Captain Jonny Lomax admits he was prepared to play on with a suspected broken hand – only to see his St Helens side power on without him.
The England stand-off faces tests to see the extent of his injury suffered in the first half of Friday’s emphatic 40-10 win over Leeds. It’s rare the Saints icon ever leaves the field so it was obvious it must be a serious issue when he departed clutching his hand. The hosts, already with a depleted pack and seeing England second-row Joe Batchelor limp off on five minutes, were level 6-6 ahead at that point.
But they pressed on regardless to deliver the victory that sent them top of Super League. Lomax, 33, later departed the Totally Wicked Stadium with his hand heavily strapped up. Asked about the extent of the injury, he said: “I don’t really know yet. I’ll go get it scanned and see what the crack is and see what can be done with it moving forward.
“It was in and around that [hand] area. We’ll just have to see what it is. I thought it might be alright. I had it checked.
“I got myself [back] on the bench but the way we scored there was no point risking it. I’ll get it checked, see where we’re at and move forward from that.”
Losing talismanic Lomax for any length of time would be a blow given the manner in which he controls games for Paul Wellens’ side. On what happened, he explained: “It was kind of a funny one. I heard something [crack] in the tackle but thought I’d be alright.
“I tried to grab my boot off the floor, though, [to test it] and it got a bit stuck so I knew I’d have to get it checked. I could see Moses [Mbye] was about to come on, probably for Belly. [James Bell]. So I said ‘hold the sub and see if I can get it sorted.’ But then I said he’s better coming on for me.”
Mbye slotted in at half-back meaning the brilliant England international Daryl Clark played the entire 80 minutes at hooker. Saints had lost forwards Morgan Knowles, Matt Whitley and Jake Wingfield to surgeries during the week and were already without crocked England prop Alex Walmsley. But they delivered an immense display.
Lomax, ever-present this term, enthused: “It was a great performance for a number of boys who played out there tonight. “It was great watching from the sideline and seeing how we went after them [Rhinos] in that second half.
“It showed that togetherness that we’ve got. I think that was the biggest thing; we’re prepared to work hard for each other, we’re prepared to keep sacrificing for each other, we’re prepared to keep sacrificing for the team, the club, the organisation, the staff and that’s what it’s all about. And that saw us through in the end.”