St Helens’ injury crisis deepens as latest win takes toll

St Helens recorded a third straight victory, but they are feeling the repercussions of it after another three injuries in their late win over Bradford Bulls.

Saints won 26-22 against the 12-man Bulls, who had former St Helens player Elliot Peposhi sent off for a high tackle on George Delaney, who subsequently failed a HIA. That will rule him out of next week’s Challenge Cup game with Castleford Tigers, but furthermore they have potentially suffered two further long-term injuries.

Jacob Host went off after appearing to potentially dislocate his knee, which could result in a long period on the sidelines. Nene Macdonald was also withdrawn, which comes off the back of an ongoing quad problem.

“We’re doing it tough at the minute,” head coach Paul Rowley said on Sky Sports. “There’s some busted bodies and we got some more today, when it rains it pours.

“It’ll be challenging. We will see what next week brings and we’ll put some pieces in the jigsaw and see if we can put a team together.”

“I’ve got to say, we’re also showing a lot of spirit as well. We go from top to bottom and we’ve starting to looking at [salary] cap and expensive players and the top half are probably missing at the minute.

“To have such sprit and commitment, it’s showing some really good signs for the team. It’s going to be a challenge, as we know, for the next couple of months, but if we’re there or thereabouts, all our boys will come back, so we always look on the positive side.”

In better news for Saints, Rowley confirmed that both Mark Percival and Jake Wingfield should be back in contention for the Challenge Cup next week, but they still remain without key personnel in Jack Welsby, Alex Walmsley, Matty Lees and Jonny Lomax.