Tommy Makinson injury prognosis revealed as Paul Wellens shares update

St Helens coach Paul Wellens admitted they are braced to be without winger Tommy Makinson for next week’s Challenge Cup rematch at Leeds Rhinos. 

Makinson pulled up in the warm-up ahead of the Saints’ 18-8 win at Headingley on Friday night, with Wellens forced into a late change after the England international was unable to start the match.

He will be assessed in the days ahead in the lead-up to the rematch in the Challenge Cup between the two sides next weekend, but Wellens admitted on Sky Sports post-match that the early signs do not look promising given the location of Makinson’s injury.

“We’ll do the assessments like we do with every player, but when it’s your hamstring it’s never usually a one week thing,” Wellens said. “If Tommy isn’t available, we’ll adapt next week.

“He didn’t feel like he could open up. When it’s like that you’re foolish to take risks, so we had a very last-minute reshuffle.”

Wellens admitted with that pre-match disruption in mind, he was delighted with the response of his side to claim a fourth win in five Super League matches.

The Saints were 8-0 behind before narrowing the gap to two at half-time through a Waqa Blake try, before second-half scores from Jon Bennison and Moses Mbye secured a sixth straight win at Headingley for the Saints.

“It wasn’t vintage in terms of how crisp we were at times but I thought we were much better in the second half,” he said. “I’m immensely proud of the playing group, we had a fair bit of disruption pre-match.”