SAINTS recorded a comfortable 26-0 win over Huddersfield Giants in their first hit out of 2013.
Tries from James Roby, Anthony Laffranchi, Paul Wellens, Joe Greenwood and Mark Percival underlined a dominant performance.
Saints were also mean in defence limiting their opponents to only a few sniffs of their line.
Nathan Brown’s side led 16-0 after the first 40 minutes with Jonny Lomax inspiring three tries.
Roby, Laffranchi and Wellens all profited from the youngster as the Giants couldn’t live with the home side’s sharp play.
The second half was a little disjointed as both teams made a number of changes and fell foul to the whistle of James Child.
But Saints were always too good and were rewarded with two four pointers to seal a satisfying win.
With a full squad to choose from Brown gave all his players an airing – only Josh Perry, Gary Wheeler (both ill), Adam Swift and Paul Clough (both injured) not taking part.
Tony Puletua was also absent as he only arrived in the country earlier in the week.
Within the first minute Huddersfield were penalised for not playing the ball but Saints couldn’t make them pay.
Sia Soliola then made a big hit on Scott Grix which pushed the fullback into his half.
The Giants continued to come though and after a penalty had real pressure on the homesters line; Saints defence too good and forcing the error.
On 10 minutes Jon Wilkin’s high ball won a penalty but once again Saints couldn’t make the best of the situation.
They did four minutes later. Willie Manu took a nice ball from Jonny Lomax and offloaded under pressure for James Roby to stroll over. Jordan Turner tagging on the two pointer.
Saints continued to press and were rewarded when Anthony Laffranchi went over from close after great work from Lomax.
Turner added the two and they ended the half in the ascendancy with another try.
Lomax was involved again; linking with Gaskell in limited space to send Paul Wellens over in the corner and give the home side a 16-0 half time lead.
Saints made a number of changes in the second half with Lance Hohaia coming in at fullback, Mark Percival replacing Francis Meli, Ade Gardner on the wing and Mark Flanagan on for Sia Soliola.
Joe Greenwood got the scoreboard ticking over as he took a bullet pass after running a good line; Lomax converting to give Saints a 22-0 lead.
Changes and penalties affected the flow of the match in the latter stages but Saints would have been pleased with the contributions of Percival and Jordan Hand – the latter’s rampaging runs too hot to handle for the Giants’ D.
And with less than 10 minutes to go Josh Jones took on the line and fed Mark Percival.
That was the end of the scoring and a satisfying first run out for Saints… and in particular the defence.
Match Summary:
Saints:
Tries: Roby, Laffranchi, Wellens, Greenwood, Percival
Goals: Turner (2 from 3), Lomax (1 from 1), Percival (0 from 1)
Giants:
Tries:
Goals:
Penalties:
Saints: 15
Giants: 10
HT: 16-0
FT: 26-0
REF: James Child
ATT: 3492
Teams:
Saints:
1. Paul Wellens; 21. Tommy Makinson, 3. Jordan Turner, 19. Josh Jones, 5. Francis Meli; 20. Lee Gaskell, 7, Jonny Lomax; 14. Anthony Laffranchi, 9. James Roby, 10. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 4. Sia Soliola, 12. Jon Wilkin 13. Willie Manu.
Subs: 2. Ade Gardner, 6. Lance Hohaia, 15. Mark Flanagan, 22. Carl Forster, 23. Nathan Ashe, 24. Joe Greenwood, 25. Alex Walmsley, 27. Anthony Walker, 28. Jordan Hand, 29. Danny Yates, 30. Dom Speakman, 31. Mark Percival, 32. James Tilley.
Giants:
1. Scott Grix; 2. Matty Dawson, 3. Leroy Cudjoe, 14. Aaron Murphy, 5. Luke George; 6. Danny Brough, 7. Luke Robinson; 8. Craig Kopczak, 16. David Faiumu, 10. Larne Patrick, 11. Jason Chan, 12. Jamie Cording, 13. Michael Lawrence.
Subs: 4. Joe Wardle, 9. Shaun Lunt, 15. Ben Blackmore, 17. Dale Ferguson, 18. Anthony Mullally, 19. Josh Johnson, 20. Nathan Mason, 21. Peter Aspinall, 22. Jake Connor, 23 Jack Miller, 24 Kruise Leeming.
