Paul Wellens’ passionate response to spine woes as St Helens’ ability to win big games defended

St Helens coach Paul Wellens cut a frustrated but passionate figure on Friday evening after sitting down with the media following their defeat to Wigan Warriors.

The Saints began with great promise in the opening exchanges at the Totally Wicked Stadium but were ultimately well-beaten, losing 18-4 to leave them well adrift in the race for the top two.

They are now starting down a fifth-placed finish barring any major shocks in the final fortnight of the regular season – but Wellens came out swinging post-match in a defiant show of belief for his team.

Here is everything he said..

“It’s a frustrating evening because the way we started the game was really good. We lined up differently and had to do things differently. I thought it worked well early on.

“But what hurt us tonight was a lack of smarts. We’re trying our hardest to execute the game-plan but we do things in and around that which put us under immense pressure and limit what we practice. We delivered on 90% of what we spoke about during the week. But that final 10% is hurting us and when you play these teams, they’re not going to give us that 10%.”

What went wrong?

“Basically: fundamental errors. We’re not quite sticking to what we spoke about in the week. It doesn’t hurt you in some games but it hurts you in games like tonight. Too many times we go off-script and we’ve got to be harder on ourselves both individually and collectively. I don’t believe we’re playing poorly, but certain things within our game are making us look poor.”

On the Jack Welsby decision..

“I know that was a big call today. A big call that I will take responsibility for because it was my decision. It was my gut feel the moment we knew Morgan Knowles wasn’t playing because Jack could influence it in a different way.

“Because you’ve lost the game it may look like a poor decision but I asked Jack on Monday and he didn’t hesitate. Even though he’s playing in a position that’s largely unfamiliar to him.

“It shows we can present a little bit differently sometimes. Rest assured, Morgan Knowles is going to be in the team next week. But sometimes we can present differently and maybe despite the disappointment of the result and not getting a few things right, we’ve found something we can do things differently.

“I thought our halves and spine really tried their best to execute the game-plan. The stuff in and around that is the things that hurt us.”

Was Welsby injured or was his withdrawal midway through the game tactical?

“We need him to influence the game at the start and the back end, so we took an opportunity to let him fill his lungs up.”

Does he believe St Helens can win a game against a title contender?

“Absolutely I do. We’ve made rapid improvements in the last few months. People say you can’t beat the top teams but it was’t long ago we went to Headingley and won at Leeds. I would consider them a big team given what they’ve done since. I understand the narrative of you can’t beat Hull KR and Wigan, but that’s got to change at some point.”

Do the Saints need to settle on a spine at some stage?

“My gut feel would be you need to settle on something. The landscape changes so quickly in professional sport. You do have to have a bit of flexibility and we’ve worked hard on it. I’ve a group of players willing to do their best for the team but I take your point that approaching the play-offs, getting some consistency may help us.”