NATHAN Brown will see a familiar face when his side take on London Broncos tonight.
Saints’ Head Coach oversaw the St George team that contained Jamie Soward in 2007/08 – and now the scrum half is plying his trade for the Twickenham Stoop-based club.
“I know Jamie well,” Brown said. “I coached him at St George-Illawarra. He’s added some profile to the Broncos and a different dimension to their play. He can kick a ball and is very fast. He is having a real positive impact on the team.
“Last time we played London we weren’t playing with a lot of confidence and a dozen of our top players were out. They were too good for us even though we created enough chances. This week we can hopefully play with a bit of confidence and do better.
“London would have been disappointed with their Challenge Cup semi-final but they bounced back against Leeds, pushed them and showed what they can do.”
Saints will miss Gareth O’Brien tonight after he was taken high twice in succession and that has forced a slight shuffle in the line-up.
Lance Hohaia is likely to come into the halves and Brown has recalled Joe Greenwood to his 19-man squad.
“Lance has been training great over the past month and is looking for an opportunity,” Nathan added. “I’m sure he will do well. His attitude has been great so it is right that he gets a chance.
“It’s been good to put some performances together and win back to back matches. We’ve beaten some good teams like Wigan and Catalan too. That has helped build confidence and belief.
“There would have been times in the past few weeks that we would have not won in those tight situations. When we played Catalan earlier in the year we still could have won but conceded an intercept.
“This time Tommy Makinson takes a superb ball out of the air for a try and they are big game changers.
“But, we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. We are a loss from being seventh and two losses from being ninth again. Every game has significance on the ladder but we are looking to build momentum too.”
You can buy tickets for tonight’s game at the Ticket Office at Langtree Park or by going through the cash turnstiles in the Totally Wicked North and Hattons Solicitors West Stands respectively.
