St Helens maintained their 100% record by scoring 17 unanswered points in the second half to beat Leeds Rhinos.
MATCH DETAILS
Saints lost Kevin Naqaima in the second minute of the match after a hand from team mate Luke Thompson struck him in the eye and also caused him to have concussion. Saints fans may have thought they had seen the last of prop Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook in the centres after their 2014 Grand Final win but the reshuffle meant he would play there once again.
The injury didn’t seem to have an effect in the early stages of the game as Saints found joy through the trio of Zeb Taia, Mark Percival and Regan Grace down the left hand side. They opened the scoring after Theo Fages took advantage of a Konrad Hurrell mistake.
Grace then made a break down the field and on the next play, an offload from Mark Percival was patted towards his own line by Nathaniel Peteru and was touched down by Jonny Lomax. Percival added the extras to make it 10-0.
Leeds responded immediately, sweeping the ball from right to left for Kallum Watkins to score. They then went ahead with Saints struggling to contain Hurrell who ran over to top of Fages.
There was a huge swing in momentum and Leeds really started to turn up the heat. Saints were once again exposed out wide with Ash Handley touching down in the corner and then Mikolaj Oledski bundled his way over to make it 22-10 at half time.
Saints needed a response in the second half and they got it early on with James Roby switching the play with an intelligent pass to set up Alex Walmsley. He then scored his second getting on the outside shoulder of Brett Ferres to take four men over the line with him, meaning they were now just two points behind.
The match winning try was scored by twinkle-toes Luke Thompson, who beat four players to make the score 26-22. James Roby then showed he is not human and can do everything on rugby league field by slotting his first ever drop goal over to make the final score 27-22.
FOUR POINTERS
8, 9 and 10
Saints’ starting front row is absolutely incredible and could put up a fight with even the best NRL teams. James Roby is a machine who consistently performs on a weekly basis and has done for many years now. Any concerns about how Alex Walmsley would return from his serious injury has been diminished after the opening three games. Then there is Luke Thompson where the sky is the limit. He is just as good as James Graham was at the age of 23.
Much improved Leeds
Despite the loss, there were plenty of positives for Leeds to take out of it. They could have easily have been blown away at 22-10 but credit to them, they came back. Now it is just about putting a full 80 together.
Hurricane Hurrell
It was some performance by Hurrell in the first half. He has really taken to Super League, showing that he is here for business and is already a fans favourite at Leeds.
Still kicking problems for Saints
If Justin Holbrook is going to continue with Theo Fages, the likes of Percival, Coote and Makinson really need to put some practice in or it will cost them at some point this season.
THE RESULT
St Helens 27
Tries: Fages, Lomax, Walmsley (2), Thompson
Goals: Percival (2), Coote
Drop Goals: Roby
Leeds Rhinos 22
Tries: Watkins, Hurrell, Handley, Oledski
Goals: Lolohea (3)
Drop Goals: n/a
SQUADS
St Helens: Coote, Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace, Lomax, Fages, Walmsley, Roby, Thompson, Peyroux, Taia, Knowles
Interchanges: Paulo, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Amor, Lees.
Leeds Rhinos: Walker, Briscoe, Watkins, Hurrell, Handley, Lolohea, Myler, Peteru, Dwyer, Merrin, Ferres, Sutcliffe, Ward.
Interchanges: Cuthbertson, Singleton, Oledzki, Smith.
