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| Round 18 Results |
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| Hull KR 35 Huddersfield 28 |
| Leeds 42 Castleford 24 |
| Widnes 32 Wigan 33 |
| London 10 Warrington 82 |
| Catalans 30 Hull FC 4 |
| St. Helens 30 Bradford 18 |
| Salford 10 Wakefield 46 |
| Leeds 38 Widnes 28 |
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| Round 19 Fixtures |
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| Friday 21st June - 8pm (TV) |
| Castleford v Hull FC |
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| Friday 21st June - 8pm |
| Salford v St. Helens |
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| Saturday 22nd June - 5pm |
| Catalans v Hull KR |
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| Sunday 23rd June - 3pm |
| Bradford v Widnes |
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| Sunday 23rd June - 3pm |
| Huddersfield v Leeds |
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| Sunday 23rd June - 3.30pm |
| Wakefield v London |
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| Monday 24th June - 7.45pm (TV) |
| Warrington v Wigan |
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| Day of the Match - H Wigan |
I wouldn’t necessarily say that it was the worst Saints performance in their recent history but for me it definitely has to go down as the most disappointing. After the last two games it is fair to say that most people were pretty confident that we would turn the Pies over, especially when news had broke that they had five of their first choice forwards missing, but in the end we just didn’t turn up. Admittedly we had lost Laffranchi and Wellens to midweek suspensions but that is simply no excuse. Their pack, with five players missing, totally outplayed ours and that is not just disturbing but hugely embarrassing. It would appear that the dream team of Rush and Cunningham are no miracle workers after all. This team has major deficiencies and the Pies showed us up for what we are today.
As Geordie and I joined the throngs in the Phoenix for the odd Guinness and Erdinger over the Humberside Derby talk wasn’t so much about how much we would beat Wigan by but there was certainly an air of confidence that we were about to post our first home league win over the old enemy for three years. In fact, the suspensions of the aforementioned two and the absence of Gary Wheeler were shrugged off as the news came through that their bench comprised a bunch of reserves. In truth, it was hard to see us fail, and whilst some of their Facebook followers’ ridiculous protestations that a win would be an even bigger achievement than their 2003 and 2005 wins against us with kids and Rugby Union players in the team, nevertheless, it emphasised just how much this game was ours to lose despite the respective league positions.
Despite the fact that the game had sold out weeks ago there was an abundance of empty seats in the South Stand and room for at least 500 more in each of the West and East Stands but there was one particular North Stand Geordie geezer who was happy a few minutes in as his bet on the first try scorer came to fruition with Francis Meli squeezing in at the corner following a Sam Tomkins error in what was just about our first foray into opposition territory in the game. Indeed we had to be thankful for that as it was just about the only time we had the ball in their half for the first half an hour with Bentham caning us in the penalty department and their depleted pack totally dominating our sluggish six. Whilst having a strong bench is nice, sometimes it’s useful to have a starting forward six that is stronger. Wigan’s possession was always going to pay off and it did with two tries, the first from a shocking error by James Roby and that loose pass just summed up the sort of day it was, as no-one even tried to run back for the loose ball, and Darrell Goulding was in. Pat Richards had a try disallowed but Carmont squeezed over for 12-4 and there could be no arguments. We were losing and deservedly so.
Apart from the string of penalties and the obvious lack of penetration from our forwards Saints were pinned back in their own half, according to Billy Bates, by the gale force wind blowing across the ground. Now God bless our Billy, who I have been going to matches with over the last twenty years but there are times, in between gob fulls of jelly babies (now that crisps are deemed bad for his cholesterol) that he talks shite but this was not one of those occasions, for which we must be thankful for in itself. However, the point goes back to something you are probably bored of hearing but are going to hear again. The lack of enclosure behind the terraces and up to the roof means that a whistling wind whips across the ground and, due to the nature of physics, it produces a wind tunnel effect meaning that the wind is actually more forcible than it is outside. Now it was hardly Hurricane Katrina out there but because some berk decided that a roof suspended twenty metres above the terraces would look the biz then elements that would not previously have any effect on the game now do when, at the likes of Hull and now Warrington, they wouldn’t. Sadly, it would appear that Saints are incapable of perfecting their game plan unless the conditions are stiller than Whitney Houston after a lemon sherbert and Mr. Matey cocktail therefore it’s going to prove very costly is that saving on a bit of wriggly tin. It might work in Townsville when North Queensland are playing but this is St. Helens. Spectators don’t pay to see the ball swirling about in a slight breeze, nor do they pay to go home with earache because the wind has been whistling down their ear hole in the supposedly most protected areas of the ground. If we wanted that why not build ourselves a replica of Mount Pleasant, Batley and save a few bob to spend on another toilet block in the North Stand, but that’s another story.
Saints had lacked composure throughout the first half. Laffranchi’s loss was huge as the forwards lacked purpose but the loss of Wellens was only felt with one early unpunished error from Tommy Makinson, but then again Wello was deemed a waste of space three weeks ago so what would that matter? Jonny Lomax disappeared halfway through the first half too and Bill lamented the lack of direction at half back, Of course, Jonny was never a half back in the memory of man three weeks ago and had no directional skills so I failed to see what that had to do with the price of fish either. The reality was that the forwards were not performing, but against a team with five forwards missing surely they would tire and we would come out from our deficit and sort them out in the second half, at least that was what I was consoling myself with as I admired the ‘get your tickets for Saints v Leeds’ poster advertised for an incorrect date that had already passed as I had my half time winkle, not that the club’s marketing department is in anyway inept of course.
Before and after half time Bentham tried to even things up, as they do, with a series of penalties for the Saints but, unlike the Pies, we didn’t seem to have the class, guile or forward power to do anything with it. Eventually Sia Soliola just about barged over and just scraped the blades of grass with the attempted touchdown and we were back to 10-12. At half time I did think that if we got one back then we would go on to win but the remainder of the game was nothing short of a disgrace. It just about summed up our attitude on the day when a loose ball went backwards and Tony Puletua just stood there looking on as the Wigan side stole twenty yards on him to take possession. I’ve always said it with him. If it’s a nice sunny day and Saints are on top then he’s great. If the team is below par and the weather is less than great then he doesn’t want to know. Out of a series of shocking performances today, his was the king of them all. That said our fans weren’t any better. Shocking backing from start to finish, or maybe the noise just dissipated out of the back of the open stand. The noisiest chant came at the final hooter, which was nice in a kind of small time way but where were you when it mattered? And don’t look at me either, I got shouted at for the noise of one of my farts the other week, well, I think it was the noise.
At 10-12 Saints had plenty of possession but tried to run it for the try when two points were there for the taking. It failed and just one penalty for them and Sam Tomkins was in and we knew it was over. Embarrassingly, the depleted Pies outfit then crashed over for two more late tries through Hock and Lima and had a possible penalty try chalked off after Michael Shenton had been sin-binned for a professional foul. The most we offered through this pretty desperate period was for Lance Hohaia to kick on the third tackle every set of six and give Sam Tomkins a spot of fielding practice. It really was that bad.
At the end of the day, we have played a Wigan side without five key pack members and been totally outmuscled. I really can’t see that the appointment of Nathan Brown and the subsequent knowledge that Rush and Cunningham have only got this season had anything to do with matters. Similarly I fail to see how the loss of one forward, one full back and the introduction of a slight breeze can have so much effect. The fact of the matter is that the team let themselves down today, they let the coaches down but, more importantly, they let the fans down big time. Back to square one!
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| Next Match |
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Friday 21st June 2013, 8pm
at City of Salford Stadium
Super League
Round 19
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| Salford | v | St. Helens |
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| SLXVIII Table |
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| rank | | points |
| 1 | Wigan | 18.31.+422 |
| 2 | Huddersfield | 18.26.+194 |
| 3 | Warrington | 18.25.+295 |
| 4 | Leeds | 17.23.+147 |
| 5 | Catalans | 18.22.+73 |
| 6 | Hull FC | 18.20.+45 |
| 7 | Hull KR | 18.18.-68 |
| 8 | St. Helens | 18.17.+15 |
| 9 | Bradford | 18.16.-32 |
| 10 | Wakefield | 17.13.-49 |
| 11 | Widnes | 18.12.-128 |
| 12 | Castleford | 18.10.-179 |
| 13 | London | 18.8.-349 |
| 14 | Salford | 18.7.-376 |
(updated 17/6/13)
Click here for full table....
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| 2013 Stats |
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| Player | | App/Sub/Tries |
| 1 | Wellens | 14/0/2 |
| 2 | Gardner | 10/0/5 |
| 3 | Turner | 19/0/8 |
| 4 | Soliola | 16/2/3 |
| 5 | Meli | 14/0/8 |
| 6 | Hohaia | 8/3/3 |
| 7 | Lomax | 8/0/7 |
| 8 | Perry | 6/0/2 |
| 9 | Roby | 7/1/1 |
| 10 | Scarsbrook | 12/7/3 |
| 11 | Puletua | 10/4/2 |
| 12 | Wilkin | 17/0/2 |
| 13 | Manu | 13/1/2 |
| 14 | Laffranchi | 12/4/5 |
| 15 | Flanagan | 5/5/2 |
| 16 | Clough | 2/11/1 |
| 17 | Wheeler | 2/0/0 |
| 18 | Magennis | 0/0/0 |
| 19 | Jones | 17/2/3 |
| 20 | Gaskell | 3/0/1 |
| 21 | Makinson | 14/0/6 |
| 22 | Forster | 0/0/0 |
| 23 | Ashe | 5/0/0 |
| 24 | Greenwood | 1/9/2 |
| 25 | Walmsley | 1/14/3 |
| 26 | Swift | 4/0/3 |
| 27 | Walker | 3/2/0 |
| 28 | Hand | 0/2/0 |
| 29 | Yates | 0/0/0 |
| 30 | Percival | 10/1/3 |
| 31 | Speakman | 0/1/0 |
| 32 | Tilley | 0/2/0 |
| 33 | Thompson | 2/3/2 |
| 35 | Charnock | 1/1/0 |
| 36 | Howarth | 9/1/0 |
| 37 | O'Brien | 2/0/0 |
(updated 9/6/13)
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| Saints Career Stats |
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| Player | | App/Sub/Tries |
| 1 | Wellens | 424/25/215 |
| 2 | Gardner | 271/15/173 |
| 3 | Turner | 19/0/8 |
| 4 | Soliola | 72/8/19 |
| 5 | Meli | 211/2/137 |
| 6 | Hohaia | 37/5/10 |
| 7 | Lomax | 88/2/43 |
| 8 | Perry | 35/9/2 |
| 9 | Roby | 142/132/73 |
| 10 | Scarsbrook | 37/43/16 |
| 11 | Puletua | 106/20/40 |
| 12 | Wilkin | 239/34/80 |
| 13 | Manu | 13/1/2 |
| 14 | Laffranchi | 41/4/13 |
| 15 | Flanagan | 13/23/5 |
| 16 | Clough | 59/125/24 |
| 17 | Wheeler | 41/11/19 |
| 18 | Magennis | 10/23/4 |
| 19 | Jones | 37/2/15 |
| 20 | Gaskell | 33/10/14 |
| 21 | Makinson | 55/6/31 |
| 22 | Forster | 0/4/0 |
| 23 | Ashe | 8/4/1 |
| 24 | Greenwood | 1/12/2 |
| 25 | Walmsley | 1/14/3 |
| 26 | Swift | 8/0/8 |
| 27 | Walker | 3/2/0 |
| 28 | Hand | 0/2/0 |
| 29 | Yates | 0/0/0 |
| 30 | Percival | 10/1/3 |
| 31 | Speakman | 0/1/0 |
| 32 | Tilley | 0/2/0 |
| 33 | Thompson | 2/3/2 |
| 35 | Charnock | 1/1/0 |
| 36 | Howarth | 9/1/0 |
| 37 | O'Brien | 2/0/0 |
(updated 9/6/13)
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