It was always going to take a minor miracle for St Helens to surrender their position in the final weeks of the season, but with a play-off spot now secured following a ninth win in ten games, a glance at the fixture list offers hope yet that a home semi-final in the play-offs and a top-two finish may still not be beyond them in 2016.
When they were struggling, midway through this year, Saints fans would have been forgiven for being happy just to make the top four and at times, even that had looked beyond Keiron Cunningham’s side.
But just as they have done so many times in the past, the Saints are peaking at the right time. They have the two supposed weakest teams in the Super 8s in Wakefield and Widnes left to play, while the other semi-finalists – Wigan, Warrington and Hull FC – all still have to play each other in the final three weeks.
That guarantees there will be points dropped in and around Saints, leaving the door ajar for Cunningham’s men to strike: even if they were not at their best here. They ran in seven tries and 40 points against an injury-hit Castleford side with little to play for - but you suspect there is still more to come as the intensity rises and the play-offs approach. “It’s not a bad spot to be in,” said Cunningham. “We’re not talking about the top two or anything yet; there’s a lot of points still to be played for and a lot of games to play.”
This has been a long, arduous season for the Tigers – and the fact they may yet finish fifth despite suffering so many injuries is a testimony to the impressive work done by Daryl Powell. Without a dozen first-team regulars due to injury, they put up a commendable effort all night, and they actually led on two separate occasions in the first half to forge a 10-6 advantage. But with three teenagers on their bench – as well as the winger, Paddy Flynn, who actually played in the forwards – the balance of the contest began to turn as the interchanges came into play. “I thought in a lot of ways it was an awesome effort from us,” said the Castleford coach, Daryl Powell. “We started well but maintaining that was tough with everything going on. We could have done with one less try against us at half-time really.”
An eight-minute period towards the end of the first half proved to be the difference, as tries from Morgan Knowles, Kyle Amor and Luke Thompson - as well as Rangi Chase being sent to the sin-bin - completely took the game away from Castleford as Saints took control of the game to lead 24-10 at the break.
To their credit, Castleford held out for the opening 20 minutes of the second half, but as it wore on and fatigue began to set in again, they were exposed once more in defence with three more Saints tries in the final quarter.
Both Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Adam Swift ensured the Saints racked up the necessary points to move above Wigan on points difference into third, and although the Tigers got a deserved try for their efforts late on when Will Maher touched down, the Saints had the final say when Alex Walmsley charged over to keep their hopes of a home semi-final very much alive.
St Helens Lomax; Owens, Peyroux, Fleming, Swift; Turner, Walsh; Walmsley, Roby, Richards, Wilkin, Greenwood, McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Interchange Amor, Vea, Thompson, Knowles.
Tries Fleming, Knowles, Amor, Thompson, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Swift, Walmsley. Goals Walsh 5, Owens.
Castleford Dorn; Hampshire, Crooks, Minikin, Solomona; Chase, Gale; Cook, McShane, Patrick, Webster, Moors, Milner. Interchange Maher, Fitzsimons, Flynn, Douglas.
Tries Dorn, Hampshire, Maher. Goals Gale 2. Sin-bin Chase (35).
Referee J Smith. Attendance 9,448.
