St Helens head coach Nathan Brown refused to be too downbeat despite the race for top spot slipping out of their hands on Friday – insisting that if his side show the same level of commitment next week, they will be just fine.
A Castleford win in the South of France later on Saturday will see the Saints end the regular season in second place, meaning a mouth-watering tie against Wigan in the first week of the play-offs.
The door was opened for Cas courtesy of Saints’ 17-16 defeat to Huddersfield, after they were forced to play for over 50 minutes with 12 men, after Alex Walmsley was sent off. And Brown says if his side repeat their spirited performance next week when it really matters, they will give themselves a real chance of progressing, regardless of who they play.
“Whatever happens tomorrow will happen – we will be first or second so we will play Wigan or Huddersfield at Langtree next week,” Brown said.
“If the guys bring that commitment, regardless who we don’t have I am sure we’ll give ourselves some sort of chance.
“Everyone saw tonight we deserve to be league leaders and overcome a lot that has gone against us, but tonight explains why we are where we are on the table.”
