St Helens and Wakefield maintain 100 per cent starts to season - 7 talking points from the weekend's rugby league
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Loading... - Siomi Kennedy
- 05 Mar 2021
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St Helens and Wakefield continued their unbeaten start to the season at the head of the pack.
Saints hammered Salford 34-2 at Langtree Park while Wakefield got the better of Huddersfield at Belle Vue 22-4.
Liam Watts showed he was head boy but gets to wear the dunce’s hat.
There’s baby talk from the wife of one Leeds ace and find out which skip-sized superstar has the feet of an angel.
Our man Nigel Wiskar cast his eye over some of the events of the week.
1. Luke who’s leading the way for Saints
Amazing what a new coach can do to some players.
Luke Thompson was plodding along at St Helens, his promising early career threatening to fizzle out.
But Thompson has thrived under Justin Holbrook this season and is now arguably the form prop in the competition.
He made his 100th appearance of his career in the 34-2 win over Salford that sees Saints keep their pole position.
And to cap that he scored the final try of the game as his side elected to keep the ball alive as the hooter sounded.
England are well stocked for front-rowers but Thompson will be knocking on coach Wayne Bennett’s door if his form continues.
2. Unbeaten Wakefield turn up the heat
Credit to Wakefield for putting in the hard work off the pitch as well as on it this week.
Chairman Michael Carter showed that some chairmen aren’t just full of hot air by covering the Trinity pitch with a huge tent with heated blowers.
Hardy fans and club staff cleared snow off the terraces after the game bit the dust from its original Friday night kick off and was switched to Sunday afternoon.
And for an hour or so at least his club sat top of the table after 22-4 victory over Huddersfield with their four victories the first time in Super League history they’ve won their opening four games.
3. Catalans’ ladies come to the rescue
While the Catalan Dragons players have frankly been a bit crap this season, it appears their wives have proved far more capable.
When Rhinos scrum-half Richie Myler was playing for the French outfit, wife Helen went into labour at home with their second child while he was away playing in England.
BBC presenter Helen told the Mail on Sunday: “My son Eric started hitting me with a Ninja Turtles sword, thinking I was playing a game - until Louis’s head appeared and then he completely freaked out.
“Fortunately two lovely girls called Jill and Erica - the wives of two of Richie’s teammates - arrived as the same time as two French firemen.
“The men just stood there looking stunned while Jill calmly delivered the bay.”
Myler’s game against his former club was postponed on Friday night with the Beast from the East claiming Headingley as one of many victims over the weekend.
4. Jason goes to great lengths
Got to admire the plain-speaking of injured Featherstone Rovers star Jason Walton.
Before Hull FC’s victory over Warrington on Friday, Walton had something to say about talented FC centre Jake Connor who filled in for Albert Kelly at stand-off.
“Biggest n*b in rugby league at the minute,” Walton tweeted.
He doesn’t qualify why but I’m guessing he means he doesn’t view Connor as a man of upstanding character and it isn’t simply a reference to the size of his genitals.
Over to you, Willie Mason and Kevin Dick.
5. Dumb stuff, no ifs or butts
Second biggest er genitalia of the week has to be Liam Watts for that headbutt on Warrington’s Dom Crosby.
While it was more of Perthshire peck than Glasgow kiss, it was still one of the dumbest things you’re likely to see on a pitch from the Hull front-rower.
Being of a certain age and temperament brings with it a spiteful combination of contempt and amusement at the modern day Premier League footballer’s theatrical, cheating antics.
But I would pay good money to watch one of those whopping big girl’s blouses wriggle and dry-hump like a randy caterpillar if they’d been on the receiving end of Watts’ rather gently placed forehead.
6. Leigh chief keeps his coach in a job
I’ve had some mileage from Leigh chairman Derek Beaumont’s barmy utterings before but have nothing but praise for him this week.
Beaumont sacked coach Neil Jukes after the Centurions’ third defeat in four games but was quick to first leap to his defence then offer him a new job.
“I was disgusted by the fans and how they treated a man who has served us well for almost 10 years. It wasn’t right to end it like that,” he said after Jukes and his team were booed off after defeat to Toulouse.
Beaumont then revealed he had employed Jukes as a factory manager in his double-glazing business, something I suspect won’t happen when manager Arsene Wenger finally shuffles off at Arsenal.
Leigh’s misery continued as crashed to their fourth defeat of the season, going down 30-38 at home to Featherstone.
7. Alex grinning and winning with new show
There can’t be a more enthusiastic man in rugby league than Rugby AM frontman Alex Simmons.
Beaming away like a Cheshire cat that’s overdosed on blue Smarties, Simmons’ love for the game and its characters warm the screen every week as his show finds its feet on TV.
He brought that geniality to last year’s Brighton Nines tournament at Sussex Merlins as well as some banging choons (as I believe the young folk call them) on the DJ decks.
There’s a lot to like in the show, with Stuart Fielden’s recent descriptions of Sonny Bill Williams “feet of an angel…size of a mini skip” and Adrian Morley “the MoD could have used him to test the armour on tanks” real gems.
Let’s hope the programme can soon find some cash to stump up for archive video clips and some discreet microphones so guests aren’t forced to look like they’re clutching a giant toffee apple.
