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St Helens boss ‘disappointed’ after huge pre-season loss to Salford Red Devils

St Helens Paul Wellens

There are “quite clearly things to work on” according to St Helens boss Paul Wellens following the club’s pre-season loss to Salford Red Devils, although Wellens has picked out the exploits of one new signing as a key positive.

St Helens hosted Salford Red Devils in Morgan Knowles’ testimonial game but the celebrations of the Cumbrian’s career were ruined somewhat as Salford ran out 40-12 victors.

It’s the only pre-season fixture that the Red Vee will play with their sole game between now and the start of Super League campaign coming in Round Three of the Challenge Cup when they will face amateur side West Hull.

As such, there is still plenty to work on for Paul Wellens’ side, something he conceded as he spoke to club media explaining: “Little bits were good at times. Quite clearly there are some things that we need to work on, on both sides of the ball.

“When you come into your first pre-season game you’re not expecting perfection although I was disappointed particularly with the twenty-minute period before halftime and twenty minutes after.

“I thought we were lacking some things there that should be fundamentals but I have just stressed to the group that we need to learn from that experience. It gives us all a reminder of where we’re at and what we need to work on.”

St Helens 12-40 Salford Red Devils

Wellens named a relatively strong side although he left out almost all of the players who featured in the internationals at the end of the season, barring the man of the moment Morgan Knowles.

Despite that, Knowles played just 20 minutes of the game with Wellens utilising his bench full of young talents to rotate with the first-team players who had started the game.

Salford had also named a strong side and they started quickly with Ryan Brierley scoring the opener after just ten minutes, although the first 20 minutes were among the most competitive of the match as both sides utilised their starting thirteen.

The intensity dropped for St Helens after the 20-minute mark, something Wellens conceded, and from then Salford started to rack up the points with Deon Cross and Kai Morgan both scoring before halftime to make it 18-0.

Saints made wholesale halftime changes but Salford’s conquest continued as Hankinson and Brierley added two more tries to make it 30-0 by 52 minutes.

Young full-back Harry Robertson struck back to score the Saints’ first try of the pre-season and James Bell then added another on the hour mark.

Salford would add two more with Kai Morgan and Chris Hankinson bagging braces as the game wound up as a 40-12 defeat for St Helens.

Saints “quite clearly have some things to work on” claims Wellens

Paul Wellens St Helens

Credit: Paul Currie/SWpix.com

Well aware that it is his side’s only pre-season game, Wellens urged fans not to think that the work is done now ahead of the Super League season. He also argued that St Helens are just a “few small details” from where they need to be.

He stated: “Please don’t think that pre-season is over because we’ve played a game. Quite clearly we have some things to work on and I’m excited about finding and making those improvements.

“Having not watched the game back, you may feel you’ve got a lot to work on but I feel there are a few small details that are the key to getting us where we need to be.”

On where Salford won the game, he highlighted Saints’ inability to control the ruck speed as a fatal flaw – something he conceded that his side must now ‘join in’ on to avoid being exploited in that way.

“They worked really hard to slow the ruck down and we probably allowed it to be too quick for them,” he argued.

“We know the way the game has gone in the last few years – the rucks have got slower and that has been allowed, so our lesson is either join in or be on the receiving end.”

It wasn’t all negative though as Wellens assessed the performance of one of the club’s three NRL signings, labelling Tristan Sailor a “dangerous player” and someone that St Helens must orchestrate their attack around.

Wellens explained: “I think he showed in glimpses what he is capable of. One of his main assets is his running game. He is hard to handle when he runs the ball, so the more he can do that, the better.

“What we’ve got to do as a team is work hard to give him more of those opportunities because quite clearly he’s a dangerous player when he’s on the front foot.”

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. jaybs

    January 26, 2025 at 10:43 am

    This is not what Loyal Fans, PAID to watch! and to say even if it had not Morgan’s Testimonial, he would not have played.

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