St Helens travel to face Catalans Dragons later today with Paul Wellens’ side seeking a first win in Perpignan since 2018.
Whilst the Red Vee have beaten Les Dracs since then, they have not done so on French soil and that means they face a tough task later tonight at the Stade Gilbert Brutus.
They did win the last meeting between the two sides, at the Totally Wicked Stadium in May, but they had lost five on the spin prior to that with Catalans proving somewhat of a bogey team for St Helens.
Making matters worse is that Saints enter this game on the back of two losses, whilst Catalans have turned around their poor start to the season and won three on the spin in all competitions.
Revitalised in recent weeks by Sam Tomkins, a man who loves to play on the big stage against St Helens, Steve McNamara has spoken on the confidence that his side have picked up after their poor start to the year.
As for St Helens, they’re looking to avoid a third straight loss. Here are the predicted teams.
Catalans Dragons team news
The major news for Catalans is that former St Helens man Tommy Makinson is back and his return has been timely considering that Fouad Yaha, who got on the scoresheet against Castleford Tigers, has had to drop out.
Bayley Sironen and another former Saint in Theo Fages return with Romain Navarrete (broken cheekbone) and Clement Martin drop out.
Sironen will almost certainly be a like for like replacement for Navarrete and take his spot on the interchanges bench whilst Makinson will slot in on the wing in place of Yaha, however, it’s unclear if Fages will play.
One of the criticisms of Catalans this year has been that they have played a different spine combination in every game so changing last week’s winning formula, which featured youngster Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet, would mean more change. If Fages is 100% then he’ll play but that’s stll unclear.
Catalans Dragons predicted XIII: Sam Tomkins, Tommy Makinson, Matthieu Laguerre, Reimis Smith, Nick Cotric, Luke Keary, Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet, Tevita Pangai, Alrix Da Costa, Julian Bousquet, Benjamin Garcia, Elliott Whitehead, Oliver Partington
Interchanges: Bayley Sironen, Chris Satae, Jordan Dezaria, Arthur Romano
𝗟𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗣𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗦 𝟮𝟭 ⚔️
𝑃𝑟𝑒́𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒́ 𝑝𝑎𝑟 𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑦𝑟𝑜𝑡 𝐴𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠
Steve McNamara a dévoilé son groupe pour la réception de @Saints1890.🇫🇷 https://t.co/96hfT19Xuw
🇬🇧https://t.co/lKPhBqZmUS pic.twitter.com/tqicV1Ya36— Dragons Catalans (@DragonsOfficiel) March 27, 2025
St Helens team news
As for St Helens, they have made just one change to their 21-man squad and it’s likely that will result in just one change to their 17-man squad.
Curtis Sironen drops out of the squad but he is replaced by Joe Batchelor, who had missed out last week after failing a HIA, and the second-row duo will likely just swap places.
With no senior winger available, Dayon Sambou is likely to keep his spot after a try-scoring debut where he also fared well under a barrage of kicks from Marc Sneyd and George Williams.
Daryl Clark is named in the squad despite leaving the field against Warrington and the hooker is hopefully good to go with Moses Mbye in support on an unchanged bench.
St Helens predicted XIII: Jack Welsby, Jon Bennison, Harry Robertson, Mark Percival, Dayon Sambou, Tristan Sailor, Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley, Daryl Clark, Matty Lees, Joe Batchelor, Matt Whitley, Morgan Knowles
Interchanges: Moses Mbye, Agnatius Paasi, George Delaney, Jake Wingfield
🔵🔻 𝑺𝑸𝑼𝑨𝑫 𝑵𝑬𝑾𝑺
Paul Wellens has named his 21-man Saints squad, which will go to France to take on @DragonsOfficiel in @SuperLeague this Saturday!
Full story 😇 https://t.co/6IlsZyXexa #COYS | St Helens Flooring
— St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) March 27, 2025
