Hull KR v Saints - Preview

Derby disappointment must be left behind as Saints travel to what we are this week calling Sewell Group Craven Park on Friday (April 14). There they will face a Hull KR side who enjoyed a very different Rivals Round experience, swatting away city rivals and long time basket case Hull FC by an eye-popping 40-0 scoreline.

Saints’ defeat at Wigan was a third loss in seven league games under first year Head Coach Paul Wellens. It leaves them fifth in the table, two points behind fourth-placed Rovers albeit with a game in hand on Willie Peters’ men.  A win by 12 or more points will see Saints go above the Robins and into the top four. Only, it’s complicated. Not only because of the champions’ unconvincing form but also due to to an injury and suspension list that can now be justifiably classified as ‘alarming’.

By contrast Rovers are flying high having opened their season doing what Saints couldn’t and handing Wigan a 27-18 defeat. They backed that up with an impressive win at Salford but then seemed to revert to the mean with a three-game losing streak. Leigh, Warrington and Catalans all got the better of KR during that period. Yet they have not lost since, earning victories over Wakefield, Leeds and FC. They will be confident of getting the win against what looks a fairly diminished Saints line-up especially at a ground where the visitors haven’t always sparkled.

Much of the damage to the Saints personnel is in the forward pack. Just back from suffering a concussion at Huddersfield Sione Mata’utia threw himself at Ethan Havard late in the derby and picked up another head knock. On the second occasion he was stretchered from the field amid fears of a neck injury. Wellens has already vowed to be very careful with the ex-Newcastle Knight so we should not expect to see him for a few weeks at least. 

All of which is particularly awkward with Joe Batchelor still out and now Curtis Sironen absent from the 21-man squad with injury concerns of his own. James Bell looks likely to hold down one starting second row berth with maybe Sam Royle getting what would be only a sixth start for the club since making his debut at Salford in September 2021. 

If that seems more likely than the nod going to Jake Wingfield - who hasn’t played since the home win over Hull FC in mid-March - or than Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook breaking a streak of 11 straight appearances off the bench - then starts for at least one of those two are made ever more possible by another suspension for Morgan Knowles. And this time it is is a biggy. The disciplinary panel have handed the Cumbrian a five-match ban for an alleged hip drop on Mike Cooper. The ex-Warrington prop will not play again this season having sustained an ACL injury.

As regrettable as that is it came as news to me this week that the extent of an injury has a large bearing on the length of suspension for the player involved in the incident. This doesn’t add up given that we know that some seriously grubby tackles can luckily result in no injury while sometimes the most innocuous contact which may otherwise not even warrant a penalty can cause massive season or even career ending damage. 

However I am prepared to accept the panel’s findings on Knowles’ guilt. Judging by the chat on social media all of us - including me - could do with a great deal more education and clarity on what constitutes a hip drop and what factors dictate the severity of any suspension. I very much doubt it is as simple as the notion that all hip drops warrant X number of games. I have watched the tackle Knowles made on Cooper several times and I have to be honest and say that I don’t know what I am looking for. I suspect there are many others in the same boat, though some seem to be choosing to style it out in order to fit the narrative of their chosen tribe.

The upshot is that Knowles has been up before the beak again and I’m as sick of it as you are of reading of my intolerance to Knowles on these pages. If it turns out he has been hard done by on this occasion it doesn’t erase all of the other grubbery he gets up to these days. Late hits, arm-twists, you name it, he’s been caught doing it over the last 12 months. 

Only in previous instances he has had Mr Rush in his corner, waving his brief case about like the lovechild of Alan Shore and Barry Sheck before getting Knowles off on a technicality. Meanwhile the likes of Mata’utia and Sironen are hung out to dry and serve multiple bans for very similar offences. What is it about Knowles that we can’t do without? What does he have on the club that forces them to go the extra mile in his defence every time he transgresses? Which is often. I just don’t get it. All I’m seeing is a player who is fast becoming as grubby as that other Morgan who plays at 13 over the lump. 

It’s not all on Knowles. Saints have a wider disciplinary issue which is costing them at the moment. If they are going to improve that it starts with proper analysis of what Knowles and others are doing wrong and taking steps to eradicate those flaws. Denial at all times and at all costs just isn’t going to cut it.

Back at the ranch we have a gap at 13 then. Again both Wingfield and McCarthy-Scarsbrook are candidates to fill it but as we have seen both come with reasons not to be selected. Lewis Baxter is in the squad but he too represents a gamble having made only two first team appearances to date. Still, everybody has to start somewhere. 

Perhaps another option would be to start Joey Lussick at 9 and slot James Roby in at 13 for as long as his ageing limbs will carry him. If you squinted you could see some understandable cracks appearing in the 37 year-old’s performance at Wigan but it would be unwise to write him off. He could just as easily start here at either 9 or 13 and produce another stellar performance that leaves us wondering what we are going to do without him when he eventually calls it a day.

Talk of Roby or Lussick at 9 brings us to the front row which is equally banged up. Alex Walmsley had already been ruled out for a month with a hamstring injury and now it transpires that Agnatius Paasi won’t make it this week either. Could that mean that the much trumpeted 19 year-old George Delaney gets a first start for Saints alongside the one remaining regular Matty Lees? It would be bold but then there are those who take the view that if you are good enough you are old enough. Why put a bloke in your 17 - as Delaney has been for the last two matches - if you don’t believe you can rely on him to step up? Let’s see what he can do at this level over a slightly longer stint.

The problems up front could make it a long day for the backs but at least all of the preferred personnel are on deck. The only selection decision for Wellens seems to be whether to restore Jon Bennison to the line-up. He’s missed the last three as the coach has preferred the experience of Will Hopoate. But if the Tongan starts again that would be four in a row which seems like a stretch for a man made of ice cream wafers. 

The rest of the back line should pick itself with Jack Welsby at fullback and Tommy Makinson on the wing outside centres Konrad Hurrell and Mark Percival. Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd should get another opportunity to iron out the creases in what looked the best halfback pairing in the league 12 months ago. Tee Ritson is hovering just in case the kind of disasters seen up front happen to befall any of the backs in the coming days.

Our hosts look in slightly better health with Peters making just three changes to his 21-man squad. Sauaso Sue misses out through injury along with James Batchelor while centre Sam Wood has a hamstring problem. Goal-kicking winger Ethan Ryan is also unavailable but in triple Grand Final winner Lachlan Coote, ex-NRL stars Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Tom Opacic as well as Super League legend Ryan Hall Rovers have plenty of quality in the backs. Corey Hall is also included for the first time since Peters put on his mask and plundered him from Wakefield in exchange for Super League’s most under siege fullback Will Dagger.

All of these weapons are currently being expertly guided around by arguably the form halfback in Super League in Jordan Abdull. Throw in the lively and unpredictable Mikey Lewis alongside him and you can see why this is a side seemingly on the up.

Ordinarily you would expect Saints to nullify some of the threat by winning the forward battle but the four-in-a-row champions’ problems in that department will make life easier for the likes of George King, Kane Linnett, Elliot Minchella, Frankie Halton, Rhys Kennedy and Matty Storton. At hooker there is the excellent Matt Parcell too. He might only be the second best 9 on the field at times but he is nevertheless capable of causing a variety of problems. 

This is looking like a genuinely problematic assignment for Saints. Yet it is the kind of game which if you can win despite the steaming pile of adversity you find yourself buried under it could provide the confidence boost required to help go on a much needed winning run. 

Saints have fared quite well at Craven Park in all of its many guises in recent years. Last year the world champions came out on top 42-8 and haven’t lost to Rovers in Hull since a 24-22 reverse back in 2015. Though they didn’t travel there in either 2020 or 2021 due to Covid restrictions. 

Saints being Saints there will still be an expectation to win despite the battered forward line. And it is not out of the question given their resilience and champion pedigree. And Rovers, for all their talent, are not yet the model of consistency that Peters would no doubt like them to be. There is hope, but a defeat would not be the seismic shock that outsiders might try to portray. 

Squads;

Hull KR;

1. Lachlan Coote 3. Tom Opacic 4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall 5. Ryan Hall 7. Jordan Abdull 9. Matt Parcell 10. George King 11. Frankie Halton 12. Kane Linnett 13. Elliot Minchella 14. Jez Litten 15. Rhys Kennedy 17. Matty Storton 18. Jimmy Keinhorst 20. Mikey Lewis 21. Rowan Milnes 22. Dean Hadley 23. Louis Senior 26. Sam Luckley 29. Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e 33. Corey Hall

Saints;

1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Will Hopoate, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 18. Jake Wingfield, 19. James Bell, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 24. Lewis Baxter, 25. Tee Ritson, 26. Dan Hill, 30. George Delaney, 33. McKenzie Buckley, 34. Wes Bruines.

Referee: Ben Thaler

Wigan Warriors 14 Saints 6 - Review

Saints suffered a third league defeat in seven Super League games as they went down 14-6 to Wigan on Good Friday (April 7).

It’s a loss that leaves Paul Wellens’ side fifth in the table after the Easter round and which lifts Matty Peet’s men into second after Catalans Dragons lost at home to Warrington in a wild one on Saturday (April 8). 

The Team News

It hasn’t been quite the start to the domestic season that Wellens would have liked in his first year as Head Coach after stepping into the shoes of triple Grand Final winner Kristian Woolf. Wellens made two changes from the side that had blown Wakefield Trinity away 38-0 a week previously. Sione Mata’utia returned from the head knock he sustained at Huddersfield in March while Agnatius Paasi was back in the line-up and was given a rare start with Alex Walmsley out for a month with a hamstring injury. Mata’utia’s presence sent James Bell back to the interchange bench after he had started the last four. Young front rower George Delaney kept his place on the bench.

Wigan had a problem in their halfback department with both Cade Cust and Jai Field out injured. Peet surprised many by naming Joe Shorrocks at stand-off alongside scrum-half Harry Smith. It turned out to be something of a masterstroke. Perhaps Peet’s shrewdest move since he hit upon the idea of finger buffets for league hacks to keep them all on side throughout the season. Shorrocks was arguably the best player on the field. He just kept showing up like Michael McIntyre. He was infuriating. 

Peet also welcomed Liam Marshall back after he had missed last week’s win over Leigh. This allowed Toby King to move back inside to centre after playing on the wing last week. 

The Dodd Debate

Saints’ early forays into Wigan territory were a bit too predictable. In particular the kicking game, where Lewis Dodd stuck with a plan which involved sending the ball as high into the Wigan sky as possible and hoping for a mistake. Yet none of the Warriors’ back three of Bevan French, Abbas Miski or Marshall seemed unduly stressed by the aerial assault. There has been much discussion on social media around Dodd, with some fans suggesting that Jack Welsby should move into the halves to replace him for a spell with either Will Hopoate or Jon Bennison filling in at fullback. 

All of which seems a bit knee-jerk for my tastes. Certainly the young half has not looked the same player since he came back from the Achilles injury which ended his season in last year’s Good Friday derby. There is no denying that the kicking was all a bit Theo Fages. Bomb after bomb. I thought we’d seen the end of it with Dodd’s promotion to the first team. But what if this is coached by Wellens? It doesn’t seem logical to me that Dodd - a player of such ingenuity - would suddenly decide for himself to start launching it at every opportunity. Maybe he is acting under orders. If I thought the tactics were conservative under Woolf then I do worry about the direction in which they are currently heading. I’m not worried about Dodd. Yet.

Neutral Refs?

It took nine minutes for Wigan to take the lead. Saints can consider themselves a little unfortunate that Matty Lees was penalised by Wigan whistler Liam Moore for an alleged interference on Sam Powell at the play the ball. There seemed to be nothing in it. Quite why the authorities would appoint anyone from either Wigan or St Helens to officiate this fixture perplexes me. Moore is not bent or dodgy and there is no conspiracy. But he is on a hiding to nothing trying to referee this one. 

Any questionable decisions in Wigan’s favour and our pitchforks are out as we scream bias. Any questionable calls in Saints’ favour and the other lot are running over the hill shouting about referees going out of their way to avoid looking like they might be in any way biased. Moore is probably the best referee in Super League at the moment but I don’t think this was necessarily his best day. And just because he’s the best doesn’t mean he is the only capable ref. The standard is much higher than the ‘game’s gone’ brigade would have you believe. It’s just that there are a few rules in the game now which those people don’t like. Maybe just appoint someone else next time? 

Hurrell And That Defence - Again

The decision to penalise Lees gave Wigan the field position from where Jake Wardle got outside Konrad Hurrell all too easily from Smith’s pass and then was able to turn it back inside for Smith to cruise over for the opening try. It was another stark example of the defensive weakness in Hurrell’s game. He left a gap between himself and Tommy Makinson which was as wide as the East Lancashire Road. Hurrell just doesn’t have the pace to recover if he leaves that much space. It remains a weakness which player and coach need to continue working on. 

Missed Opportunities

Saints slowly grew into the game but a theme started developing around spurning some very presentable chances. Makinson went close but the real howler came from a scrum play near to the Wigan line. Jonny Lomax chose to hit Mark Percival with a short ball when a wider ball to Welsby would have created a two-on-one with the fullback and Hopoate against only Miski. Hopoate - who suffered his first loss in his modest 16 starts for Saints in this one - would have walked in. Assuming that Welsby agreed that the Tongan was better placed. 

Saints paid a price for that wastefulness on the scoreboard as the indiscipline which has plagued them in the early weeks of the season struck again. It is not only Hurrell who wanders in defence. Again it appears to be a deliberate strategy for the centres to jump out of the defensive line to try to shut plays down before they develop. Yet on this occasion Percival neglected to wait until French had received the ball before smothering him and was duly penalised. There is anticipation and then there is Tom Cruise in Minority Report, running around preventing crimes from happening and arresting people for the thought of committing them. Which they may not even have had yet. 

Compounding that error, Mata’utia was pinged for stealing the ball from a Wigan player in a two-man tackle deep in Saints territory. There was no good TV angle offered of this incident, a fact which will no doubt inspire someone on Twitter to suggest that Sky hid the evidence because everyone hates Saints. Regardless, Smith stepped up to pop another two points over and Wigan led 8-0.

So about those missed opportunities.  Hurrell showed all his positive qualities when his deft offload put Makinson through a hole five minutes before half-time. The England winger had French to beat. But that isn’t exactly easy and to be fair to Makinson he didn’t have much in the way of support. Saints’ support play pretty much stank the place out all afternoon. Yet what Makinson could have done is take the tackle of French and wait for what TV cops call back-up. Have a little patience as Gary Barlow once crooned. Instead he chose to try and make enough space away from French on the outside to execute one of his trademark flying finishes. Yet French didn’t come down the Irwell in a bubble to paraphrase another TV cop, so with the help of Marshall was able to force Makinson into touch.

And that wasn’t all before the break. Next to try his luck was Jonny Lomax. Unfortunately, the talismanic Lomax was having one of those days on which deciding which sock to put on first would probably have been met with disastrous consequences. Having dummied the Wigan defensive line into the next postcode Lomax tore down the field. This time Saints had both Dodd and Welsby in support. It looked a simple case of drawing enough of French’s interest in making a tackle and then just handing it on to one of the supporting duo with a free run to the line. Yet Lomax’s pass only found the retreating Liam Farrell who was able to get a hand to it before it was picked up by a grateful French. Full credit to the Wigan back rower for not giving up on the play but the inability of our three main ball players to fashion a score between them in that situation was a grim indicator that this might not be our day.

An Endless Tennis Rally

You have probably seen me complain before about the interviews with assistant coaches that our favourite evil empire broadcaster has taken to conducting either side of half-time. My fury at this was at a new level when Saints assistant coach Laurent Frayssinous got on the mic to inform us that what we wanted to be doing was going set for set with Wigan. I don’t know. I just feel like maybe the coaching staff would want a little bit more when you’re 8-0 down and wasting chances at an alarming rate. If you go set for set at 8-0 down for the entire second half you lose 8-0, don’t you? Or am I missing something? The grind seemed to be the plan. Rugby league’s version of an endless tennis rally. It left me hoping that the players hadn’t listened to a word at the break and instead just looked down at the badge on their shirt and reminded themselves of what was required. 

A Familiar Story

As it was Wigan scored next. When it came about just over 10 minutes into the second half it did so in a way we have definitely seen before this year. Mata’utia has been suspended for late tackles more times than even the keenest Saints historians can keep track of. He seems to either lack the capacity to learn or else decided that it is somehow a price worth paying for the opportunity to stick one on somebody. I won’t pin this one on Wellens. It happened under Woolf and it would happen if we were coached by Snow White. It’s just a thing he does that we all have to live with until he comes to an agreement to do it back in Australia for an NRL club. Which can’t be that far away.  

This time he did it to Shorrocks but not with sufficient force to take Wigan’s surprise irritant out of the game. All that was achieved was another Wigan penalty from which the ball was worked right to allow former Warrington and Huddersfield centre King to stroll through another huge gap in the Saints defence. This time it was Percival stepping in to try and help Dodd on his inside. Unfortunately Hopoate - who to be fair isn’t around much to discuss these things - didn’t get the memo and so stayed out wide with Miski to create the gap. Another Smith conversion put Saints in a 14-point hole.

Another Questionable Call

I mentioned that Moore didn’t have his best day. Perhaps his most baffling and maddening moment came five minutes after the King try. Hurrell had found a bit of running room and was heading straight at former Leeds Rhinos liability Brad Singleton. Fully aware that he wasn’t going to be able to run with him Singleton decided that the best way to stop Hurrell was to clout him square in the nose with a subtly disguised swinging arm. 

Moore saw it. It would be impossible not to without special issue Wigan goggles. He even gave a penalty. Where it went wrong for him and us was in his decision not to show Singleton at least a yellow card. The explanation coming through the mic was that Singleton had smashed Hurrell in the face with an open hand. Like Will Smith at the Oscars. The hand was open, that I can get on board with. But the amount of force applied and the point of contact on Hurrell’s anatomy made it a certain yellow by any sensible measure in today’s climate. And in any case part of Singleton’s arm made contact too. Surely this renders open hands irrelevant? It could have been red. 

Dodd Change-Up Brings Hope

Despite being down 14-0 and in danger of doing a Wakefield, Saints kept going and were rewarded on the hour. It might be a coincidence that Jonny Lomax’s try came about as a result of Dodd’s first low kick close to the Wigan line but that seems a stretch. Perhaps a bit of variety in the kicking game - particularly close to the opponents’ line - makes things a little more tricky for a defence. Up until that point the only low kicks going into the Wigan danger area had been unconvincing, half-botched efforts from Welsby.

On this occasion Dodd delivered a perfectly weighted grubber into the in-goal where Lomax won the race to touch it down. Percival chipped over the extras and the lead was back to just eight points at 14-6. We had a sniff. Never Write (Note: not ‘right’) Off The Saints and all of that. And at least we were not going to do a Wakefield. Saints haven’t been nilled since a 19-0 loss to Warrington in February 2020. Shortly after the whole country shut down amid the arrival of Covid-19. We don’t want any repeat of that kind of zoom quiz, empty stadia, pyjama sales boosting dystopia.

Back To Missed Opportunities

Curtis Sironen seems the sort who would be especially vulnerable to an outbreak. He’s already caught the Mata’utia late hit bug (although in his case it might be hereditary from his father) and now we saw him afflicted by the germ which causes players to make bad choices and so butcher any chance of scoring. The former Manly man poked his head through the Wigan line and had the opportunity to send Hurrell on one of those rampaging runs for which he remains in the team. Hurrell still had a lot to do to score but he would have set up a more than decent attacking opportunity. Into the last 15 minutes by now we may have seen Wigan wobble at 14-10 or even 14-12. But Sironen declined to release the pass and the chance disappeared.

Four minutes later what felt like the final dagger arrived. Again Dodd was involved, sending up what I would describe as more of a lob than a bomb toward Miski. Makinson got there first and tipped it back to Morgan Knowles. The Saints loose forward went low for the corner and seemed to have got there to score his first try of 2023 and his 29th as a Saint. The first three TV angles shown looked good. It wasn’t until we saw the head on shot from behind the dead-ball line that the full horror of Knowles’ mistake became clear. He lost it. Clear separation without regathering possession before it hit the ground. No try. 

The commentators were at pains to give the credit to the defence and I am sure that the ubiquitous Shorrocks was involved somewhere. Or I could just have been hallucinating by then. I was on some pretty heavy drugs in the hospital recently and it just felt like I kept seeing Shorrocks wherever I looked. He was probably pulling pints behind the bar. When I then found out that he’d played for Leigh in their win over us in March he was starting to haunt me. Shorrocks or no Shorrocks however, Knowles had to score. It was a lack of concentration. Of attention to detail. Of exactly the sort of minutiae that Saints’ title winning run over the last four seasons has been built on.

Before the next, final blow to our hopes there was a worrying incident involving Mata’utia. With Wigan pressing for a score which would have removed any doubt about the outcome the Saints back-rower decided to hit Wigan prop Ethan Havard with everything he had in an attempt to force an error. It was a shuddering, sickening collision after which the Saints man came off by far the worst. He looked totally unconscious initially, and the game was held up for 10 minutes while the medical team attended to him and then put him on a stretcher. 

We haven’t yet been given much detail about his condition beyond the fact that he sustained a neck injury which will keep him out of this week’s visit to Hull KR. Best wishes to him for a speedy recovery.

When it came - with two minutes left - Saints final chance to salvage something from the wreckage of this derby involved Knowles again. Bell was off the bench by now and he put Knowles through a gap down the Saints left. Again the support play was lacking. Knowles appeared to get a little spooked or confused by this, spinning what the Australian commentators call a bludger of a pass straight into the arms of a relieved you know who. Joe. Fucking. Shorrocks. He really was everywhere. Which will teach me not to laugh next time Wigan or anyone  else plays a back rower at stand-off. It seems that sometimes you really can bring a knife to a gun fight and not only survive but win.

The Stats Section

Metre making was not a problem for Saints. Makinson was top dog in this category with a whopping 195 metres, with Welsby not that far behind on 192. Hurrell chipped in with 172 while the much maligned Hopoate managed 166. Lomax (115) and Percival (112) also topped the century mark. These efforts were all the more important as Paasi and Lees offered just 45 and 36 respectively, which was never going to make up for the loss of Walmsley. He averages a tick over 100 metres per game in his six appearances so far in 2023. We need more from the front row.

Wigan’s best was the 148 gained by French. Other than the fullback all of Marshall (141) Miski (115), Kaide Ellis (113) and Farrell (107) made handy contributions.

Saints’ defensive leader was again Lees with another 47 tackles. Knowles had 40 with James Roby just one behind on 39. Sironen offered a decent shift also with 36. Gurning grub Morgan Smithies was the Warriors’ top defender with 42 tackles while Havard made 38 and Kai Pearce Paul 37. 

Saints’ 10 errors is about par for them but perhaps the most worrying element of that story is that Welsby came up with four of those. By contrast Wigan were a little more careful in possession - and let’s be honest they enjoyed less of it - making only seven errors. That time out of possession explains why they managed only six offloads to Saints’ 12. Welsby and Makinson made 7 of those between them.

Next Up

Things don’t get very much easier for Saints. They go to Hull KR this Friday night (April 14). They will certainly do so without Mata’utia which should offer an opportunity to Bell. Hopefully the much missed Joe Batchelor is not too far from a return either. 

Rovers will be full of that great intangible known as confidence after walloping city rivals Hull FC 40-0 in their Good Friday Disagreement. That came on the back of an excellent win over Leeds a week previously. Willie Peters’ side are currently above Saints in fourth position in the league table but a win by 12 points or more for the champions will see that change. 

There was a time when Saints struggled at the home of the Robins but they are now undefeated there since a 24-22 reverse back in 2015. Last season a hat-trick from Makinson and braces for Dodd and Mata’utia helped Saints to a 42-8 win which also saw Walmsley cross the whitewash. It is early in the season still - and in this competition structure this is not a crisis - but a win is needed for confidence and belief as much as for points on the table.

Wigan: French, Miski, King, Wardle, Marshall, Shorrocks, Smith, Byrne, Powell, Cooper, Farrell, Pearce-Paul, Smithies. Interchange: Havard, Singleton, Ellis, O’Neill

Saints: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Hopoate, Lomax, Dodd, Paasi, Roby, Lees, Mata’utia, Sironen, Knowles. Interchanges: Delaney, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Lussick, Bell. 

Wigan Warriors v Saints - Preview

It’s the game that makes or breaks many a long Easter weekend as Saints visit local nuisance Wigan on Friday afternoon (April 7, kick-off 3.00pm).

Both sides are in the midst of three-game winning streaks having suffered surprise defeats in the early weeks of the campaign. Saints lost two of their first three league outings at home to Leeds and away at Leigh. Common consensus was that this was a hangover from the trip to Sydney in mid-February during which Saints edged Penrith Panthers to become world champions for a third time. Since that defeat at Leigh Paul Wellens’ side have squeaked past Hull FC and Huddersfield Giants before a more convincing 38-0 thumping of Wakefield Trinity last time out.

Wigan also started their 2023 Super League journey with a loss, going down 27-18 at Hull KR. They responded by scoring 96 points and conceding none in wins over Trinity and Castleford Tigers but were then beaten 18-10 on their own patch by Catalans Dragons. A 14-12 win at Huddersfield was identical to what Saints would achieve at the John Smith’s Stadium a week later before Matty Peet’s side had just enough to get past Salford Red Devils 20-16 at home. In their last outing they dominated Leigh in the second half on their way to a 34-6 win.

That leaves Wigan third in the Super League table behind Warrington and the Dragons approaching this one. Saints are two points behind the Warriors in fourth but with a game in hand due to that happy engagement in Penrith. Should Saints win they will join Wigan on 10 points but they will need a winning margin of 28 to jump above the neighbours this weekend.

Wellens has made two changes to the 21-man squad on duty for the Wakefield game. He welcomes back Sione Mata’utia after the former Newcastle Knight failed an HIA at Huddersfield a fortnight ago. Jake Wingfield is also involved again after missing the last two with a shoulder problem. 

Youngster McKenzie Buckley is one of those to miss out but it is the loss of Alex Walmsley which is generating most of the nervousness among the fans The influential prop lasted just two minutes of the win over Wakefield before he was withdrawn with what turned out to be a hamstring injury. It looks set to keep the England man out for four weeks. Agnatius Paasi is named in the 21 but he was last week before injury ruled him out of the match day 17. If he has recovered sufficiently he should slot into Walmsley’s front row role alongside tackling addict Matty Lees and hooker and captain James Roby. If not then one of Wingfield, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook or George Delaney may be asked to step up to the starting 13.

Mata’utia should slot straight back into a second row berth alongside Curtis Sironen with Joe Batchelor still not back to full fitness. Morgan Knowles should be at 13 which may see James Bell revert to a bench spot having started the last four.

The decision to start Will Hopoate ahead of Jon Bennison last week ruffled a few feathers, though probably not those of the unflappable Bennison. It seemed harsh on the youngster who had been filling the left wing slot more than capably before Hopoate made yet another return from injury. Both are named again and if everyone is fit then a decision will need to be made. You just get a feeling - and even more so in a game of this magnitude - that Wellens has more trust in Hopoate than Bennison at this stage of their respective careers. Should the Tongan get the nod it will be the first time he has made three consecutive starts in Saints colours. Put like that, I like Bennison’s chances.

Barring a yet to unfold crisis Jack Welsby will start at fullback with Tommy Makinson, Konrad Hurrell and Mark Percival making up the rest of the three-quarter line. Jonny Lomax should begin his fourth century of Saints appearances in the halves alongside Lewis Dodd. The latter suffered a season-ending injury in the Good Friday derby last term and will hope to avoid a repeat against the undisputed dirtiest team in sports. 

So about them. Their biggest problem seems to be in the halves. Cade Cust missed the win over Leigh and has been ruled out not only for this one but for a number of weeks with a neck injury.  Jai Field moved into the creativity department alongside Harry Smith at the Leigh Sports Village but picked up a hamstring problem which looks like ruling him out for two months. The talk among some on social media is that creativity vacuum Sam Powell will step in to partner Smith which sounds like all of our dreams come true. Bevan French could move to 6 but the 21 named by Peet doesn’t appear to have a reliable candidate to slot into French’s fullback role. 

One key returnee for the Warriors could be winger Liam Marshall. He rarely grabs the headlines ahead of Field or French but the winger grabbed 21 tries last season as well as decisive scores in both the semi-final and the final of the Challenge Cup which Wigan won for the first time since 2013. Marshall missed the short trip to Leigh with a foot injury but is included in Peet’s initial 21-man selection. 

If Marshall does return it could see Toby King move back inside to the centres alongside Jake Wardle and possibly allow Kai Pearce-Paul to partner Liam Farrell in the back row after Willie Isa’s appeal against a one-game ban for a late shot against the Leopards was rejected. Stat padding assassin Morgan Smithies should start at loose forward. 

In the front row Brad Singleton will be hoping to get back in the side having missed out last week. Liam Byrne will fight to keep his starting spot and Mike Cooper should also be operating at prop. If Powell is moved from the hooking role then look for Brad O’Neill to take over those duties. Ethan Harvard and Kaide Ellis should complete the prop rotation for Peet. 

This will be the first derby since August last year when Wigan recorded a 30-10 win. Yet that was a Saints team which featured Batchelor in the centres, Josh Simm on the wing and Ben Davies at stand-off. Saints had won 20-18 at Newcastle’s Magic Weekend in July and 22-4 at home on Good Friday. However, Wigan’s 20-18 win in that Challenge Cup semi-final at Leeds was arguably the most significant result between the two last term. Leeds prove annually that you can come back from almost any number of league defeats. There is no coming back from a Challenge Cup semi-final defeat. Saints last win at the Warriors’ rented accommodation was in August 2021 when tries from Percival, Dodd, Walmsley and Regan Grace secured a 26-2 success. 

With both sides having a key player or two out this time the tired old practice of getting your excuses in early has kicked in among both sets of fans. It is a very tough one to call but the time for white flags is not now. If Paasi can step up and fill the massive hole left by Walmsley then perhaps Saints should be slight favourites to get over the line. Despite Wigan’s home advantage the problems in the halves could be difficult to overcome against a Saints side which - although not frightening anyone with their attack so far this year - remains ruthless in defence and relentless in doing the small things which decide tight games.

Squads;

Wigan Warriors;

2. Bevan French 3. Toby King 4. Jake Wardle 5. Liam Marshall 7. Harry Smith 8. Brad Singleton 9. Sam Powell 10. Liam Byrne 12. Liam Farrell 13. Morgan Smithies 14. Mike Cooper 15. Kaide Ellis 16. Ethan Havard 17. Kai Pearce-Paul 19. Joe Shorrocks 20. Patrick Mago 21. Ian Thornley 22. Brad O’Neill 23. Abbas Miski 27. Junior Nsemba 29. Tom Forber

Saints;

1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Will Hopoate, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 18. Jake Wingfield, 19. James Bell, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 25. Tee Ritson, 30. George Delaney.

Referee: Liam Moore

 

Saints 38 Wakefield Trinity 0 - Review

Saints made it three Super League wins in a row with a seven-try, 38-0 stroll over bottom club Wakefield Trinity on Friday night (March 31).

The Team News

Head Coach Paul Wellens made changes to the side which had edged past Huddersfield Giants the previous week. Mark Percival returned in the centres, a development which saw the unfortunate Jon Bennison miss out as Will Hopoate moved out to the left wing. That seemed incredibly harsh on the young winger who had been ever present in the Super League until then. Irrespective of his form or his woeful injury record since joining Saints the NRL experience of Hopoate always seems to get him back in the side whenever he gets the green light from the medical staff. Which admittedly is about as often as a James Bolam character in an 80s sit-com.

The other changes saw Morgan Knowles return from suspension to replace Sione Mata’utia and George Delaney step up to the bench for only his second first team appearance in place of the injured Agnatius Paasi. Mata’utia was ruled out under concussion protocols having failed a head injury assessment (HIA) in the early moments of the Giants game.

Wakefield boss Mark Applegarth gave debuts to Will Dagger - signed this week from Hull KR in a deal which saw Corey Hall move the other way - and Innes Senior who was beginning a third spell on loan from Huddersfield. Big name signing Kevin Proctor did not feature despite being named in the original 21-man squad, while Trinity were still without Lewis Murphy, Tom Lineham, Max Jowitt and Kelepi Tanginoa to name only a few.

The Game

For the second week in succession Saints suffered an injury blow very early in proceedings. Mata’utia lasted only 27 seconds of the clash at Huddersfield last week and though it was not as quick, the loss of Alex Walmsley to what is thought to be a hamstring injury after only two minutes was equally damaging if not more so. He now faces a race against time to be fit for the derby game at Wigan on Good Friday (April 7). More on the importance of that later.

Already without Paasi, the loss of Walmsley was no doubt a significant contributor to the anxiety in Saints play early on. Jonny Lomax was playing his 300th game for Saints and was twice denied tries on account of poor decision making by his team-mates. First Knowles broke through but chose to try to barrell through the last defender instead of making an easy assist to the supporting Lomax. Then Jack Welsby had similarly sticky fingers with options including Lomax either side.

Saints first try had come quickly. Only seven minutes were on the clock when a flowing right to left move culminated in a delicious catch and pass by Welsby to put Percival in for his second try of the season and his 110th in Saints colours. Tommy Makinson could not convert from out wide on the left touchline so the lead was restricted to 4-0.

It stayed that way for another 25 minutes as Saints struggled to find any attacking rhythm and Trinity grimly hung on. When the next score came it was Hopoate who crossed. Lewis Dodd linked with James Roby before feeding Lomax. The Saints stand-off then found a long ball out wide to Hopoate who had a clear run to the line. It is well documented that the Tongan international has only made 15 appearances in the red vee since signing at the beginning of 2022. What may be less well known is that this was only his second try in those 15 appearances. The other came in a 60-6 rout of Hull FC in August. Makinson suffered more difficulty with the conversion - from a similar position to his first attempt - so the lead stayed at 8-0.

Makinson did manage to trouble the scorers with four minutes left until half-time. But he did it with ball in hand rather than off the boot. Again it was Lomax providing the assist, looping a sublime pass out to the winger after combining again with Roby and Dodd. Makinson just sneaked in at the right hand corner without the need for his trademark diving finish. It was his second of the season after opening his 2023 account at Huddersfield last time out. Yet he did not attempt the extras, handing responsibility on to Percival. He fared no better with his first attempt so despite having crossed the Trinity line on three occasions Saints only held a two-score lead at 12-0.

That changed early in the second half when the centre converted a penalty to make it 14-0 before the try which more or less settled the dispute on 57 minutes. Dodd started and ended the move, first feeding James Bell and then being on hand to take the scoring pass from Welsby after he had been put through a gap by the former Toulouse and Leigh man. Percival’s task in front of goal was straightforward and Saints led 20-0.

Saints were playing with much more fluency now, albeit against a winless, tiring team devoid of anything that even looked like confidence. Even if you squinted really hard. The next score came just five minutes after Dodd’s effort when following a scrum the same trinity of Roby, Dodd and Lomax (see what I did there?) provided Konrad Hurrell with all the space he needed. He crashed through a weak attempt at a tackle by Mason Lino and ran over fullback Dagger for good measure as he plunged over for Saints’ fifth try of the evening. Percival’s third goal from four attempts pushed the lead out to 26-0.

Six minutes later Lomax grabbed the try that his all around performance deserved in his milestone game. Dodd’s high kick had Dagger and Senior in all sorts of trouble and when the ball was spilled it fell kindly to Lomax in enough space to scoot over between two Wakefield defenders. It capped a top performance from Lomax who finished with four assists and 20 tackles to go along with that try. The conversion was another simple one for Percival as Saints moved into a 32-0 lead.

The final try went to Hurrell. His second of the night and his 15th in 32 appearances for Saints arrived seven minutes from time. Again Lomax was the architect, taking Joey Lussick’s pass from dummy half before just holding Matty Ashurst in the Trinity defensive line long enough to then offer up a short ball for Hurrell to crash over. Percival’s final goal of the night - his fifth - rounded off a dominant performance particularly in the second half.

Wakefield Nil

You can’t be too sniffy about a 38-0 win in Super League but it has to be remembered that we were playing against an opposition which currently looks as weak as anything in Super League history. They have players to come back into the side so may yet improve but for the moment this is a Trinity side that has come up with a big fat zero on the scoreboard in four of its seven Super League outings so far. That might well be an unprecedented level of offensive incompetence in the summer era. This lot are making Castleford look like they might not be terrible. 

Still, you can only beat what is put in front of you so Wellens can be pleased with his side’s defensive effort and by the fact Saints scored some quality, well-worked tries. 

Has Percival Solved The Goal-Kicking Problem?

Was there a goal-kicking problem? Before this one Makinson had kicked nine of his 12 attempts at goal this season. A 75% success rate is not exactly a disaster and - in fairness to the England winger - the two he missed in this one before Percival took over the duties were from very difficult positions. Percival certainly had more luck with the opportunities he was presented with as the Trinity defence crumbled and Saints began to run in tries closer to the posts in the second half. 

Considering that neither Makinson nor Percival is the first choice kicker - that was Dodd until he suffered a bad injury in the Good Friday derby last year which ended his season - then the situation could be viewed in a different light. Maybe we are fortunate to have two players who can step competently if not spectacularly into the role as we wait to see if and when Dodd will reclaim it.

The Stats Section

Walmsley is consistently among Saints’ top metre makers so it was always going to be interesting to see who would step up after the big prop forward left proceedings so early. Several men did. Six Saints topped the 100-metre mark led by Curtis Sironen with 174. Welsby added a further 160, Hurrell 153 to go with his try double, and there were 139 from another try scorer in Hopoate. Makinson reeled off 137 and finally Matty Lees chipped in with 114 in another all-action performance in both attack and defence.

Wakefield’s debutants were two of only three men in blue to get to the century. Dagger managed 125 and Senior 101. Sandwiched in between those was winger Lee Kershaw with 121. 

Defensively look no further than Lees. He backed up the 68 tackles he made in the win over the Giants with another 47 in this one. Knowles had 35 on his return and predictably Roby was there or thereabouts among Saints’ best defenders with another 32. Trinity’s Jay Pitts pushed Lees all the way for the honour of being the game’s top tackler with 44, Jai Whitbread had 39 and Jordy Crowther 37.

Tellingly, Saints made eight clean breaks against what would you believe is only the league’s second worst defence (Hull FC have given up more points), while Trinity could only manage two. Saints’ 11 handling errors is about par for them particularly in a Wellens team which seems more keen on an offload than Kristian Woolf’s vintage ever did. Trinity coughed it up 17 times to take their season’s tally to 86. Yet surprisingly all of Castleford, Leeds and Wigan have all committed more mistakes than that. Wakefield’s problem is not so much dropping the ball but posting points after they have hung on to it.

Up Next

I think we all know what happens next. When it seems like the supermarkets are selling nothing but hot cross buns and chocolate eggs you know that a meeting with our nearest and dearest is on the horizon. This win has lifted Saints up to fourth in the table and although that might not be anything to shout about for a team which has won four Grand Finals in a row it does at least show that Wellens’ side  are on an upward trajectory since those early defeats to Leeds and Leigh. 

There is everything to play for and not just local bragging rights. Should Saints emerge from the DW Stadium with a win they would join Wigan on 10 points and will still have a game in hand. A win bigger than 25 points - although unlikely - would see Saints overtake Wigan in the league standings. Yet lose and we will fall four points behind the neighbours which is hardly ideal even at this early stage of the year.

Both sides are preparing against the backdrop of worrying hamstring problems to key players. We know Walmsley left this one just a couple of minutes in but 24 hours earlier Wigan flyer Jai Field suffered similarly. Both are key to their teams in different ways and both will be sorely missed if they don’t make it.

Whoever plays it should be an exciting contest which - although far from decisive - will at least offer the kind of test that just could not be provided by Mark Applegarth’s currently beleaguered outfit on this night.

Saints: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Hopoate, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Sironen, Bell, Knowles. Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Royle, Lussick, Delaney

Wakefield Trinity: Dagger, Kershaw, Lyne, Langi, Senior, Lino, Smith, Battye, Kay, Whitbread, Ashurst, Pitts, Crowther. Interchanges: Forber, Bowes, Butler, Eseh 

Saints v Wakefield Trinity - Preview

Saints will be looking for a third consecutive Super League win when they entertain Wakefield Trinity on Friday night (March 31, kick-off 8.00pm).

After a sluggish start with two defeats in their first three league outings Head Coach Paul Wellens’ side have had back-to-back victories at home to Hull FC and away at Huddersfield Giants. It still leaves Saints in an underwhelming sixth spot in the Super League table but they have a game in hand on most of the other sides in the competition. That’s because the four-in-a-row champions sat out the opening week of league action so they could swipe the world title away from Penrith Panthers.

Meanwhile the first six rounds of the season have been horrific for Trinity. Rock bottom of the table without a win, they have managed to record a resounding zero points in half of those six fixtures. The nadir was a 60-0 hammering at Wigan on February 24. The closest that Mark Applegarth’s side has come to what used to be known as winning pay was an extra time loss to Salford Red Devils on Mother’s Day. Paul Rowley’s side prevailed 14-13 thanks to the drop-goal prowess of Marc Sneyd. Since then Trinity have lost comfortably again, going down 34-6 at Hull KR on Friday night (March 24).

Wellens has made two changes to the 21-man squad which travelled to Huddersfield. Morgan Knowles returns after a one match suspension while McKenzie Buckley is included also. The 19-year old made his Saints debut with a clutch of other youngsters at Castleford last April as former Saints boss Kristian Woolf stood most of his first team squad down following an Easter weekend double header. Buckley has yet to add a second appearance to his name.

The men to miss out are Sione Mata’utia and Wesley Bruines. Mata’utia lasted only 27 seconds of the win at Huddersfield, and that after returning from a two-game suspension of his own. He fell heavily on the back of his head while being pushed back by Giants defenders and was ruled out shortly after following a head injury assessment (HIA). That meant that he was automatically ineligible for this week too under the concussion protocols. He certainly won’t be overworked by the time he is free to line up against Wigan in just over a week’s time. The other side of that coin is that should he be selected by Wellens he will be going into the derby with very little recent rugby league under his metaphorical belt.  

The other man to miss out from last week’s selection is Wesley Bruines who has yet to make his first team debut for Saints after joining from South Sydney Rabbitohs developmental squad.

With only those changes to factor in the line-up on match day should not be massively different to that which edged the Giants 14-12 last week. One perhaps unwelcome distraction was the news which broke yesterday that Lewis Dodd has signed a contract with one of the leading player agencies in the NRL. Dodd - who turned 21 in January - has only managed 40 appearances for Saints following his debut in a 42-0 walloping of the other lot from over the lump in September 2020. Yet his move this week seems to suggest that he is already making plans for an exit when his Saints contract expires at the end of the 2024 season. By rule, a player who is under contract until then can start talking to NRL clubs in November of this year.

Ominous signs with Dodd then, though in truth much like the rest of the Saints squad he has not been playing with the kind of freedom we expect from him. The Saints attack has been underwhelming through their first five league outings. It has all seemed a little too regimented although there is mitigation in the fact that injuries and suspensions have necessitated much more deck-shuffling in the back division than would ordinarily be the case. The cohesion hasn’t quite been there despite the fact that Dodd and Jonny Lomax have been ever present in the halves.

If selected Lomax will make his 300th appearance for Saints. Wakefield were the opposition when Lomax made his debut in March 2009. Were it not for a couple of long term knee injuries the 32 year-old would doubtless have made many more appearances. Yet 300 across a 14-year career at one of the world’s top clubs is not an achievement to be sniffed at. Despite his advancing years Lomax - now playing under his sixth Saints Head Coach - remains pivotal to everything the side does particularly in attack. 

Behind those two in the threequarters  the key decision for Wellens is whether or not to bring Mark Percival back into the starting line-up. The centre did not feature at Huddersfield despite being named in the 21 for the clash. That he remains in the selection suggests he is fit so should still be an option. If he was to come back into the side it could be at the expense of Will Hopoate - a man for whom appearing in one in every five games is about the limit of his durability. Konrad Hurrell made a real difference to the attack at the John Smith’s Stadium so should hold down the other centre spot with Tommy Makinson outside him on the wing ahead of Jack Welsby at fullback. Hopoate can play on the wing - as can Percival for that matter - but Jon Bennison has been impressing there and deserves to keep his place.

The obvious change to the pack is the reintroduction of Knowles. With Joe Batchelor still missing through injury we may see Knowles operate at 13 behind a second row pairing of Curtis Sironen and James Bell. Sam Royle is the likeliest candidate to interrupt that party with Jake Wingfield out for the second game in a row. The props should be Alex Walmsley and - coming off a tireless 68-tackle effort against the Giants - Matty Lees. Agnatius Paasi and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook should spell the starting pair with James Roby at hooker and Joey Lussick waiting to replace the 526-game Saints skipper off the bench. 

In addition to their miserable run of results Wakefield have heaped further punishment on their fans with a strange personnel move this week. Twenty year-old centre Corey Hall was one of the club’s most promising players but has nevertheless been dealt to Hull KR in exchange for fullback Will Dagger. He is no veteran either at just 24 but most observers would agree that Dagger has been an inconsistent performer throughout his five years as a Robin. Rovers coaches obviously were not convinced given that he has had four loan spells with Championship clubs during those five years. Who knows - it may turn out to be a masterstroke on the part of Applegarth but there are certainly Trinity fans on social media who see it as a cost-cutting exercise in preparation for life in the second tier.

Dagger should come straight into the side at fullback, a position which has already been occupied by former Saint Lee Gaskell, winger and occasional hooker Liam Kay and Robbie Butterworth this season since the regular starter Max Jowitt made his only appearance of 2023 to date in the opening round defeat by Catalans Dragons. Gaskell and Jowitt are still unavailable as is former Warrington Tory spokesman Tom Lineham. Ex-Catalans Dragon Samisoni Langi filled in alongside Mason Lino in the halves against Rovers but one time Wigan man Morgan Smith might get the nod this week after coming back into contention.

Smith is one of three men coming back to the squad with a genuine shot of improving matters. NRL veteran Kevin Proctor is named in the 21 as is the sweetly named Harry Bowes. Langi could revert to centre to fill the hole left by Hall but Trinity will still be without highly coveted speedster Lewis Murphy on the wing. Reece Lyne and Jorge Taufua - a man who scored 88 tries in 164 NRL appearances for Manly Sea Eagles before somehow ending up in Wakefield - offer further options in the backs for Applegarth.

Breaking - But wait. Help is on the way for Trinity. Earlier today (Wednesday March 29) it was revealed that Applegarth has secured a two-week loan deal for Huddersfield Giants wing man Innes Senior. The 22 year-old - who has had two loan spells with Trinity already in his career - returns for a third spell and goes straight into what is now a 21-man squad for the trip west. Senior played for the Giants in the Challenge Cup final defeat to Wigan at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2022 and managed 12 tries in his 26 appearances for Ian Watson’s side that year. He has only featured once for the Giants so far in 2023 but will add some much needed pace to the Trinity back line.

The forward pack will be led by another ex-Saint in Matty Ashurst and will likely include Eddie Battye, Jai Whitbread and Jay Pitts as well as Proctor. Liam Hood is still out so either Kay or Bowes could operate from dummy half. 

The teams met three times in 2022 thanks to the ongoing fiasco that is loop fixtures. It will not astonish you to know that the champions beat Trinity both home and away. However, what is perhaps more shocking is that after a 20-4 home success at the end of February and a nail-shredding 13-12 victory at Belle Vue in July Woolf’s all-conquering side went down 34-18 in Trinity’s second visit to St Helens at the end of August. Delve a little deeper however and you will see that this was one of Woolf’s ‘we need a week off’ selections. Keane Gilford, Ben Lane, Daniel Moss, Ellis Archer, Lewis Baxter, Taylor Pemberton and George Delaney all featured in the match day 17. 

Miracles do happen, and occasionally form does go flying out of the nearest window. Yet it remains very difficult to see anything other than a comfortable Saints win here and another step on the upward ladder after those early season jitters.

Squads;

Saints;

1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Will Hopoate,4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. James Bell, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 25. Tee Ritson, 30. George Delaney, 33. McKenzie Buckley

Wakefield Trinity;

2. Jorge Taufua, 4. Reece Lyne, 7. Mason Lino, 8. Eddie Battye, 10. Jai Whitbread, 11. Matty Ashurst, 13. Jay Pitts, 14. Jordy Crowther, 15. Liam Kay, 18. Lee Kershaw, 19. Kevin Proctor, 20. Morgan Smith, 21. Samisoni Langi, 22. Rob Butler, 24. Harry Bowes, 25. Sam Eseh, 27. Rob Butterworth. Oliver Pratt, Tom Forber, Will Dagger, Innes Senior

Referee: Chris Kendall