Zeb Taia pays tribute to Saints milestone man Mark Percival

In-form Percival is set to make his 100th career appearance against Leeds Rhinos at Headingley tomorrow, Friday, when he is expected to be marking another 2017 World Cup hopeful in Kallum Watkins.

Taia gets a closer look than most at Percival’s work on the field, as he attacks and defends in the same left-flank unit.

“Last time we faced Leeds Percy didn’t get to play because he was suspended,” said the 32-year-old Cook Island international who has settled into his role after joining Saints this year.

“Kallum Watkins is a class player and you need to be on your game when you’re up against him.

“I’m sure Percy is pretty confident. He’s a confident player and some of the stuff he does outside me is freakish.

“He’s always getting quick play-the-balls and when we need to get the ball away he’ll do it.”

Mark Percival takes on the Hull FC defence. Pictures by Bernard Platt

Saints focused a lot of their threatening attacking plays down their left against Hull on Friday and Taia feels the ‘unit’ is a strong one, with Theo Fage’s defensive work catching his eye.

“Regan Grace’s going well on the outside of Percy, and Theo Fages is doing well also,” he said.

“So as a left-edge unit it’s staying connected in defence and attack. We’re going pretty well at the minute.

“It does make my job easier having confidence on the men either side of me.

“With Theo defending outside me, he puts his body on the line every week and makes my job easier.

“I’m always second on Theo’s tackles and I’m looking at him and the size of him and seeing him stop big blokes that are coming at him left, right and centre. He’s doing a great job.

“I’m just happy that he’s playing outside me at half because he’s got my back.”

Theo Fages takes a grip of Jake Connor's leg as Jonny Lomax and Zeb Taia help out. Picture by Bernard Platt

Ryan Hall will be making his 300th appearance for Leeds as exciting duels look set across the park in what is expected to be another tight battle between teams only separated by two points on their two previous meetings this year.

Taia says there are important aspects Saints must have right to get themselves over the line in a bid to return to the top four.

“We need to rock up with the right attitude,” he said.

“Leeds are a team that play a lot of unstructured footy so in defence we need to make sure we’re tying in everywhere and making sure we bring our A game in that area,” he said.

“For us to improve from the Hull game, definitely our ball handling and all that sort of stuff needs to improve, we need to get to our last-play kicks, keep the ball alive, and get into the good arm wrestle of a rugby league game. That’s what would win us the game in the end.”

Ball control was a major issue in the wet conditions of the home loss to Hull and Taia says it has been an area of focus in training this week.

“We’ve had little mini-drills sessions and when it needs to be said Justin pulls us up on poor ball-handling,” he said. “Little things like mini skills sessions can combat the stuff that goes wrong on the field.”

And his thoughts on the overall performance against Hull?

“The smarter team won,” he said. “When it’s torrential rain, we need to learn how to play the conditions a bit smarter.”