James Roby forcefully fends off talk of Saints crisis

Apr 9 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

REIGNING Man of Steel James Roby insists there is no crisis at St Helens, who find themselves in the bottom half of the engage Super League after winning just one of their last five matches.

The Grand Final runners-up take on Harlequins at Knowsley Road on Friday aiming to bounce back from their shock defeat at bottom club Castleford and avoid suffering a fourth successive loss for the first time in the 12 seasons of Super League.

"The young lads won’t have seen anything like this," admitted Roby, who is one of eight ever-presents so far this season. "The team has got to bounce back from these defeats. If we can correct the things in training this week, especially the defence, I don’t see why we can’t turn this around.

"And the way the League is this year – it’s so tight – we only need a few wins on the bounce and we’ll be straight back up at the top end of the table.

"I’m not worrying at all. We’ll be fine."

While Saints have no problem scoring points, only four teams have a worst defensive record, and Roby admits the Challenge Cup holders have sorely missed their injured forwards.

Saints’ Grand Final front row of Nick Fozzard, Keiron Cunningham and Jason Cayless have yet to be reunited this season and skipper Paul Sculthorpe has been restricted by injury to just two appearances.

"In previous years we’ve been known for being really good in defence," said Roby.

"We need to get a bit of crunch back in our defence and stop letting so many soft tries in.

"We’re missing some of the experienced guys, especially Keiron with his crunch. Every now and again he will fly out of the line and ‘kill’ someone.

"Obviously we’re going to miss players of that quality but, with the squad we’ve got, I’m confident the people who fill in the positions are more than capable of doing the job."

Roby has been forced to take on more responsibility at his tender age of 22 and is relishing the extra game time.

"I got used to starting off the bench and there was nowhere near as much pressure on me," he said. "Keiron led the team around the field.

"In these games, I’ve realised just how much I needed a kick up the backside in terms of commanding the team around the field and things like that.

"Daniel (Anderson) has spoken to me about it and I’m getting better at it in every game.

"I’m loving the extra minutes. I’m pretty fit and young and luckily I’ve not picked up any knocks. Hopefully I can avoid the knocks and keep going.

"It’s a bit different to coming off the bench because I have to be a bit more patient and play out the sets. I think it’s going to help me in the long run so I’m grateful for it. It’s brilliant for my development."

St Helens expect to have prop forward Bryn Hargreaves and centre Willie Talau back from injury and illness respectively for the visit of Harlequins while Cunningham and Sculthorpe are pencilled in to make their return against London Skolars in the fourth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup a week later.

WARRINGTON prop Steve Pickersgill has been ruled out of the rest of the Super League season after being told he needs a knee reconstruction.

The 22-year-old suffered cruciate ligament damage moments after coming off the bench in Sunday’s 16-2 defeat at Wakefield.

Pickersgill, who has been on the bench for seven of the Wolves’ 10 matches so far this season, will undergo surgery that will sideline him for at least six months.

Warrington will also be without second rower Ben Westwood for Friday’s trip to leaders Leeds after he was handed a one-match ban as a result of his sending-off at Wakefield for a high tackle.