Another dubious task awaits Saints as they welcome Hull KR this Saturday afternoon (August 24, kickoff 3.00pm).
There was very little Magic to be enjoyed at last week’s annual central venue jamboree. Handed yet another derby with Wigan a decimated Saints outfit registered a big fat zero on the scoreboard as they went down 20-0. Which if I’m not mistaken is exactly the score that would have been recorded if they had forfeited the game. Perhaps that’s an idea for next time. That or lobby hard to be paired with Hull FC in next year’s event.
As it happens that first nilling in four years didn’t do any damage to Saints’ league position. They remained fourth going into this weekend after both Salford Red Devils and Catalans Dragons suffered even heavier losses against Leigh Leopards and Hull KR respectively. Rovers looked in fine fettle as they brushed aside Steve McNamara’s side 36-4 in what many had hoped and expected would be the closest and best game of the round. You could say then that it’s a rather awkward time to be playing the table topping Robins, especially with the treatment room at Saints still busier than Jordan Pickford.
Wellens was always going to be forced into one change to his 21 this week but opts to make two others. Curtis Sironen injured his calf very early in the game at Elland Road and faces around a month on the sidelines. Yet there is better news with Jonny Lomax free to play after a three game suspension and Sione Mata’utia fit enough to be included and at least threaten to be involved. There’s also a place in the senior party for the first time for 18 year-old halfback George Whitby. A debut for the former Blackbrook junior is conceivable but I might just require medical attention if Wellens doesn’t pair Lomax with the safe but unspectacular Moses Mbye in the halves.
Joining Sironen in making way from last week is another injured key player in James Bell. The former Leigh man is the kind of player you can depend upon to adequately cover a number of different positions. That’s vital in an injury crisis like the one Saints have been experiencing over the last month or so. Wellens arguably stretched Bell’s versatility to its limit by naming him at hooker last week but he’s also played stand-off, second row and loose forward this term. So given his usefulness in a crisis, of course he picks up an injury of his own. He’s out with a back injury. Leon Cowen is the final player from last week’s selection to stand aside for this one.
With four first choice backs still missing expect Harry Robertson to continue his Jack Welsby impression at fullback while the centre roles ordinarily filled by Konrad Hurrell and Mark Percival will probably go to Waqa Blake and Ben Davies. The latter played stand-off against Wigan but with Lomax back and Whitby included that shouldn’t be necessary this time.
He and Blake are two of the most moaned about backs since the days of Jack Owens and Matty Dawson. Many fans would prefer to see Jonny Vaughan play because - well - you’re a much better player when you are out of the side. Wellens seems unlikely to pick Vaughan anyway given that he preferred Joe Batchelor at centre at Leeds last time out. That madness was only rectified because Sironen got injured and Batchelor - an actual second rower - was the obvious cover.
Saints have failed to recruit a suitable winger since Regan Grace left the club two years ago which - along with Wellens’ apparent decision to freeze out Jon Bennison and the injuries which have forced Blake inside to centre - has allowed Tee Ritson a run in the team opposite Tommy Makinson. Ritson has hardly been spectacular but with a coach who considers passing to wingers ‘impatient’ and ‘trying to score on every play’ the ex-Barrow man was never likely to light up the try scoring charts.
Along with Sironen Saints are still without Morgan Knowles and Daryl Clark in the forwards as well as Bell. Clark is in Saints’ growing 4-6 week club where players hang out when they are doomed not to return until the playoffs. Should we make them, of course. Meanwhile Knowles serves the second of a two game ban which followed quickly on from the nine games he missed through injury prior to that.
The solution last week - such as it was - saw Agnatius Paasi named at loose forward. This is doable in the modern game where loose forwards don’t really exist. Alex Walmsley has been used from the bench since his return from injury with last week’s skipper Matty Lees and George Delaney set to be the starting props.
If Mata’utia is available it seems more likely that he will start on the bench where Vaughan and Noah Stephens will also probably be found. Batchelor and Whitley are the likely starters in the second row. There is pressure on the latter who does not seem to have endeared himself to fans since recovering from a shoulder operation. Butchering a certain try against the Warriors last week didn’t help. Clark’s starting nine role will go to Jake Burns if I’m right that Wellens won’t be bold enough to start Whitby and move Mbye away from the halves.
Rovers come into this one on the back of six consecutive league wins. Their last defeat was a one-point reverse to the Dragons in early July. They righted that wrong last week and with Wigan in some iffy form whenever they don’t get to play Saints the Robins have hit top spot. It’s like it’s 1985 all over again. Fire up the DeLorean.
In their bid to stay top of the pile coach Willie Peters has made just one change to his 21-man selection. Ex-Wigan centre Oliver Gildart failed an HIA during last week’s win over the Dragons and is ruled out. That offers another opportunity to former Parramatta Eel Tom Opacic. He has announced that he will leave Rovers at the end of the season but for now he looks a likely starter at centre alongside former Warrington man Peta Hiku.
Niall Evalds is the starting fullback while the wings are occupied by Super League’s record try scorer Ryan Hall and political deep thinker Joe Burgess. Former Dragon Tyrone May partners the much talked about and much sought after Mikey Lewis in the halves.
Another Robin who will be elsewhere in 2025 is hooker Matt Parcell. For now he forms part of a front row which also includes former Newcastle Knight Sauaso Sue and Jai Whitbread, Batchelor’s brother James is in the second row along with in form veteran Dean Hadley. Elliott Minchella is at loose forward. Bench options include the outstanding Kelepi Tanginoa as well as hooker or halfback Jez Litten and forwards Matty Storton, Sam Luckley and George King. Ex-Saint Danny Richardson is in the squad having signed a two-year deal with the club following on from his current loan arrangement.
The teams have met only once so far this season and it did not end well for Wellens’ side. Come to think about it, it didn’t really start that well either. And the less said about the middle bit the better. Saints lost 40-20 at Sewell Group Craven Park on May 4. That was only their third league defeat in 11 outings at that point. The have lost six of the 11 games since including that painful run of five defeats in a row throughout July. Playoffs excluded this will be the only other clash between the two this year but the vagaries of the schedule mean that Saints have met all of Salford, Castleford and Wigan twice since they last played against Rovers. Tellingly, Saints won only two of those six.
Friday’s win for Leeds over the Dragons (August 23) makes things a bit more awkward for Saints in terms of qualifying for those playoffs. A loss to the French side could have all but eliminated the Rhinos but they now sit just two points behind Saints on the league table with not a lot of smart money going on Saints to improve their position against the Robins. And don’t rule out Leigh who after a wretched first half of the season are coming home with the proverbial wet sail. They meet London this weekend - a fixture which for anyone in Super League this year but Hull FC is practically a bye.
Hull KR don’t normally win in St Helens. Their solitary success at the stadium formerly known as Langtree Park came all the way back in 2013 when a Rovers side containing Travis Burns, Hodgsons David and Josh and former Wigan halfback Michael Dobson won 24-12. But things don’t feel normal as far as Saints or Rovers are concerned at the moment. The latter topping the league while the 10-time champions scramble around just to extend their season represents new territory. Like I said, 1985. If 1985 had playoffs.
Rovers play a brand of rugby league which Saints - even at full strength - struggle to deal with. It’s a style which exposes their lack of speed both on the edges and through the middle via the unpredictability of Lewis. If Peters’ side can put their miserable record out of their minds then they should have too much for the present incarnation of Saints.
At which point the fan will be virtually covered in the brown stuff.
Squads;
Saints:
2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Waqa Blake, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 8. Alex Walmsley, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Joe Batchelor, 14. Moses Mbye, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. Matt Whitley, 20. George Delaney, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 24. Jake Burns, 25. Tee Ritson, 29. Will Roberts, 30. Jonny Vaughan, 31. Noah Stephens, 33. Harry Robertson, 35. George Whitby.
Hull KR;
- Peta Hiku 2. Niall Evalds 3. Tom Opacic 5. Ryan Hall 7. Mikey Lewis 8. Sauaso Sue 9. Jez Litten 10. George King 11. Dean Hadley 12. James Batchelor 13. Elliot Minchella 14. Matt Parcell 15. Sam Luckley 16. Jai Whitbread 17. Matty Storton 20. Kelepi Tanginoa 27. Tyrone May 35. Joe Burgess 36. Jack Broadbent 37. Jack Brown 38. Danny Richardson
Referee: Chris Kendall
Video Referee: Ben Thaler
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