St Helens boss delivers injury update on duo following Good Friday triumph over Wigan Warriors
St Helens' Mark Percival (left) & Joe Batchelor (right) were both forced off for HIA's during the Good Friday victory against Wigan Warriors
St Helens await to see the extent of Mark Percival’s knock to the head in the victory over Wigan Warriors on Good Friday, but Paul Wellens has confirmed that Joe Batchelor has had the all-clear after his HIA.
Both players were forced off for head assessments during the second half of the Good Friday triumph at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
Having come on as an interchange in place of Morgan Knowles only three minutes prior, Batchelor was the first to be taken from the field following a collision with 52 minutes of the contest played.
And 11 minutes later, team-mate Percival followed him off, requiring an assessment having been the man on the end of the high tackle which saw Wigan forward Liam Byrne shown a straight red card by referee Chris Kendall.
Neither Batchelor or Percival returned to the field in the time that remained having been checked over by Saints‘ medical team, with boss Wellens providing an update on both in his post-match press conference.
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St Helens boss delivers injury update on duo following Good Friday triumph over Wigan Warriors
The Red V’s chief had seen his side go on to secure a 12-4 win thanks to tries from Tommy Makinson & Konrad Hurrell late on, taking them top of the Super League table and becoming the first team to get the better of their bitter rivals since last July in the process.
While in an understandably otherwise jubilant mood, Wellens‘ injury update was a contrasting one. He said: “Mark Percival we’re going to need to get checked out.
“I’ve not spoken to the doctors yet, but he obviously took a bit of a head knock there (from Byrne).
“Joe Batchelor was fine, he was ready to come back on the field.
“We didn’t quite get that done in time, which is frustrating because we ended up losing an interchange there, which is something we need to tidy up on as staff.
“He will be good to go next week though.”
Should Percival be ruled out of next week’s clash with Catalans Dragons over in Perpignan, it would add to what has been a stop-start campaign so far for the centre.
Against Wigan, he was making his return from suspension having sat out the previous two games following his red card in Saints’ defeat at home against Salford Red Devils at the beginning of this month.