Salford Red Devils 20 Saints 18 - Review

I told you I was a little bit worried about this one.

Saints missed the chance to move back to the top of the table following this narrow loss to a Salford side which is fast becoming a bit of a bogey. The red vee remain second, two points adrift of Wigan who still have that game in hand against Leigh to come. If the Warriors were to win that and then get the better of Saints in the derby on July 12 it could just about put them out of reach for Paul Wellens’ side. None of us need reminding how finishing outside the top two cost us last year.

Meanwhile Paul Rowley’s men have defied all of the off-field doom mongering following Ian Blease’s defection to Leeds to sit comfortably in the playoff spots. Presumably he left to spend more time with former Red Devils Brodie Croft and Andy Ackers. Yet for now the trio can only look up enviously at their former club. They are currently fifth, just two points behind Saints and Hull KR and on the same points as Warrington. In sporting cliche parlance they are right in the mix. 

 

Not to make too many excuses but Saints have a deepening injury crisis which was never going to help. Already without Alex Walmsley, Matt Whitley and Jake Wingfield for the long term Wellens is also still unable to call on Jonny Lomax, Morgan Knowles or Joe Batchelor. Last week’s win at London saw Tommy Makinson join the list of casualties. Jon Bennison came into Makinson’s right wing berth in the only change to the 17 from the Broncos game. 

 

That meant another start for George Delaney backed up from the bench by Noah Stephens. As great as it is to see these youngsters breaking into the first team should they really be being relied upon so often for a team with designs on the League Leaders Shield and another Grand Final win? Right now Wellens has no choice. 

A by-product of the problem is that Delaney has earned a place in the England squad for this weekend’s mid-season international with France. Which means he gets to be coached by former Castleford supremo Andy Last. International RL ain’t what it was. Not that that should detract from an incredible achievement by the young prop just 38 appearances into his Saints career.

 

Pre-game hope came with the news that Salford centre Tim Lafai was injured in the warm up and would take no part. The Samoan international has made a habit of shredding Saints in recent years. His left centre berth was filled by the less trumpeted Loghan Lewis. Fullback Ryan Brierley was still out as was ex-Manly and Wigan stand-off Cade Cust. Chris Atkin partnered Marc Sneyd in the halves while another former Warrior Chris Hankinson deputised for Brierley at fullback.

 

The visiting Saints made a fast start, opening the scoring after only five minutes through James Bell. The loose forward was first to Jack Welsby’s neat dab into the in-goal to touch down for a try that was converted by Mark Percival. 

 

It was a lead they held for just over 10 minutes. Bennison gave away a penalty for a high shot on Hankinson deep in Saints territory. The much travelled Joe Mellor was the quick thinking Joe Mellor as he took a quick tap and exchanged passes with Shane Wright before finding Deon Cross with an open run to the line. Saints’ formidable defence had been caught napping in a manner that we haven’t really seen from them so far in 2024. Sneyd wasn’t about to make them feel any better about it as he landed the conversion from the left touchline to level the scores at 6-6.

 

His next attempt at goal didn’t go quite as well. Referee Jack Smith had awarded a penalty to Salford for an obstruction. It was well within Sneyd’s range so the former Hull FC man opted to go for goal to put his side in front. Except he didn’t. In a show of futile smart-arse-ery which knocks even his ill-fated short dropout against Wigan into the proverbial cocked hat Sneyd deliberately missed the penalty. Instead of making a genuine attempt to add to his points tally he launched his attempt to the opposite side of the field towards Atkin. The ex-Hull KR man took possession and strolled in for what those in the home camp thought was a try. 

 

Unfortunately for them Smith was more familiar with the actual rules of the game. Well…he is a Super League official after all. He knew that the whole plot was illegal. He disallowed the try and gave Saints a penalty. Kudos to Salford for their attempt at ingenuity and imagination but a big fat zero out of 10 for their grasp on the laws of the game. 

 

A shambolic play the ball by Konrad Hurrell set up the position for Salford’s next scoring opportunity. The Tongan centre was only around 15 metres from his own line when he got himself all in a tangle while getting up after being tackled. It was all Sneyd needed to be able to demonstrate what can be achieved when his kicking game remains within the rules. 

The crossfield chip with the outside of his boot that led to Cross’ second try was imaginative and clinical. The kind of thing few players in Super League can pull off. All Cross had to do was collect it and put the ball down with the Saints right edge defence bewildered. Sneyd stuck to the script with the ensuing attempt at goal but it didn’t yield any more points as he drove it wide of the uprights. Yet the Red Devils still went to the break with a slender 10-6 lead. 

 

They had an early opportunity to stretch that lead after the restart but were again foiled by the whistle of that pesky Smith.  Dodd fired a pass at Sironen which bounced off the back rower and was collected by Kallum Watkins.  He immediately fed Nene McDonald who had a clear run to the line.  Yet the pass from Watkins was ruled forward and the score was rightly chalked off.  Still, it was another warning that Salford could hurt Saints with their speed on the edges and ability to turn defence into attack in an instant.

 

Having almost gifted the Red Devils a score Sironen then got Saints back into the argument with a four-pointer of his own.  Sione Mata’utia carried several defenders with him on an epic surge down the right. The move looked like coming to an ignominious end with all of Mbye, Royle and Dodd occupying the same space in the middle of the field, looking at each other in exasperated, slapstick fashion. Fortunately Daryl Clark was around to sort out the mess, finding Dodd whose pass expertly led Sironon on to the outside of Atkin who had rushed out of the line to try to shut down the raid.  Percival’s conversion put Saints back in front at 12-10.

 

Fine player though he is Mata’utia gives and then he takes away.  Which at least is in the best traditions of the club.   Not long after laying waste to the Salford defence to set up Sironen’s score the former Newcastle Knight was getting himself into a spot of bother.  As Sneyd started the next Salford attack with a pass to the left edge he was caught slightly late by Mata’utia.  

A penalty ensued and the Match Review Panel (MRP) were offended enough to issue a one match ban to Mata’utia on Monday afternoon (June 24). The offence wasn’t much to get in a lather about in itself but since late hits used to be a regular feature of the Mata’utia game it is hardly surprising to see it met with a dim view.

 

Which is where it comes in handy to have a reserve team, and more specifically one which has a fixture this coming weekend when the first team does not.  Saints are not in action this week due to the annual French farce  – don’t get me started – and so Mata’utia can use the reserve fixture to see out his suspension.  

Technically he is available for the reserves even if he is about as likely to play for them as Luke Shaw.  This is an oft used loophole by many clubs, not just Saints.  Yet they have used it recently. Makinson took advantage of it to avoid missing any action after his rather sillier ban for a hard but fair challenge on Tex Hoy at Castleford in May.  It’s something that the authorities in the game should probably take a look at.  You can’t really preach about player welfare and the need to deter players from acts of foul play if you are then going to offer said players easy outs from their suspensions. 

 

A topsy-turvy game took another twist just before the hour mark.  Again it was Sneyd causing mayhem in the Saints defence with his kicking game.  His crossfield lob to the Salford right wing had Percival and Waqa Blake in a flap.  Neither could diffuse the situation and as the ball bounced it was picked up by Watkins. Despite comically colliding with Hankinson he was able to stay upright long enough to squeeze in at the corner and put the Red Devils back into the lead.  Sneyd surprised everyone by missing the extras on this one and the lead stayed at a tenuous two points at 14-12.

 

Perhaps affronted by Mata’utia’s earlier challenge on him Sneyd then dished out a bit of redemption at the expense of Salford’s lead.  Whether his anticipation that Mata’utia would receive the ball was genuine or not the Salford halfback got in something of a mess and managed to tackle Mata’utia without possession.  The penalty was a long way out – almost 40 metres – but with a favourable angle Percival decided to have a go at levelling the scores.  He managed this expertly, locking things up at 14-14.

 

Sneyd was in a slightly enigmatic mood all afternoon.  As much as he was influencing the game with his boot he was also throwing in the odd mistake to make things more interesting.  Very generous of him.  His next faux pas saw him throw a pass straight into the waiting arms of Hurrell just as the Red Devils looked set to launch another threatening attack.  

Salford compounded that error by messing about at the play-the-ball.  The resultant penalty led to the score that put Saints back in front.  Welsby’s offload attempt was a bit scruffy and was touched by Watkins, only for Sironen to pick up the loose ball.  He set off on a damaging run through the disjointed Red Devils defence before finding Percival on his inside.  The centre did the rest but – unfathomably and rather crucially as it turned out – could not tack on the extra two points.  With 12 minutes left Saints led 18-14.

 

Eighteen points is not a total you would normally consider vintage Saints.  The league’s best attack – no I don’t know how either – averages over 28 points per game this season.  They scored 52 in one half against Castleford not so long ago.  Yet when he spoke about this game afterwards Wellens opined that you would expect to win any game of rugby if you score 18 points.  

I’m not sure what the league stats say on that but it is hardly the most Saintsy thing for the club’s Head Coach to say.  As a fan base we  probably don’t want to hear that we are a team who are happy to amass that kind of total in the knowledge that we will probably be able to defend it.  

I can’t help thinking that a Saints coach should have a more positive approach to the attacking side of the game.  I suppose we should remember under whom Wellens learned his coaching trade.  Yet unlike Kristian Woolf – who picked up Grand Final successes the way Paddy Power picks up bets on the election date from Tory MPs – Wellens has not yet reached let alone won a Grand Final as a coach.  There isn’t the same credit in the bank despite his stellar playing career with the club.  He’s vulnerable if we fail to win trophies with a conservative mindset.  Ask Keiron Cunningham.

 

And so with a certain inevitability the game took one final swing towards the home side, a fatal swipe to Saints hopes of leaping back to the top of Super League. 

 

Chancing their collective arm the Red Devils moved the ball out to Ethan Ryan on the right wing.  He was able to beat Bennison and also evade the attempted ankle tap from Dodd to find himself in open space.  Only Welsby stood between him and the try line.  Happily for Ryan he had Hankinson in support, laying on a simple pass for the stand-in fullback to cross for the try which levelled the scores.  Just when we needed Sneyd’s goal-kicking to fail him he landed the conversion expertly to give his side the 20-18 advantage.  One which they would not lose on this occasion.

 

While Wellens was careful to point out that two of the Red Devils tries had come from Sneyd kicks he might want to concern himself more with Saints’ vulnerabilities on their defensive edges.  It seems that there is almost a blueprint that has developed on how to beat the former four-in-a-row champions.  Get the ball to the edges quickly and test the centres and wings, especially as on this occasion in the absence of Makinson.  

We saw Warrington do it in the chastening Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat in April and we saw Hull KR do it in the league in early May.  If I am the Saints Head Coach I am not sticking my head in the sand with the belief that an otherwise impressive defence can only be worried by the opposition’s kicking game. We have a more glaring weakness.

Saints had one more chance to launch an attack from deep. To do something outrageous that the club remains famed for whatever comes out of Wellens’ mouth. It was quashed immediately and ignominiously when Welsby couldn’t hang on to Clark’s pass on play one. There wasn’t even time to form the scrum before Salford’s first league double over Saints since 1980 was confirmed. 

The stats show just how difficult it was for Saints to make the metres that often come so easily. Welsby led the way with 120 metres while Mata’utia added 117. They were the only two Saints to top 100, though Sironen got close with 96. 

Rowley’s side only had three centurions but the best of those was some distance ahead of any Saint as McDonald amassed 160. Hankinson added 151 while Cross had 101 to go with his try double. 

Clark put in Saints’ busiest defensive stint with 36 tackles, just one more than Matty Lees with 35. Bell offered 32 also. The Red Devils didn’t need to put in as much effort without the ball. Oliver Partington - who has just announced a move to Catalans Dragons for next year (keep away from his sort, Tommy) was the only Red Devil required to make more than 30 tackles. Even then it was only 31. 

This defeat is particularly troubling for Saints given what is coming up next. Wellens will hope that he can at least get Lomax and Knowles back on deck over the next few weeks. A tricky month starts gently with Castleford at home but then Saints go to Wigan, host Warrington and visit Leigh. It’s a run of games which could go a long way to deciding whereabouts in the top six they will finish. It could be season defining. 

And perhaps the worst news of all is that they have to face Salford for a third time on August 8. 

Salford Red Devils;

Hankinson, Ryan, McDonald, Lewis, Cross, Atkin, Sneyd, Singleton, Mellor, Wright, Stone, Watkins, Partington. Interchanges: Shorrocks, Vuniyayawa, Dudson, Connell

Saints;

Welsby, Bennison, Hurrell, Percival, Blake, Mbye, Dodd, Delaney, Clark, Lees, Mata’utia, Sironen, Bell. Interchanges: Davies, Royle, Paasi, Stephens 

Referee: Jack Smith 

Video Referee: Chris Kendall

Salford Red Devils v Saints - Preview

A return to the top of the Super League table is on offer to Saints when they visit the Salford Community Stadium to take on the Red Devils on Sunday afternoon (June 23, kick-off 3.00pm).

Paul Wellens’ men have been temporarily leapfrogged by Wigan after the Warriors’ 36-0 win over London Broncos on Friday night (June 21). Yet that wasn’t a big enough margin of victory for Matty Peet’s side to overhaul their points difference deficit to Saints, meaning the red vee will go back to the summit with any win over Paul Rowley’s side.

It’s been a testing time for the Red Devils in what is otherwise turning out to be a promising season. They sit fifth in the table going into this one having won 25-14 at Warrington last time out. That victory was their ninth in 14 league games this term. A win here would leave them just two points behind Saints ahead of next week’s international break. 

Yet off the field there is the usual level of uncertainty and turmoil which is so often associated with Salford. Director Of Rugby Ian Blease left the club to take on a similar role at Leeds Rhinos a couple of weeks ago. The subsequent parting of the ways between the Rhinos and Head Coach Rohan Smith led to some predictable but no less troubling speculation linking Rowley with the Headingley hot seat. All of which came after similar gossip around Rowley and Hull FC when Richie Myler took over the Director Of Rugby role at the MKM Stadium earlier in the campaign. Rowley remains in place for now and whether his head has been turned or not the chat is an unhelpful distraction to a team with realistic playoff ambitions. 

Wellens was able to name an unchanged 17 for last week’s 52-6 stroll over the Broncos. Yet only a minute into that game he knew he’d have to make a change for this one as Tommy Makinson suffered a foot injury. It will keep him out for four to six weeks of his final season at Saints before he makes the switch to Catalans Dragons. He is replaced in the initial 21-man party by Tee Ritson. His last appearance was in the 40-20 hammering by Hull KR on May 4. Like Ritson, Jon Bennison has struggled similarly for game time having not featured since the 13-12 win over Huddersfield Giants in April. He offers another option to Wellens on the wing.

Opposite whoever gets the nod between those two should be former Parramatta Eels man Waqa Blake with Mark Percival and Konrad Hurrell the centre partnership ahead of fullback Jack Welsby. 

Elsewhere injuries are still biting. Alex Walmsley, Matt Whitley and Jake Wingfield are all months away from a return to first team action while Saints are still without Jonny Lomax, Morgan Knowles and Joe Batchelor. Sione Mata’utia should continue to fill in for Batchelor in the second row alongside Curtis Sironen while Knowles’ absence is affording James Bell an extended run as the starting loose forward. 

With Mata’utia having moved out of the front row George Delaney is now a likely starter at prop alongside Matty Lees with Daryl Clark at hooker. Noah Stephens and Agnatius Paasi are the bench props, taking a seat at the start most likely alongside back rower Sam Royle and Ben Davies. 

Lomax is thought to be in contention for the home game with Castleford which follows the international break. However, for now his place in the halves alongside Lewis Dodd will be taken by Moses Mbye. Having spent much of his Saints career to date as a backup hooker he has shown his versatility in making the switch to the creative department. He scored a try and had two assists against the Broncos last week but it is the much needed variation he has brought to Saints’ kicking game that has been arguably his most important contribution.

As if to emphasise a constant sense that Salford are up against it Rowley is only able to name 20 players in his squad. On closer inspection however that is largely down to his decision to send hooker Amir Bourouh on loan to Barrow to get some playing time. The much travelled Joe Mellor filled the nine role in the win over the Wolves and could be set to do so again. 

Ryan Brierley is still not fully fit and so misses out along with stand-off Cade Cust. Another ex-Wigan man looks set to deputise for Brierley at fullback in Chris Hankinson while Chris Atkin is the likely halfback partner to Marc Sneyd in the absence of Cust.  

Salford’s speed in the three-quarters is one area where they would seem to hold an advantage. Centres Nene McDonald and Tim Lafai are devastating if they wake up on the right side of the bed and are ably supported by wingers Ethan Ryan and Deon Cross. Rowley will have noted how Hull KR and Warrington were able to get quick ball to their pace men to cause the formidable Saints defence real problems. It’s a concern that if there is a side which has the attributes and the tactical set up to exploit Saints’ weaknesses it is this Red Devils side.

Despite the injuries you would still expect Saints to be more than a match for Salford’s pack. Joining Mellor in the front row should be ex-Wigan and Leeds villain Brad Singleton and ex-North Queensland Cowboy Shane Wright. Backing up that pair could be the veteran Gil Dudson and a man at the other end of the scale in terms of experience in Harvey Wilson. 

On the subject of experience few players knocking around Super League at the moment have it to the level of Kallum Watkins. Formerly an explosive centre in Leeds Rhinos’ Grand Final winning sides of 2012, 2015 and 2017 the 33 year-old is now a consistent presence in the Red Devils’ second row. He’s joined there by Sam Stone, a former Newcastle Knight and Gold Coast Titan who agreed a new deal this week which will keep him at the Red Devils until at least 2026.  In a side with a heavy ex-Wigan influence Oliver Partington and Joe Shorrocks are both candidates to line up behind Watkins and Stone at loose forward.

The teams have already met once this season. Salford were the first team to beat Saints in 2024 when they won 24-20 in early March. It was the first time they had beaten Saints in the town of St Helens for over 40 years. In truth it owed much to the dismissal of Percival early in the second half but whatever the circumstances it will have given Rowley’s men all the belief they need going into this one. 

Saints did win on their last visit to Salford. Tries by Welsby, Makinson and a rare effort from Lees saw them edge it 18-15 having already prevailed 26-14 at home earlier in the year. Still you don’t have to go back too far to find a bad memory of Saints playing in Salford. They were routed 44-12 there in July 2022 in a game which saw Regan Grace suffer the ruptured achilles which would bring an end to his Saints career. 

Later that season the sides met in the Super League semi-final. On that occasions Saints made it through to a fourth consecutive Grand Final with a 19-12 success before going on to secure a fourth successive title with victory over Leeds at Old Trafford. That run of titles had started with a Grand Final win over the Red Devils in 2019 when Justin Holbrook’s Saints triumphed 23-6. 

Saints fans will be nervous about this one knowing what has happened when faced with similar playing styles in 2024. It hasn’t gone well against sides prepared to get away from the trenches and challenge Saints on the edges. The absence of Makinson will do nothing to assuage those fears. 

The good news is that the Saints attack has been improving in recent weeks. The half century against London came on the back of the 60 they rattled past Castleford. You get the feeling Saints will need that attacking form to continue if they are going to see off the very credible threat of a side which continues to surprise regardless of what is going on behind the scenes.

Squads; 

Salford Red Devils;

2. Ethan Ryan 3. Nene McDonald 4. Tim Lafai 5. Deon Cross 7. Marc Sneyd 8. Brad Singleton 10. King Vuniyayawa 11. Sam Stone 12. Kallum Watkins 13. Oliver Partington 14. Chris Atkin 15. Shane Wright 16. Joe Shorrocks 22. Kai Morgan 23. Chris Hankinson 24. Joe Mellor 26. Nathan Connell 27. Gil Dudson 28. Harvey Wilson 29. Loghan Lewis

Saints;

1. Jack Welsby, 3. Waqa Blake, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. Daryl Clark, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 14. Moses Mbye, 15. James Bell, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 20. George Delaney, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 24. Jake Burns, 25. Tee Ritson, 30. Jonny Vaughan, 31. Noah Stephens, 33. Harry Robertson.

Referee: Jack Smith

Video Referee: Chris Kendall

London Broncos 6 Saints 52 - Review

While the nation furrows its collective brow over where best to play Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham in England’s 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation there is still some rugby league going on. 

Saints had a rest last weekend as Warrington meekly surrendered to Wigan in the Challenge Cup final. Paul Wellens’ side returned on Sunday (June 16) with a routine 52-6 win over the London Broncos at The Stoop. In so doing they returned to the top of the table and earned another substantial boost in the points difference column with a nine-try performance which at times resembled not much more than a training run. 

Regular readers won’t need reminding of my view that IMG are responsible for making it pretty much impossible for the Broncos to compete this year so we need not go over that soggy old ground again. Suffice to say that Mike Eccles’ side are cruelly out of their depth. After this result and Hull FC’s win over Leeds this weekend the capital club are now marooned alone at the bottom of the table with just one solitary win. Though if it is any consolation to the Broncos Leeds were so embarrassed by that result that it cost Head Coach Rohan Smith his job.

Wellens named exactly the same 17 that had played in Saints’ previous game, a 24-12 home win over Catalans Dragons on May 31. That meant Jonny Lomax, Morgan Knowles, Matt Whitley, Alex Walmsley, Joe Batchelor and Jake Wingfield were all still missing. There had been speculation in the week that youngsters Harry Robertson and Jake Burns might get an opportunity but in the end Wellens stuck with the tried and tested. 

Eccles brought ex-Dragon Ugo Tison in for Sam Davies at hooker while Ethan Natoli started in the back row ahead of Sadiq Adebiyi who was on the bench. Emmanuel Waine hadn’t featured since the Broncos opening night defeat at Saints back in February but was also among the interchanges.

Saints’ already concerning injury problems worsened almost immediately. Returning his first territorial kick Tommy Makinson got up hobbling after being tackled. The winger is in his final season with Saints after agreeing to join Catalans Dragons for 2025. His remaining appearances in the red vee (or black as on this occasion) are reduced further with the news that he sustained a foot injury which will keep him out for around four to six weeks. 

There is another blank weekend coming up for the mid season international against France but the injury still looks likely to keep Makinson out of back to back games against Wigan and Warrington on July 12 and 19 respectively as well as tricky assignments at Salford and Leigh. The only people of a Saints persuasion who might be enthused by this are Jon Bennison and Tee Ritson, one of whom looks likely to fill in during Makinson’s absence. 

Limited to the 17 he had selected in the immediate term Wellens had to turn to Ben Davies. He has spent much of 2024 as 18th man for Saints but got his opportunity here. He ended up playing on the left wing with Waqa Blake switching sides to fill the hole left by Makinson on the right.  By the six-minute mark Blake had his name on the scoresheet. Moses Mbye - still operating in the halves with Lomax out - lobbed up an accurate kick left to right which Blake snaffled and did well to ground as he landed. The grounding was sent for a check by referee James Vella where it got the nod from video referee Tom Grant. Percival’s first conversion of the afternoon had Saints 6-0 up.

Six minutes later they could and maybe should have added to that advantage. Jack Welsby fought his way over to the right of the posts from Daryl Clark’s pass but was adjudged to have been held up by Grant on review. His view was that there was always a London hand under the ball keeping it off the ground. I’m not sure he was looking at the same replays as I was. Although there was a Broncos player touching the ball at the attempted grounding it looked like at least part of it had found the turf. If any part of the ball touches the ground on or over the goal line then a try should be awarded. That’s the law, isn’t it?

It wasn’t an extended reprieve for Eccles’ men. Three minutes later Mbye found an exquisite cut out ball across the face of Konrad Hurrell to Blake who dived over untouched for his second of the afternoon. After an unconvincing start to his Saints career the former Parramatta Eels man now has nine tries in 13 Saints appearances. That tally puts him second among Saints’ top try scorers for 2024 behind only Welsby and inside the top 10 across Super League. Another Percival two-pointer had Saints 12-0 to the good.

Mbye was having a major influence on proceedings and he did so again for Saints’ third try inside the opening quarter. He stepped past one bewildered defender and made a half break before handing on to Sione Mata’utia in support. The ex-Newcastle Knight - back in the second row to help bolster what is fast becoming a jinxed and injury plagued department - took it all the way to the Broncos 10 before finding Lewis Dodd on his shoulder for an easy walk in. It was Dodd’s fifth try of his final season with Saints before his move to South Sydney next year. Percival was on the mark again and Saints led 18-0.

Having already directly or indirectly created Saints’ first three tries Mbye was next to go over. It was all very simple and rather too easy as he received the ball from the combination of Clark, Dodd and James Bell to dive over and ground the ball under pressure from Jarred Bassett and Oli Leyland. It was Mbye’s third try of the season but just his fifth for Saints since joining from St George-Illawarra to replace Joey Lussick in August of last year. He has played in almost every position throughout his career but is currently looking very comfortable as a midfield playmaker. The level of opposition has to be considered here but so far in 2024 whenever Dodd or Lomax have been unavailable Mbye has stood up extremely well. In particular he adds some variety to the kicking game. 

Percival made it four out of four with the boot to push the lead out to 24-0.

Welsby may be Saints leading try scorer with 11 so far this term but he couldn’t quite get things to click into place in this one. He was next to be presented with an opportunity when Curtis Sironen broke the line and found the fullback in space. The normally clinical Welsby seemed to have endless options open to him and it was some surprise that he chose the one least likely to come off. Perhaps out of sheer boredom at the mismatch or maybe a desire to get Davies over for a try he opted to kick ahead but could only skew it into touch. 

The Broncos survived another assault on their line late in the half when Noah Stephens was denied his maiden Saints try by Grant on review. The big scouse prop - playing in only his fourth first team game - looked to have twisted over from Clark’s pass. However replays showed that he had been tackled short and been unable to resist the temptation to reach out and plonk the ball over the line. He was penalised for a double movement but his first Saints score doesn’t look too far away if he continues to run with the power and positivity that he has shown so far in his young career. His emergence probably owes much to the injury to Walmsley but it has been such a boost for Wellens to see how Stephens has handled the step up from Academy and reserve level. 

He’s the present and the future, but now let me take you back 21 years. Stephens wasn’t even born when Saints beat the Broncos 62-16 at dog shit infested, accessibility vacuum Knowsley Road. I mention this otherwise unremarkable game because it was the last time - until this latest meeting with the Broncos - that a Saints hooker had scored a hat-trick of tries. Search all you like and you will somehow not find a triple on the CV of the great James Roby. Not even in a record breaking 551 Saints appearances in which he crossed the try line 117 times. 

It won’t surprise you to know that statued legend Keiron Cunningham got over for a hat-trick all those years ago. It’s a good deal more remarkable to consider that his then pre-Roby understudy Mickey Higham also grabbed himself three meat pies that day. Yet I’m willing to wager that neither of these two former nines managed to score their tries as quickly as the eight minutes it took Clark to do it. 

The former Warrington man’s first took Saints to the 30-point mark. Dodd put Bell through a hole and although Adebiyi clung on to him as desperately as Rishi Sunak clings to power he was able to find a smart one-handed offload to Clark on his inside. His pace was more than enough to take him over. Percival landed another two points to a growing career tally. More on that later. 

For now we still have two thirds of a sensational hat-trick to discuss. It was Bell again who was the creative force as Clark displayed a Shaun Edwards-like desire to support the ball carrier. This time Bell waltzed around a pretty ordinary defensive effort from Lewis Bienek and again offered Clark a pleasant jog over the line. It looked easy but the skill is in knowing when to back up the ball carrier and being willing to make the run. Clark has doubtless made hundreds of similar runs throughout his career which have not seen him receive a pass and not yielded him a four-pointer. But you just keep going I guess. It’s what made Danny McGuire Super League’s all-time try scorer until his mark of 247 was broken by his former Leeds team-mate, 62 year-old Ryan Hall last week. By this point a Percival conversion was becoming a gimme and the table toppers led 36-0.

Yet Clark was not finished. He completed his treble but this time without the involvement of Bell. Mata’utia was the architect as he had been for Dodd earlier. He broke the line and found Welsby on Saints’ right edge. Welsby kept his cool this time, dismissing any notions of needless kicking which might have raced through his mind to instead just turn the ball back inside to Clark to finish the fastest hat-trick I’ve seen since Robbie Fowler shredded Arsenal for three in about four and a half minutes in 1994. Percival’s Fowler-esque unerring accuracy had Saints 42-0 up with almost half an hour to play. 

To be brutally honest there was an element of Saints stepping off the gas at this point. Had they displayed the ruthlessness they did at Castleford a few weeks ago the score could have gone beyond ugly. Credit has to be given though to the Broncos who did not completely fold in the way the Tigers did on that occasion. By the way, has anybody checked out why it is that Wigan get to play the weakest Cas side in living memory every week? Seems a bit odd. Perhaps the undisputed kings of rugby league are in a false position. 

I digress. With the contest having ended some considerable time ago Wellens was able to give some much needed game time to those who need it. Chief among these is perhaps Sam Royle. The back rower was making only his second appearance of 2024 after featuring in the win over the Dragons last time out. With so many injury problems in the back row Royle - who has slipped well down the pecking order since the arrival of Sironen and Whitley in particular - may be someone we come to rely on at times. In this one he carried the ball only four times for 21 metres but chipped in with nine tackles. 

Percival’s main contribution to this performance had to this point been his usual disregard for his own safety on kick returns and other carries early in the tackle count as well as his accuracy with the boot. He thought he had got over for a well deserved try when Clark and Welsby combined to put him in at the left corner. However, the forensic nit-picking which currently plagues all sports again intervened as the play was reviewed. Vella’s initial call was a try but he was unsure enough to send it up to Grant for further examination of a possible obstruction by Mata’utia. He acted as a dummy runner in the build-up and was ultimately found guilty of running into a defender’s outside shoulder and denying him an opportunity to get across to make the tackle. 

Had Mata’utia run at the defender’s outside shoulder and then failed to run through a gap in the defensive line I’d get it. But there were two Broncos defenders virtually on top of each other in the space that should have existed for Mata’utia to run through. There was no gap, so he had nowhere else to go but into the defenders. Defenders who had made that defensive decision to be there. Grant didn’t see it that way and overruled Vella’s original call of a try. 

With 10 minutes left Saints registered their eighth try of the night. Mbye was involved again, albeit in quite fortunate circumstances as his 40/20 attempt bounced off Hakim Miloudi before finding its mark. It was the first 40/20 of 2024 by any Saint let alone Mbye. Make your own mind up about whether that means that they haven’t been required or that Saints don’t really have a player who is a consistent threat in this facet of the game. A bit of both, maybe.

In the ensuing set Welsby found Hurrell who had too much strength for Jarred Bassett or Oli Leyland. Like many of Saints tries in the day it was scored out wide and this time Percival couldn’t tack on the extras. He hit the post for his only miss of the night. However his general improvement continues to the extent that only Salford’s Marc Sneyd has more goals than Percival’s 46 in 2024. The two should meet on the same field this week as Saints visit the Red Devils. The race to 50 Super League goals could be a diverting subplot. It’s noticeable that Percival has been working hard on getting his kicks from the right hand touchline - arguably the most difficult spot for a right-footed goalkicker - to curl back in towards the posts having started well outside. There are several exponents of this skill in the NRL and it looks like Percival has been paying keen attention to them.

Of course he’d probably still tell you that his principle role is to score tries. Having already been denied one he made amends when he was first to Dodd’s grubber to the in-goal. Percival now has   121 tries and 339 goals for an overall points tally for Saints of 1162. If only he’d found this goalkicking consistency at the start of his career he could have been challenging Kel Coslett’s club record mark of 3413 points. He was back on target to convert his own try, taking Saints over the half century into the bargain as they led 52-0.

As good as Mbye was and has been this term he’s not infallible. His inability to find touch with a penalty late in the game ultimately led to the loss of Saints’ clean sheet. It would have been a third of the season for the number one defence in Super League having previously shut out Huddersfield Giants and Hull FC. Instead it allowed London a last chance to flip field position which they did through a 45 metre break by the ever willing Bassett. He was only stopped from going all the way by a Clark ankle tap which allowed Dodd to finish the job of getting the Broncos centre to the turf. 

With field position established James Meadows executed a perfect kick to the right wing where Lee Kershaw was able to take control and ground the ball to finally get his side off the duck egg. Wellens admitted in his post match interview that the concession of that late score stung. Even as a fan it was strangely annoying. That feeling must be magnified when you spend your working days trying to ensure that things like that don’t happen to your team. Wellens can console himself in the knowledge that Saints have conceded only 142 points in their 14 Super League outings in 2024. That’s an average of only 10 points per game. 

You’ll always have a chance of winning any game if you can do that but the fear is that the sides who have racked up points against Saints - namely Hull KR in the league and Warrington in the Challenge Cup - have done it by getting good, quick ball to their edges where they know Saints have a pace problem. The loss of Makinson will do little to ease those fears. 

Individually Mata’utia’s performance stands out. He racked up 160 metres on 16 carries and had a crucial hand in two of Saints’ tries. Stephens bagged his first 100 metre+ game, making 129 metres on just 12 carries. Hurrell matched that figure but needed 17 carries to get there. 

Other significant metre makers for Saints were Blake with 110, Bell with 106, Delaney with 103 and Sironen with 102. London’s best effort was the 91 managed by Bassett, much of which came on that late break. 

Eccles’ side were busy defensively and the stats show that with Jacob Jones making 42 tackles. Natoli had 39 while Kennedy and Marcus Stock each had 33. Saints were not pressed into nearly as much defensive activity. Clark only needed to make 22 tackles to lead his side in that category. 

Now you know I said I was concerned about sides who play expansively exploiting our pace issues? Well this weekend Saints go to Salford, perhaps the poster boys for this type of game plan in recent years. They are undergoing some turmoil off the field with Ian Blease having left to become Sporting Director at Leeds Rhinos leading to the inevitable resurfacing of links with Red Devils boss Paul Rowley. Yet if they can keep all of that out of their minds then in the likes of Sneyd, Tim Lafai, Nene McDonald and company they have the weapons to threaten Saints. 

They should provide an interesting test to say the least.

London Broncos: Walker, Kershaw, Storey, Bassett, Miloudi, Leyland, Meadows, Bienek, Tison, Kennedy, Lovell, Natoli, Jones. Interchanges: Adebiyi, Williams, Stock, Waine

Saints: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Blake, Mbye, Dodd, Delaney, Clark, Lees, Sironen, Mata’utia, Bell. Interchanges: Paasi, Royle, Davies, Stephens

Referee: James Vella

Video Referee: Tom Grant