IT was another last gasp turnaround for Saints on Friday as they beat Castleford 30-28… and Nathan Brown admitted it was an exciting match which no doubt the neutral enjoyed.
His side came from behind to maintain their good start to the First Utility Super League season but only after they matched what the Tigers threw at them.
“Keiron Cunningham has a saying that basically you get out of Rugby League what you put into it,” he said. “Well, in the middle part of the field they were far superior to us in that first half. Daryl (Powell) has them playing some pretty nice stuff and they are well structured and coached.
“In the first half they were standing in the tackle, running through us and their good attacking structure caused us a lot of problems. We chatted at half time that we would never would turn it around unless we wanted to go and meet them and tidy up in some areas of our defence.
“When we get that right we have proven we are a handy team.
“Once we got an early one we knew we had a chance. We had a reasonable formation out there and over the course of the season with our basic main combinations we have scored 38 points a game. It was Luke Walsh’s second game back and we moved Paul Wellens to 6 at half time. That meant we had a more natural formation and Jon Wilkin moved to left back row.
“I never fear we can’t score and even though we still only completed 50 per cent, our second half was much better. They were very good in the first half and we could have showed them a little more respect and been a little more physical.”
Wellens’ introduction was key in the second half as he surpassed 1,000 career points and laid on the pass for Adam Swift’s final act.
“He is an amazing player and amazing captain for us,” Brown added. “There’s no coincidence that when he went on, the commitment from each player was better. They have a lot of respect for him and I don’t think there is a better captain around.
“I thought Josh Jones was great in the second half and Sia Soliola was sensational too.
“Now we have some healthy bodies back we have to knuckle down in training and improve in some areas so we can be consistent for longer periods.”
