ROYCE Simmons says he was always confident Saints would grab their first win of the season over Wigan.
His charges beat their closest rivals 26-18 to earn a week off and a home tie in the Semi Finals.
“I always thought we had that performance in us,” he said. “We have had a draw and three defeats to the Warriors but on two of those occasions we have been close.
“On one they beat us in the final 20 seconds and in the cup game the stats said we could have won but a couple of great individual tries beat us on the say.
“So I came here confident we could do the job and we did.
“Our combinations have been training well together and getting on a bit of a roll and that is beginning to show.
“Today, our half backs were terrific. They played square and took the line on too. It is hard to defend against a team that does that.
“I thought they kicked well too. They hit the grass a lot in the first half but in the second the wind made it tougher.
“I said to them at half time that we needed to keep on playing and not just survive and we did that – but in the last 15 minutes went away from that gameplan.
“We started to run a bit one out and weren’t making good ground as a result. We were thinking about drifting and covering up. We can’t do that in the play offs as quality sides will come and get you. We need to play positive.”
He continued: “At times though I thought we had ‘hit me’ on our foreheads. We must have copped several high tackles during the game and when Sam Tomkins got one we got penalised. I was very disappointed with the referee’s performance.
“We know they are great side in terms of contact and their work on the ground in – I’m not criticising that – slowing the ball down. But, I was telling the players to make sure they got up quicker and we were getting penalised for that and the high shots.
“The blood bin wasn’t great either. Sia came off and put his jumper on and they scrum down and within two plays score. That might be the right call but I will look into that. I thought the performance was very poor. “
Simmons says his side will enjoy the weekend off and the rest could see Gary Wheeler, Chris Flannery, Kyle Eastmond and Leon Pryce return to the fold… if selected.
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