{"id":450491,"date":"2026-02-28T15:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T15:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450491\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T15:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T15:35:10","slug":"catalans-dragons-v-st-helens-line-ups-predicted-as-half-back-call-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450491\/","title":{"rendered":"Catalans Dragons v St Helens line-ups predicted as half-back call made"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"St\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

St Helens head to Catalans Dragons this evening with injuries beginning to pile up.<\/p>\n

Paul Rowley lost Jonny Lomax last week to a dislocated wrist and Nene Macdonald picked up a knock, too, in the win over Leigh Leopards.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for the Merseyside outfit, Macdonald has been named in this week\u2019s extended squad, but it remains to be seen whether he will play.<\/p>\n

The Saints<\/a> haven\u2019t been firing on all cylinders so far this season, but they\u2019ll fancy their chances of kicking on in the south of France against a side who severely underwhelmed last week at Bradford Bulls.<\/p>\n

Joel Tomkins\u2019 side turned in a wretched performance in West Yorkshire last Friday and they\u2019ll be itching to set the record straight.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how we think both sides will line up.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start with the home team, who have included new signing Matty Russell in their ranks after bringing the winger in from Oldham. However, it remains to be seen whether he will play over Josh Simm on the flank.<\/p>\n

With Chris Satae dropping out, it seems as though Iszac Fa\u2019asuamaleaui could step into the fold from the start, while Ben Garcia is almost guaranteed to come into the XIII too, after serving his suspension last week. The Dragons missed Garcia\u2019s leadership enormously last week and he\u2019ll be keen to get the Dragons back on the straight and narrow.<\/p>\n

Where Hull KR rank among Super League\u2019s greats, referee controversy and Las Vegas predictions \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a change that will see Kruise Leeming, who struggled at Odsal, drop to the bench.<\/p>\n

Rowley will have had plenty to ponder this week when it comes to his selection and much may depend on the fitness of Macdonald. The centre starts if he\u2019s fit enough and that would prevent an overhaul of the starting XIII.<\/p>\n

In fact, if that is to be the case, the only real change will come in the halves with either Harry Robertson or George Whitby set to play alongside Jackson Hastings.<\/p>\n

Whitby hasn\u2019t featured for the Saints yet this season and that might suggest that Robertson could be the preferred man in the halves for now at least. It would not be a surprise to see Whitby named on the bench, though, with Robertson also providing the centre cover for Macdonald.<\/p>\n

Last week was far from perfect from St Helens, but in a bid to find some consistency in selection, Rowley could well be tempted to make that the only change.<\/p>\n

Predicted Catalans Dragons v St Helens line-ups<\/p>\n

Catalans Dragons: Charlie Staines; Tommy Makinson, Nick Cotric, Solomona Faataape, Josh Simm; Toby Sexton, Lewis Dodd; Romain Navarrete, Alrix Da Costa, Iszac Fa\u2019asuamaleaui; Ben Condon, Zac Lipowicz; Ben Garcia,<\/p>\n

Bench: Josh Allen, Kruise Leeming, Harvey Wilson, Tiaki Chan.<\/p>\n

St Helens: Tristan Sailor; Kyle Feldt, Nene Macdonald, Deon Cross, Lewis Murphy; Harry Robertson, Jackson Hastings; Alex Walmsley, Daryl Clark, David Klemmer; Curtis Sironen, Shane Wright; Joe Shorrocks<\/p>\n

Bench: Jacob Host, George Delaney, Matt Whitley, George Whitby<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens head to Catalans Dragons this evening with injuries beginning to pile up. Paul Rowley lost Jonny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-450491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}