St Helens are sweating on the fitness of two key backs who missed yesterday’s 24-16 defeat at Leeds Rhinos.
Saints coach Paul Rowley admitted his side suffered some “last-minute disruption” with three-quarters Deon Cross and Lewis Murphy both being ruled out through injury and winger Owen Dagnall taken ill on the afternoon of the match.
“Deon has a bicep rupture, and [Murphy] has an issue with the elbow he injured previously,” Rowley confirmed, but he stopped short of ruling Cross out for a long spell.
“Biceps ruptures can be short- or long-term so we will see how he responds,” he added. “I’m not sure yet [how long he’ll be missing].”
The coach admitted his team picked up some “bumps and bruises” in what was a physical clash against Leeds.
Saints’ next game is another four-pointer, at Warrington Wolves next Thursday, and Rowley added: “I am hoping we have come through okay.
“When we have a training session in two or three days we probably won’t see all those boys out running, but by the time the next game comes I would hope they are all available for selection.”
With Murphy and Dagnall unavailable, Tristan Sailor – who had played full-back in Saints’ previous game at Castleford Tigers – switched to the left-wing.
He scored a try and kicked two goals, and Rowley said: “Tristan was great in two respects. One, his attitude towards hearing the news at lunchtime he was playing on the wing and two, how he applied himself.
“He has been fantastic, I can’t speak highly enough of him.”
Saints finished the game a man down after forward David Klemmer was sin-binned with the scores level. Rhinos kicked the subsequent penalty and added a converted try against 12 players.
“I don’t think the context of the game required a yellow at that point,” Rowley said.
“[We got] two six-agains, a penalty and a [Rhinos] yellow card for us in the last three minutes, that was wonderful, we really appreciate it.”
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