Why St Helens must beat Hull KR as torrid record looms large

St Helens travel to face Hull KR on Friday night with the game being a prime opportunity for the Red Vee to finally turn a corner.

Despite how tough it will be to win away from home against Super League leaders Hull KR, it really is a game that St Helens need to win if they’re to finally end the current cycle that they’re in.

The cycle in question appears to be one whereby they lose against big teams, the pressure and fan criticism mounts, they relieve that pressure with wins over weaker teams, and then a clash against a big team arrives again.

That’s where St Helens are right now, a win away from breaking the cycle or a loss away from restarting it, and recent history tells us that they’re up against it versus Hull KR.

Since Round Six in 2024 when they managed to beat Wigan Warriors on Good Friday, St Helens have simply not turned up in big matches. Their record against the teams who finished in the top four from 2024 (Wigan Warriors, Hull KR, Warrington Wolves and Leigh Leopards) sits at an astonishing zero wins from 15.

Prior to their two recent wins over Catalans Dragons and Huddersfield Giants, the Red Vee had a record of nine wins from their last 24 Super League games.

St Helens need Hull KR statement win to avoid false dawn

Pressure was mounting heading into the game against Catalans and the Saints players turned up, as they did against Huddersfield the week after, but scoring 86 points against two struggling sides could prove to be yet another false dawn unless they build on it at Craven Park on Friday.

The task of beating Hull KR at Craven Park is no mean feat with just Wigan Warriors, Catalans Dragons and Warrington Wolves doing it in the past two years. However, with one eye potentially on the Challenge Cup Final, Saints need to seize this opportunity.

Just as Hull KR need to win at Wembley to get the monkey off their back about a lack of silverware, Saints need to win at Craven Park to put an end to this run and actually inspire hope among their fans, as opposed to the division which has been led by vitriol from so-called ‘fans’ on social media.

CEO Mike Rush recently admitted that that whilst the club cannot let outside noise “dictate everything”, they “can’t ignore” it. Heading into that Catalans game, the outside noise was deafening about the pressure on Paul Wellens, something he conceded himself.

Speaking to the media, Wellens said: “We were under some pretty heavy pressure a few weeks ago.

“A lot of our leaders, and Alex (Walmsley) being one of them, who’ve been around the club and been around this team, where it’s been successful over a prolonged period, have really stepped up.”

Walmsley and co may need to do the same again on Friday night otherwise the narrative of not beating the big sides will continue and that ‘outside noise’ will have almost two weeks to fester ahead of a game against Salford.

That’s a match where Saints would almost certainly win but questions about the big games would arise again ahead of Leeds Rhinos’ visit to the Totally Wicked Stadium. Paul Wellens’ side can put all doubt to one side and snap that cycle with a season-defining win at Craven Park on Friday night.

⏭ Robins 🆚 Saints

A big battle awaits on Friday night in East Hull.
Let’s have it! ⚔

Be in that number
ℹ https://t.co/Sxs1veYOpO#COYS pic.twitter.com/ruh51pbAHS

— St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) May 25, 2025