Saints » Results

A Francis Meli treble gave Saints their third League Leaders Shield on the spin in an entertaining clash against Warrington.

The winger finished all his chances and was backed up with an excellent Leon Pryce performance as his side won 36-16

Warrington had their opportunities in a pulsating match, but were let down, once again, by the discipline of Adrian Morley – the big man sent off for a late and disgusting high tackle on Paul Clough.

In excellent playing conditions, Saints brought back two players that sat out last week, but lost Sean Long to a hamstring injury.

As a result, Jon Wilkin moved to scrum half and back came Francis Meli and Mike Bennett.

For Warrington, Vinnie Anderson was ruled out with a continuing back problem and Paul Rauhihi was banned.

Saints kicked off and were on the back foot straightaway after a bit of a scuffle on the third tackle. Warrington kicked deep and within another two tackles they had another penalty when Leon was adjudged to have gone high. Briers had a shot at goal and put his charges two to the good.

It was rough and tough opening passage of play that Rafa Benitez, the Liverpool manager watching from the crowd, wouldn’t be used to.

A few minutes later, the referee said Wellens knocked forward on his own line when he clearly played the ball with his foot. The decision left Saints defending another set of six in front of their line and Klein then adhered himself to the faithful even further by adjudging Saints to be offside. The Wolves elected, from a very kickable position, to run but a great covering tackle from Wello and Talau knocked the ball loose - a timely intervention by two of Saints’ most consistent performers this season.

On the quarter of an hour mark, Briers added another penalty kick to stretch Warrington’s lead and underline their domination of the early stages.

Saints needed to hit back quick and they did after great work from Flannery and Wilkin.

Flanno drove the team into a decent position and the latter put over a superb chip come bomb into the left hand corner. Gilly did the rest. Wello missed the extras.

From the restart, Saints went back up to the Wolves’ line – thanks to two penalties – and Mo was held up by some excellent cover defence. Meli then showed the big Samoan how to do it and bulldozed over in the corner. Wello miles wide with the conversion.

It was some turnaround in fortunes after being under the kosh for most of the half.

The next try was sheer class. Leon showed a turn of pace in the midfield, cut inside and sprinted clear. Faced with the full back he fired over a pass to the right, Robes caught it on the floor and managed to flick it out to Gids and then to Gardner. Superb.

Penny pulled one back after Wellens broke through from his own try-line and stupidly threw out a speculative pass to the right. It was picked up and a few moments later, the ball was over the line in the corner. Briers slotted over a pearler from the right.

Although Warrington had their tails up, it was the home side that hit back straightaway.

Leon took Saints up the field with another characteristic run and then Wilkin repeated his kick from earlier.

This time, Meli took it in front of Penny, span round and squeezed it over with the smallest of space available – and with the attention of two tacklers. Wellens added the two from the touchline.

Half time Saints 18, the Wolves 10.

Into the second half and Saints had Warrington under pressure straightaway from an early drop out after a great place kick from Jon Wilkin.

And just as Daniel Anderson would have hoped - that pressure told.

Morley leathered Gilmour on the ground in front of the posts and from the penalty Roby just got over. Wello made it two from five.

A couple of minutes later, Saints got sloppy and gave the Wolves good field position in the centre of the field. But anything Saints can do… Warrington managed to deliver some poor handling of their own and, in turn, blow a great chance of getting back into the game.

And Saints made them pay. Up the middle they came drawing the defence left and right. They then went wide with Leon and through to Meli who notched his third of the game. Wello missed a very awkward conversion, but the lead was 18 points and a step closer to top spot.

Scrambling defence then managed to halt Morley just inches from the line but nothing could stop Gleeson going through the middle shortly after. Briers added the easiest of conversions.

That score made the game a little tighter – reflected in both Warrington’s attack and Saints’ defence. Penny should have caught a ball down the wing to go over, but he dropped it into touch and then Wilko tried a one pointer but made a mash of it.

With a quarter of the game to go Briers fed a little grubber through to Penny which Wellens caught sliding over to the touchline. He was going out, but a piece of barrel rolling brilliance kept him in.

Then came what proved to be a real momentum shift of the game. With Cloughy spinning into the tackle Morley flew in, smacked the youngster around the head and got sent off. To his credit, the young forward got straight up but Klein gave the red card within seconds. Wello slotted over the penalty attempt.

It was the burst the Saints needed to finally kill off the Wolves. A great pass from Gids just seconds later sent Gardner away. The winger cut inside, took the tackle and the ball was worked out to Leon who did the rest; twisting and turning to go under the back dot. Paul Wellens successfully converting.

Saints then closed out the game and Hull did the business against Leeds to give the team their third League Leaders Shield on the bounce.

Match Summary:

Saints:

Tries: Gilmour, Meli (3), Gardner, Roby, Pryce

Goals: Wellens (4 from 8)

Warrington:

Tries: Penny, Gleeson

Goals: Briers (4 from 4)

Penalties:

Saints: 9

Warrington: 8

HT: 18-10

FT: 36-16

ATT: 11,746

MOM: Francis Meli

REF: Ashley Klein

Teams:

Saints:

1. Paul Wellens; 2. Ade Gardner, 3. Matt Gidley, 4. Willie Talau, 5. Francis Meli; 6. Leon Pryce, 12. Jon Wilkin; 8. Nick Fozzard, 9. Keiron Cunningham (c), 10. Jason Cayless, 11. Lee Gilmour, 15. Mike Bennett, 30. Chris Flannery.

Subs: 14. James Roby, 17. James Graham, 22. Paul Clough, 23. Maurie Fa’asavalu,

Warrington:

5. Brent Grose; 26. Kevin Penny, 3. Martin Gleeson, 2. Henry Fa'afili, 24. Chris Riley; 6. Chris Bridge, 7. Lee Briers (c); 8. Chris Leikvoll, 14. Mark Gleeson, 11. Adrian Morley, 12. Ben Westwood, 21. Andrew Bracek, 9. Jon Clarke.

Subs: 29. Lee Mitchell, 22. Ben Harrison,15. Rob Parker, 19. Steve Pickersgill.