MIKE Rush says Saints’ last gasp win over Widnes showed real resilience and now he is targeting a big end to the Stobart Super League campaign.
Saints are the form team of the competition at present but face a difficult few weeks with home games against Huddersfield and Warrington as well as a trip to Catalan.
“It was tough against Widnes but it was like the Saints of old to fightback,” he said. “Perhaps it shows we are back to something like where we want to be, because people thought we were very un-Saints-like earlier in the season.
“But you wouldn’t want to be in that position each week. With 90 seconds to go we had 13 blokes who were prepared to put everything on the line to win it.
“That said, Lance Hohaia’s try was a try and should have been given. It wouldn’t matter about their missed goal anyway as we would have been six points in front.
“There were other decisions in the game too, but we ground out the win and in the end that is all that matters.”
He continued: “If you look at all the games in Super League at this period there have been some strange results and we’ve come through it probably the best of all the clubs. We could have lost points but didn’t.
“It has been a disjointed month for the players with days off here and there and the weekend off will do them good. We’d rather be playing in the semi-final of course.
“Some players have played a lot of rounds already – including the international origin games too – and with those numbers of games you’d be close to a Grand Final in the NRL – and that includes structured bye weekends too.
“The players have played a lot of rugby this year and it is hard to be excellent all the way through the season. Teams will start to peak now ready for the playoffs and across the contenders perhaps the middle of August is when you will see them hit their straps.
“Our next game is against Catalan and it is always tough to go over there. They are in good form and with Warrington and Wigan to play we have a big end of the year.
“We targeted our last four games as winnable and we needed to make sure we got the points on the board. We have done that to make sure we can finish as high up the table as we possibly can. We know it is in our hands and we could finish second if we win all our games.
“That is a big ask but it is the standard we have to set ourselves. Let’s try and go unbeaten now and see where we finish.”
Tickets for Saints forthcoming home games with Huddersfield, Warrington and Castleford are now on sale.
