There was nothing magical about Saints’ weekend as they went down 20-0 to Wigan at the annual fans piss-up/day out at Elland Road on Saturday (August 17).
This chastening, fairly humiliating defeat leaves Paul Wellens’ side clinging on to fourth place in the Super League table. That’s largely down to the failure of others to take advantage as Catalans Dragons and Salford Red Devils also lost heavily at the home of The Damned United. The playoffs are still within reach for Saints but their place in the after season party is far from guaranteed.
There’s now eight points between Wigan in second and Saints in fourth. Matty Peet’s side are below only Hull KR and trail Willie Peters’ side only on points difference. Their hopes of retaining the League Leaders Shield remain but their position is not quite what it was a month ago. Back then the talk among their fans on social media was of how one or two more wins would secure top spot and allow preparations for the playoffs to begin. But that was before defeats to Hull, Warrington and Leeds allowed Rovers the opportunity to climb above them.
With so many players in the back line out of action we wondered what sort of a line-up Wellens would come up with. In the event it was stranger than any of us could ever have speculated. Waqa Blake, Ben Davies and Jonny Vaughan were all in the initial 21 named 48 hours before kickoff but rather than name any of these specialist centres Wellens moved Joe Batchelor into the void left by Mark Percival’s injury. It spoke loudly about Wellens’ assessment of our depth in the position.
Lewis Dodd is another out injured as is Jack Welsby while Jonny Lomax served the last of his three-game suspension. This meant Wellens would need to find a halfback partner for the established emergency cover that is Moses Mbye. When Dodd left last week’s golden point win over Salford with his arm problem it was James Bell who was pressed into action at stand-off. Yet for this one Wellens chose to employ Davies at six, citing his familiarity with the role at Super League level. He has started there five times previously, the last of which had been a 30-10 loss at Wigan two years ago.
Wellens had other plans for Bell. Instead of deputising for Lomax at six he was instead named as the starting hooker. This despite the presence in the squad of Jake Burns. A recognised hooker, Burns has had a big impact in the wins over Hull and Salford which preceded this one yet he was not trusted from the start. He still managed to top Saints tackle count. Meanwhile, Bell got set to take the pivotal dummy half role that he has not been selected for in any of his 70 previous Saints appearances. The square peg, round hole-ery on show with these selections was a very definite indication that the under pressure Wellens had been guilty of a lot of over-thinking ahead of the game.
Agnatius Paasi isn’t everyone’s idea of a loose forward but if it’s just an extra prop these days then he is a perfect fit. Besides, Bell was elsewhere while Morgan Knowles was beginning a two-game suspension for some classic Morgan Knowlesing in the Salford win. Alex Walmsley was again used from the bench but George Delaney was able to return and started in the front row alongside hooker Bell and captain for the day Matty Lees. The second row saw Curtis Sironen and Matt Whitley paired while on the bench alongside Walmsley were Burns, Vaughan and prop Noah Stephens.
Some might have a strong view about the armband going to Lees. I happen to think that captaincy is an overrated endeavour in professional sport. The best teams are full of players who take responsibility for their own performances. They don’t require some ill defined form of leadership to motivate them. If you are of a different opinion then you might be scratching your head slightly at the nomination of a prop forward to lead the side. Front rowers can spend as much time off the field as on it in this era of four pronged prop rotation. And off field leadership is surely the responsibility of Wellens and his army of assistants. I’ve no issue with rewarding Lees for everything he’s done in Saints’ first team but can we stop overstating the role? It’s a bit like being president of the RFL.
Wigan fans will tell you that their team had as many regulars missing but even Peet recognised that Saints’ personnel problems ran deeper in his post match interview. Like Saints the Champions were missing both regular halves with Bevan French injured and Harry Smith starting a three-game ban. Peet’s solution to that was to recall Jack Farrimond to the starting line-up and move centre Adam Keighran alongside him. That meant Zach Eckersley was drafted back in to fill Keighran’s regular role in the backs.
In the forwards the big talking point was the late withdrawal of Liam Farrell. That gave Sam Walters the opportunity to start in the second row alongside Junior Nsemba. Ask anyone of a cherry and white persuasion and they may tell you that Willie Isa is a major miss in this area. He’s not. He’s a grub who wouldn’t get a game if he went back to Widnes. Walters is a massive upgrade on him. If Isa had played instead of Nsemba these same fans would have told you they were missing the latter.
Similarly Mike Cooper’s mythical god-like status grows among Wigan watchers with each game he doesn’t play. Of the current crop of Wigan front rowers there is perhaps only Liam Byrne who would struggle to get into the side ahead of the now 35 year-old ex-Warrington man. At hooker Brad O’Neill is out for the season but former international and Gold Coast Titan Kruise Leeming seems like a stronger alternative than say… Bell. There’s little doubt about who had the shitty end of the stick in terms of absences.
Nine minutes in fate intervened to correct at least part of Wellens’ whacky team selection. It was at that point that Sironen tore a calf muscle which it turns out will see him join the list of Saints absentees for the next month. It also meant that Batchelor moved back to his familiar second row role while Vaughan came off the bench to slot in at centre. Which is surely what should have been happening from the start. Isn’t it?
It took a further six minutes for Wigan to take the lead. Liam Marshall grabbed his 22nd try of the Super League season when he strolled in at the corner from Keighran’s long ball. It was all made possible by a great break from Jake Wardle earlier in the set which was only thwarted by a desperate ankle tap by Paasi.
Not only is Marshall top of Super League’s try scoring list in 2024 but this latest effort puts him eight clear of his nearest rivals. Ash Handley, Josh Charnley, Matt Dufty and Mikey Lewis all ended Magic Weekend with 14. It would take an impressive meltdown or an unfortunate injury to stop Marshall finishing the season at the top of that list.
Wellens later voiced his displeasure at his side’s inability to stop Marshall improving the angle for the conversion which followed. As easily as he had crossed the line Marshall was able to stroll across the in-goal area like he owned it to get closer to the posts before putting the ball down. It was a useful add on to his try as Keighran added the extras for a 6-0 lead.
Eyes had barely blinked when Farrimond added Wigan’s second. The young half showed the kind of imagination and flair that is frowned upon in the modern game - especially at Saints - when he took Leeming’s pass and collected his own dribble through the line to score. It was his third try of a breakthrough season and was converted by Keighran for a 12-0 lead inside the first quarter. At this point - although Saints were far from out of the game - the prospect of a genuine shoeing started to come to mind.
Had Harry Robertson managed to get over five minutes later those thoughts would have been banished. He produced a great link up with Vaughan and looked certain to score beside the posts until the intervention of Keighran. He was somehow able to hold up the Saints fullback and lock up his arms sufficiently to prevent him reaching out to try to ground the ball. It was undeniably Saints’ most threatening moment of the match to that point. Sadly there weren’t too many like it for the rest of the early evening.
Two minutes from halftime the minimum requirement for Saints was to see it out having conceded no further points. Tommy Makinson is in the conversation for club legend status but even he can make a mistake under pressure. One of his trademark willing runs from deep in his own territory ended with him losing the ball backwards. As it rolled towards the Saints line Davies had the opportunity to pick it up but hesitated and then stumbled to allow Leeming to do so instead.
A set restart later Saints were hanging on near their own line as the clock ticked down. At which point referee Jack Smith pinged the entire Saints defensive line for offside. With little time left Wigan opted to go for goal to at least move out to a three score lead. Keighran did the honours and we reached the break with his side holding a 14-0 advantage.
Keighran was involved when the Warriors almost added to their lead a quarter of an hour into the second half. It was his crossfield kick which was challenged for by Abbas Miski and Robertson before bouncing into the arms of Eckersley for an easy walk in. Referee Smith ordered video referee Liam Moore to take another look. Safely off camera, reports that Moore was wearing his retro 1988 Norweb shirt are unconfirmed. Regardless of lifelong Wigan fan Moore’s attire he ruled that Miski had got the touch ahead of Robertson and knocked it forward before Eckersley took possession.
Bullet successfully dodged Saints were about to receive another boost just a minute later. Batchelor took in what looked a routine carry but got up very slowly. So slowly in fact that he required medical attention. While that happened Moore took a closer look at the challenge and found that Batchelor’s discomfort stemmed from a shoulder to his head from Kaide Ellis. The Wigan loose forward was unfortunate in that Batchelor had bounced off Nsemba’s tackle before the head contact. Without the involvement of Nsemba the whole thing probably wouldn’t have happened. However, lack of intent, ill fortune or the dog eating your homework are no longer acceptable excuses for head contact and so Ellis was given a 10-minute rest.
It was absolutely the right call under the current interpretations though you will - even this far down the road - still find people telling you it wasn’t because it wasn’t foul play under the rules that they would like to think are in place. Unfortunately for Ellis he is subject to the rules that actually are in place and duly walked off.
You won’t need me to remind you how notoriously awful Saints handled having a man advantage at home to Warrington recently. First one man, and then two. They struggled similarly here which should not be a massive surprise given that statistically Wigan have a better defence than Sam Burgess’ shape throwers.
With Ellis off the field Saints created only one chance of note. But it was a golden one. Even Charlie Bucket never saw gold like Whitley did on the hour. It was again started by Robertson who sliced through the shorthanded Wigan defensive line and set sail towards enemy lines. He made it as far as Wigan’s 20 metre zone where - with only fullback Jai Field to beat - he handed on to Whitley in space on his inside.
There may be an argument that Robertson’s pass was a split second early and so gave Field an opportunity to reach Whitley that he never should have had. On the other hand that might be the kind of straw clutching that only Whitley’s greatest ally would go in for. The fact is that when he received the ball he was closer to parts of the Wigan line than Field was. Even if the ex-Eel caught up with him Whitley just had to retain possession and his momentum would take him over.
Not only did Field catch up with the Saints man but he was also able to spook him sufficiently that Whitley managed to lose the ball over the line. Credit has to go to Field for a great defensive play but there is little doubt that the opportunity was absolutely butchered by Whitley. Not on the level of Blake’s bewildering outrage at Leigh a few weeks ago but butchered nonetheless. All of which has led to some not exactly coincidental musing from Saints fans on the subject of whether or not the ex-Dragon is good enough to play for his home town club after all.
The thrust of the argument is that after a try scoring streak in his first couple of outings Whitley has offered little since. But that rather ignores the fact that he has only played 16 times in the red vee. It seems a little too soon to judge whether he will be a success. If we are seeing the best he has to offer right now then I back the concerns. But are we? He suffered a shoulder injury at Hull KR in May which required surgery and forced him to miss eight games. The optimistic view is that he’s just rusty. Which is not an excuse for failing to score the try but it might be a reasonable argument for waiting a little longer before writing him off.
Makeshift stand-off Davies (is it some kind of Freudian phenomenon that I originally typed makeshit?) added to Saints’ injury concerns when he left the field for an HIA which thankfully doesn’t appear to be an issue going forward. But it does serve as another reminder of how easy it is to lose players which Saints can clearly ill afford. Lomax is back from suspension next week but you and I both know that Wellens will still rely on the much maligned Davies to play a starting role somewhere. If Vaughan can’t get in at centre before Batchelor he’s unlikely to be ousting the Wellens favourite that is Davies.
If injuries are a pain right now Saints narrowly avoided more scoreboard suffering with 12 minutes left. Again it was Marshall threatening to do the damage as he squeezed in at the left corner. It was noticeable that the Saints defenders were closer to him and didn’t allow him to create a favourable angle for a conversion. Perhaps that had been a topic of conversation at the break. It didn’t matter on this occasion as the pass from Wardle which released Marshall was rightly ruled forward.
There was a flashpoint involving Ellis inside the last 10 minutes. His behaviour after dropping Tom Forber’s simple pass was far worse than when he was yellow carded earlier. Yet Smith offered no sanction after Ellis got into a strop and grabbed Lees by the throat momentarily. He seemed to catch himself doing it and immediately adjusted his grip to take hold of Lees’ shirt instead but for a second the mist had descended. If we’re serious about player welfare then grabbing an opponent around the neck really ought to be a red card offence. Ellis will serve a one-game ban for his sin-binning offence on Batchelor but not for his antics late in the game. It’s little wonder there is confusion about discipline throughout the sport.
By then Saints were almost out of their misery and they were finally put out of it by Wigan’s third and final try six minutes from the end. It was a strange looking score as Keighran made a rare dog’s dinner of a kick only for it to fortuitously fall to Miski 20 metres out. Running out of space and options Miski kicked ahead with surprising accuracy to allow Walters to get to it first and touch down. It was reviewed for a possible offside but although Walters was in front of Keighran at the time of his kick he was played back onside by Miski’s intervention and then managed to stay behind the winger as he put boot to ball. Another Keighran goal ended the scoring at 20-0.
The Saints attack has been poor all year regardless of injuries but this was the first time a big fat zero sat next to their name since February 2020. Kristian Woolf’s side lost 19-0 to Warrington on that occasion a month before lockdown. The injury list wasn’t quite as lengthy back then but Saints did have Matty Costello at centre, James Bentley at hooker and Louie McCarthy Scarsbrook at loose forward.
Looking at the numbers from this one only Makinson managed to break 100 metres for Saints although Vaughan and Whitley went close with 98 and 94 respectively. Burns made a lung busting 52 tackles while Lees came up with 41. Batchelor managed 36, Whitley 33 and Delaney 30.
A host of Warriors (that’s the polite collective noun for them) managed the century. Chief among these was Nsemba with 171 while Luke Thompson - who played for Saints in that nilling by Warrington four years ago - contributed 133. Marshall made 128 while Wardle (106), Miski (104), Field (103) and Walters (101) all weighed in significantly.
Walters was also Wigan’s busiest defender with 43 stops with Ethan Havard managing 35 and Ellis 34. Maybe if he hadn’t spent that 10 minutes off the field…
Some Saints fans have suggested a lack of effort was responsible for the heaviness of the loss but Wellens refuted that at his post match chat with the journos. He attributed the loss to an inability to take chances when they arrived. On the bold assumption that everything else stayed the same the scoreline would have looked more respectable had Robertson and Whitley in particular taken their opportunities. But the truth is that Saints didn’t create nearly enough to expect to compete. You almost feel that Wellens is choosing a narrative which won’t damage the confidence of his players who have some massive games ahead now.
The loss was fairly predictable looking at the two line-ups, a difference which we have already seen was even acknowledged by Peet. Perhaps it is a surprise to see Saints held scoreless but the pre-game backing of Saints by Sky pundits Jon Wilkin and Sam Tomkins always seemed far fetched. I can only think that it would have been bad for viewership had they been honest and said that they expected Wigan to win comfortably. They need to be careful. Insulting the intelligence of viewers is potentially a turn off just like telling an audience that they probably won’t see a contest.
It brings me no pleasure to say that I don’t see a better outcome for Saints when they take on Rovers this weekend. The Robins are flying high and although Saints will welcome back Lomax and very possibly Sione Mata’utia the loss of Sironen for another four weeks is a hammer blow. Added to that we will still see a back line shorn of Welsby, Dodd, Percival and Konrad Hurrell. Beyond those there just doesn’t appear to be enough quality to challenge the league leaders even at home. For me Saints’ presence in the playoffs will depend on more favourable fixtures at Huddersfield and at home to Castleford. Win those two and it should be enough irrespective of what happens against Rovers as well at Warrington and Leigh.
It’s going to be a close run thing. Far more dramatic than this Magic Weekend on which no game was decided by fewer than 10 points. Good job the bars were open.
Wigan Warriors: Field, Miski, Eckersley, Wardle, Marshall, Keighran, Farrimond, Havard, Leeming, Thompson, Nsemba, Walters, Ellis. Interchanges: Byrne, Dupree, Forber, Mago.
Saints: Robertson, Makinson, Batchelor, Blake, Ritson, Davies, Mbye, Delaney, Bell, Lees, Whitley, Sironen, Paasi. Interchanges: Walmsley, Burns, Vaughan, Stephens.
Referee: Jack Smith
Video Referee: Liam Moore
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