PAUL ROWLEY says St Helens will embrace their mounting selection issues – because his team has “real backbone”.
They were already without a raft of key players for Saturday’s 32-8 Challenge Cup win at Castleford Tigers, with England trio Jack Welsby, Alex Walmsley and Matty Lees among those missing.
But Saints also lost both hookers Daryl Clark and Jake Burns to failed first-half HIAs and Curtis Sironen to a calf injury, meaning they have real issues at hooker for Friday’s Super League trip to Toulouse Olympique.
Rowley enthused: “They’ve displayed a real backbone, a real toughness.
“We’ve got so many players – important and influential players – missing and we’ve had more now as well,
“But each bit of adversity seems to challenge this group more and more.
“We know it’s going to be challenging in the short-term, and who knows what’s around the corner.
“But at some point, everybody will come back, and that’s an exciting prospect as well.”
Both Clark and Burns will automatically miss the French outing as Saints bid to make it five wins on the bounce in all competitions.
Joe Shorrocks will complete a two-game ban against Toulouse while Rowley is also without broken-leg victim Jacob Host.
Injured Nene Macdonald (knee) and George Delaney (head) were also absent at Castleford
Prop Jake Wingfield, playing his first game of the season, switched to hooker on Saturday and Rowley said: “We’ll explore some other options and see what we’ve got.
“Jake’s capable of playing nine, so I can’t nail that down yet. There’ll be no doubt some surprises thrown in before then, so we can’t plan ahead, unfortunately.”