Saints hit by Nick Fozzard injury blow

Feb 23 2008

ST HELENS welcomed back Paul Sculthorpe but they suffered another injury blow with the loss of prop Nick Fozzard with a serious knee injury in their 22-16 win over Bradford at Odsal.

Sculthorpe, introduced as a substitute midway through the first half, made a steady comeback after almost nine months out with a ruptured Achilles as Saints raced into a 16-0 lead and held off a spirited fightback to claim their first win at Odsal for three years.

But their win came at a cost, with Fozzard possibly ruled out for the season with suspected ligament damage.

Already without Jason Cayless, Maurie Fas’asavalu, Jon Wilkin and Chris Flannery, Saints also lost teenage front rower Gareth Frodsham, who was left dazed by a tackle from Bradford’s Sam Burgess just four minutes after going on as substitute.

“You don’t want to test your resolve and character so early but it does augur well for the rest of the year,” said coach Daniel Anderson.

“I’m absolutely stoked (delighted). We had a 12-5 penalty count against us and we lost two front rowers.

“Gareth Frodsham was rattled and didn’t come back for the second half and Nick Fozzard looks to have a serious knee injury. We hopes he’s wrong but the doctor fears the worst.”

Saints stormed into a 10-0 lead inside 10 minutes thanks to tries from impressive prop James Graham and winger Ade Gardner and stretched their advantage further when former Bradford second rower Lee Gilmour scored a third try on 22 minutes.

Bradford rallied and cut the gap to six points with tries either side of half-time through James Evans and Paul Sykes but Saints hooker Keiron Cunningham clinched the win with a trademark close-range try on 69 minutes.

“I thought the leaders in our team – Sean Long, Leon Pryce and Keiron – were absolutely outstanding,” added Anderson. “We were under the cosh for a while but our resilience and character showed up.”

The outstanding Sykes scored his second try just before the end to close the gap once more to a converted try but Bradford coach Steve McNamara admitted his side had given themselves too much to do.

“We’re disappointed we’ve not won the game,” he said.

“Obviously we gave ourselves a mountain to climb. Going 16-0 down wasn’t in the script.

“We looked to have got ourselves back in it but proceeded to throw it away a second time. Saints capitalised on the errors we made and the penalties we conceded.

“We were left chasing the game and became a bit anxious.”