Warrington Wolves vs St Helens Prediction: ‘There’s no better time for a big performance’

Two sides looking to bounce back from defeats meet at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday night (20:00, live on Sky Sports), as ninth-placed Warrington Wolves entertain fifth-placed St Helens.

Betfred ambassador and Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe shares his Warrington Wolves vs St Helens prediction - and reflects on that Good Friday defeat to Wigan.

It was great to read that last weekend's Easter fixtures produced the biggest attendances since the introduction of the summer era.

This included a sell-out crowd of 24,294 at the Brick Community Stadium for the iconic Good Friday clash between Wigan and St Helens.

Unfortunately for Saints, it was another defeat against our arch-rivals... and I have to say the standard of the game was anything but iconic.

Paul Wellens couldn't hide his disappointment afterwards, referencing the number of unforced errors his team continuously produced.

I really feel for Wello. As head coach of St Helens, he’s always going to be under pressure to deliver silverware, but with performances like that on Friday there’s little he can do.

Simple knock-ons, dropped balls made the game incredibly difficult to win, despite the fact the Warriors weren’t much better themselves.

Yes, the weather took a turn for the worse and the ball became slippy, but you have to be able to adapt to play at this level.

One thing Wello can do going forward is decide who he selects - and as I predicted last week, you’ve got to credit him for making the tough call in leaving his skipper Jonnie Lomax in the stands, sticking with young half-back George Whitby.

The 18-year-old certainly didn’t let his coach down. Despite the self-inflicted pressure Saints consciously put on themselves, George was always in the frame trying to organise his team, and again came up with some excellent last play options, at times giving Wigan full-back Jai Field hell.

Being involved in such an occasion is good for his development, and I thought he spoke very well on Sky post-game, especially as he explained what it meant to him.

One thing you can credit the team for is their effort and endeavour to get themselves back in the game late on. At 18-2 down at the break, things looked ominous, but once they started to control the ball opportunities to break down the Wigan defence appeared.

Hopefully the team show that character and improved skill level from the off on Thursday, as they face an equally-desperate Warrington side at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

This is the third encounter between the two rivals in four weeks, with Wire taking bragging rights in both matches.

However, since that last win the Wolves have gone down to both Hull FC and Leigh, and are now ninth on Betfred Super League table. They will also be without their skipper George Williams for up to 10 weeks following ankle surgery.

I think there's no better time for a big Saints performance and a return to winning ways.

Betfred's traders can hardly split the two sides - Warrington are 8/11 and Saints are 6/5 - and I agree there shouldn't be much in it. I'm hoping Saints can edge it.

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