Saints came away with a comfortable 26-6 victory over Wakefield Trinity after three tries at the end of the first half proved the difference.
A tight opening half hour saw both sides exchange penalties, before three late first half tries from Danny Richardson, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Tommy Makinson sent Saints into half time with an 18 point lead. Kevin Naiqama continued Saints’ dominance scoring the first try of the second half before Wakefield grabbed a late consolation try through Kelepi Tanginoa.
It was the visitors who got off to the best start forcing Saints to kick from there own 20 in the opening couple of sets. But that didn’t last for long as it was Saints who got the first points of the match after a high tackle from Wakefield’s Tanginoa on Theo Fages gave Richardson the opportunity to give Saints an early lead.
Wakefield leveled the game with a penalty of their own, after Danny Brough broke the Saints line and in the next tackle Saints were penalised for holding down in the tackle. Brough converted the penalty and levelled the game early on.
Saints got the opening try of the clash from a bit of individual brilliance from Richardson. The half back stepped past one Wakefield defender, threw the dummy, broke the Wakefield line and raced clear to score under the posts. He then added the extras to his own try.
The second Saints try followed minutes later. After a brilliant run from Luke Thompson put Saints in a great position, on the last tackle a neat kick through from Fages was pounced on by LMS to extend Saints lead to 12.
Saints were in again minutes before the break after an excellent move from left to right ended with Jack Welsby feeding Makinson who stepped back inside the covering defenders to score. Richardson converted off the touchline sending Saints in at the break 18 points up.
The second half started with both sides exchanging sets on their opponents line, but both defences stood firm with the attacking side lacking the final decisive pass to get over the whitewash.
Wakefield looked the more dominant side and most likely to score forcing repeat sets on the Saints line, before sharp defence stopped the Wakefield attack with Makinson forcing the knock on.
And it was Saints who got the first points of the second half after crisp passing from Fages and Welsby found Naiqama running a perfect line and the centre crashed onto the pass to score. Richardson continuing his 100% accuracy with the boot.
Wakefield scored a late consolation try through Kelepi Tanginoa as the powerful forward crashed over from close range, but it was Saints came away with the 26-6 victory in the end and will retain the League Leaders shield if Warrington fail to beat Catalans on Saturday in Perpignan.
Match Summary
Saints: Welsby, Swift, Makinson, Percival, Naiqama, Fages, Richardson, Roby, Thompson, Lees, Taia, Peyroux, LMS.
Interchanges: Paulo, Amor, Ashworth, Bentley.
Tries: Richardson (27), LMS (32), Makinson (35), Naiqama (71).
Goals:Richardson ( 4 from 4).
Penalties: Richardson ( 1 from 1).
Wakefield Trinity: Jowitt, Jones-Bishop, Lyne, Arundel, Tupou, Hampshire, Brough, Kopczak, Randell, England, Kirmond, Tanginoa, Annakin.
Interchanges: Wood, Fifita, King, Hirst.
Tries: Tanginoa ( 78).
Goals: Brough ( 0 from 1).
Penalties: Brough (1 from 1).
HT: 20-2
FT: 26-6
REF:M Griffiths
ATT: 9,494
