Potential worry for St Helens

St Helens are fighting with Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards for a spot in the top two whilst Hull KR are racing against Leeds Rhinos, Warrington Wolves and Hull FC as well as others for a spot in the top six.

St Helens came up with a vital win over the Robins on Friday night as they continue to emerge as a real threat in the title race despite their injury and suspension problems.

The Saints though could have another problem with Morgan Knowles suffering from tightness in the game and not being able to come back on.

Fortunately, for now it is only precautionary but the Saints will have to manage his minutes now to ensure he isn’t lost like the other big forwards they have lost.

It was a cagey and penalty strewn first twenty minutes with both teams making errors in the opposition twenty, and that ultimately led to a scoreless first half an hour.

That was until Saints got a penalty following a high shot on young prop Delaney which prompted Mark Percival to take the two, something that was added to just minutes before the break when Sione Mata’utia capitalised on an error at the back to extend the score to 6-0.

Saints kicked on early in the second half with Tommy Makinson crossing over courtesy of an overlap to double the St Helens lead and that was compounded by a Moses Mbye try minutes later.

Mikey Lewis spilled the ball which allowed the hooker to pick up and race through to make it 18-0, putting the game firmly in the control of the Red Vee.

Tommy Makinson then added his second and Saints’ fourth of the night diving in at the corner to make the game 22-0 with 25 minutes to go, putting a real dent in Hull KR’s playoff hopes.

Rovers did hit back through Mikey Lewis with Brad Schneider adding a difficult kick to make it 24-6 but it was too late for Willie Peters’ slide, who following Salford’s heavy win over Huddersfield, slipped out of the playoffs and into seventh.

It wasn’t over from Saints though as they added another to compound KR’s misery with Ben Davies the beneficiary of clever play by Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd.

That saw the game finish 28-6 with Saints pushing on for a chance at second and Rovers dropping into seventh.