Thu 26 Aug: SL: St Helens v Leigh Centurions KO 19:45

[John Drake]

Discuss St Helens v Leigh Centurions here.

[Saint Toppy]

I expected Saints to rest a few for this one (they still might) but they've named a fairly strong squad with only 2 changes form the one that demolished the pies last week.

Josh Simm comes in for Percival and Ben Davies replaces the suspended Bentley

1. Lachlan Coote, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 5, Regan Grace, 6, Jonny Lomax, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Joel Thompson, 13, Morgan Knowles, 14. Sione Mata’utia, 15. LMS, 16. Kyle Amor, 17, Agnatius Paasi, 18. Jack Welsby, 19, Aaron Smith, 20, Joe Batchelor, 21. Lewis Dodd, 22. Josh Simm, 23, Jake Wingfield, 24. Josh Eaves, 29. Ben Davies.

[Waynebennettswinger]

In form Leigh to push Saints all the way as they try to extend their unbeaten run. 

[Snowys Backside]

Leigh may get a try. 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Saints by 18.

[GUBRATS]

I expect us to win

[dkw]

Saints by 40.

 

 

Per half.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

Leigh to make it back to back wins 

[yipyee]

Watching both teams lately Leigh are not patient enough in attack and go coast to coast in successive plays. They wont get round Saints defence doing that.

Saints should win but it depends on the team they field and if they are up for it.

Leigh certainly will be up for it and it just maybe closer than some think.

Is eaves and the other lad playing for leigh or has saints not allowed it?

[voteronniegibbs]

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[Snowys Backside]

11 hours ago, yipyee said:

Watching both teams lately Leigh are not patient enough in attack and go coast to coast in successive plays. They wont get round Saints defence doing that.

Saints should win but it depends on the team they field and if they are up for it.

Leigh certainly will be up for it and it just maybe closer than some think.

Is eaves and the other lad playing for leigh or has saints not allowed it?

The 2 saints lads can't play  

Leigh missing Thornley and Ioane which is a shame.

Saints will grind Leigh down with possession rugby. Cannot see Leigh scoring much  

[yipyee]

8 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

The 2 saints lads can't play  

Leigh missing Thornley and Ioane which is a shame.

Saints will grind Leigh down with possession rugby. Cannot see Leigh scoring much  

Its a shame they wont let the lads play.

I agree about the grind

[Saint Toppy]

1 hour ago, yipyee said:

Its a shame they wont let the lads play.

I agree about the grind

Eaves is in the Saints squad which suggests he may play for Saints as Smith is also in the Squad. I think Roby might be the one given a rest otherwise I can't see why he'd pick 3 hookers in the squad.

[sweaty craiq]

Saints to roll over giving Leigh the 2 points, plus the 2 from the Cas covid game makes an interesting run in.

[Chris22]

One observation from that game is that when Jack Welsby moved to half back, we looked far more threatening in attack.

The same thing happened at Wembley. I am starting to think half back is his natural position.

[GUBRATS]

I felt the score flattered saints a little , Leigh certainly didn't deserve the last 2 Saints trys 

So Catalans up next 

 

 

[clogdance]

57 minutes ago, Chris22 said:

One observation from that game is that when Jack Welsby moved to half back, we looked far more threatening in attack.

The same thing happened at Wembley. I am starting to think half back is his natural position.

You were only playing Leigh Centurions, a team made up of mainly 'championship standard' players.

[Josef K]

2 hours ago, Chris22 said:

One observation from that game is that when Jack Welsby moved to half back, we looked far more threatening in attack.

The same thing happened at Wembley. I am starting to think half back is his natural position.

He is a better player in the halves than even at centre or wing. If Lomax doesn’t play on Monday i wouldn’t be surprised if Woolf moves Roby to six and puts Welsby on the bench.
Dodd is settling in really well. I just wish Saints would give the ball a huge hoof into space on the last tackle instead of the easy dollies they do at the moment. 

[Josef K]

2 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

I felt the score flattered saints a little , Leigh certainly didn't deserve the last 2 Saints trys 

So Catalans up next 

 

 

You’re right Grubs. At least Leigh were willing to try new things and entertain the fans. They were also not afraid to throw the ball about and they showed some nice touches. Saints were a bit predictable at times with plodding down the middle. 

[Saint Toppy]

9 hours ago, clogdance said:

You were only playing Leigh Centurions, a team made up of mainly 'championship standard' players.

Well that 'Championship player' team played far better and threw more at Saints in attack than Wigan managed last week. They weren't afraid to try things and keep the ball alive and they tried to stretch the Saints defensive line. For an hour they were really competitive just faded badly late on.

From Saints POV it was a mixed bag. Lomax went off with what looked like a fairly serious leg injury so that could be the end of his season. Aaron Smith was given his chance at 9 but was pretty poor so the rumours that Saints are signing Lussick and releasing Smith look to be a good decision by the club. Josh Simm had a pretty wretched night so the decision to buy Hopoate instead of promote him to starting centre also looks to be a good decision. As much as I don't rate Hopoate its obvious Simm isn't ready yet. Coote had a mixed night, brilliant defensively perfect positioning all night, but he made some really poor decisions in attack, particularly on the last tackle. Some of his kicks were absolutely awful with nearly every one kicked straight at the FB. In fact it wasn't until the last 20mins when Roby & Dodd took over some of the kicking that we started to really peg Leigh back on their own line set after set.

On the plus side, Walmsley was his usual brilliant self, making yards up the middle with ease. Mata'utia had an outstanding game and running down that left channel is clearly his best position. The Leigh defence struggled to contain him all night. Knowles showed why he's now rated as one of the best 13's in the game, he put in some great hits. In the centre Welsby drifted in & out of the game but when he moved to 6 he seemed to come alive, a well deserved MOM performance from him, scoring 2 and creating 2 try's. Dodd's performance also noticeably picked up with Welsby along side him, he looked to play with far more freedom. It was also good to see young Jake Wingfield return after a long injury absence.

A couple of stand-out performances from Leigh. Hood controlled the ruck and certainly got the better of his opposite 9 in Smith. Fitness looks a problem with him though with less than an hour gone he was completely spent. Bell had a superb game at 13, defensively brilliant all night and really challenged the Saints defense with hard running and some clever offloads. I thought Brand & Elliot were the pick of their backs, looked good in defence & attack. Overall Leigh should be really proud of that performance.

Wire up next for Saints which will pretty much decide 2nd & 3rd in the table. Saints will have to play better than they did last night but they'll get quite a few players back in Makinson, Percival, Bentley, Thompson & LMS. 

[GUBRATS]

Oh ,one lasting thing , why do Saints have kak beer 

A choice of Carling , Carling or Carling with gravy browning 

Seriously KAK 

[voteronniegibbs]

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