A move back to the top of the Super League table is the prize if Saints can beat lowly London Broncos at The Stoop on Sunday afternoon (June 16, kick-off 3.00pm).
Paul Wellens’ side return to action after a Challenge Cup final hiatus having been ousted from top spot by a hugely unimpressive 10-8 win at Castleford for the media’s undisputed kings of rugby league. That put Matty Peet’s Warriors side two points clear of Saints but it wasn’t enough to overturn the points difference deficit meaning that any win in the capital will see Saints return to the summit. Above the undisputed kings of rugby league.
To achieve that aim Wellens has made only one change to the 21-man squad which he selected ahead of the 24-12 home win over Catalans Dragons in Saints’ last outing a fortnight ago. The coach is still unable to call on long term injury absentees Alex Walmsley, Matt Whitley, Joe Batchelor and Jake Wingfield while Jonnny Lomax and Morgan Knowles are still a few weeks away from a return also.
The one change to the initial squad sees back rower Leon Cowen drop out with a first opportunity around the first team handed to Academy halfback Harry Robertson. There have even been murmurs that he might get into the 17 for a debut along with young hooker Jake Burns. Introducing a couple of youngsters to the first team in a game Saints will frankly find it hard to lose is a preferable way to go about integrating young players than the method often used by Saints away at London of throwing eight or nine in together and seeing them suffer a demoralising defeat. Besides, Wellens learned last year how crucial it can be to get into that top two if you want to make your route to the Grand Final smoother. You can’t really throw points away in what is a tight league.
Robertson could partner Lewis Dodd in the halves in Lomax’s absence or he could operate at fullback allowing Jack Welsby to move into the halves. Moses Mbye is still going to be around to fill in at halfback or hooker as required. Mbye has done a fine job whenever he has been asked to move into the halves to cover an injury to either Dodd or Lomax so he can always come in if Robertson isn’t deemed ready.
Tommy Makinson announced a few weeks ago that he would be leaving Saints after a glorious 14-year spell. This week the 2018 Golden Boot winner confirmed what we all suspected which is that he will join Catalans Dragons on a two-year deal from 2025. Only the pettiest of reactionaries would begrudge Makinson his finale in the sunshine after a stellar career at Saints. He has over 200 tries for the club to go with five Grand Final winners rings and success in both the Challenge Cup and World Club Challenge. If you are thinking about the pantheon of all-time great Saints wingers he has elevated himself into the conversation.
For now he remains very much a vital cog in the machine and should occupy his regular right wing slot opposite Waqa Blake on the left. Mark Percival and Konrad Hurrell should be the centre partnership although Ben Davies and Jonny Vaughan are named again and await an opportunity.
With a Walmsley-shaped hole to fill up front and Sione Mata’utia likely to be required in the second row in the absences of Whitley and Batchelor there is extra responsibility on Matty Lees. He now takes on the role of senior prop, likely to start alongside 20 year-old George Delaney.
The latter will be making his 37th appearance for Saints if selected which is an impressive tally for one so young but one that still marks him out as inexperienced compared with Lees who played his 150th Saints game against the Dragons. Noah Stephens has been in the 17 for the last three games while the return from long term injury of Agnatius Paasi is a much needed boost. Daryl Clark is also available should Wellens decide against selecting Burns or wish to alternate the two with Mbye operating elsewhere.
Curtis Sironen is in outstanding form in the back row and will likely partner Mata’utia with James Bell starting at loose forward. The burden of expectation seems to have risen for Bell in recent weeks. The ex-Leigh man was viewed as the unsung hero when his role entailed coming off the bench for Knowles but those eye-catching performances have led to more scrutiny and some criticism from fans with Knowles out of the side. If - and it is an if - Bell is going through a sticky spell then we can rest assured that he is a good enough player to come through it.
Others hoping to fight their way into Wellens’ match day 17 are back rower Sam Royle and utility back Jon Bennison. Neither would let Saints down but both appear to have a lot of quality standing in their way.
London’s 2024 predicament is a tale that has been told over and over. Essentially their results matter for little other than pride after they were IMG-ed out of Super League contention for 2025 before a ball was kicked out on the full by Jake Connor in 2024. The game’s new Vladimir Putins conjured up a gradings system that placed London so far down the order that a move into the top 12 by the end of this season was rendered a pipe dream.
All of which meant that the Broncos understandably didn’t splash out on Super League standard players for their doomed spell in the big time after gaining an unlikely promotion last term. There’s a good argument that a team which finished fifth in the second tier after the regular rounds should never have been given an opportunity to win promotion. That they did has shone a light on the absurdity of allocating Super League places on the cleanliness of the carpet in your hospitality areas rather than results on the field.
The result of all of this is that the Broncos have just the one solitary win from their first 13 top flight assignments. That came against Hull FC in May. Likewise Hull’s only win so far was against the Broncos back in March. Yet FC have shown signs of upping their game under new Director Of Rugby Richie Myler with a new Head Coach appointed for 2025 in John Cartwright. They have also brought in the likes of John ‘bites your knees’ Asiata from Leigh Leopards, halfback Jordan Abdull from city rivals Hull KR via a loan spell at the Dragons and former favourite Tom Briscoe for next year. Well, you can do that when you know you’re not going down whatever the weather. What do you do when you know that your expulsion from the party is a certainty no matter what?
Broncos Head Coach Mike Eccles has made two changes to his 21 following a 34-4 defeat at Salford in their last game. Back rower Emmanuel Waine returns after being out since the start of the season while Italian international Ethan Natoli is back to offer his versatility after missing the Salford defeat. Props Rob Butler and Jack Hughes (not that one) are the men to miss out.
Eccles can call on a little bit of Super League experience in the backs with Alex Walker at fullback and Lee Kershaw and Hakim Miloudi options on the wings. Jack Campagnolo is out injured so look for Oli Leyland to join James Meadows in the halves.
Rhys Kennedy has NRL experience in the front row while another prop Lewis Bienek has been around Super League for a number of years now. Sam Davis is the hooker with skipper Will Lovell leading a back row which could feature Sadiq Adebiyi and Jacob Jones. Bench options for Eccles include former Dragons pivot Ugo Tison.
The sides have already met once this season. The Broncos visited Saints on the opening weekend of the season and were brushed aside 40-4. Two tries from Whitley were added to by Makinson, Welsby, Lomax, Clark, Dodd and Walmsley. Given London’s predicament and the vagaries of loop fixtures Saints will not see London again until at least 2026. And even then it is likely to take more than a newly cleaned carpet to get Eccles’ side back at the top table by then.
Due to London’s rare appearances in Super League over the years and the team selection policy of successive Saints coaches you have to go back 10 years to 2014 to find Saints’ last win over the Broncos in London. They won 58-16 on that occasion in July of that year with Wellens one of the try scorers. Percival, Matty Dawson and Jordan Turner all crossed twice while Kyle Amor, Sia Soliola, Anthony Laffranchi and Judas Escariot Luke Thompson also got over the line. It was a side then led by Nathan Brown which would end the year with a League Leaders Shield and Grand Final double after the undisputed kings of rugby league went nuclear at Old Trafford in the form of boneheaded cart horse Ben Flower.
In the very early days of Super League the Broncos were a serious threat. Perhaps the most memorable encounter between these two came in the competition’s inaugural year of 1996. With nothing as vulgar as a Grand Final to worry about every league game was crucial. Saints were locked in a battle with the undisputed kings of rugby league to finish top of the pile. Two tries from Apollo Perelini - one after one of the most forensic video reviews since the last documentary on the Kennedy assassination earned Saints a crucial 32-28 win.
There will be no such drama here. The competition format and the absolute state of the Broncos team forbids it. Although Wellens has included a few new faces again his squad is not sufficiently weak that we should be worrying about suffering what has almost become a customary defeat in the smoke. Whoever he picks should collectively be too strong for Eccles’ men. Saints by 30.
Squads;
London Broncos;
Alex Walker, Lee Kershaw, Jarrad Bassett, Hakim Miloudi, Iliess Macani, James Meadows, Sam Davis, Lewis Bienik, Will Lovell, Ethan Natoli, Marcus Stock, Jordan Williams, Sadiq Adebiyi, Emmanuel Waine, Rhys Kennedy, Oli Leyland, Robbie Storey, Josh Rourke, Matt Davies, Jacob Jones, Ugo Tison.
Saints;
1, Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 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, 30. Jonny Vaughan, 31. Noah Stephens, 33. Harry Robertson.
Referee: James Vella
Video Referee: Tom Grant
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