St Helens expecting tough game against Catalans

Catalans visit league leaders St Helens tonight and their former back-rower Zeb Taia is expecting a tough game.

The Dragons have lost their last four meetings against St Helens, but do have a decent record at Langtree Park having won there three times since 2012 – including one of the most dramatic finishes in Super League history.

They moved off the bottom of the table with a single point victory over Hull last weekend, while Saints have consolidated top spot with two massive wins against Huddersfield and Salford.

Taia said: “No game for us is going to be easy. We’re leading the pack and everyone’s going to want to turn up with their best performance against us.

“Every game is going to be tough, but we’ve got to keep turning up week in, week out and that’s how it should be.

“Good teams always turn up and you’re going to see results if you do it, and hopefully a couple of trophies at the end of the year.

“I thought they were a more improved team last week and they definitely need wins, because they’re at the wrong end of the table at the moment.

“(Josh) Drinkwater is going to help them out a lot more, they’ve got a proper half there now that can guide players around the field.

“With us, it’s just one of those games. We’ve had two good results, we’ve just got to keep improving and be consistent.”

St Helens 19-man squad: Lomax, Makinson, Morgan, Percival, Swift, Fages, Smith, Roby, Amor, Taia, Wilkin, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Douglas, Knowles, Thompson, Peyroux, Richardson, Grace, Barba.

Catalans 19-man squad: Broughton, Thornley, Wiliame, Langi, Casty, Moa, Anderson, Garcia, Bird, Bousquet, Duport, Baitieri, McIlorum, Tierney, Julien, Maria, Da Costa, Gigot, Drinkwater.