SAINTS U20s lost 36-22 to Warrington on Saturday, writes Graham Henthorne.
All started well as the Saints raced into a 12 – 0 lead with tries from Danny Jones and Dom Speakman in a sparkling first 20 minutes.
Danny Jones sprinted away from the chasers after Speakman had put him through a gap and then jinked over for his own try after Adam Swift had cleaned up a Wolves grubber and gone 85 metres.
But from then on in the massive Wolves forwards were allowed to get on top resulting in four unanswered tries in the second quarter.
Coach Talbot asked for a response from his side and was a whisker from getting it as Alex Trumper just failed to hold on to a Gaskell offload.
The Saints fell further behind as the Wolves stand off picked up a loose ball and sprinted 60 metres to score.
Two tries in ten minutes set the Saints up for an unlikely comeback.
Gaskell switched play down the blind side putting Andrew Dixon away. His grubber sat up, bounced over Jamie Foster’s head, was recovered by Danny Yates only for Foster to touch down Gaskell’s grubber to the corner.
Jaydon Sandford then scored his first in Saints colours with a spectacular dive into the corner after quick hands had given him space.
The home side were reeling but a penalty for ball stealing gave them an eight point cushion and with eight minutes to go winger Rhys Williams sealed the win picking up another loose ball to out sprint the Saints cover over 85 metres for the score.
The Saints worked very hard to get themselves back into the contest but ultimately had left themselves with too much to do.
Match Summary:
Warrington Wolves:
Tries: Rhys Williams, James Saltonstall, Ben Currie, Glenn Riley, Danny Bridge, Ben Evans.
Goals: Ryan Shaw 6.
St Helens:
Tries: Jaydon Sandford, Jamie Foster, Dom Speakman, Danny Jones.
Goals: Jamie Foster 3.
Half Time: Warrington 22 St Helens 12
Full Time: Warrington 36 St Helens 22
Teams:
Warrington Wolves:
31. Jordan Burke; 2. Rhys Williams, 34. Callun Beckett, 3. James Saltonstall, 5. Ryan Shaw; 32. Ben Currie, 7. Bobbie Goulding; 35. Glenn Riley, 33. Brad Dwyer, 8. Ryan Duffy, 12. Danny Bridge, 11. Tyrone McCarthy, 13. Ben Evans.
Subs: 37. Brad Brennan, 29. Ben Moores, 15. Gene Ormsby, 17. Jack Morrison.
Saints:
1. Adam Swift; 5. Jaydon Sandford, 3. Mark Percival, 4. Tom Makinson, 2. Jamie Foster; 6. Lee Gaskell, 7. Danny Yates; 8. Jordan Hand, 9. Dom Speakman, 10. Ant Walker, 11. Andrew Dixon, 12. Joe Greenwood, 13. Danny Jones.
Subs: 14. Marcus Baines. 15. Alex Trumper. 16. Jordan Case. 17. Joe Bate.