St Helens head coach Paul Wellens says he’s “not overly concerned” with his side’s attacking struggles as they get set to face in-form Leigh Leopards on Thursday.
St Helens are one of the in form sides in Super League, winning their last five straight, but aside from two heavy victories over bottom-placed Salford Red Devils, Wellens’ side have scored only 37 points across wins over Leeds Rhinos (twice) and Hull FC, relying on a robust defence.
They come up against another red-hot side on Thursday night in Leigh – live on Sky Sports Action from 7.30pm (8pm kick-off) – who sit one place higher in the table in third, having earned impressive wins over second-placed Wigan Warriors and table-toppers Hull KR in their last two, beating the latter 28-10 last week.
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Highlights of the Super League clash between Leigh Leopards and Hull Kingston Rovers.
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“I think they’re doing a lot right,” Wellens said of Leigh, when speaking to Sky Sports ahead of their clash.
“Obviously they’re very competitive, first and foremost. Their work ethic is right up there with every team in the competition, and they’ve got a lot of individual attacking threats that can hurt you.
“I think the reason they are being successful in the league, the reason they are winning games against good opposition is their collective work ethic.
“I think you need that in in this competition if you are going to beat the better teams, which they’ve obviously managed to do in the last two weeks.”
As for his own team’s attacking struggles in recent weeks, despite their win streak, Wellens added: “I think the way we defend at times can sometimes take away from our attack.
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St Helens’ head coach Paul Wellens has admitted their defensive style can ‘take away from their attack’ but says he ‘isn’t overly concerned.’
“Players like Matthew Lees and Morgan Knowles really do front load their energy into the defensive efforts, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but certainly moving forward we’ll look to improve with ball in hand.
“I think it’s important that we do make those improvements but I’m not overly concerned about that at this moment in time.
“I think the way that we’re playing, we’re having to grind games out in a tough manner at this moment in time, but we’ll certainly look to make those improvements moving forward.”
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Highlights of the Super League clash between Leeds Rhinos and St Helens.
Super League Round 19 Fixtures (all live on Sky Sports)
Thursday July 17
- 8pm: St Helens vs Leigh Leopards
Friday July 18
- 8pm: Huddersfield Giants vs Wakefield Trinity
- 8pm: Leeds Rhinos vs Salford Red Devils
Saturday July 19
- 3pm: Wigan Warriors vs Hull FC
- 6pm: Catalans Dragons vs Hull KR
Sunday July 20
- 3pm: Castleford Tigers vs Warrington Wolves
Watch every Super League game this season live on Sky Sports – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+ via the red button.