They made pretty hard work of it, but Saints emerged with a 14-10 win after a surprisingly tense battle with Salford on Friday night (April 29).
In the end, with both sides crossing for two tries it was the goal-kicking of Tommy Makinson which proved the difference on the scoreboard. Goal-kicking has been a perceived weakness for Saints since Lachlan Coote departed. Lewis Dodd struggled with it early in the season before getting injured which was when Makinson took over. Yet the England winger kicked three of his four attempts in this one and has landed more goals than anyone in Super League apart from Salford’s Marc Sneyd and Castleford’s Gareth O’Brien.
Sneyd’s absence from this one would prove crucial. Chris Atkin managed only one goal from his three attempts in relief of the former Hull FC man. Yet it was Atkins’ failure to hold off the miraculous attentions of Morgan Knowles late in the game that will be the Salford man’s deepest regret and which provides the outstanding memory of a fairly ordinary Saints performance.
After the mass changes made for the trip to Castleford last time out Saints coach Kristian Woolf decided to field a much more experienced line-up for this one. Only Joey Lussick, Ben Davies, Josh Simm and Sam Royle retained their places in the 17 which lost 30-10 to the Tigers last week. Back came Jack Welsby, Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Jonny Lomax, Will Hopoate, Alex Walmsley, James Roby, Matty Lees, Joe Batchelor and Knowles to the starting line-up. Agnatius Paasi and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook returned to the bench where there was also a place for Sione Mata’utia after a 7-week injury layoff. His inclusion was particularly important with Curtis Sironen still suspended.
Saints are without Dodd the rest of the way in 2022, so Welsby joined Lomax in the halves and Hopoate slotted in at fullback. This was a questionable decision given that the ex-Canterbury man spent most of the next 80 minutes demonstrating that he is palpably not yet fit. If the idea behind the weak selection at Castleford was to protect front line players from injury then why did Woolf take a gamble with Hopoate here? I realise that I’m increasingly a lone voice on this one. The majority view is that Woolf’s winning record necessarily means he cannot be questioned. Yet that perspective merely shuts down debate. Outright dogma which doesn’t make a grain of sense to me.
Regan Grace didn’t make it despite being named in the initial 21 so Simm started on the left wing opposite Makinson. The pair played either side of a centre combination of Davies and Percival. Like Sironen, Konrad Hurrell was serving the second of his two-match suspension. So hardly a full strength Saints outfit but one which was perhaps fancied to win more comfortably. What it did offer was a genuine opportunity for the likes of Davies and Royle. They will have benefitted far more from being slotted into the side as the best available option in their positions than they will have from being thrown in at Castleford with an array of even more inexperienced players while the stars were wrapped in metaphorical cotton wool.
With so many players flitting in and out of the side at the moment there was a worrying moment early in the game when Percival came away hobbling from a strong carry. Injuries or no injuries, Woolf is unlikely to veer from his policy of using his outside backs as battering rams to get Saints out of their own quarter. It’s the modern game - like backing into a tackle and claiming a crusher tackle and holding down in your opponents’ half because as long as the six again rule exists the worst that will happen is that you will have to defend one more tackle. Fortunately, though the signs were not great at first Percival soon returned to full mobility.
It was the visitors who had the first opportunity. Deon Cross made inroads into the Saints defence but the movement ended when Morgan Escare’s attempted offload hit the turf and was pounced upon by Welsby. Twenty-five year-old Cross is a former Saints junior who has arrived at Super League via Barrow and Widnes. He was absolutely outstanding on the night, helping himself to 154 metres on 15 carries. Nobody on either side could match that tally on a night when defences were either rarely challenged or fairly dominant depending on your point of view. Cross also contributed 22 tackles on defence - the most by any back on either side.
Saints’ first real chance to attack ended up costing them a 10-minute spell with 12 men on the field as referee Chris Kendall made the first of several decisions which could most kindly be described as interesting. Welsby sent a low grubber into the Salford in-goal area and set off in pursuit of it himself. The kick was just too strong and - realising this - Welsby began to apply the brakes to avoid meeting with an unfortunate incident involving an advertising board. Saints can ill afford that. In doing so he stuck out a desperate leg at the ball, sending it into one of the many vacant areas of the East Stand. As is the norm the die-hard Red Devils following had travelled in the same taxi. Had there been more of them present the ball may have been returned immediately and play may have restarted without anybody noticing. As it was Kendall saw fit to issue Welsby with a yellow card for delaying the restart. Quick restarts - unlike backs as battering rams, backing into a tackle and claiming a crusher and holding down your opponents in their own half - are not common in the modern game. It is doubtful whether Salford were ever even considering speeding the game up against the fastest, fittest outfit in the northern hemisphere.
Saints were still finding their rhythm in attack. Knowles came up with an error when Walmsley tried to pass at the line. For all his many strengths, ball handling isn’t among Walmsley’s greatest attributes though it would be churlish to be over critical of the attempt. After all, ball movement from prop forwards is exactly the sort of thing that traditionally we Saints fans like to see.
Attacking was made harder for Saints by the excellent Brodie Croft. The former Brisbane Bronco came up with a high quality, intelligent kicking game which often saw Saints starting sets from the No Man’s Land of that corner of the field 10 metres from their own try line and within a similar distance of the touchline. When Croft went aerial with one crossfield effort Davies showed his quality and nerve under the high ball. Davies looks an all round player. Ordinarily a centre as he was here, he made a reasonable fist of playing in the halves at Castleford last week, in particular displaying a fine kicking game which those of us who had only ever seen him play centre didn’t know he had. Doubtless he could do a job in the back row too.
While Salford could rely on Croft to boot them down the other end and flip field position in their favour, Saints made an interesting move in giving much of their territorial field kicking responsibility to Lussick. That meant a lot of it was done from dummy half. That’s slightly unconventional perhaps but it has the advantage of making it more difficult for the defenders to apply a lot of pressure. Lussick possesses what NFL analyst might describe as a big leg when they are talking about goal-kickers and punters. Several times Lussick put in Croft-esque kicks which forced Paul Rowley’s side to do the hard yards from close to their own line.
Tempers frayed a little when erstwhile Leeds Rhinos and England centre Kallum Watkins came up with a late hit on Lomax. Not for the last time on the night Kendall - who neglected to use his yellow card on this occasion - called skippers Roby and Croft over for a lecture. Saints could do little with the ensuing set as Roby’s attempted dribble through the line was gobbled up by Escare. Salford made their way down the field through former Wigan academy product Amir Bourouh, Watkins and Sio before Croft’s bomb was batted back by Matty Costello. Knowles could not get control of it as it bobbled around on the grass and Salford were presented with another set. And another when Saints were pinged for offside. It was from that second set that the visitors took the lead.
Cross was held a metre short on the left edge before the ball was switched the width of the field through Atkin and Croft to Escare. Welsby appeared to slip in the defensive line, opening up a gap for the Frenchman to glide through for the first try of the night. Atkin’s only successful goal of the contest gave Salford a 6-0 lead.
Hopoate was almost a passenger by now and he got lucky when he was able to gather another searching Croft kick which the de facto fullback had allowed to bounce. Welsby had similar problems a short time later when he fumbled a Croft kick backwards and was met by a wall of defenders just outside his own try line. It was a tough position to start a set from once more, but Saints found some attacking bite as Lees almost burst through and Roby scooted from dummy half to take his side within 30 metres of the Red Devils’ line. A Walmsley burst gained further ground before Roby, Knowles and Lomax combined to allow Welsby to deliver the money ball for Davies to go over on the right. Makinson produced his only missed attempt at goal of the evening but Saints were right back in the fight at 6-4.
Just at the point when Saints attack was starting to click they suffered a devastating blow which could yet have major implications not only for this weekend’s Challenge Cup semi-final with Wigan but also beyond. Lomax carried the ball into a couple of Salford defenders and got up holding his arm. He left the field and did not return. Saints were now without both of their first choice halfbacks. There’s little doubt that this had an effect on their attacking output for the rest of the game. Woolf has since revealed that Lomax has a bicep injury but was unsure about whether the problem would keep Lomax out for any length of time. Scans have taken place and we wait with baited breath for the announcement of Woolf’s 21-man selection for Elland Road.
While that drama was playing out Saints went in front for the first time. Batchelor and Walmsley made good ground and after Saints were given a set restart by Kendall Lussick showed that he has a short kicking game to go with his longer efforts. The former Salford man dabbed through the line and the ball bounced up kindly for Welsby who was able to spin over for Saints’ second try. Makinson was on target with the conversion to move the champions out to a 10-6 lead.
After King Vuniyayawa was guilty of using a shoulder Welsby was unfortunate to be adjudged to have knocked on deep in Salford territory. It appeared to go backwards. Cross then created an opportunity for Rowley’s men, charging 30 metres downfield only to see Danny Addy fail to hold on to possession just when the Saints defence looked under a bit of pressure.
Paasi was on from the bench at this stage and was having a big impact even if he was used all too sparingly. One mammoth charge took Saints into enemy territory but after Roby found an offload through his legs Batchelor’s looping ball out wide to the right was intercepted by Rhys Williams. Paasi only carried the ball six times but managed to make 47 metres at an average of just under eight metres per carry. This average is equal to that achieved by Walmsley and is only one metre per carry fewer than Batchelor managed. Overall the latter two managed 120 metres and 101 metres respectively. Percival (107) was the only other Saints man to gain more than 100 metres with ball in hand.
More carries for Paasi may have brought Saints more joy. However it was Paasi who clumsily went high on a Salford ball carrier to allow Atkin a shot at goal as time expired at the end of the first half. The ex-Hull KR man could not take the opportunity and Saints went to the break leading 10-6.
Salford threatened early in the second half but Croft’s lob towards the Saints in-goal area was expertly dealt with by Makinson. Not only did he take the ball cleanly but he also managed to wriggle his way out of the in-goal and so avoid the dropout that Croft had been looking for. On the next drive Welsby got up holding his neck as if to imply that some illegal pressure may have been applied but Kendall dismissively waved play on. Makinson repeated the trick after Matty Costello and Vuniyayawa had made good ground to set up another raid.
It was Saints who had the next chance when a Bourouh error was pounced upon by Davies. Salford were then offside to compound the mistake. McCarthy-Scarsbrook was stopped 10 metres out but the attack fizzled out when Paasi could not hold on to Knowles’ clever and rapid inside ball.
Kendall was having one of those nights. Consistency was an issue. Has he been more consistent the game could have been an even more stop-start affair but that is not his problem. He is there to apply the law and too often it seemed like he was not that keen on doing so. Part of that is down to his own performance, and part of it is the sheer fact that so many of the rules around infringements at the ruck are wishy-washy and could be interpreted in at least two ways.
Pre-game I had thought that sending Kendall back to Saints just a fortnight after his video referee exploits in the Good Friday disagreement with Wigan was a strange decision. Too soon perhaps. Regardless, Saints were unfortunate not to receive a penalty when the ball came out of Percival’s grasp in a crowd of defenders - not least because it resulted in Salford gaining possession 35 metres from the hosts’ line with a chance to threaten again.
The home side thought they had seen off the danger when Percival covered up a low kick near to his own line. However, Kendall whistled Saints offside and the mini-crisis was only fully averted when Costello knocked on three metres out. In that fine defensive set was one particularly brutal bell-ringer from Mata’utia on Vuniyayawa as the ex-Newcastle Knight announced his return to first team action. It was a modest return off the bench with just 69 metres on seven carries and eight tackles. Still, with that one hit and a try saver on Atkin later in the game Mata’utia reminded us all of exactly what we had been missing.
It was a temporary reprieve and a temporary inconvenience for Costello who did get Salford level soon after. Slick passing between Atkin and Bourouh opened up the space for Costello to go over on the left hand edge. Atkin again failed to convert and the scores were locked up at 10-10. It was only Costello’s second try of the season and formed part of a 113-metre performance. Only Cross and Atkin gained more ground for Salford and a large chunk of the latter’s 134 metres were gained on that late dash to the Saints line which was so spectacularly halted by Knowles.
Like Cross, Costello is a product of the Saints youth system who never quite managed to establish himself in the first team. Costello made 26 appearances in the red vee, scoring six tries. He joined as a 16 year-old in 2014 and departed six years later. Since then he has managed a further 15 Super League appearances for the Red Devils scoring four tries.
The game appeared to take another swing in the direction of Rowley’s side when Percival was sent to the sin-bin for contact with the head of Ken Sio. The ball had been turned back inside to Sio after good play down the right by The Usual Suspects Croft and Cross. In trying to step back inside Sio fell, just at the moment that Percival was lunging in desperately to stop him. Under the strict liability policy (which I’m not sure we are enforcing this week but I’m going to assume we are) Kendall had little or no choice but to issue the yellow card.
Fortunately, the match review panel has decided not to hand out any further sanction against Percival which leaves him free to play in the semi-final. Given the bans we have seen so far this season the Saints centre is arguably a tad lucky. Maybe the powers that be don’t want the game’s stars ruled out of a showpiece occasion on free to air TV. Wigan - the world’s dirtiest sports outfit bar none - have also escaped any further bans for this weekend. Maybe I’m being cynical, but we’ll take it.
Bourouh was also yellow carded in the minor meeting of minds which ensued after Percival’s tackle. Saints needed Mata’utia’s intervention to stop Atkin close to the line with help from Welsby. As an added bonus the pair forced Atkin to cough up possession. Whatever else was going on with their attack the Saints defence remained dogged and resolute. It is that quality - instilled by Justin Holbrook but improved upon by Woolf over the last two years - which makes Saints so hard to beat even when attacking fluency evades them.
Batchelor led the defensive effort in terms of numbers with 44 tackles, six more than Knowles but the Cumbrian’s final intervention was worth around 10 by itself. Roby (34), Lussick (31) and Lees (30) all weighed in heavily. You’d expect to have less possession at the home of the champions so maybe it is no surprise that Watkins led all tacklers with 53. Vuniyayawa managed a shift of 40 while Jack Johnson (32) and Bourouh (30) were all made to work hard.
A period of what dull commentators like to refer to as the arm wrestle followed before a defensive mistake cost Salford. Addy tried to stop Lees in his tracks but caught the Saints prop high. It was a penalty in a very kickable position. Makinson accepted the gift and put Saints back in front at 12-10.
Welsby averted more danger when he collected Croft’s deflected chip towards the Saints line. That came after the returned Bourouh wrestled the ball one on one from the grasp of Lees. Yet when Saints were awarded a relieving penalty for offside and Vuniyayawa was guilty of tipping Davies over the horizontal it laid the foundations for Saints to stretch their lead. More so when - having failed to learn the lessons of his team mate’s indiscretion - Atkin came up with a similar challenge on Welsby. The second tip tackle was within range and again Makinson took what was on offer and Saints led 14-10.
Makinson had a strange moment on the restart. Atkin’s kick might very well have gone out on the full but an uncertain Makinson chose to tip it back into play but was quick enough to recover possession. That put Saints back inside their own 10 metre line from where Welsby smeared the ball downfield from dummy half. It wasn’t pretty but when Sio collected the ball and was tackled near his own 20 metre line it was inarguably effective.
Saints had a chance to finish the Red Devils off when a great defensive set forced Croft to kick from inside his own 30. Chasing the game as time ticked by the Salford man chose to go short, but Bourouh’s inability to take possession cleanly gave Saints a chance to attack. All of which quickly became a desperate scramble to defend as Welsby’s pass to the right edge was plucked out of the air by Atkin to set up the game’s defining moment. Atkin had 80 metres to go but had a significant head start on the Saints defenders who had all been running towards the Salford line in attack mode. This is where Knowles decided he would not let us lose.
Not known for his pace, Knowles demonstrated what he is all about with a level of determination and effort that was frankly outrageous. Particularly in the dying moments of a full blooded, physical game which he had played every minute of. Atkin is no slouch, but Knowles somehow reeled him in step by step before dragging Atkin down around 10 metres out. Still thinking clearly and with only the team in mind, Knowles laid on around Atkin’s legs for an eternity to stop the quick play-the-ball. Kendall somehow did not consider this a professional foul. However he could not stop the itch to get rid of someone and sin-binned Welsby for a second time. On this occasion he was marched for running the supporting Red Devils player off the ball, which seemed a far less noticeable offence than that of Knowles. Maybe that’s why he’s the referee and I’m not.
Knowles’ tackle evoked memories of Keiron Cunningham’s effort on Mark Smith in a 19-0 derby win back in 2002. Cunningham’s degree of difficulty was higher. He was closer to his own goal-line and had to not only chase back but turn Smith over on his back to prevent him grounding the ball. Both took the kind of Herculean effort that is the hallmark of both players. Yet if we are talking sheer, win-preserving timing then Knowles’ effort is very difficult to top. Both will surely go down in club folklore. It was a privilege to be in attendance to witness both.
Safely back atop the Super League table, Woolf’s thoughts now turn to bettering Wigan again and earning a place in the Challenge Cup final at Tottenham on May 28. At the time of writing there is still mystery surrounding Lomax’s potential availability. Hopoate looks out of contention, and barely merits selection on current form in any case. Will Woolf consider switching Makinson to fullback and keeping Welsby in the halves alongside a Roby or a Lussick? That option becomes more appealing if Grace is fit to fill in for Makinson on the wing. Hurrell’s expected return will give Woolf further options in the backs.
Which is why I don’t quite buy this narrative that has developed recently that Saints are somehow underdogs against Matty Peet’s side. This is a team Saints beat comfortably three weeks ago and which doesn’t seem to have the pack to lay the platform for their speedy superstars Jai Field and Bevan French. Being without your starting halves is not ideal as evidenced by this scrappy win over the Red Devils. But nobody has explained to me yet why they think Wigan will post enough points to win against a defensive unit which is still only conceding 9.6 points per game despite its recent problems.
I’m not telling you to book your tickets for Tottenham yet. But just have a little faith, will you?
Saints: Hopoate, Makinson, Davies, Percival, Simm, Welsby, Lomax, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Batchelor, Royle, Knowles.
Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Lussick, Paasi, Mata’utia
Salford: Escare, Sio, Cross, Costello, Williams, Atkin, Croft, Ormondroyd, Bourouh, Addy, Johnson, Watkins, Lannon
Interchanges: Ackers, Vuniyayawa, Akauola, Gerrard
Referee: Chris Kendall