Paul Wellens gives Grand Final verdict after St Helens’ loss to Wigan

St Helens missed out on a chance to solidify their grip on a top six place in Super League as they fell to a 20-0 defeat to rivals Wigan Warriors.

It was a win that has seen Matt Peet’s side return to the top of Super League, something that will change if Hull KR beat Catalans Dragons today, but for Saints, it was a huge blow.

Leeds Rhinos’ later loss has helped St Helens as they retain a four-point gap over the playoff chasers, however, a win and a six-point margin would likely have guaranteed their place in the playoffs.

With chasers Leigh Leopards and fellow top six sides Catalans and Salford in action on day two of Magic Weekend, the result could still get worse for Paul Wellens’ side who face a tough test against Hull KR next weekend.

Despite the defeat, Paul Wellens has made the staunch statement that nothing changes for his side and Old Trafford is still ‘the plan’.

St Helens still aiming for Old Trafford despite playoff doubts

The St Helens boss made those comments on Sky Sports when he was interviewed post-match. Asked about the club’s prospects of making it to the Grand Final, Wellens confirmed: “That’s still the plan.

“Our ambitions haven’t changed. We’re doing it tough at the moment, but we feel confident that if we stick together and keep working out we can pick up enough wins.

“Obviously over the next 4, 5, 6 weeks there’s potential for players to return. As we’ve seen in the past that may not be the case. We just keep going week to week but our ambitions haven’t changed.”

St Helens had snapped their five-game losing streak and put together back-to-back wins heading into Magic Weekend but the test against rivals Wigan Warriors was too much, particularly with such a heavily-rotated spine which is something Paul Wellens noted.

He explained: “It was tough circumstances. Obviously, we’re really disappointed because we lost a big game but I just thought with opportunities few and far between, when we did get them, we failed to take them so Wigan always had that comfortable two-score lead.

“I’ve been disappointed with a couple of tries that we conceded. I think we can handle that a little bit better but what I can’t fault is the players’ efforts but we learn from the experience.”

St Helens were missing Jack Welsby, Lewis Dodd, Daryl Clark and Morgan Smithies from their spine whilst Mark Percival was also a major injury blow, however, Wellens argued that his side will need to learn to adjust without their stars if they’re to make the playoffs.

“Our effort was there but we lacked smarts at certain points in the game today. Maybe that’s understandable because we have got a halves combination thrown together at the last minute but even so, there’s a number of circumstances out there which we’ll need to handle better moving forward if we want to win the number of games required to finish in the playoffs.”