Saints 22 Leeds Rhinos 14 - Challenge Cup Review

Saints moved safely into the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup, holding off a late rally by Leeds Rhinos to secure their place in the last eight on Friday night (March 14).

Coming off the back of their first loss of the Super League season at home to Hull KR Saints were able to welcome Matty Lees back into the side. The England prop had missed the 20-10 defeat to Rovers with multiple vaguely unspecified knocks but was able to take his place in the starting lineup once more. That meant George Delaney dropped to the bench while the unfortunate Noah Stephens was the one to lose his place in the 17. 

There was a good deal more pack shuffling by the visitors. With Matt Frawley out Head Coach Brad Arthur was no doubt grateful to have Lachlan Miller back at fullback. Jake Connor moved to the halves to replace Frawley alongside Brodie Croft. Ryan Hall returned on the wing. Morgan Gannon had to settle for a place among the interchanges as former Saint James Bentley moved from loose forward to second row. Keenan Palasia moved from prop to fill in at loose forward - if that can be described as a positional move - and Cooper Jenkins stepped up from the bench to start at prop beside Mikolaj Oledzki. Thomas Nicholson-Watton was included on the bench with Jarrod O’Connor out.

It was the Rhinos who posted the first points of the night. Saints were found guilty by referee Liam Moore of interfering with Harry Newman’s attempts to get up and play the ball quickly with his side in scoring position. You’d have to think that Saints’ still formidable defence had some influence over the decision to go for goal. Connor stepped up to land a fairly straightforward penalty goal and Leeds led 2-0.

We had to wait 25 minutes for Saints to hit back. Kyle Feldt notched the fourth try of his Saints career in all competitions. The winger was first to a Jonny Lomax bomb, batting it back to Joe Batchelor. The Saints back rower collected it on the bounce and was able to shuttle it underarm to Feldt who dived in at the corner. 

The former North Queensland Cowboy might have had a fast start to his time with Saints in terms of try scoring but that opening four-pointer will be his last for a while. Feldt did not come off the field during the game but it has since been revealed that he sustained ligament damage to his hand which requires surgery. It means a three-month layoff for the man brought in to replace the ever dependable Tommy Makinson after he joined Catalans Dragons. 

With fellow wing recruit Lewis Murphy also sidelined it means that two of Saints’ three major signings for 2025 are currently out of action. Not the sort of problem you need when a lack of pace has long been your most pressing concern when it comes to squad building. It might be the sort of bad juju that can get a Head Coach the sack.

With that in mind Batchelor’s exit from proceedings was another kick in Paul Wellens’ proverbials. Unlike Feldt Batchelor was not able to finish the game after he collided with Ash Handley’s shoulder during a routine carry. The Saints man was taken for an HIA from which he did not return. Not only did that put him out of the more than 50 minutes which remained of this one, it also means that he must sit out for the mandatory 11-day period and will miss the visit from Warrington Wolves this weekend. Not great news for anyone connected with Saints except Matt Whitley who replaced him. The former Widnes and Catalans man looks likely to do so from the start when visa hunting former union scapegoat Sam Burgess brings his troops to town.

Saints held a slender 6-2 lead at halftime which was extended seven minutes into the second half by Tristan Sailor. Saints’ last man standing among the new boys benefited from a searing break down the right flank by Harry Robertson. The youngster - operating at centre until Wellens figures out why in the world Konrad Hurrell was given another one-year deal - showed he could think like a three-quarter as he calmly found the supporting son of Wendell on his inside with an open run to the line. A second Mark Percival conversion had Saints feeling more comfortable at 12-2.

Five minutes later Whitley offered his pitch to be the man to replace Batchelor. Not only in this one or when Wire come calling this weekend but also for seasons beyond this one when Batchelor will  join the black and whites of Hull FC. Another impending leaver set up the opportunity as Dolphins-bound Morgan Knowles’ perfectly timed short ball set Delaney off on what was possibly the longest run of his young career. He was brought down by the covering Leeds defence but quick thinking from Lomax enabled him to find Whitley outside him with the Rhinos having run out of defenders to retrieve the situation. Percival was not able to add the extras but at 16-2 it was difficult to see how Arthur’s men’s stay in the Challenge Cup was going to be anything but short. 

Just 10 minutes on from Sailor’s try the home side added another. Three tries in 10 minutes more or less settled the outcome. It was exactly the sort of Saintsy burst of speed and skill which would often be enough to see off opponents when I started watching the team in the 1980s. The mind tends to think of those games as being thoroughly scintillating performances for the whole 80 minutes but in truth the memory filters out much of the garbage. On many occasions an otherwise iffy performance like this one would be lit up by a decisive patch of purple. 

The latest score belonged to Robertson and again it showcased his undoubted natural ability and talent. Sailor placed a low kick towards the Leeds in-goal which bounced up perfectly around the try line for Robertson to get there first. Yet he still had Newman and Miller to contend with. Beautifully, he was able to spin away from both to touch down to the right of the posts. 

The youngster now has eight tries in 15 appearances for the first team since making his debut in a 16-12 defeat at Wigan in July last year. You get the sense there’ll be many more. Robertson tries that is. Not defeats to Wigan. Heck, they can’t even beat Hull FC with a 16-point start. Percival converted once more meaning Saints had scored 16 points in not much more than 20 minutes to lead 22-2. 

If Saints’ triple salvo was quick it was followed by a brisk response from the Rhinos. Five minutes after the Robertson pirouette Handley bagged his side’s first try of the night. Just as Sailor had created Robertson’s effort with a low kick so Connor returned serve to assist Handley. Ice skating manoeuvres were not necessary as the Leeds man collected the kick and fell across the line despite the attentions of two Saints defenders. Connor’s second goal of the night reduced the arrears to 14 at 22-8. Yet with little more than 12 minutes remaining a comeback remained unlikely. 

Still it wasn’t a great time to lose Percival. Though they were still massively up against it Leeds will have been heartened by the departure of the Saints centre. It meant another positional move for Whitley too. But the main concern was whether Percival would now be ruled out of the Warrington game. Fortunately he has been named in Wellens’ 21-man squad for that one so all seems ok. 

But any injury suffered by the 30 year-old serves as a reminder that Saints are highly unlikely to get a full season out of him for however long he is around. His own disregard for his personal safety is a part of the reason why he has suffered so often with injury but Saints’ philosophy of having the backs do the hard yards early in the tackle count over the course of Percival’s career has also been a major contributor.

Whatever the reason for Percival’s fragility it is what it is and makes a mockery of the decision to hand Hurrell that one-year deal. Now 33, Hurrell is currently plying his trade on loan to Halifax Panthers in the Championship. A troublesome neck/back injury ruled the Tongan out of the final three months of last season. 

Even then there was much nattering about whether he was capable of playing in Super League again, so why the new deal? His only appearance for Saints in 2025 was against the amateurs of West Hull in an earlier round of the Challenge Cup. It’s quite bonkers and even more so in the context of Percival’s fragility. Robertson’s adaptability is all that stands between us and a heavy dose of Ben Davies. There’s Jonny Vaughan, but since he’s agreed to join Wigan next year I’d be reluctant to let him play for my team if I was Wellens. But I’m petty like that. 

After that flurry of points scoring both sides went back to misfiring in attack. Connor tried to find a wide open Riley Lumb close to Saints’ line but only succeeded in finding the front row of the north stand. For their part Saints were ending sets sloppily. On one occasion Jake Wingfield found himself with no option but to take on the last tackle kicking duties. His effort went predictably dead. 

Eventually Saints stopped kicking on the last altogether, preferring instead to hand it over as close to the Leeds line as possible. Make them go 100 metres to beat you. It’s a tactically reasonable idea when you’re protecting a three score lead against an opponent which has proven itself capable only of aspiring to mediocrity. Yet from an aesthetic point of view it is the kind of anti-rugby that got Wattoball kiboshed in Huddersfield. Even they’d had enough. 

The brightest moment in attack for Saints in the final stages was the 40/20 executed by Jack Welsby. Amid much criticism of their territorial kicking game to start the season Saints have tellingly not managed a single 40/20 across the first four rounds of Super League. League leaders in the category Salford only have three so the skill is not that common. But it would be nice to see a few more from those wearing the red vee. As an aside, the Red Devils may find that their tally dries up also now that Marc Sneyd is in Warrington. He has all three of Paul Rowley’s side’s efforts to this point.

There were just three minutes left when Leeds delivered their last act of defiance in defeat. Newman had been a nuisance all night and finally got the try that his industry arguably deserved. Picking it up from Croft 20 metres out he sprinted on an out to in line to breeze past Whitley and ground the ball before Jon Bennison could stop him. Another Connor goal got Leeds to within eight at 22-14 but time was always going to beat them. Leeds’ five-year wait for a 15th Challenge Cup goes on. 

Saints march on but the last eight draw pairs them with this week’s opponents Warrington. Wellens’ side will travel to the HJ on April 6. It will be the second of three meetings in a five week period between the two. And for once it’s the cup draw and not loop fixtures to blame for this impending over familiarity.  Without Feldt and Batchelor, Wellens has called up Davies, halfback George Whitby and Dayon Sambou. The latter will make his competitive debut if he features.

I guess Wellens doesn’t hold the kind of grudges I do after all…

Saints: Welsby, Feldt, Robertson, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Sailor, Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Batchelor, Sironen, Knowles. Interchanges: Delaney, Wingfield, Paasi, Whitley. 

Rhinos: Miller, Hall, Newman, Handley, Lumb, Connor, Croft, Oledzki, Ackers, Jenkins, Bentley, McDonnell, Palasi. Interchanges: Lisone, Nicholson-Watton, Gannon, Sinfield 

Referee: Liam Moore

Saints 10 Hull KR 20 - Review

Saints’ unbeaten start to 2025 came to a juddering halt when they went down to visiting 2024 Grand Finalists Hull KR on Saturday (March 7).

It was an interesting build-up to the game for Saints and Head Coach Paul Wellens. Already having to digest the news that Morgan Knowles will head to former boss Kristian Woolf’s Dolphins in the NRL for 2026 and beyond Saints then saw two more impending departures announced. There was a strange silence on both from the club but the Hull media were very keen to declare that Hull FC have captured the signatures of both Joe Batchelor and James Bell from next year also. 

The online Saints fan base rarely misses an opportunity for blind panic so it was somewhat inevitable that the socials were chock full of users queuing up to pronounce Saints a spent force on the brink of financial meltdown. How else could you explain first team regulars choosing to leave this Saintly ground?  

Well. Both players have three-year deals with the black and whites and good luck to them for all that. They have been fine players these last few years. But the reality of it is that both turn 31 this year which always made contracts of that length somewhat risky. Batchelor in particular has been troubled by injuries of late and has consequently displayed signs of a visible decline from his 2022 peak. It’s possible he could overcome them and return to that form but is it a risk that would be wise to take? And with Knowles also leaving Bell’s impending exit does at least make it clear to Saints’ recruitment bods that there is a vacancy for a loose forward. Though good luck finding a real one in today’s biff and bash, subtlety deficient league.

So there are reasonable arguments for not matching Hull’s offer to either player and instead choosing to look elsewhere. So before we raise the alarm and signal the death of the club might we instead wait and see what Saints do in terms of recruitment for next year? The Super League era has largely shown that they deserve our trust on this one. They get it right more often than they get it wrong and mixed with the club’s freakish consistency in bringing through excellent youth stars it’s been a recipe for almost three decades of success. Keep the faith, eh? Even if we have just lost to one of the best sides in the competition.

On which subject, back to matters concerning Hull’s other Super League presence and Wellens made two changes to his 17. The first was the return of Knowles after he picked up a head knock in the win at Castleford a fortnight earlier forcing him to miss the trip to Wakefield. The second was enforced as Matty Lees missed out through a minor injury which we are assured will not keep him out of action for longer than a week. George Delaney stepped into the starting lineup from the bench with Noah Stephens taking a place among the interchange options while it was Bell who made way for Knowles. 

Rovers Head Coach Willie Peters had to make alterations also from the side which walloped troubled Salford 42-0 last time out. Niall Evalds got knocked out of that game early so Jack Broadbent moved from centre to fullback with Peter Hiku flitting from the halves to take that centre berth. All of which made the return of Tyrone May and Mikey Lewis very timely with former Saint Danny Richardson missing out on the chance to perform at his old stomping ground. Goal-kicking back rower and headline signing Rhys Martin has been ruled out for four months so his place in the starting lineup was taken by Dean Hadley. Not for long, however, as the unfortunate ex-FC man failed a head injury assessment in the first half and was consequently withdrawn.

Watching the first 30 minutes of this one almost makes you wonder how the final margin of Rovers’ victory was only a couple of scores. The Robins dominated possession and territory. Saints did not manage a play-the-ball inside their opponents 20-metre zone until the 26th minute. Alex Walmsley - who is the league’s top metre maker through the first four rounds - was ploughing a largely lone furrow in terms of go-forward. Couple that with some especially woeful territorial kicking and it is easy to see how a quality outfit such as Peters’ side were able to dominate. 

Yet that wasn’t showing on the scoreboard with just an unconverted Lewis try and a 4-0 lead to show for their endeavours. That had come early, with only nine minutes on the clock when Kyle Feldt flapped at May’s crossfield bomb to allow the reigning Steve Prescott Man Of Steel to pounce. It was one of three errors on the night from the ex-North Queensland Cowboy out of a team total of 10. Yet to this point he has not made a habit of it. They are the only three errors he has made in this campaign so far so perhaps we can put it down to a difficult night that will not become the norm. Lewis resumed the goal-kicking duties from the absent Martin but was unable to turn four into six.

It was ironic given the issues Saints had endured kicking the ball that their first points were created with the boot. Once they got a foothold with that first foray to within spitting distance of the Rovers line they didn’t take long to engineer an unlikely lead. Jack Welsby profited from enterprising offloads earlier in the set from Agnatius Paasi and Batchelor to place a perfect low kick towards the Rovers line which bounced up perfectly for Curtis Sironen to score the 12th try of his 68-game Saints career to date. It was his second of this season having been one of many who crossed in the farcical 82-0 crushing of Salford’s volunteers on the opening weekend. Mark Percival retains the goal-kicking responsibilities and landed his first attempt for a 6-4 lead.

Penalties also caused Feldt and his new colleagues some problems, fair or otherwise. Four minutes before halftime the winger was penalised by referee Jack Smith for supposed hands in the ruck. It looked a particularly poor call by Smith, if anything it looked like an incorrect play-the-ball by Lewis. Yet before we leap to castigate Smith for his mistake let’s remember that 2025 is the beginning of the age of Captain’s Challenge in Super League. It’s still very new to the league but Feldt is used to using it in the NRL where it has been in operation since 2020. Between them, why did he and skipper Jonny Lomax not ask for a review of the incident? 

The duo’s inaction proved costly. In the next set after the penalty Tom Davies went over for the visitors’ second try. May and Broadbent combined to provide the space in which the former Wigan and Catalans man squeezed over. It was reviewed to make sure he had not set foot in touch but there was never any real drama with it. Lewis was on target with the conversion this time and Peters’ men went to the break with a 10-6 lead.

Rovers weren’t any more effective in their use of Captain’s Challenge. Early in the second half Sam Luckley was judged to have knocked on in the tackle of Tristan Sailor. Lewis had also been in attendance and - master of shithousery that he is - talked skipper Elliot Minchella into disputing the call. Yet Lewis was banged to rights when the replays showed that it was he - and not Sailor - who had ripped the ball from Luckley’s grasp. Used properly Captain’s Challenge can perhaps right a few wrongs and eliminate the odd howler. But when you see it misused you can’t help but suspect that it’s an unnecessary extra level of forensic scrutiny which has been killing the spontaneity in the game since 1996. Other sports too as the cancer of ‘innovation’ spreads.

Feldt has shown great composure and prowess under the barrage of high balls he has faced early in his Super League career. Yet a rare lost duel was instrumental in Rovers stretching their advantage inside the first 10 minutes of the second period. Lewis fired the ammunition this time as Joe Burgess managed to outjump Feldt to claim possession right on the Saints try line. The former Wigan and Salford man could probably have scored himself as he spun away from Feldt but chose instead to offload to Oliver Gildart who was supporting closely on his outside. It was an easy put down for the centre for his second Super League try of 2025. Lewis couldn’t find the extras but crucially it was now a two score lead at 14-6.

Gildart’s third of the campaign was not long in arriving and it was a good deal prettier. Just three minutes after his last scoring contribution he found another. Kelepi Tanginoa - arguably the best back rower on either side - found Burgess in space on the left touchline and he streaked away before hitting Gildart on his inside with a clear run to the line. This time he was able to improve the angle for Lewis who nudged his side out to an ultimately decisive three score advantage at 20-6. In truth Saints hadn’t looked very much like scoring three tries all night. They only had half an hour to do it at this point. It was looking bleak.

In his post match wafflings Wellens returned to the old 2024 staple of accusing his players of impatience in attack. Of trying to score on every play. While it was hard to agree with this as an overall assessment there was an example of it when Percival put the ball out of play trying to tip a Lomax pass on to Jon Bennison. In mitigation Saints did need points quickly at that point but it was still a little hasty and a tad careless. 

Yet despite a clearly visible willingness to turn in the tackle and offload more since the arrival of Lee Briers as an assistant to Wellens it is not as if Saints were recklessly gung ho for the majority of the game. You can still see the imprint of Wellens’ lower level tribute to Woolfball. There’s a balance to be struck but you get the feeling that despite the addition of Sailor Saints are still slightly hamstrung in attack by a lack of pace. Especially with Lewis Murphy out injured for a couple of months after making just one league appearance.

Braver use of the interchange bench may also help freshen things up. Stephens and Matt Whitley were made to wait until the 60-minute mark for their introduction to proceedings. Walmsley and Paasi were two of Saints’ best but there may be a way of making better use of the reserves of energy of both if there is a little more trust in others. Even when he emerged from the bench Stephens had a strangely short stint on the field. It’s not clear whether he took a knock or not but if not - and if he has only limited trust from the coach when it comes to the number of minutes he can play - then perhaps someone else should be in the 17 instead. 

Fifteen minutes from time Saints flickered into life. Fed by Sailor 15 metres out on the Saints right, Welsby effortlessly glided past Gildart - whose defence on the play possibly hinted at why he didn’t quite cut it in the NRL. Welsby’s third try of the season - to go with his 10 try assists which is three more than his nearest challenger in the category George Williams - brought Saints back to within 10 at 20-10. It remained unconverted by Percival and was to prove the last of the scoring on the night. 

Subsequent raids on the Rovers line became ever more desperate. One ended in a quite chaotic kick on the last tackle by Paasi while as the clock ticked down the home side resorted to trying barge overs from anywhere within five metres of the line. Imagination was in short supply in attack as something which was either panic or resignation set in. 

If Wellens wants to instill any learnings to his players from this defeat beyond the normal post match quotes about game management then perhaps the kicking game is a good starting point. Rugby league is largely a battle for territory and Saints’ boot work for field position was woeful, particularly early on which proved costly in the final analysis. 

No surprise to see Walmsley featuring prominently in the metres made stats. The veteran talisman made 128 and is now 18 metres clear of his nearest challenger in the league so far this season who just happens to be Welsby. The fullback led all players in this game with 171. Feldt chipped in with 107 of his own though this was the first time in Super League this term that he has failed to cross for a try. 

Knowles showed what Saints will be missing next year as he topped the home side’s tackle count with 49. Daryl Clark was worked almost as much with 46 while Delaney made 40. Sailor was targeted defensively by the smart thinking Peters to the extent that he was called upon to make 33 stops. The ex-Brisbane man missed five which would appear to justify the Rovers’ coach’s logic. It’s a slight concern that other coaches might try something similar as we go through the year.

Errors are still an issue for Saints whether you are of the belief that this year’s style is more open than last year or not. Only three teams have made fewer than Saints’ 33 errors in 2025 so far of which 10 were committed in this one. Offloads were down from the 16 managed at Wakefield. There were nine this week which is much closer to what we had come to expect from Wellens’ Saints before the arrival of Briers. Paasi was responsible for three of those nine thus doubling his tally for the campaign. 

Rovers had three men over the 100 metre mark. Davies had 161, Broadbent 141 and Hiku 117. The other Batchelor brother on the field - James - made 46 tackles while Minchella made 44. There were 35 each for Jai Whitbread and Jez Litten. Burgess matched Paasi’s three offloads and the Robins made one fewer error than Saints with eight. By those measures you might summise that this was a very close contest but - and despite the scoreline - there was little doubt about which side was the superior of the two.

Super League takes a break this week just when you were starting to think that it had gathered early momentum. That’s because the last 16 of the Challenge Cup takes centre stage with Saints at home to traditional heavyweights but current strawweights Leeds Rhinos. Brad Arthur’s side were truly abysmal in losing 11-0 in Perpignan last time out. It was the third year in a row that they have failed to score a single point at the home of the Catalans Dragons. 

Fourteen errors on the stats sheet looks suspiciously like somebody lost count and gave up, such was the abject nature of the Rhinos’ handling. Catalans weren’t much better but won almost because it would have been difficult not to in the face of such rank incompetence. Saints might be a little short to beat a title contender like Hull KR at the moment but they should have way too much for Leeds to even think about halting their progress to the last eight. 

Saints;  Welsby, Feldt, Robertson, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Sailor, Walmsley, Clark, Delaney, Sironen, Batchelor, Knowles. Interchanges: Whitley, Stephens, Paasi, Wingfield 

Hull KR; Broadbent, Davies, Hiku, Gildart, Burgess, Lewis, May, Sue, McIlorum, Warea-Hargreaves, Hadley, Batchelor, Minchella. Interchanges: Litten, Tanginoa, Luckley, Whitbread.

Referee: Jack Smith 

Saints 26 Wakefield Trinity 6 - Review

Saints reeled off a third straight win to start their Super League campaign with an ultimately comfortable success over Daryl Powell’s Wakefield Trinity on Saturday afternoon (March 1).

Head Coach Paul Wellens was forced into one change from the 17 which routed Castleford Tigers a week previously. Morgan Knowles picked up a head knock at The Jungle so his place went to the returning James Bell. Knowles had this week announced that he will leave Saints at the end of 2025 to join up with former coach Kristian Woolf’s Dolphins outfit in the NRL. The news comes at the start of Knowles’ testimonial year having made his first team debut in a Challenge Cup win over York City Knights in May 2015. 

Knowles will be missed.  He’s been one of the most consistent performers throughout Saints’ recent period of success. If Saints were to win nothing this year he would still end his spell with four Grand Final rings and winners medals in both the Challenge Cup and the World Club Challenge. Throw in three League Leaders Shields and it’s a fair collection for a decade’s work.

Regular readers will know that I have never subscribed to the idea that he is a great loose forward in the Paul Sculthorpe mould - and he has had moments of grubbery which have drawn my criticism. Yet his work rate, willingness to scrap for everything and do whatever it takes for the team to win have been invaluable to Saints during his stay. 

Wakefield are now coached by former Leeds, Castleford and Warrington boss Daryl Powell. Powell’s side have opened the season with a hard fought 14-12 win over Leeds and a defeat by the same score to 2024 Grand Finalists Hull KR. Having been brought back into Super League this term by our Lord and Saviour IMG they have been more competitive than many might have predicted. Powell’s selection for this one saw Jake Trueman return to the halves as Olly Russell dropped to the bench. The same fate befell Tommy Doyle as Liam Hood returned to the starting hooker’s role. 

The decision to go for goal from a penalty early in games - even one awarded at close range and bang in front of the posts - is always a source of great debate among fans. The modern philosophy is predominantly that the option to kick at goal should be reserved for the last knockings of the game. And even then only if the scores are close. Saints sparked the argument again when Mike McMeeken was guilty of stealing the ball from Alex Walmsley 10 metres out. 

Mark Percival stepped up to open the scoring as Saints opted to start the scoreboard ticking over early. If that annoyed anyone they saw 10 minutes later what can happen if you turn down your opportunity. Trinity could have levelled the scores when Saints were caught offside but an error by Trueman on the first tackle saw them come up empty.

It was a pretty error strewn opening quarter for both sides. Jake Wingfield suffered more than most as he first had it stolen one one one by Hood before losing possession in the tackle having been put clear by a Tristan Sailor pass. Within minutes he had another opportunity to break clear from Jack Welsby’s pass on halfway but couldn’t take it in, though to be fair the pass from the fullback was slightly behind him. 

Errors were a problem for both sides. Saints’ tally of 10 isn’t catastrophic in itself but it represents almost half of their total throughout the first three rounds of competition. This is frustrating but I can’t be too downbeat about it since I’ve been crying out for more risks to be taken in possession. The early going has definitely shown a willingness to do so more often in order to create more opportunities. Sailor’s passing game has been a key to that. On more than one occasion on the night he was able to poke through the defensive line and pop an offload off around the corner of the defence. It’s a subtle change but one which should make the Saints attack a more dangerous proposition than it was for much of 2024. His extra speed helps too.

Of more concern was Saints’ discipline. Wellens’ side have conceded 14 penalties so far in 2025, eight of which occurred in this game. Foul play wasn’t the issue, but instead a tendency to be too eager to get off the line quickly resulting in an offside or a reluctance to release the tackled player to the cost of either a penalty or another set of six. It helped that Wakefield were also pinged eight times, contributing to their early season total of 18. That’s the fourth highest in the league at this embryonic stage. 

That eight should almost certainly have been nine when referee Liam Rush made a perplexing call to inflict another early turnover on Saints. McMeeken had been injured completing a tackle and lay prone in the ruck preventing Daryl Clark from scooping the ball up from dummy half. Trinity prop Caleb Hamlin-Uele fell on the ball and was allowed to retain possession. It was a bit of a head scratcher and did nothing to help the flow of an already scrappy game early on.

Despite the conspiracy theories on officiating it cuts both ways. A poor call helped Saints take the lead. Welsby found Jon Bennison on the left touchline but he found himself running out of space as the Trinity defence scrambled over. He threw a desperate pass back into the field of play which was significantly forward. As it rolled towards the in-goal Curtis Sironen tried to collect it but only succeeded in toeing it forward. Fortunately Welsby had continued to support and was first to the loose ball to touch down for his second try of the season. Percival tacked on the extras and Saints led 8-0.

The league’s leading try scorer in the opening three weeks is none other than Harry Robertson. Currently playing at centre, he has five so far. Yet three minutes before he notched his fifth - more on which soon - it was his error which gave the home side the chance to register their only four-pointer of the day. He lost possession on his own 10 metre line setting up the position from where Isaiah Vagana - son of former Bradford Bulls prop Joe - crashed over from Hood’s pass from dummy half. Jowitt’s conversion narrowed the gap to 8-6. 

Robertson wasted no time making up for that mistake. Tom Johnstone - enduring one of the most mistake ridden days of his career - was unable to hang on to Trueman’s pass which may or may not have been tipped by Kyle Feldt. Feldt tip, anyone? Bad jokes aside young Robertson hoovered up the loose ball and streaked 70 yards down the right hand touchline to score. He even had time to adjust his headgear along the way. Percival could only hit the post with the sideline conversion but Saints led 12-6.

Before the hooter to end the first period there was a video review for a penalty try. Agnatius Paasi was all set to give chase to Jonny Lomax’s grubber when he was blocked off by Matty Storton. In truth the whole thing was a waste of everyone’s time. The replay confirmed what looked obvious from the start. Namely that there were two or three Trinity defenders in covering positions who looked far more likely to get to it before Paasi. Let’s be honest the Tongan’s pace is not his greatest asset. Still it was a foul and with no time left Percival stepped up to notch his second penalty goal to put Saints 14-6 up at the break.

We saw more of what Sailor offers to the attack when Saints stretched their advantage just before the hour mark. Another fine offload found Clark in space and he was able to go the distance to touch down under the sticks. There was another review as the Wakefield defenders had obscured the referee’s view of the grounding in their desperate attempts to deny the hooker the ninth try of his 27-match Saints career. The cameras couldn’t get any further proof that Rush’s on-field call of try was wrong, so the score stood. Another two from Percival effectively sealed the win as it put the red vee three scores clear at 20-6.

Now I know I and others have asked for a bit more razzle dazzle from Saints’ attack. We’ve all been quite excited by the arrival of Lee Briers who has already had an impact as an assistant coach during spells with Wigan - which despite his Warrington association still felt wrong - and Brisbane Broncos. Whatever he has instilled into the Saints players Clark perhaps took it a little too far when having made it to his own 40 metre line he hurled a wild offload which hit the ground and was picked up by Storton. Woolf would have had a blue fit if this had happened on his watch and I can’t imagine Wellens was too comfortable with it either. It’s great that Saints are looking to play a bit more but perhaps that’s taking things a little too far. 

Saints came up with 16 offloads in this one. That’s almost twice their average per game during last term. Only Catalans Dragons have more through the first three rounds. Woolfball advocates could reasonably point out that the Dragons have made a dreadful start to the season with defeats to Hull, Warrington and Leigh so maybe it’s not the way to go. Perhaps a better balance can be found by Briers than was in evidence in this case but the counter argument is that it’s working for Saints so far. Yet you wouldn’t want to be conceding possession on your own 30 metre line due to an ill advised offload against stronger opposition. It’s fair to say that because of the Salford debacle Wellens’ men have had a favourable set of fixtures to start the year. It will get tougher this week with the visit of Rovers. 

Saints added one more score to put the exclamation mark on the victory 15 minutes from time. Feldt had been having a quiet game offensively, mainly dealing with high balls and making hard yards. But he got his try scoring opportunity when thunderous drives by Walmsley and George Delaney set up the position from where Sailor and Clark combined with Welsby whose pinpoint pass gave the Australian winger just enough room to squeeze in at the corner. Quietly, Feldt has three tries in his first three Super League appearances for the club. A sensational touchline conversion by Percival completed the scoring at 26-6.

A look at the numbers shows Welsby leading the way in metres made in this one with 135. That’s just four ahead of Walmsley’s 131 while Feldt managed 128. Robertson (124) and Sailor (115) also passed the century mark. Trinity’s best was surprisingly Johnstone’s 117. Wakefield fans may wonder how many he would have made without the four errors he committed with ball in hand.

Clark topped Saints’ tackle count with 40, closely followed by the 37 racked up by Joe Batchelor. The back rower has come under some scrutiny from some fans even before he agreed to join Hull FC for 2026. Yet he is still putting in a shift at a time when he has often been hampered by injuries amid the transfer speculation. The other Saint to register more than 30 tackles was Delaney. For Powell’s men McMeeken and Hamlin-Uele had 39 stops, Storton 38, Jay Pitts 36, Renouf Atoni 32 (Renouf and Sailor reunited?) and Hood 30. It was a busy afternoon for the home defence. 

So Saints welcome Rovers to town this weekend for what should be a real test. Willie Peters’ side have faced the same three opponents as Saints so far in 2025 and also have three wins. Yet it was touch and go against the Tigers where Mikey Lewis’ golden point scraped a 19-18 win. The reigning Man Of Steel is named in their 21-man squad despite a recent injury which required the boot treatment. Knowles returns to the Saints squad for this one with Ben Davies dropping out.

Something has to give between these two unbeaten sides so it should make for a cracking match which might…just might…tell us more about Saints than we have learned from the gentle fixtures to this point.

Saints: Welsby, Feldt, Robertson, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Sailor, Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Sironen, Batchelor, Bell. Interchanges: Paasi, Whitley, Delaney, Wingfield.

Wakefield: Jowitt, Walmsley, Pratt, Hall, Johnstone, Trueman, Lino, McMeeken, Hood, Hamlin-Uele, Storton, Vagana, Pitts. Interchanges: Doyle, Russell, Atoni, Croft