Saints keen to avoid defeat by Harlequins

Apr 11 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

ST HELENS will be aiming to bounce back from their surprise defeat at Castleford and avoid making history tonight when Harlequins visit Knowsley Road hoping to repeat last year’s opening-round victory.

Saints are in danger of suffering a fourth successive defeat for the first time in Super League and assistant coach Mike Rush insists it is time for cool heads.

“There is no crisis,” he said. “It’s a 27-round competition and there is a long way to go.

“People last year said we ran out of steam in the Grand Final and that winning all the games early doors came back to bite us – now we lose a few and everyone says it’s a crisis!

“We’ve lost some games but let’s not over-react. We’ve lost games narrowly, we’ve not been thumped.”

St Helens are hoping captain Paul Sculthorpe will be back to make his 250th appearance and bolster a defence that is leaking tries at an alarming rate.

“We’re the second best attacking team and we’re the eighth worst defensive team,” said Rush.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out where we’ve got to improve.”

Warrington will be out to arrest a worrying slump in form when they take on defending champions and early-season pacesetters Leeds.

The highly-fancied Wolves were just two points behind the Rhinos before sustaining back-to-defeats by Harlequins and Wakefield and coach Paul Cullen admits his side face a crucial test at Headingley.

“Unfortunately, we have too many individuals who are nowhere near their best form at this moment in time,” he said. “We’re going through a difficult period.

“We’ll need to be at our best simply to compete at Leeds, let alone get a win.”

FORMER St Helens stand-off Tommy Martyn has joined the coaching staff of Super League neighbours Warrington.

The 36-year-old ex-Ireland international has been working as a kicking coach for the Wolves’ academy players on a trial period for the last month and will now link up with the club permanently on a part-time basis.

Martyn, who won the Lance Todd Trophy in the 1997 Challenge Cup final, had a spell as coach of his home-town club Leigh after leaving Saints in 2003.