Saints spine conundrum, Salford injuries and St Helens v Salford Red Devils talking points

Sunday’s Super League instalment saw St Helens host Salford Red Devils to finish up round 16.

For Salford fans, it was yet another heavy defeat, with Saints ending up with a 58-0 win, a victory that moves them to just one point off the top four.

Here’s what happened in the match between St Helens and Salford Red Devils.

St Helens v Salford Red Devils talking points

Saints getting the job done

Was it Saints’ best performance of the season so far? No, but they did what they needed to. Unfortunately, this season, a match against Salford seems to be about boosting your points difference for most of the top sides and scoring 58 points alongside a duck egg for the opposition is a great way to do that. It was a ruthless performance against a struggling side.

Following last week’s impressive performance against Leeds, Saints are heading into the second half of the season in some decent form. The race for the top four is heating up, with Leeds Rhinos and Leigh Leopards also picking up plenty of points.

Salford injury woes

As if it can’t get any worse this season, Salford could have some injury concerns. Jonny Vaughan went off early in the first half with a nasty-looking shoulder injury, and Matty Foster passed his HIA but didn’t return to the action. Chris Hill also suffered a HIA, but did pass it and returned to the field.

St Helens spine conundrum

It was expected that George Whitby would return to the starting line-up, but he was left as the 18th man. The young half didn’t feature last week because of HIA protocols, but was ready to go for this match. However, coach Paul Wellens decided to stick with Moses Mbye and Jonny Lomax in the halves.

Wellens said post-match that it was purely a selection choice, but should he return when St Helens travel to Hull FC next Saturday afternoon, you’d assume that Mbye would drop to the bench and spell with Daryl Clark at hooker.

Salford execution lacking due to multiple squad changes

Conceding only four tries in the first half shows that Salford have some fight in them. However, by chopping and changing the squad every week, there’s very little organisation, especially in attack. This week saw Jayden Nikorima and Danny Richardson in the halves with Ryan Brierley at fullback, but they’ve had just one week to form combinations. With injuries and the salary cap to contend with, it’s meant multiple changes to the starting line-up nearly every week.

On paper, it wasn’t a bad Salford squad, with more experience than they’ve been able to select for most of the season. However, with new loanee players in and out of the squad constantly, they’re rarely able to produce any kind of consistency, whether that’s on their teamsheets or on the pitch.

A super @Saints1890 win in Round 16 🙌#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/WjI67zy7rf

— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) June 29, 2025