It is difficult to gauge what fortune may hold for any side on the evidence of the first game of a new season and here the fans of St Helens and Leeds watching the opening fixture will have learned little as to what the next eight months have in store.
Early-season games are so often decided by resilience and defensive efforts and, to that end, this was a heartening night’s work for two teams who will both have Grand Final aspirations after trophyless campaigns last year.
Yes, there is work to be done with ball in hand for both – but for any side to be on top of their attacking game in the opening month, let alone on the opening night, is nigh-on impossible.
That Leeds’ last two campaigns offered the complete contrast of a treble in one and a relegation battle in the other perhaps best illustrates the opening night is no yardstick to measure a side’s hopes. But, right now, that is all we have – so what did we learn about Leeds and St Helens?
From Leeds’ perspective, there were comforting factors even in defeat. They look far better defensively than the side who collapsed on more than one occasion last year during the defence of their Super League title. “I thought it was a strong performance for the first game of the year,” said the Leeds coach, Brian McDermott. “You’ve got a few objectives and staying in the game and strong defensive efforts are two of them.”
McDermott pointed to the kicking game of Leeds’ opponents as the difference. Without the influence and guile of his captain, Danny McGuire, the Rhinos’ attack did not possess enough cutting edge to secure victory – and the Saints did about enough in reply to capitalise.
They too were below par in attack and devoid of a key pivot in the half-back Matty Smith, who will miss several months of the season owing to a broken leg. His replacement, Danny Richardson, showed glimpses of promise alongside Théo Fages in the halves but this was a match in which defensive supremacy proved telling for Keiron Cunningham’s men.
On a number of occasions Cunningham has talked up the potential of his squad and while there is undoubted improvement to come, this was a solid, if unspectacular start, for the Saints. “The resilience of the players was second to none,” he said. “I’ve spoken about the unity we have and this is the best squad in terms of that. It wasn’t pretty but, boy, we worked exceptionally hard.”
Cunningham is right. It certainly was not pretty but in terms of the spectacle expected from an opening fixture, it was far from the worst game the Super League has produced.
Both sides’ defensive efforts cancelled each other out in the opening quarter but, as the Saints began to turn the ball over inside their own half, Leeds eventually took advantage when Joel Moon scythed through the defence to touch down.
Leeds could, and perhaps should, have extended their lead as half-time approached, but they were guilty of spurning a number of golden opportunities that came their way courtesy of more lacklustre handling from St Helens.
“I was a little bit disappointed with aspects of the first half,” Cunningham said and it was not hard to see where he was pointing the finger. Saints’ attack was noticeably off the boil in the opening 40 minutes but shortly after half-time, Fages produced an individual moment of brilliance to cut through and, amazingly, Mark Percival’s conversion to make it 6-4 was the final scoring act of the match.
There were brief moments of interest thereafter though. Tommy Makinson denied Liam Sutcliffe with a superb covering tackle before his opposite number, Ashton Golding, who McDermott described as “outstanding”, did the same soon after as the Saints broke downfield.
However, St Helens ultimately held on for the two points which they would have gladly settled for before the kick-off – even if the match itself will not take up too much room on the end-of-season DVD.
St Helens Lomax; Makinson, Morgan, Percival, Swift; Fages, Richardson; Amor, Lee, Douglas, Greenwood, Peyroux, Wilkin. Interchange Walmsley, Roby, Thompson, Knowles.
Leeds Golding; Briscoe, Watkins, Moon, Hall; Sutcliffe, Burrow; Garbutt, Parcell, Cuthbertson, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Singleton. Interchange Ward, Keinhorst, Mullally, Baldwinson.
Referee P Bentham.
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