ROYCE Simmons was impressed with how Wakefield performed in their win over Harlequins RL last weekend and knows Saints’ defence will need to be spot on this Friday if they are to gain a win.
John Kear’s side ran in 52 points over the Londoners and displayed a lot of pace and off the cuff rugby.
“Wakefield were very impressive last week,” Royce said. “Their style of rugby in attack was very good. They were slick and fast with the ball and they always had options to pass.
“They score some magic tries and have people who can run them in from 100 yards too.
“Kevin Penny and Luke George have speed and Rinaldi is playing well too. Plus they have Ben Jeffries hitting some form.
“Our defence needs to be good on the night or it could easily turn into a ‘last try wins’ type of game.”
He continued: “I have spoken to the players about not getting ahead of ourselves and focussing on the week in hand. We know we have a busy schedule coming up but it’s important we don’t head into those games on the back of a poor effort. We have to be ready to play each week as there are no easy games in Super League.
“Last week, our first half performance against Crusaders was magic. All the things we talked about during the week in attack we executed.
“But we went to sleep a little bit in the second half and that can happen when you think you have got the win.
“We needed to do the hard yards again, win the battled and we didn’t do that. It should have been a comfortable and enjoyable win but it became a little bit of a struggle.”
Josh Perry will miss the game with a groin injury which could see him side-lined for up to three weeks.
Scott Moore will return though whereas Francis Meli and Paul Clough are still looking at a one to two week layoff for Hamstring and Shoulder injuries respectively.
Tickets for the match are still on sale and details can be found here.
