ST HELENS coach Daniel Anderson insists the ease with which his team have been winning their recent games will not leave them underprepared when they meet rugby league’s World Club champions Leeds in the Challenge Cup semi-final on Saturday.

Talking after Saints had hammered Wigan 46-12 on Friday evening to rack up their 12th successive win in Super League, and their 15th in all competitions, the Australian said that his team had played enough tough games this season to know how to handle the much stronger challenge they will face from the Rhinos.

“I think that we’ve played enough very good sides to know what we need to do, though we haven’t had to do it for a few weeks now,” said Anderson.

“I understand why some people might be concerned, but we can only play what’s put in front of us.”

Anderson pointed to last month’s hard-fought wins in the Super League at Leeds and in the Challenge Cup at Hull Kingston Rovers, adding that the availability of the likes of New Zealand international prop Jason Cayless would ensure competition for places within the squad and prevent any danger of complacency.

“We’ve only got eight or 10 games to go, and I’ve got Jason back, I’ve got Nick Fozzard due back in three to four weeks, and he’s been out for most of the season, so I don’t think there’s any reason why we should go backwards,” said Anderson, who highlighted the contribution made by the club’s ball players to the successful run. “I think the likes of Keiron Cunningham, James Roby, Leon Pryce, Sean Long and Paul Wellens, the players who probably handle the ball more than any others, have been very impressive,” said Anderson.

“Keiron and James’ decision-making from dummy-half has made it very, very difficult for opposing teams to gang up on players when they get the ball, and then Sean and Leon have been in great touch with both hands and feet.

It remains to be seen whether the knee problem which forced Paul Sculthorpe out of the game in the first half is connected to the injury which has kept the former Great Britain captain on the sidelines for much of the last two years, although the club’s immediate reaction was to insist that the injuries were not related. They will be hoping that proves to be the case and that he will be quickly back in action.

Otherwise it was a straightforward workout for Saints, especially after the young Wigan forward Michael McIlorum was sent off after six minutes for a high tackle on Ade Gardner. Replays suggested that Ashley Klein, the referee, had no alternative but from then on it was a case of damage limitation for a Warriors team still missing captain Sean O’Loughlin.

The loose forward, who missed eight weeks of the season after fracturing a shoulder blade in May, pulled out of the squad after suffering a reaction after his first game back against Hull KR last Sunday.

Brian Noble’s team will hope for better fortune in their remaining six games, although they will take some encouragement from the fact that four of those will be played in front of their own supporters at the JJB Stadium.

TV DETAILS
Challenge Cup semi-final, St Helens v Leeds
12.30pm BBC1, Saturday