected to keep him out for around six weeks. That is a significant loss but it should lead to a decent run in the starting side for James Bell.
When the ex-Leigh man needs a spell Wellens is going to have to get a little more creative. Back rowers Sione Mata’utia, Curtis Sironen or Joe Batchelor could operate there if we’re just looking for an extra ‘middle’ or no frills forward. Or…slightly left field but there are those who would tell you that Jack Welsby could bring a more creative, traditional vibe to the position.
Yet if he did who on Earth would play fullback? Jon Bennison is a candidate but has fallen out of favour recently. The 21 year-old’s last two appearances have been at fullback but he has not featured since he was very pointedly hooked from the action during the 13-12 win over Huddersfield Giants in Saints’ last home game on April 24.
Tommy Makinson has served his ludicrous one-match ban for the red card that never was at Castleford thanks to a convenient reserve team fixture and is available. It will be his first game since announcing that he will leave the club at the end of the season after 14 years in the first team.
His next destination is thought to be Catalans Dragons but that information was not part of his announcement. Perhaps he is waiting until Les T ont ete croises et les Is ont ete pointilles on that deal.
For now he’s a certainty on the right wing ahead of Welsby at fullback and alongside centre pairing Mark Percival and Konrad Hurrell with suddenly free scoring Waqa Blake on the opposite wing. The presence in the 21 for the first time of centre Johnny Vaughan makes me anxious that one of those regular three-quarters might be a slight doubt. Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd - another departing at year’s end - are the halfback pairing of choice.
The front row is still missing the totemic presence of Alex Walmsley but is boosted by the potential return of Agnatius Paasi. The former New Zealand Warrior has not played for the first team since last July when he was on the wrong end of John Asiata’s scandalously unpunished assault to the knee in the Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Leigh Leopards. Paasi played in a reserve game last weekend and makes the 21 for this one. If he is fit enough to feature then he could fill a potential void left by a possible need to switch Mata’utia back to the back row in the absence of Whitley and Knowles. Saints also have Matty Lees and George Delaney while Noah Stephens is included again after making an eye-catching debut at Castleford.
The second row will most likely feature two of Mata’utia, Sironen and Batchelor from the start while Sam Royle again waits for an opportunity in a position in which Saints are stacked despite the loss of Whitley. Daryl Clarke and Moses Mbye are the hooking duo with the former the probable starter.
And so to our guests whose chances of causing what would be an upset must be somewhat improved by the return of two of their genuine stars. Harry Newman hasn’t played since the Rhinos imploded to lose 30-24 to Huddersfield in mid-April but returns here. Newman doesn’t always emit the vibe of a man who enjoys his rugby league but he is undoubtedly one of the better centres in the competition.
Perhaps of even greater value to Coach Smith is the availability of Brodie Croft. The 2023 Steve Prescott Man Of Steel hasn’t been the roaring success expected by those of us who brazenly suggested at the start of the season that Leeds could finish top of the pile. Yet he is a highly influential and highly skilled halfback. He missed Leeds’ last outing - a 26-0 towelling at Catalans Dragons - but is in contention here. Jack Sinfield deputised in France so the decision for Smith is whether to stick with the teenager or allow Matt Frawley to renew his partnership with Croft.
Frawley has been linked with Saints in some circles this week as they look for a long term replacement for Dodd. If Smith could palm the ex-Giant off onto Saints it would be his greatest contribution to the Rhinos since taking over as Head Coach. And the greatest of any member of the Smith family since Uncle Tony won two Grand Finals and a World Club Challenge with the Rhinos in the 2000s.
Rohan Smith moved this week to bring in former Wigan winger Matty Russell on loan from Warrington Wolves. He looks set for a debut with David Fusitu’a still out amid suggestions that his inadequate spell at Headingley will soon be put out of its misery. Russell will occupy one wing with perhaps Ash Handley on the other in front of tic rugby and yawnion sevens merchant Lachie Miller at fullback. Rhyse Martin is the likely centre partner for Newman with Paul Momirowski still out.
Like Frawley Jarrod O’Connor has been linked with a bonkers transfer this week after he appeared on the radar of Hull FC. Yet there are few players not on the radar of FC Director Of Rugby and ex-Rhino Richie Myler at present. For now Connor’s form is such that he beat England international Andy Ackers to the starting nine role in France and could do so again against his dad’s old rivals. Mikolaj Oledzki should take one starting prop berth with Justin Sangare probably getting the other to allow Sam Lisone to make impact from the bench.
Disappointingly for us Saints fans our former charge and pantomime villain James Bentley is on the injured list. With Martin possibly operating at centre the back row will feature the dependable James McDonnell and Whitley’s former Dragons second row buddy Mikael Goudemand. Behind them the world’s third most famous Cameron Smith is a proper loose forward who does loose forward things. His battle with Bell should be a refreshing change from the regular Super League ‘spectacle’ which sees two auxiliary props running into each other.
Leeds are one of the few teams - though the list is growing - to have tasted success recently at St Helens. They went down there 22-18 in late July of last year but edged Saints 25-24 on their previous visit in early March. In a strange performance Saints looked to have the matter in hand before Leeds staged a fightback capped by Blake Austin’s late one-pointer. There was also only a solitary point between the sides at Headingley in May when it was Dodd whose drop goal made the difference.
While this may not currently be a top of the table blockbuster owing to Leeds’ mediocrity under Rohan Smith there have been plenty of huge clashes down the years. Both sides won a Challenge Cup final against the other in the 1970s while more recently the Rhinos’ Golden Generation of Kevin Sinfield, Rob Burrow, Danny McGuire, Jamie Peacock et al beat Saints in three consecutive Grand Finals between 2007-09 and a fourth in 2011. In 2022 it was Saints who took the honours at Old Trafford 24-12, completing an unprecedented four Grand Final wins in a row. The Rhinos presence in that year’s showpiece remains a stain on the whole concept of playoffs and a Grand Final.
I’d expect Saints to just about get the win. While the 60 points they rattled past the Tigers was impressive it’s unlikely to spark what was previously a spluttering attack into any consistent demonstration of that type of form. Yet under Wellens the defence has gone to another level statistically than even three-time Grand Final winner Kristian Woolf could manage in his time. And this is not a Rhinos side with the potency in attack of a Warrington or even a Hull KR even if Croft and Handley are as good as anyone in those two sides.
Hopefully it won’t come down to a late drop-goal again between these two and as it did against the Giants four weeks ago. Saints by 12.
Squads:
Saints: 1.Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Waqa Blake, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. Daryl Clark, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Joe Batchelor, 14. Moses Mbye, 15. James Bell, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 20. George Delaney, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 30. Jonny Vaughan, 31. Noah Stephens.
Leeds Rhinos: 1 Lachie Miller 3 Harry Newman 5 Ash Handley 6 Brodie Croft 7 Matt Frawley 8 Mikolaj Oledzki 9 Andy Ackers 12 Rhyse Martin 13 Cameron Smith 14 Jarrod O'Connor 15 Sam Lisone 16 James McDonnell 17 Justin Sangare 18 Mickael Goudemand 21 Jack Sinfield 23 Leon Ruan 24 Luis Roberts 26 Corey Johnson 30 Tom Nicholson-Watton 32 Ben Littlewood 35 Matty Russell
Referee: Liam Moore
Video Referee: Tom Grant
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