St Helens rocked by fresh injury blow as Paul Wellens hails ‘really good’ performance

St Helens are bracing themselves for another injury to one of their key players: with Daryl Clark suffering a hip problem during Friday night’s loss to Warrington.

Clark left the field and didn’t return during the Wolves’ victory at the Totally Wicked Stadium, and Saints coach Paul Wellens admitted they now face a nervous wait to discover the extent of the problem.

He said: “Daz got a whack on the hip and it was impacting his running. That’s something we’re going to have to get checked out.”

In his place, Moses Mbye came in for his first game of the season: and Wellens admitted he has been thrilled with how the Australian has handled being on the sidelines.

Wellens said: “Moses is a very experienced player who’s played a lot of rugby at a high level. I asked him to play reserves last week but the way he approached that was first-class. I thought he had a strong influence on the game.”

The Saints were beaten 14-12 by the Wolves, with Marc Sneyd’s debut arguably the difference.

But Wellens was adamant post-match and determined to take the positives: insisting his team were ‘really good’.

He said: “We’re disappointed as a team we haven’t got the result but in terms of performance we were really good.

“There were a couple of missed opportunities in the first half, one on the left edge and one on the right. If we nail one of those we apply some scoreboard pressure. But we didn’t, and the big games are defined by small moments. We had a few too many not go our way.

“I’m convinced the supporters can see we’re improving as a team. I really like a lot of what we’re doing at the moment but we’re just not putting the icing on the cake at the moment.

“But it’s all about winning, especially when you represent a club like this. It dictates the mood of the town but from a coaching perspective, I have to assess performance. We were really good.”