St Helens lose ‘most in form’ half-back in the Super League for the rest of season with ‘devastating’ injury blow

St Helens have suffered a stunning setback with the news that scrum half Lewis Dodd’s season is over.

Head coach Kristian Woolf has revealed that the 20-year-old suffered an Achilles injury in the Good Friday derby win over Wigan.

Speaking after Easter Monday’s 24-12 win at Huddersfield Giants, Woolf said: “Lewis has got a significant Achilles injury and he’s going to be out for the rest of the season.”

He added: “It’s a real blow, a devastating blow to him. If I look at what he’s done for this team for the last 12 months, he came in just after the Challenge Cup last year.

“He was a big part of what we were able to do and go through and have success and win the Grand Final last year.

“All the success and the way we’ve started this year – he’s a big part of that – and in my eyes he’s been the form half-back in the competition this year and I’d be very sure he would be in and around the England side in the World Cup at the end of the year.

“It’s devastating news for him, and bad luck for us a team.

“It’s the second year in a row we’ve lost our number seven and that’s a hard thing to overcome, but what I know about this group and what they showed today is a real resilience.”

Saints had to pull out all the stops

St Helens were made to work hard for the victory against the Giants, with the score locked at 8-8 at half-time and only late tries from Joe Batchelor and Jonny Lomax sealing the win.

“It was a tough one,” Woolf added. “Huddersfield obviously played really well and really challenged us. They completed really high. We’re really happy we got the two points.”

Huddersfield boss Ian Watson believes his team has improved greatly in the past 12 months, despite going down to defeat.

They remain fourth in the Super League table, only three points behind St Helens, and Watson is feeling upbeat after rotating his squad heavily following the Good Friday draw with Leeds.

“It was a good game for us,” he said. “It probably proves a few things as well to our own group about how good our strength in depth here is now.”