A SCINTILLATING first half display from the Saints saw them complete an emphatic double over the Giants – emerging 54-6 winners writes Graham Henthorne.
Tormentor in chief was standoff Lee Gaskell who was at his imperious best until withdrawn 55 minutes into the contest to go on First Team standby duty. By then he’d amassed 18 points which would have been 22 had he grounded the ball correctly in the second minutes to open the Saints account.
As it was that honour was left to Adam Swift who went over in the left corner after a run-around between Nathan Ashe and Danny Yates had put him clear.
Ashe then scored himself taking Scott Hale’s inside ball to stride over after Shaun Magennis’ sublime shirt ball had put the big second rower through.
Danny Yates’ kicking game was pinning the Giants into their own end. From such a kick the Saints got a repeat set which allowed Yates to send Joe Greenwood over again from a short ball.
The Saints were well ahead of the clock at this stage and remained so as Jayden Sanford scored the first of his double. A great tackle had forced the visitors to knock on in their own red zone and from the scrum Gaskell sent a fine miss pass out to the right to send the winger in.
Magennis was driving the ball in hard as did sub Aaron McCloskey off the bench and the two combined to put Gaskell half through. He gave it out to Alex Trumper and the centre strolled over.
The Giants were their own worst enemies as they couldn’t hold onto the ball for any length of time and from yet another knock on in front of their posts Gaskell ghosted in for the Saints sixth try.
The Saints were in complete control at this point, virtually scoring at will and on the stroke of half time quick hands saw Swift in for his second. Gaskell blotted his copybook with his only missed conversion of the half to keep it at a point a minute.
It’s never easy to keep concentration and put teams to the sword which is exactly as it transpired. Two missed opportunities in the first two sets of the second period saw the Saints attention slip and gave the Giants a boost.
Lewis Foster scored his first at this level finishing the move that he started by jumping out of dummy half. He found debutant Adam Hesketh who took it on to the full back before feeding it back inside to Foster.
The second debutant of the day Lewis Charnock, opened his account at this level strolling in at the corner after quick hands gave him the gap and the final try saw Hale put Sandford in for his brace.
The more disappointing aspect was the numerous tries missed in the half and the poor tackling which allowed a rather inept Giants outfit to score.
These issues will have to be addressed before the visit of the League leading Wolves next week.
Best for the Saints overall on the day was Mr Perpetual motion Danny Jones who never seems to tire and is always available in both attack and defence.
Match Summary:
St Helens:
Tries: Nathan Ashe, Lewis Charnock, Adam Swift 2, Alex Trumper, Jayden Sandford 2, Lee Gaskell, Joe Greenwood, Lewis Foster.
Goals: Lee Gaskell 7.
Huddersfield Giants:
Tries: Ben Whitehead.
Goals: Jack Miller.
Half Time: 40-0
Full Time: 54-6
Teams:
Saints:
1. Nathan Ashe; 2. Jayden Sandford, 4. Alex Trumper, 3. Adam Swift, 5.Lewis Charnock; 6. Lee Gaskell, 7. Danny Yates; 8. Anthony Walker, 9. Marcus Baines, 10. Shaun Magennis, 18. Scott Hale, 12. Joe Greenwood, 13. Danny Jones.
Subs: 11. Aaron McCloskey, 14. Lewis Foster, 15. Adam Hesketh, 17. Jordan Case.
Huddersfield:
1. Freddie Walker; 5. Aaron Nicholson, 4. Joe Fox, 3. Perry Whiteley, 2. Jamie Love; 6. Ben Whitehead, 7. Jack Miller; 8. Joe Walker, 9. Joel Farrell, 10. Ross Peltier, 11. Dale Ferguson, 12. Matty Sarsfield, 13. Jacob Fairbank.
Subs: 14. Chris Cullimore, 15. George King, 16. Nathan Mason, 17. Jack Blagborough.
