High expectations in pre-season are starting to be reconsidered after a fifth defeat in 16 league outings in 2024 for the Saintly ones. Paul Wellens’ side still lie second in the table but they are now two points behind leaders Wigan who have played a game fewer. Should the Warriors win Friday night’s derby they could be effectively six points better off than Saints. That would leave hopes of winning the League Leaders Shield looking slim.
Not only that, but Saints are now also level on points with all of Warrington, Hull KR and Salford. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Saints could be overtaken by all three this weekend should the derby and other results go the wrong way. Fifth place with 10 games to go would not be a position which many either within the club or among the fans and media would have envisaged. More pertinently it's probably not a position that a sizeable chunk of a fickle fan base will tolerate.
Meanwhile the Tigers - who lost 60-4 to Saints at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle in May - earned a fifth win of the campaign to put real daylight between themselves and the competition’s real cannon fodder Hull FC and London Broncos. The playoffs look out of reach with a six-point gap between the 7th placed Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield in 8th but there has certainly been evidence of improvement under Lingard after a wretched start. The Tigers won none of their first six league games and only two of their first 11.
Already without the likes of Tommy Makinson, Alex Walmsley, Matt Whitley, Joe Batchelor, Jake Wingfield and Morgan Knowles Wellens suffered further losses when both Konrad Hurrell and Daryl Clark were ruled out before the initial 21-man squad was named. If that wasn't problematic enough Sione Mata'utia was a late withdrawal which offered a first start since last August to Sam Royle. He partnered Curtis Sironen in the second row with James Bell continuing at loose forward behind a front row of George Delaney, Matty Lees and Moses Mbye.
Mbye was able to cover the position normally occupied by Clark thanks to the return of Jonny Lomax from a fractured hand. The captain slotted in at stand-off alongside scrum-half Lewis Dodd. But as we will see you wouldn't call his slotting particularly seamless. Tee Ritson replaced Jon Bennison in Makinson's vacated right wing slot with Ben Davies getting the nod to replace Hurrell at centre alongside Mark Percival. Waqa Blake continued on the opposite wing with Jack Welsby in the fullback role.
Lingard lost centre Sam Wood who was injured on England duty so opted to switch Alex Mellor from the second row. George Lawler came in to that role while Muizz Mustapha started at prop to allow Joe Westerman to revert to loose forward.
What followed was one of the poorest games of this or any other Super League season, particularly in a turgid first half hour in which neither team looked like scoring. Under Wellens - as before under Kristian Woolf - Saints insist on playing conservative rugby league, the aim of which is to complete sets and gain territory. That doesn't always happen, especially in this one where handling errors were ubiquitous on both sides. It's the Wellens philosophy - entirely borrowed from Woolf - which troubles the most. It's a philosophy which contends that if you keep hold of the ball for long enough you will get into the opponents' territory and eventually score some points. This worked under Woolf with men like Lachlan Coote, Kevin Naiqama, Regan Grace, Makinson and Percival around to open the door. But when only Percival remains the new version of this approach often lacks the pace and the guile to make the possession and territory count.
It was Royle who eventually broke the deadlock. Yet another attack looked to have stalled with Mbye and Welsby running sideways towards each other like strangers passing on the street outside. At which point Welsby threw it out to Royle who considered his options for a while before Jacob Miller made his mind up for him by not sliding across fast enough to cover the space in front of the Saints man. It was Royle's first try for the club in his 26th appearance. That in itself doesn't make him a bad player. He's not really there to pile on the points. But it is unlikely that the 24 year-old will ever be considered anything other than a steady squad filler. And behind Saints' normally stacked second row options his chances have been rare and will probably be so again when everyone is fit. He is out of contract at the end of the season and it might be instructive of the level of ambition the club has to see whether the decision makers offer him a chance to stay around.
Percival could not add the extras and so the teams turned around with Saints 4-0 up. You might be forgiven for thinking that this was another fabulous defensive effort from a team that has been monumental in defence at times this year. The number of times they have kept opponents scoreless throughout entire halves of rugby league is hugely impressive. Yet in truth they were not tested particularly often by a Cas side which was making as many errors as Saints in attack and seemed to have about as much of an idea of how to be genuinely creative. At this point parallels could be drawn with the old joke about the two men playing snooker for hours without potting a ball until one of them suggests taking the triangle off the reds.
One of the few on either side who appeared to be punching a few holes in the opposition defence was Saints' bench-dwelling impact prop Agnatius Passi. He created a chance for Dodd early in the second half but the Rabbitohs-bound halfback could not take it in. Had he done so he would have had a golden opportunity to put Saints two scores in front. They may have been able to go on from there and build on that sort of advantage but instead they remained mired in the quicksand of this increasingly wretched encounter. As a spectacle it was rivalling any of the England football team's sleepy exploits at Euro 2024 in Germany. If it did not start to be more careful it was in danger of veering into Disgrace Of Gijon territory. Ask your grandad.
Saints' next occupation of territory without bothering with a credible threat somehow forced Cas into conceding a penalty close to their own line for interference on Royle at the play-the-ball. The decision to go for two points rather than attempting to get over for another try said much about the side's confidence in itself, particularly in its attack. Two months ago Saints racked up 52 points in a single half against this opposition and now Wellens and his team were worried enough about a Cas comeback to give themselves the comfort of leading by a converted try. That's arguably a very negligible comfort in any case. Percival duly converted the opportunity but it neither stirred the soul nor made this observer feel any more confident of a victory.
Six minutes later that lead was looking even more precarious as the visitors found a route to the Saints line. Cain Robb was a busy presence for most of the night and when he worked a simple runaround with Lawler it created enough doubt in the Saints rearguard to open it up. Having received it back from Lawler Robb shifted it out to Miller who found Innes Senior with enough space to practically walk in at the corner. It was his 11th try of the Super League season which is impressive when you consider that the struggling Tigers have only scored 43 all season. That leaves them 10th among Super League clubs while Senior sits third in the individual try scoring charts behind only Liam Marshall and Ash Handley. Rowan Milnes missed the chance to tie the scores from out wide but a game lacking in inspiration now at least had a fair degree of tension with Saints leading 6-4.
There were elements of slapstick as the game entered it's final quarter of an hour. The manner in which Ritson failed to deal with a Milnes bomb was especially clown-tastic while having forced a goal line drop out Cas blew their next chance almost immediately as Mustapha threw a needless forward pass on the first play. But it was Dodd who had the best chance of putting daylight between the sides. Ritson was involved in a more positive sense as he linked up with Percival on the left. With the Tigers defence scrambling the former England centre's pass could not be taken by Dodd and the chance was lost.
That left Saints hanging on but some poor discipline saw to it that the lead wasn't going to last. First Lomax went high on Mellor before Delaney was similarly clumsy in his attempts to tackle Mustapha soon after. That transgression occurred in goal-kicking range for Milnes who duly locked the scores up at 6-6. At this point there was a very real danger of this absolute stinkfest going into an extra period of the needless tie breaker that is golden point. Someone had to save us from this irksome fate. All we were left with was the hope that the someone sparing us that outcome would be wearing a Saints jersey.
Alas he was not. Just a couple of minutes after Milnes' first goal he was given the chance to bag another thanks to Saints' fallibility under the high ball. Blake and Ritson had already flapped at a couple but this time it was Welsby who surprisingly dropped his proverbial lollies as another towering but hugely predictable Milnes skyscraper came his way. Saints might have fancied keeping Castleford at bay from what would have been the resultant scrum but unfortunately that became a penalty as debutant Jonny Vaughan pounced on the ball from an offside position. The young centre was making his first Saints appearance from the bench as was hooker Jake Burns. It's tough to attach to much blame to Vaughan for what was an instinctive action in trying to make sure that a Castleford player did not take possession from a position deep inside Saints half. Yet the outcome ended up being worse as Milnes popped over another two points to put the Yorkshire side into an 8-6 lead.
Suddenly chasing the game, Saints took us back to a bygone era by winning possession by pushing at a scrum. They forced it to collapse and a Cas hand knocked it forward in their desperate scramble to regather. Yet it was another chance wasted as Dodd knocked on 10 metres from the visitors' line. Saints had one last chance when a high tackle by Elie El-Zakhem on Paasi gave them the kind of field position that they obsess about weekly. However, the big former New Zealand Warrior was the one to butcher that final chance, putting down Bell's pass when a clean catch might have seen him go over for the winning score.
Stats don't always tell the story but there is something to be gleaned from the fact that Saints only had one forward who made over 100 metres as Bell managed 103. The most effective ground gainers in the red vee were Welsby with 138 and Percival with 125. It was a similar picture for the Tigers for whom all three centurions were playing in the backs. Mellor led the way with 159 metres with Senior managing 110 and Tex Hoy 108.
The tackling stats aren't much more impressive with El-Zakhem topping the Tigers count with 37 and Liam Horne adding 35. Saints' best was Lomax with 43 while Lees managed 41. Lomax has been criticised in some circles, perhaps fairly for his lack of attacking input on his return to the side. It's very likely that he has come back more quickly than would otherwise have been preferable because of the lengthening injury list. But his defensive stint does suggest that there is nothing wrong with his effort level. Royle was the other Saint to cross the 30-tackle threshold with 34.
In his post-match press appearance Wellens got under the skin of many fans by essentially diverting the blame to anywhere but his own door. Collectively - and without naming names - the players were thrown under the bus by Wellens in a moany rant about failing to execute the game plan. How much of a game plan do you need to beat a team against whom you scored 52 points in less than 40 minutes in your last meeting? Just let them play.
He may have a point in suggesting that they are not performing at their best right now but ultimately he is responsible for their performance. His tactical paralysis is not helping them. Dodd has been particularly scapegoated in some quarters to the extent that whispers have been heard that he might not make the team for this weekend's visit to the Pie Dome. You'd expect Wellens to do something in response to what was an abject performance from his troops. Replacing key players with untried youngsters doesn't feel like the best way of getting a result at the home of the current Super League and world champions and league leaders.
None of this is to say that he should go now. He is half way into his second season and - despite an ever worsening injury situation - is still presiding over a team which should be good enough to make the playoffs. From there you never know where a sudden run of good form might take you. Yet if you were betting your life on anything right now it would not be that Saints will secure a top two spot which guarantees a home semi-final. Failure to do that was arguably what cost Saints in Wellens' first attempt at reaching the Grand Final last term. He's in the unfortunate position of having a job description which involves reaching and then winning at Old Trafford. Making matters worse is the fact that he is not a coach who sees the provision of entertainment as a key component of his role. But as even the great man Keiron Cunningham found out, it is one thing not to win but if you don't win serving up five drives and a bomb then your playing reputation isn't going to save you.
If Saints had lofty expectations at the start of the season they surely don't have much in that regard for the trip over Billinge Hill. Wigan are undoubtedly the form side in the competition right now while Saints have fallen into what for them constitutes a slump with back to back defeats to Salford and now at home to Castleford. Pessimists fear a severe beating is on the cards from Matty Peet's side even if the return of Clark strengthens Wellens' hand a little. With Warrington at home to follow it's as testing a time as Wellens will have faced at any time during his rugby league career as either coach or player.
The difference being that nobody could question his ability to respond to adversity as a player. The jury is out on whether he can do similar as a Head Coach.
Saints: Welsby, Ritson, Davies, Percival, Blake, Lomax, Dodd, Delaney, Mbye, Lees, Royle, Sironen, Bell. Interchanges: Paasi, Vaughan, Blake, Stephens
Castleford Tigers: Hoy, Qareqare, Hall, Mellor, I Senior, Milnes, Miller, Griffin, Horne, Mustapha, El-Zahkem, Lawler, Westerman. Interchanges: Robb, Watts, English, Hill
Referee: Tom Grant
Video Referee: Liam Rush
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