SAINTS boss Paul Wellens gave his thoughts after seeing his side see off Warrington 16-8 to book a place in Friday’s semi-final against Catalans in Perpignan.
Wellens confirmed that they would fly out on Thursday – after Captain’s Run – to prepare for the game instead of going on the day of the match.
Here is what Wellens had to say about beating Warrington in response to questions from the Star’s Mike Critchley.
MC: Accepting you need to finish chances better you must have been really pleased with the way you opened them up at times to create those opportunities?
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PW: We showed the lads some vision during the week of where we felt we could exploit Warrington and we got some results with that.
Laurent (Frayssinous) pitched that message to the team really well during the week.
But then you’ve got to execute and it’s probably just finding a last pass or maybe just icing an opportunity that’s the improvement area for us. But in terms of creating opportunities, it’s not as big a problem for us.
St Helens Star:
MC: You kicked a lot smarter to the corners or towards a tight touchline to Matty Russell and didn’t really give their runners the chances that they had last time you played them?
PW: That was again another big focus of ours in Russell, Dufty and Ashton, you’ve got probably three of them most dangerous ball carriers in the competition if you give them the ball with time and space, so you have to limit that as much as you can.
Look, they’re always going to have an influence on the game at some point. It’s just how you can limit that. And I thought we did a good job of it today.
MC: Jack gave them some back in return with some of his returns from kicks.
PW: He was excellent. We all know how good of a player Jack Welsby is in terms of the stuff that he can do when he’s attacking the opponents try line, but things like that and things like cover tackles, which for me are a full back’s bread and butter, are things he’s really developing and adding that to his game.
If he continues to do that consistently he becomes a complete player.
St Helens Star:
MC: You’ve not been in Warrington in a playoff game or a knockout game for the last five times. These are tough games, aren’t they?
PW: That message was mentioned for a bit during the week, but since they beat us in the Challenge Cup final we as a team have managed to learn how to win big games.
I think before that we was a team that were trying to find a way to win big games. We know exactly what it looks like now.
So we didn’t really pay much attention to that kind of narrative, I think that narrative is probably more external than internal, but at the same time we knew we had to turn up here today and play tough.St Helens Star:
MC: When you lost Alex Walmsley for 10 minutes – just after they had scored – you really do had to dig deep and carry on digging deep.
PW: This team has shown they can do that. I always remember the Grand Final against Catalans in 2021 when we lost Tommy Makinson to the sin bin – and we had to do it then in a big game and it really gives me confidence as coach to know that when the team does go down to 12 men it’s not an excuse to allow a soft try in.
What they want to do is find that extra effort, work harder for each other and quite often going down to 12 men galvanises the team.
We’ve seen that a number of times this year and it did the same for us today.
St Helens Star:
MC: I know you mentioned him last week, but when your forwards were running out of gas a little bit and getting back behind the line after they kicked early, Mark Percival’s carries were a godsend today, weren’t they?
PW: If you look at him you wouldn’t think he’s going carry the ball and create the havoc he does or the metres that he makes most weeks but he’s someone who certainly plays 10 kilogrammes above his weight.
I don’t know how he does it and I don’t think any anybody else know how he does it but if you talk about bravery as a player, he epitomises that every single time he takes the field.
He’s got unbelievable ability and he’s such an important player for us.
MC: I think Warrington thought there was a possible weak link kicking to Jon Bennison but they didn’t find one today?
PW: If people think kicking to Jon Bennison’s a weak link I’ve yet to see him drop one in training.
He’s kind of Mr Reliable for us and he’s someone who’s shown that in big games and it’s great to see him get his rewards when he plays.
He is someone who when in and around the training group adheres to the standards week-in, week-out, he’s right up there with the best of them.
MC: James Roby really did treat it like a another big game, nothing about himself and no fuss he was substituted. You weren’t tempted to throw him back on for a finale?
PW: I had interchanges in hand and had James Bell down and James Roby there but just thought our middles were getting a bit tired so Belly was the most natural choice.
I would have had no issue with putting James back out there, though he may have had one – but he just defies belief.
There are so many things I could say about him – and I include Louie in this – but there’s a big fanfare in the ground today and a huge amount of love for two blokes and the biggest compliment I could pay them is that they are actually a bit embarrassed by it all.
That just shows how down to earth, how humble they are as people.
But they deserve every superlative, every tap on the back that they get because they are two incredible people who’ve been a massive, massive influence on this on this team and this club.
St Helens Star:
MC: Did that make it a tougher game, did some jitters set in not wanting to lose for Robes or that motivate them?
PW: I think it was a motivator. But you have to manage the emotions there. It’s never just going happen for you. People talk about fairy tales – I just think that that’s nonsense.
Fairy tales don’t exist unless you make them happen.
And that’s by going out on the field and working damn hard like those blokes have done throughout their whole career.
So the challenge for the rest of the team is to approach it in the same way they do. Don’t want the fanfare, don’t want the fuss, just want to go out there and commit to your role and I thought we did a good job with.
MC: Is Konrad Hurrell injured or is it a selection choice?
PW: No, it was selection. It was a really unfortunate one with Konrad because I think the last six to eight weeks he’s had a really disrupted training programme which was putting him just a little bit behind.
And going into big games, we just couldn’t afford that this week.
I’ve got every confidence Konrad can contribute with us at the back end of the year but today just came a little bit too quickly for him.
MC: Will got wrong-footed once, but apart from that he was exemplary, wasn’t he?
PW: There was one defensive read that we didn’t quite get right on our left edge.
But in Hoppa it’s quite clear to see why he’s held in such high regard particularly over in the NRL because he’s such a class act. He is one of the nicest blokes you are likely to meet but when he does things on the rugby field, it just looks classy.
And if you think about where his body’s been in the last 18 months and the stuff that he’s putting himself through to still go out on the field and be that effective takes some doing.
And I think only special players can do that and is certainly one of them.
MC: Now you roll on to Catalans – you have never had to go over there and win for the place in the Grand Final?
PW: Like I’ve mentioned in recent weeks a little bit, this team has overcome a number of hurdles in recent years, but we’ve never quite done it this way.
So it’s another challenge for us. And early on in the year, we went to Penrith to do something that was a little bit different and managed to get a great result there. And there’s no saying we can’t do the same next weekend at Catalans.
