Warrington tasted defeat at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Monday evening as defending champions St Helens ran in fourteen unanswered second-half points after Steve Price's team had worked hard to forge their way ahead at the break thanks to scores from Ben Currie and George Williams.
It was a bitter evening that saw both Tom Lineham and Gareth Widdop, as well as Saints man James Bentley, sent to the sin-bin. Bentley was one of Saints' tryscorers, along with Kevin Naiqama, teenage half-back Lewis Dodd and the imperious Mark Percival. Here are my six talking points...
For the third time this season, Warrington lose at home on a Monday night, with St Helens joining Huddersfield Giants and Leeds Rhinos in conquering the HJ on the first day of the week. Much like those two performances, pretty much everything that could've gone wrong for Wire did, particularly in the first half an hour. An error from Lineham facilitated Naiqama's try and shortly after Saints extended their lead after Jack Welsby and Dodd combined, with Widdop and Josh Thewlis running into one another and taking each other out as they were both about to try and tackle the tryscorer. A barnstorming last ten minutes of the half, featuring two converted tries and a penalty goal, meant that Wire actually led 14-10 at the interval despite been outplayed for much of it. However, Saints kept Wire at arms' length in the second 40 and scored twice more, through Percival - after a shocking mistake from Jake Mamo meant he had the ball stolen by Joe Batchelor - and the absolute filthy little grub that is James Bentley, who capitalised on Stefan Ratchford allowing the ball to bounce. Too many penalties, not enough territory and nowhere near enough cutting edge on the opposition line meant that Wire couldn't get close in the second half.
2) Prince George
The main positive to take from the game though, is the performance of George Williams, making his home debut. Having looked promising without being spectacular in his first three outings, all away from home, the former Wigan half-back showed why Wire were so keen to bring him to the HJ mid-season. At 0-10 down Wire were going absolutely nowhere and looked out of the game after just half an hour. But Williams grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, finding a gap in the Saints line and setting Ben Currie free to score, before moments later finishing off a wonderful team move, collecting Josh Thewlis' chipped kick and scoring coolly in the corner, and in the blink of an eye, Williams had turned the game from a lost cause to one Wire were now leading. He faded a bit in the second half but when it fully clicks, the halves partnership of Williams and Widdop will be terrifying.
3) The Mike drop
I knew we were in for a long evening when I saw the teamsheet and Mike Cooper wasn't on it. Chris Hill and Cooper are the only two senior props that I actually rate at this club, they both slog their guts out every single week. Cooper is particularly important in big games against packs as monstrous as the one that St Helens possess, which of course includes the best prop in the league in Alex Walmsley. Without Cooper, Hill - and Joe Philbin, who moved from loose forward to prop and did admirably well - did his best but we just couldn't get anywhere near enough yardage or go-forward. We also play off Cooper's offloads a lot, which were badly missed. Time and time again we were asking the wingers and centres to take the ball in on the first three tackles, and getting nowhere, as a result having no territory in the Saints area. We also missed Matt Davis tonight, whose industry and work-rate is useful in the forwards. I desperately hope that Cooper and Davis are both back soon enough, while Blake Austin and Josh Charnley were both at the game last night so it will be interesting to see if either or both of those are back in the team at any point soon, likewise with Matty Ashton.
4) Crossing the Lineham
It's gone too far now. I've defended Tom Lineham for as long as he's been at the club because I rate him as a winger, I think he makes up lots of metres and I think he's a good finisher. However, his issue has always been discipline, both in terms of concentration as well as behaviour. Last night, he came up with a multitude of errors which started early on in the game, trying a ridiculously ambitious offload which led to St Helens' first try. Twice the ball came to him in promising positions and he wasn't aware we were on the last tackle, wasting opportunities. Lineham had a glorious chance to score when Ratchford fed him a nice cut-out pass and he somehow fluffed it, sticking out a foot into touch. And then, in the 71st minute, with the game pretty much gone, he gets himself sin-binned for a high shot on Lachlan Coote, which has resulted in him receiving a two-match ban, meaning he misses Wigan at Magic Weekend on Sunday and Salford at home the week after. I still believe Lineham is our best winger, but this means that he has been banned for a total of 18 games since the start of 2019, which for any player is comical, but for a winger is downright absurd. Unfortunately, it's these brain farts and awful discipline which have led Wire to not offer Lineham a new contract, and that's why Wakefield have signed him. Let's be honest, his level is better than Wakefield, but his disciplinary issues mean that none of the top clubs, including Wire, wanted him.
5) Airtime
The game plan against St Helens which has been so successful in recent years, and has seen us beat the Saints four times in a row, has been to play very basic, conservative, one-man rugby league. That's all well and good, but when you're missing your best prop as we were, it's a big ask. Such tactics also rely on controlling the first part of the game and ideally getting the opening score. So when Saints get the first two tries, the game plan is out of the window. Before the game I watched St Helens' fan channel RedVeeTV's match preview, and they said that from their perspective, they don't know why Wire persistently choose to play such a grubby, stop-start game against Saints when we have so many good ball-players (Ratchford, Clark, Widdop, Williams, Austin, King, Currie). This has long been a complaint of mine and it showed tonight - Warrington didn't get into the game at all in the first half an hour, it wasn't until Williams took control of things and the team started actually moving the ball around and playing expansive rugby, and that's where the two tries in quick succession came from. We are a much better team when we take the shackles off, give the ball some air and allow our talented pivot players to actually influence the game.
6) Rematch?
Losing last night means we are likely to finish the season in 3rd place, with Saints expected to come home in 2nd, behind Catalans Dragons. If this plays out as expected, then the first round of the playoffs would see Wire (3rd) play at home to 6th, which currently is Castleford Tigers, though could also be Hull FC or Leeds Rhinos. Should Wire win this first round tie, as they would be expected to be, the semi-final would see a rematch of Saints and Wire, though this time at the Totally Wicked Stadium, where we recorded an impressive 2-6 victory in June. It is highly likely then that last night won't be the last time these two go into battle in 2021, with the next time set to have a place in the Grand Final at Old Trafford riding on it. Steve Price's men were without a very important player in Cooper, while others such as Davis and Austin were also missing. It's worth mentioning at this point though that Saints were without arguably their most important player in Jonny Lomax. Going into last night, Wire had won their last four games against Saints, so were due a loss. I'd certainly take a loss last night if it means we get a win against them in the playoffs...
Player Ratings
Stefan Ratchford - 3/10
I'm a big Ratchford fan but tonight was yet another showing of why he isn't a full-back. Made a pig's ear of chasing Percival and ended up getting in Jake Mamo's way. Then some horrendous positioning and allowing the ball to bounce for Bentley's try. Missed a piss easy shot at goal too.
Tom Lineham - 0/10
I've always liked and defended Lineham but tonight was one of the worst individual performances you'll see. He was at fault for the first try after trying a ludicrous offload, twice the ball came to him and he didn't know it was the fifth tackle, he looked certain to score in the second half but stuck a foot into touch. That's before the incident at the end, time and time again.
Toby King - 4/10
King hasn't been in great form since returning from injury and while there were some good signs tonight - a few strong carries and runs - he also made some mistakes, including a knock-on near Wire's own line.
Jake Mamo - 4/10
Did extremely well to find Thewlis with a technical pass which helped create the Williams try but also had a complete brain fart for Percival's try.
Josh Thewlis - 6/10
In a backline of vastly experienced players, 19-year-old Josh Thewlis, making just his fifteenth Warrington appearance, was by far the most composed of them all. Solid under the high ball, worked really hard returning the ball and came up with a perfect chipped kick for the Williams try.
George Williams - 7/10
Wire's best player on the night. Assisted the first try by taking on the line and finding Currie on his outside, and then scored the second with good awareness and a cool finish. He actually made a break earlier in the game but had no-one on his outside shoulder.
Gareth Widdop - 5/10
Credit to St Helens, that was one of Widdop's quietest games all season. He had a few decent moments, most notably the break which should've got Daryl Clark away, but aside from that his contribution was minimal, though did work hard defensively and forced a penalty with a terrific high bomb. Unnecessary, although possibly harsh, sin-binning at the end.
Chris Hill - 6/10
A hell of a stint, and without Cooper he was expected to do the job of two forwards. Worked unbelievably hard as he always does although gave away a couple of cheap penalties in the first half.
Daryl Clark - 5/10
Like Widdop, Saints did really well at controlling Clark and not allowing him to influence the game. Should've collected Widdop's offload in the first half, he'd have been away.
Joe Philbin - 6/10
To say he's not used to starting at prop he did an admirable job, that was one of his better performances this season. Couldn't get any offloads going as Cooper does but was still impressive in metre-making.
Ben Currie - 6/10
One of Wire's best players. Scored the first try by running a good line and collecting from Williams, and came up with two big moments in defence too. Firstly, grounding the ball in the in-goal area early on when it looked like Saints had scored, and then forcing the error from Naiqama when he looked certain to score early in the second half. Poor tackling technique for the Percival try though, got to go for the legs against a physically strong player like that, no point going for the upper body.
Jack Hughes - 1/10
I have nothing to say any more. He gets one point for the ball that set Williams away. But as the captain, in a game of that magnitude and intensity, you can't knock the ball on in such a strong position. Aside from that, he was pretty anonymous again and we got better after he went off with an injury.
Jason Clark - 1/10
I mean, it's genuinely taken me the best part of five minutes to remember who started at loose forward. Nine metres all night. Nine. Compare him to Morgan Knowles on the other side and you see what a loose forward should be doing.
Robbie Mulhern - 5/10
Works hard but doesn't make many metres.
Sitaleki Akauola - 1/10
Doesn't do anything.
Ellis Longstaff - 6/10
Did really well from the bench in only his third appearance, get him into the team instead of Hughes.
Danny Walker - 5/10
Should've been on sooner. We need to find a way to get Walker and Clark on the pitch at the same time, for me that is Clark at 13 and Walker at 9.
@ALooseWire
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