MIKE Rush said Saints’ offense finally clicked in their 31-18 victory over Leeds Rhinos on Monday night.
He paid tribute to his charges after they bounced back from last weekend’s disappointment to do the double over the Champions.
“It was a great performance,” he said. “I thought defensively we weren’t too bad last week but we needed to get our offense right. We did that. Those little passes stuck and we played with a little bit of a groove. We played with tempo and when we do that, and want to pass the ball, we are a pretty strong team.
“After the first try we showed confidence. If you score from a couple of line breaks then things can go well for you. The game goes with confidence and momentum and maybe we got some of that.
“We haven’t moved away from our principles and haven’t changed anything during the week. We got the players to believe in themselves and you’ve seen tonight we have a lot of quality players out there.”
He continued: “I thought Jonny Lomax and Lance Hohaia were very good for us. They have nothing to prove to either me or Keiron (Cunningham) but more to the press and people that want to write them off. We know we should have won the two matches we’ve lost but we’ve won something like eight from ten with this pairing and they are still getting to know each other. The longer the season goes on the better they will get.
“The senior players did well and it was good to have Tony Puletua back. He has that ability to offload and play at the line. Jon Wilkin looked all the better for having a game last week and Chris Flannery was superb. He jumped into the centres when we lost Tommy Makinson and it was a real test of character for him.”
Tommy Makinson was taken off the field with a head and neck injury following an incident with Kevin Sinfield.
After being observed in hospital it isn’t anything too serious and he will be ok.
He tweeted: “Thanks to every1 for the messages, all ok just bad concussion and a bit of muscle damage. So should be ok”