St Helens coach provides Deon Cross and Lewis Murphy injury updates
St Helens head coach Paul Rowley
St Helens coach Paul Rowley has confirmed outside backs Deon Cross and Lewis Murphy have picked up injuries: but has stopped short of confirming they are long-term lay-offs.
The pair were notable absentees from the Saints’ 17 that lost to Leeds Rhinos on Thursday evening, as Rowley’s men missed the opportunity to go top of the Super League at the expense of the Rhinos.
Rowley was forced to name a reshuffled backline with Tristan Sailor on the wing after Owen Dagnall was taken ill on Thursday lunchtime, and the Saints just fell short at a ground they have not previously lost at since 2017.
And Rowley confirmed post-match that Cross and Murphy both have injuries to their bicep and elbow respectively – but he did not explain how long they would be out for.
“Deon has a bicep rupture and Murph has got an issue with the elbow,” Rowley said.
When asked if Cross’ situation was therefore a bad one, Rowley responded: “Not necessarily, bicep ruptures can be short-term or long-term we’ll have to see.”
The final stages swung on a pivotal moment when David Klemmer was sin-binned for an off-ball hit on Chris Hankinson, and Rowley did not give much away when asked about whether or not he felt it was the right decision.
He said: “I was down on the touchline and I’m not sure. Did he hit him in the head? I don’t think the context of the game required a yellow at that point but two six agains, a penalty and a yellow card in the last three minutes, that was wonderful, I really appreciate it.”
On his side’s performance, Rowley said: “I liked a lot of what we did. We showed tremendous spirit throughout the game, particularly when we were camped on our own line and it was penalty after penalty.
“It was a team who wanted to work for each other and the badge and that’s good. There’s a way of winning and a way of losing and if you’re going to lose, that’s a better way than our previous.
“We weren’t fazed. We got some disruption last minute but we don’t get rattled by things like that.”
