St Helens left worrying over potential blows ahead of new season

St Helens boss Paul Wellens has revealed some injury concerns ahead of Round One as the club prepare for their opening clash against London Broncos.

This comes after the Saints defeated Salford Red Devils in a pre-season friendly. After the game, Paul Wellens gave an update on Matty Lees and Morgan Knowles on Saints TV:

“Both Matty Lees and Morgan Knowles have had disrupted pre-seasons with different injuries but they are both back now training with the squad fully but we felt this week came a bit too soon for them both.

“We are hoping that they’ll be fit for Round One but we are not going to rush that any decision.”

He also explained why Mark Percival didn’t play:

“Mark Percival was in line to play today but in training yesterday morning he felt his calf tightening up a bit.

“So, as a coach you have a decision to make so we got him scanned as a precaution but it is not looking too serious at this moment and there are no major concerns there, but we just didn’t want to take a risk in this game and then give ourselves a problem moving forward.”

St Helens claim statement win

St Helens laid down a marker against Salford Red Devils at the Totally Wicked Stadium. The hosts were first on the board when Jack Welsby pounced on a bobbling kick ahead of the Salford skipper, Kallum Watkins. Tommy Makinson with his first of four conversions in the first-half.

Following a string of penalties, King Vuniyayawa was shown an early yellow card from referee, Liam Moore and Salford were forced back onto their own line.

Some good defence won back possession, but James Batchelor made an interception on halfway and had Daryl Clark in support to send the hooker underneath the sticks.

It was a quick-fire double for Saints, with George Delaney the man this time to break the line. Shrugging off a chasing Hankinson, the prop flicked an offload to Welsby, who scored his second of the afternoon.

Vuniyayawa returned to the field on 19 minutes, as Salford tried to rebuild.

New Saints captain, Jonny Lomax was at the heart of the next try, executing a neat cut-out ball to send Makinson strolling into the right corner.

Moses Mbye – who replaced Clark midway through the half – stabbed a grubber kick five minutes later, which ricocheted into the path of Batchelor.

The Red Devils returned for the second forty on the front foot and were soon on the board via the brilliance of Tim Lafai. The Samoan broke the line, charged through and found the supporting Foster to score his first in Salford colours.

A six-again allowed Saints to gain territory a few minutes later and Mbye’s pass set Matt Whitley away for a debut try.

That try signalled a raft of Salford changes, with Stuart Wilkinson’s Reserves handed the opportunity to gain valuable minutes on the field.

Kai Morgan – one of a few first grade players who remained in the action- made a nice break up the right, but was thwarted by the scrambling Sam Royle.

From a Saints scrum just a set later, Dayon Sambou spotted a gap on the right edge to charge 70 metres and score a breakaway try.

That was one of three tries in quick succession for the hosts, with a Ben Davies tip the source of one try for Jonny Vaughan to slide over.

Owen Dagnall was the next on the board when a scramble from a Saints break was fumbled by a Salford player – confirmed by the video referee.