“I thought…” – St Helens boss reacts to “frustrating” loss

Just a week on from landing their biggest win of the season in the Good Friday Derby, St Helens were brought back down with a bruising and brutal loss 14-8 to Catalans Dragons in France.

It marked the fourth consecutive time the Red Vee had lost on their travels to Perpignan with this game once again being one of playoff intensity played in front of a wall of noise.

The Stade Gilbert Brutus was bouncing and that intense cauldron of atmosphere was something that Paul Wellens referenced when speaking post-game about his ‘disappointment’ in how his side lost.

Speaking to SaintsTV, he said: “I’m very disappointed. I thought we were in some ways the masters of our own downfall tonight and that’s not to take anything away from Catalans and the way they competed, given the disruption that they’ve had.

“When you make as many errors as we’ve made tonight and you give away as many penalties as we have tonight, then you make it very difficult for yourself wherever you go, never mind going to a place like this.”

Discipline costs St Helens

It was quite a rare Super League game by 2024 standard in that no cards were shown, particularly given how intense and hard-hitting each team’s defences were. Nevertheless, discipline let St Helens down in the eyes of Wellens.

He clarified: “Discipline in terms of errors and penalties. I don’t think we were too ill-disciplined in terms of tackles. It was more just messy stuff that just kept releasing the pressure on the opposition, which is frustrating.

“I don’t think we were poor defensively, I think. We just had to do too much of it, and we brought that on ourselves.”

Leading 8-6 at the break through Tommy Makinson’s controversial try, it seemed as if Saints just couldn’t replicate their first-half intensity in the second period.

Catalans boss Steve McNamara had explained how the first forty minutes were the hardest his side had played all season, and perhaps that huge effort caught Saints out down the line.

“We all need to be better” – Wellens on defeat

The loss will be all the more bitter given the chances that St Helens had with a Jon Bennison try ruled out in the first half and Lewis Dodd then somehow held up over the line thanks to an incredible Arthur Mourgue tackle.

The inability to score points has been a problem throughout the season and is part of the reason why St Helens sit fifth in Super League, the lowest of the four teams that have ten points in spite of boasting the best defence.

That’s led to fans berating the team’s attack on social media, one labelling it the “worst ever”, and Paul Wellens himself has acknowledged the near misses as he calls for everyone, himself included, to improve.

“We showed at periods how many times we got tackled a metre from the line, then Lewis Dodd gets held up over the line. There were some key moments in the game that we didn’t quite take as well.

“I was just disappointed with our overall approach really, and I include myself in that, that’s not just the players. We all need to be better.”