Paul Wellens admits St Helens’ wretched recent record at Catalans Dragons is something he has spent some time thinking about this week. The Saints have lost their last six games in Perpignan in a run that stretches back to September 2018.
None of those defeats have been one-sided, with St Helens being edged out in the majority, but Saints fans are undoubtedly now starting to dread their yearly visits to the south of France with the last few seasons being miserable experiences.
Figuring out how to bring an end to that record has been a key focus for Wellens this week then and with his side in need of a win in Super League after successive defeats to Hull KR and Warrington Wolves, success at Catalans is paramount.
“It’s something we’ve spoken about as a team because the reality is it hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for us,” Wellens said when asked about his side’s record at the Stade Gilbert Brutus. “We need to have a look at that and have a discussion around the reasons why and what we can do differently this time to get a different result.
“Those discussions have taken place as a staff and we’ve communicated with the players and we take on the challenge at the weekend. We want to go there, we want to perform well and we don’t want any excuses really that come with the trip to the south of France, it’s a great opportunity to go there and hopefully get a good result.”
Of course this week will be the first time Tommy Makinson will go up against his former club, with the winger making the move to Catalans in the off-season. The 32-year-old made 348 appearances for Saints and scored 201 tries along the way.
He’s still looking for his first try in Dragons colours, though, and Saints will be doing all they can to ensure that run enters April.
“It’s a different one for us,” Wellens added. “I obviously know Tommy really well and he’s a former teammate of mine.
“I’m looking forward to locking horns with him. We know what Tommy’s strengths are inside out and we know a great deal about it him we’ll have to work hard to nullify those threats.
“We have to have a bit of a plan there around how we handle good players and we know his strengths really well. He did so well here for such a long time and Tommy is a good mate of mine but at the weekend for 80 minutes he’s our opponent and we have to work really hard to stop him having any influence on the game.”
Wellens continued: “We send the odd text message every now and again, probably some of the lads who he’s played with more recently are in contact with Tommy more regularly than what I am. I’m looking forward to catching up with him at the weekend but hopefully he doesn’t have too much of an influence on the game.”
