St Helens will be without Mark Percival tonight when they take on Leigh Leopards at Leigh Sports Village. The Saints will be looking to go third with a win over the Leopards but they take on Adrian Lam’s side without the experience of Percival.
The centre only made a return to action last week after missing a month of action while recovering from surgery on a bone spur issue. However, despite being named in the 21-man squad, he misses out tonight, with Paul Wellens set to explain why after the game.
The loss of Percival has prompted something of a shake up, with Matt Whitley moving to centre, while Matty Lees has moved from the middle to back-row. That opens the door for George Delaney to start, while Agnatius Paasi is the only recognised prop on the bench.
James Bell has been denied a return to action, too, with the forward named in the St Helens squad for the first time since injuring his foot in April.
Interestingly, Wellens has opted for Jake Wingfield to start at hooker this evening instead of Moses Mbye, who remains at seven after impressing alongside Jonny Lomax of late. Both Daryl Clark and Jake Burns failed HIAs last week at Leeds Rhinos and Wingfield was the man selected to take on the role in their absence at Headingley.
He keeps that spot tonight with Wellens resisting the urge to bring George Whitby back into the line-up. The young half-back is on what can only be seen as a small bench with Jon Bennison also named alongside debutant Leon Cowan.
Lam has made just one change to the Leigh side that beat Hull KR last time out with Ethan O’Neill missing out through injury. Jack Hughes is the man selected to start at second-row then with Andrew Badrock stepping onto the bench.
St Helens v Leigh Leopards teams
St Helens: Tristan Sailor; Kyle Feldt, Harry Robertson, Matt Whitley, Owen Dagnall; Jonny Lomax, Moses Mbye; Alex Walmsley, Jake Wingfield, George Delaney; Matty Lees, Curtis Sironen; Morgan Knowles.
Bench: Agnatius Paasi, George Whitby, Jon Bennison, Leon Cowan.
Leigh Leopards: Bailey Hodgson; Keanan Brand, Tesi Niu, Umyla Hanley, Josh Charnley; Gaz O’Brien, Lachlan Lam, Owen Trout, Edwin Ipape, Joe Ofahengaue; Jack Hughes, Frankie Halton; Isaac Liu
Bench: Andrew Badrock, Alec Tuitavake, Ben McNamara, Matt Davis.
