St Helens had to earn victory over Bradford Bulls the hard way, as they suffered two yellow cards and three injuries across the 80 minutes.
Recording a 26-22 win, their first point of adversity saw David Klemmer sent to the sin bin for an illegal challenge on Andy Ackers. He was sent for 10 minutes, and in that time Bradford capitalised – Ethan Ryan scored in the left corner to take the lead.
On 25 minutes, Nene MacDonald had to leave the field through injury, and didn’t return. The PNG international was replaced by Harry Robertson in a like-for-like switch, but concern will be with the ex-Salford man after a run of niggles over the previous weeks.
In the second half, George Delaney was taken for a HIA after copping a high shot from Bulls’ Eliot Peposhi. The young forward was shown a red card for the challenge, meaning Saints got to bring in their 18th man, Owen Dagnall, though he didn’t take to the field.
Shortly after, Jacob Host looked to be in major discomfort, and was helped from the field by the physios after injury to his right knee. Host becomes the latest member of the forward pack to succumb to injury, adding to the likes of Alex Walmsley and Matty Lees.
Finally, on 63 minutes, Joe Shorrocks saw yellow for an illegal challenge where he entered the tackle at the third man, and targeted the legs with no intent to wrap. That saw him go for a breather, but controversy then aired when he returned to the pitch earlier than expected. There was around 95 seconds left of Shorrocks’ sin bin, but the loose forward entered the field earlier and it was not picked up by neither referee nor video ref.
Despite all that, Paul Rowley’s side went on to win the game, as Deon Cross’ try secured the two points for the home team. Rowley was left impressed with his side’s determination to snatch back the lead and claim the victory.
Speaking post-match, the boss was asked how his side managed to overcome that adversity and still win, to which he replied: “A bit like we’ve won all our games up to now.
“I think we’ve got a bit of character in the team, so that’s good to see. I think I mentioned it in the game against Leigh that we all think that’s a non-negotiable, but it’s not always evident in all teams.
“…We’re scoring some tries and digging deep to get ourselves, I don’t want to call it out of jail, because we’re earning everything as well.”
St Helens boss gives injury update
On the three blows, Rowley provided the latest, and there could be some good news on Delaney, despite him initially failing his head injury assessment.
“It’s a bit of a funny one that [Delaney]. We’ll have to look at that because he’s totally fine and was totally fine, but he certainly got a clop around the head. If it remains as is, then he’ll be missing next week.”
On Host, who was one of Saints’ off-season recruits for 2026, the boss revealed: “He’ll be a broken leg, I think. I think he’s got a broken leg.”
There is also some hope for MacDonald, despite the powerful outside back not returning in the contest, with Rowley saying to the St Helens Star: “I don’t think Nene’s gone; he’s structurally good.
“It’s more troublesome and unfortunately for him, every time he gets on, he tends to bang it early. If he got a bit more luck, he could see a game through but we’re not getting any of that at the minute.
“So maybe next week’s a week off. We’ll see what the outcome is.”
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