This week Hull KR made headlines for naming just 16 players for their Hull derby battle with rivals Hull FC.

The Robins still remarkably won despite having 30 players injured throughout the club which prompted them to cancel their reserve derby with the Black and Whites this week as the Robins endure possibly the worst injury crisis in Super League history not helped by suspensions to Jez Litten and Korbin Sims the latter of which was sent to an early retirement due to a ban against Wigan for contact with the match official.

Now though St Helens have followed suit having to postpone their reserve battle with Salford which was scheduled for tomorrow.

The Saints have cited the fact that they wouldn’t be able to name a team due to the run of games that the first team has had to endure with three games in just over a week with St Helens losing a derby against Wigan before naming a much changed team in defeat to Wakefield on a day their 10th League Leaders’ Shield was confirmed by Wigan’s defeat before they played Toulouse today finishing the season with a 21st win from 27 as they made it 42 points to claim top spot four points ahead of the Warriors.

Due to this alongside the approaching academy semi-finals which the Saints of course take very seriously due to their commitment to developing young players which has been the backbone of their success, Saints have requested that the game be postponed with the view of rescheduling it before the end of the season.

It’s perhaps another indicator that the RFL have made the right call in removing these double game weekends which saw St Helens and other strained.

Salford themselves had six reserve players play today meaning they would have been six players worse off in terms of picking a team for the game.