The good, the bad & the ugly: Saints eggsellent, Hull KR and London unhappy bunnies, Davies nightmare

Drew Darbyshire

Photo courtesy of Richard Long

The Easter weekend in rugby league always provides us with plenty of entertainment, whether that be good or bad.

The good

How much of a joy to watch are St Helens this season? They were great last season – don’t get me wrong – but they have gone into an even higher gear in 2019. They are absolutely superb in both attack and defence.

They tasted derby delight on Good Friday as they eased past old rivals Wigan 36-10 at the DW Stadium, while they hammered Hull FC 62-16 at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Easter Monday.

Saints coach Justin Holbrook couldn’t have dreamt for a better Easter weekend if he tried. His side sit top of the Super League table, having won 11 games out of 12 so far and are four points above second-placed Warrington.

They are Betfred’s favourites to win the League Leaders’ Shield, Super League Grand Final and Challenge Cup this year and it’s not hard to see why. They don’t have any weaknesses.

It’s also been a great weekend for Catalans Dragons, who were the only other team to win both games over Easter following 39-6 and 37-16 wins over London Broncos and Castleford Tigers respectively.

The bad

While it was an Easter to remember for the Saints faithful, it was definitely an Easter to forget for supports of Hull Kingston Rovers and London Broncos.

The Robins were pumped by neighbours Hull FC 56-12 at the KCOM Stadium on Friday, and then lost 54-6 at home to Warrington Wolves on Monday. To put it into context, they only scored 18 points and conceded a whopping 110 over the course of two matches. It’s been a miserable weekend for Hull KR.

As for the Broncos, they lost 39-6 at home to Catalans on Thursday and fell short to a 24-19 defeat against Huddersfield Giants at the John Smith’s Stadium. London were underdogs for both games, but it’s still not been a happy Easter for the capital club.

Hull KR and London both need to pick up wins quick in the bid to avoid the drop from Super League. Tim Sheens’ Robins are in 10th position, while Danny Ward’s Broncos are rock bottom.

The ugly

We’ve already lost the likes of Tom Johnstone, Kevin Brown, Luke Gale and Matty Dawson-Jones to season-ending injuries this year and on Good Friday, we witnessed Tom Davies suffer a horror injury in the Wigan-St Helens derby.

The England Knights international sustained a disclosed and broken ankle in the first half of the traditional derby and was forced to leave the field on a stretcher and happy gas, before being taken to hospital.

Davies, who went from being a trialist in the Under-19s to scoring in a Grand Final in just three years, will not feature against for Adrian Lam’s side in 2019. Lam initially thought he would only be without his hard-working winger for three months, but scans have revealed he will remain sidelined until the New Year.

It’s a bitter blow for Wigan and for Davies, who was Super League’s second highest metre maker in 2018 and would have been hoping to be selected for the England Knights again this autumn. Let’s hope he has a speedy recovery because he is an incredibly bright talent.