St Helens head coach Paul Rowley has confirmed that the club look to have picked up two more long-term injuries in their Challenge Cup win over Catalans Dragons.
The Red Vee won 36-4 in a dominant and controlled performance that hardly saw Catalans land a blow until their late consolation try through Solomona Faataape.
Whilst Saints will now march on to the semi-finals of the competition, they will do so without Jake Wingfield and Lewis Murphy, who both left the field in the first-half with concerning injuries.
Speaking post-match on Super League+ coverage, Paul Rowley revealed the early suspicions were an ACL injury for Wingfield and a dislocated shoulder for Murphy, the former of which could be season-ending if torn and the latter of which is likely a few months on the sidelines.
Rowley did offer fans some hope by confirming that the club expect ‘two or three’ back for next week’s game against Hull FC.
“Wingy looks like an ACL and Murphy looks like a dislocated elbow, so they’re long-termers again,” Rowley explained post-match, before revealing the extent of the injury crisis.
“I think we’re clocking up to about 15 now, and they’re not academy lads or reserve players, they’re 15 genuine players, but hopefully next week we’ve got two or three coming back, so hopefully our luck changes soon.
“It’s a credit to the boys that they’re sat in that top-five position, sat in the semi-final and done it so tough, so I’m really proud of them.”
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St Helens boss hails professional performance
Despite winning with such ease, Rowley admitted that he had been nervous pre-match after the come-down of such an emphatic derby win.
He explained: “I was a bit nervous coming to the game after the high of last week, and even walking to the stadium, everyone wants to talk about last week’s supporters and that, so it was a real test of professionalism and I thought that was a really professional display from the lads, really good.
“I just thought we were disciplined with the ball for most parts and then when we were stressed defensively, it came from probably things where we hurt ourselves, little bits of looseness with the ball.”
Speaking further on the performance, he said: “It wasn’t perfect but it was pretty good. I can’t be disappointed in it and like I say, I’ll go in there and tell them it was a professional display, it was really disciplined and they found a way of finding the emotion again in what we knew would be a different atmosphere to the one last week. I’m really, really pleased, I thought the lads did a great job.”
There was also high praise for the club’s senior players for their efforts in keeping the group together during such a turbulent period with injuries.
Rowley said: “Everybody’s being professional so the standards have been set, the standards are very high and there’s a lot of self-policing going on and there’s some great leadership in there as well, no more so than Daryl (Clark) who obviously picked us up in the 80-minute match, thought he was fantastic today, but Tristan (Sailor), Jacko (Jackson Hastings), Klem (David Klemmer), Al (Alex Walmsley), all the leaders have really stood up and the young boys are responding. Together they’re finding a way, it’s been brilliant.”
🙌 The Saints progress into the Challenge Cup Semi-Finals with a great win over Catalans Dragons!#COYS | @LPL_Airport pic.twitter.com/9Y8JNKaZKZ
— St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) April 10, 2026
