Saints v Warrington Wolves

Buoyed by their fine comeback victory at Hull only three days previously the Saints took on the Wolves for the second time this season in the mood to right that earlier wrong, writes Graham Henthorne.

In the first game the Saints started poorly but there was no sign of that this time as they ripped into the Wolves from the off.

However, it was the visitors who opened the scoring taking advantage of a penalty to move downfield and score on an overlap in the left corner.

But the lead was short-lived as the Saints hit straight back.

The kick off was allowed to go into touch and from the scrum on the Wolves 20 metre line the Saints took charge. Four charges at the defensive line was enough for Lewis Dodd to exploit the space out wide with a pin-point miss pass to put winger Tom Gorton over in the left corner.

The middles of Ethan Caine, Reece Wilkinson, Kye Siyani and especially Jamie Pye and Brandon Scully were pounding their opposite numbers giving half backs Dodd and Jake Wingfield all the time in the world to play.

And the second try came as a result of a Dodd chip which was butchered by the Wolves full back allowing Jumah Sambou to continue his run of scoring.

The Saints should have had a third in ten minutes but a fine Wingfield cross kick gathered by Gorton was ruled out for some reason known only to the merry whistle blower.

On the stroke of the break the Saints were denied again, this time for offside which unfortunately resulted in the sin-binning of Josh Simm for complaining too vigorously.

The second half started badly as the Wolves full back swooped on a poor Dodd grubber to race 90 metres to score despite Dodd’s best efforts to rectify his error.

This was a minor hiatus, however, as the Saints got straight back on the horse typified by Wingfield’s wonderful 70 metre last tackle kick and Dodd’s chase to get a repeat set.

The game was still in the balance though with the Saints clinging to a slender two point lead. But games like this turn on individual pieces of effort and this one turned on Brandon Scully’s big hit on his own line forcing a knock-on and releasing the pressure.

From this the Saints went downfield, started to exert their own pressure before Jamie Little received a pass out on the right, stood his opposite number up before putting Matty Foster into a huge gap for the try.

Little then put the game beyond doubt five minutes later as he took a magnificent pass out the back of the hand from Jake Wingfield’s half break to go over.

On the final whistle the visitor’s full back again went 90 metres from a high kick to score but the game was Saints’.

This was a great display on the back of the victory at Hull at the weekend.

Wingfield and Dodd’s partnership worked well and Matty Holland deputised well for the abrasive as ever Brandon O’Neill. The forwards were very good with Ethan Caine, Joe Spencer, Kye Siyani and Jamie Pye belying his tender years.

There was another strong running performance from Jumah Sambou and a welcome return for Kelvin Ojeaburu from a horrific double leg break.

But the standout effort came from Brandon Scully with his best game yet in the red vee seeing him play the entire second half.

Match Summary:

Saints:
Tries: Tom Gorton (15), Jumah Sambou (24), Matthew Foster (58), Jamie Little (64).
Goals: Lewis Dodd 3 from 4.

Warrington:
Tries: Liam Brinksman (12), Josh Thewlis (38 & 67).
Goals: Riley Dean 1 from 3.

Half Time: 10-4
Full Time: 22-14

Teams:

Saints:
1. Tom Williams; 21. Kelvin Ojeaburu, 4. Matthew Elwell, 3. Jumah Sambou, 2. Tom Gorton; 6. Jake Wingfield, 7. Lewis Dodd; 8. Brandon Scully, 9. Brandon O’Neill, 10. Reece Wilkinson, 11. Josh Simm, 12. Matthew Foster, 13. Kye Siyani.
Subs: 5. Jack Taylor, 14. Mathew Holland, 16. Jamie Little, 17. Ethan Caine, 18. Joe Spencer, 19. Callum Taylor, 20. James Pye.

Warrington:
1. Josh Thewlis; 2. Hayden Williams, 3. Liam Brinksman, 4. Lloyd Wright, 5. Sam Thackeray; 6. Riley Dean, 7. Joseph Barnes; 8. Daniel Harper, 9. Jack Wright, 10. Morgan Burgess, 11. Max Gilbert, 12. Cole Oakley, 13. Eribe Doro.
Subs: 14. Henry Collins, 15. Lewis Hall, 16. Nonso Agina, 17. Joseph Roper, 18. Alex Pendlebury, 19. Jack Foulkes.