Saints suffered a second consecutive league defeat when they were edged out 14-12 at home to Warrington on Friday night (March 21).
After winning their opening three games in Super League Saints have lost their last two on their own patch having also been seen off 20-10 by Hull KR on March 7. It leaves Paul Wellens’ side fifth in the table after five rounds and needing an upturn in results as soon as possible.
Wellens made two changes to the starting lineup which had beaten Leeds Rhinos 22-14 in the Challenge Cup the previous week. Kyle Feldt had successful surgery on a hand injury this week but still faces up to three months out. His place was taken by debutant Dayon Sambou while concussion ruled out Joe Batchelor. Matt Whitley stepped up from the bench.
Moses Mbye was on the bench for his first involvement with the first team of 2025 alongside Jake Wingfield, Agnatius Paasi and George Delaney.
Warrington had their own debutant as Head Coach Sam Burgess made wholesale changes to the side which had narrowly overcome Cheshire rivals Widnes Vikings to reach the last eight of the cup. Marc Sneyd made his first appearance since joining from fiscally challenged Salford Red Devils and began what looks a tasty halfback partnership with George Williams. Meanwhile Matt Dufty, Toby King, Matty Ashton and Lachlan Fitzgibbon all returned.
In the 1980s Notts County were managed by a man named Jimmy Sirrel across two spells. If you were a collector of Panini stickers (and what self respecting child of the 80s wasn’t?) you may remember that he was in his sixties but looked around 87. But that’s not why I mention him here. I do so because he is perhaps most remembered for saying that ‘the best team always wins, the rest is just gossip’. I was reminded of this by the many online claims that Saints were the best team and deserved to win.
There is some justification to those claims. The gossip here is that Saints had more than enough possession, territory and try scoring opportunities to have won this game. Jimmy might not have considered them the better side if he were still with us (he passed in 2008 aged 86) but many observers would disagree and did so, sometimes in capital letters. Saints gained a total of 1272 metres to the visitors’ 1017. Centres Mark Percival and Harry Robertson made 337 metres between them. Yet it was the missed opportunities which cost Saints so dearly.
Do you remember a Jon Bennison try against this same opposition in April 2023? Playing on the left wing during that 28-6 win, he broke down the touchline before selling an outrageous dummy to Dufty and going over untouched. The Wire fullback was allegedly charged to get back into the stadium. History almost repeated itself in this one when a flowing move involving Jonny Lomax, Tristan Sailor and Robertson set Bennison clear, this time down the right wing. Confronted again by Dufty and with Sailor supporting on his inside, Bennison chose to attempt the pass rather than throw the dummy. Dufty committed himself in just the same way as he had two years ago but guessed right and was able to bat the ball down.
That it was a thrilling passage of play might not help appease some fans but it should be noted that the movement only materialised as a result of Saints opting to run the ball on the last tackle from their own 30 metre line. All of which must surely serve as evidence that there is a different approach to attack since Lee Briers came in to assist Wellens. All of which flies in the face of claims on social media - sometimes in capital letters - that nothing has changed and we are still playing a Wellens-adapted version of Woolfball. Only without the results.
Though he ran all over Warrington all night Percival was at the root of two of Saints’ most glaring butchery of their chances. It would arrive later, but Sambou missed out on a debut try when Percival could only find the sideline with what looked a simple pass for a wide open walk in for the winger. Saints won second prize when play was called back for a penalty for a late tackle by Zane Musgrove on Lomax. Percival was able to slot over the goal to get his side on the board first at 2-0. But it should have been four and possibly six.
Most Saints fans rate Percival among the best centres in Super League. If that were judged on speed, work rate and bravery he would be right up there. But his passing game leaves a little to be desired for me to consider him among the truly elite. This column observed previously that he and Regan Grace often played like they had never met. So often they would fail to link up as Percival’s execution or sometimes his outright reluctance to let go of the ball proved to be their undoing. He last played for England in 2018 which must say something. I’d be staggered if he is among Shaun Wane’s selections for the first rugby league Ashes series since 2003 which has just been announced for this autumn.
There was a definite contrast of styles between the two sides. Unusually for Saints in the Wellens era they were much more expansive than their guests who - through the kicking game of Sneyd - were willing to play the percentages and await their opportunities. On studying the TV broadcast of the game I nearly fell off my sofa when late in the first half the Sky Sports commentator opined that Saints hadn’t looked like scoring. I wouldn’t want to have been watching the game that he had been during that first half. As well as Bennison’s chance and Percival’s passing blunder the centre would have crossed for a try himself had Lomax been able to better direct his attempted offload from virtually on the Warrington line. All of those near misses arrived within the first half hour.
Lomax has been the subject of much scrutiny in the wake of this and other performances this year. There is a growing consensus that sentimentality is all that is keeping him in the side and that George Whitby should be given another opportunity. The riposte to that might be that many of the calls for a change come from those whose experience of watching Whitby is limited at best. We should also remember that after similar certainty around the brilliance of Lewis Dodd he managed one promising season, suffered a terrible injury before running off to the NRL where he is currently operating only in their version of the stiffs. Be careful what you wish for.
Yet there is no doubt that Lomax is slowing down and losing some effectiveness. He makes more poor decisions and dies with the ball to scupper attacks more often. At 34 years of age and with an injury record that would make Robocop wince he should never have been offered a three-year deal. But they did. And if you want to know it my view is that as long as his friend and former teammate Wellens is at the helm we won’t see Whitby or anyone else replace the skipper. But a new deal at the end of his current one would be demented. The equivalent of backing Nigel Wood’s return to the RFL when you were instrumental in his ousting.
By the time of the last of those spurned chances Saints were behind on the scoreboard as Warrington were clinical with a half chance on 20 minutes. Facing the north sideline Sneyd was nevertheless able to place the most perfectly weighted grubber into the Saints in-goal area. Williams had read it - perhaps that combination is developing faster than I think - and managed to reach it first to touch down for his first try of the Super League campaign. If that’s the standard of service he can rely on there’s a fair chance he’ll score many more. Saints could have done little to stop it but Wellens might remind them this week that the field position was only set up by the concession of a needless penalty for interference at the play-the-ball on Warrington’s 30 metre line. Sneyd is a prolific goal-kicker as well as a formidable kicker in general play and was never going to miss the conversion. Burgess’ men led 6-2.
Both sides had suffered a key injury late in the first half too. Saints lost Daryl Clark after half an hour with a hip injury while Josh Thewlis also left the action with a similar problem. Mbye came in for Clark though in truth both were outplayed by the outstanding Danny Walker. Rodrick Tai moved from centre into Thewlis’ wing position with Ben Currie filling in at centre. I confess that I mention this only so I can work in a cheap gag about Wire’s right edge of Tai-Currie sounding like item number 12 on the menu at your local takeaway. What? It’s an improvement on Feldt tip from a couple of weeks ago.
Saints went in to the sheds six points behind after Sneyd added a penalty from in front of the sticks. Wellens’ men continue to struggle with discipline. It’s not the number of penalties they concede. Six teams have given up as many or more than their 23 this season. It’s often the timing or the position on the field that seems to make them more significant. On this occasion they were offside from a scrum after Sambou’s only handling error of the night.
Three minutes into the second half referee Chris Kendall called for a needless review. Joe Philbin found himself in possession late in the tackle count but within spitting distance of the Saints line. He’s probably not the man that Burgess would like to have performing the grubber kicking duties - that’s what he signed Sneyd for - but it was a surprisingly decent effort by the prop. Yet it seemed fairly obvious that he had not caught up with his effort in order to ground it before it went dead. Replays proved it pretty quickly.
A minute after Lomax had achieved that rarest of feats, a successful captain’s challenge, Saints were back level. Morgan Knowles was playing his 200th Super League game and marked it with his third try of what will be his final campaign in the red vee. His 33rd in 233 appearances in all competitions for the club. It was a no frills effort as he took Mbye’s pass 10 metres out and crashed through several would be tacklers to dot it down under the posts. Percival added the goal and it was suddenly 8-8.
Not for long. Ashton has often been the scourge of Saints. He has scored nine tries in 13 appearances against them but it feels like more. Probably because he has crossed in his last five. The one prior to this was in the one-point victory over Saints in last season’s playoffs which put our season out of its misery. The run began with one in the resounding 31-8 Challenge Cup quarter-final larruping of Saints last April. He’ll face them again at the same stage of that competition in less than a fortnight. Who isn’t looking forward to that?
And so with a measure of inevitability he got us again here. Jack Welsby - who had been effective in the first half but cut a slightly frustrated figure after the break - threw what Australians refer to as an absolute bludger of a pass out towards Robertson and Bennison on Saints’ right edge. It was so inaccurate that it was actually about three metres forward. Yet Kendall’s whistle remained unblown as the ball hit the turf and took a primrose and blue bounce back towards the Saints try line and into the arms of chief tormentor Ashton.
He had 80 metres still to travel but it never seemed to be in that much doubt. Sailor made a valiant effort to chase back and seemed to be slightly gaining on the Warrington flyer before running out of steam. He resorted to a desperate attempt to dive at Ashton’s feet for the ankle tap but narrowly missed. The gate was then metaphorically shut as Ashton went in unopposed for his 104th try for Warrington since joining from Swinton in 2020. With the freedom of the stadium to finish the try the conversion was a gimme for Sneyd who pushed his new side out to a 14-8 advantage.
When Saints hit back there were still over 20 minutes to play. Sambou’s deserved moment in the spotlight arrived when Lomax, Welsby and Percival combined. This time the centre’s pass was good enough for Sambou who dived in acrobatically at the south west corner of the ground. He ended the game one metre short of 100 but this was by far his most telling contribution. There were a couple of defensive lapses late on when Tai found it rather too easy to skip around him but it was a most impressive debut. And a much needed success given the current injuries to Feldt and Lewis Murphy.
But what of Sambou’s future? It was reported in February that he and Jonny Vaughan had agreed to join Wigan from the start of 2026. Vaughan has since disappeared from the first team scene quicker than his annoying namesake vanished from your television screens, yet Wellens saw fit to select Sambou. Crucially the original report stated that the deal for the pair had not been fully agreed and would not be until season’s end. Does Sambou’s inclusion suggest there has been a change of heart? He certainly seemed to enjoy the adulation of the faithful as he regained his feet following his somersaulting score. He was pumped, in modern parlance.
Or was he just selected out of necessity? In his post game interview Wellens explained that he is keen to be able to replace unavailable players with those who play in the same position. Like for like. If you like. Which is fine, but it doesn’t explain why he keeps selecting Bennison on the wing while actual wide men Tee Ritson and Owen Dagnall are not required. I know…I wouldn’t pick Ritson either but if you want a winger for a winger then he is at least that.
Percival was unable to convert Sambou’s try from the sideline. In truth it was a bit of a shank and not remotely close. All of which has led to criticism among the fan base of his goal-kicking endeavours. He succeeded with just over 73% of his attempts in 2024 and has landed 68.5% so far this term. Nobody has kicked more than his 24 goals through the first five rounds. Yet it may be that the margin of the defeat - the equivalent of just that one errant conversion - has highlighted whatever deficiencies he may have.
For comparison Sneyd nailed 88% for Salford in 2024 and led all goalscorers with 97. He has begun this year hitting 80% albeit from a small sample size of only five attempts as appearances for the Red Devils were sparse before his move to Wire. But it should perhaps be remembered that he’s a specialist and alongside Rhys Martin probably the best in the competition. Percival has been a reluctant volunteer since Lewis Dodd’s achilles went three years ago.
Despite having more than a quarter of the game to find another score the closest Saints came was when Percival made a 45 metre break six minutes from time but was again hamstrung by his indecision. He had a few options in support but couldn’t find any of them and the move fizzled out as Warrington’s defence funnelled back.
Despite my earlier criticism of him a tip of the hat still goes to Percival for leading all players in this one with 214 metres. Saints’ other centurions were Welsby with 127, Robertson with 122 and - inevitably - Alex Walmsley with 120. Knowles topped Saints’ tackle count with 42 ahead of Whitley with 39 and Sailor with 30. The former Brisbane man is averaging close to 24 tackles per game since joining the club as opposition coaches continue to target him. He’s holding up well, missing only 15 in Super League so far which isn’t even enough for a place in the competition’s top 20 wet paper towel offenders. Top Of The Pops there is Castleford Tigers’ Liam Horne with 29.
In something of a smash and grab win Warrington had only two men over 100 metres with ball in hand. Dufty and Ashton are the real pace in the side and it should shock nobody that they were the players concerned with 149 and 145 respectively. James Harrison was their top tackler with 37 while Currie made 34.
Round 6 brings a trip to Perpignan to face Catalans Dragons on Saturday night (March 29). With only two wins from their first five outings in 2025 - and one of those coming against Castleford - the Dragons have looked as poor as they have been in some time. Even their 11-0 win over Leeds was a turgid performance in one of the worst games in Super League that it has been my displeasure to witness. There has been speculation about the future of Super League’s longest serving coach Steve McNamara. The return of Sky pundit, Wire fan and former Wigan hate figure Sam Tomkins makes them better but I’ll be especially disappointed if Saints don’t make it four wins out of six come Saturday night.
Saints: Welsby, Sambou, Robertson, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Sailor, Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Sironen, Whitley, Knowles. Interchanges: Wingfield, Paasi, Mbye, Delaney
Warrington: Dufty, Thewlis, Tai, King, Ashton, Williams, Sneyd, Musgrove, Walker, Vaughan, Currie, Fitzgibbon, Harrison. Interchanges: Powell, Philbin, Holroyd, Wood
Referee: Chris Kendall
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