St Helens produced a clinical display to beat Leeds Rhinos 40-10, but their win came at a cost, with key duo Jonny Lomax and Joe Batchelor suffering injuries.
Back-rower Batchelor was helped from the field by the Saints medical staff just six minutes into the game and didn’t return, whilst Lomax went down the tunnel in the 35th minute clutching his hand.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Saints coach Paul Wellens confirmed the pair would go for scans in the coming days to determine the extent of the injuries.
“Joe Batchelor seems like he’s got an ankle ligament injury which is obviously really unfortunate,” Wellens said.
“The scans will dictate how long he will be out for, but the fact he couldn’t play on, and Joe is a tough bloke, is probably a sign that he won’t be there for a few weeks.
“The medical staff feel Jonny has got a fracture to his hand, so we will have to assess that and see how he is.
“What I love about this group the most, don’t get me wrong we’re not perfect at times and we’ve dropped our standards a number of times this year, but what they do better than any team I’ve been involved with is rise to adversity, whether that’s losing players through suspension or injury.
“Last match (against Castleford Tigers) when Tommy Makinson got sent off, they seemed to rise to those challenges really well. I was really proud of the group tonight because I think they showed what we’re about as a club. We showed our identity and our DNA with not having a lot of the players who were in the starting team at the start of the year.”
Paul Wellens: ‘I was delighted with our performance’
Saints’ win over the Rhinos saw them return to the top of the Super League table, with Wellens’ side having won nine from 12 in the league so far this season.
“I was delighted with our performance,” Wellens added. “I think we got caught on the back foot in the first five minutes or so and Leeds run us around a little bit, but once we warmed to the occasion I thought we were very good.
“We’ve trained really well in the last couple of weeks, I think not having a game last week helped us, obviously it’s evident we’re down on numbers at the moment but what we’re certainly not lacking is an energy, that was evident at Castleford two weeks ago and evident here tonight.”