Paul Wellens confirms injury blow plus update on Mark Percival
Photo by Steve Flynn/News Images.
Paul Wellens has confirmed an injury blow to outside-back Ben Davies following St Helens’ 20-12 victory over Hull at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
Davies, 22, scored the first try of the Super League clash just before half-time, as well as producing a try-saving tackle on Hull winger Adam Swift.
Wellens was full of praise for the centre following the fixture, having received around 15 stitches at half-time following a head knock in the tackle against Swift.
He was later on crunches following the game, having been forced from action through further injury in the second half.
Paul Wellens provides Davies update
“Ben has gone for a scan and has got ankle ligament damage,” Wellens said.
“He’s going to be five or six weeks, which is unfortunate for Ben.
“I thought he had a fantastic game the other night. He really toughed it out in difficult circumstances.
“It’s a blow for Ben, but we have every confidence that he’ll work hard to get himself back fully fit.”
Meanwhile, centre Mark Percival was a late withdrawal from the match and was replaced by winger Tee Ritson at the Totally Wicked Stadium. The late change saw Tommy Makinson move to the centres, with Ritson and Jon Bennison on the wings.
Wellens confirmed Percival’s situation during his pre-match press conference ahead of their trip to Huddersfield.
“We’re just monitoring Mark at the minute,” he explained.
“He’s got a bit of a tight calf that he picked up in the warm-up. It’s nothing too serious, it may be a case where he doesn’t play this week but we’re not ruling that out yet.
“We’re going to give him every opportunity to make the game on Thursday, should that not be the case, he’ll almost certainly play the week after.”
Wellens also reported no further major injury concerns following the hard-fought victory. St Helens travel to the John Smith’s Stadium on Thursday, live on Sky Sports.
He continued: “There was a few bumps and bruises and a few niggles here and there which you’d expect of a game like that.
“Players have had the weekend to recover now and have come in on Monday feeling a lot better than they did a couple of days ago.”
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