St Helens continue to set the pace in the new Super League season and perhaps the greatest compliment one can pay Justin Holbrook’s side is that even with this, their fifth successive victory, there still seems much more to come.
That this is almost the Saints’ best start to a season in over a decade should not be ignored, nor should the wonderful job Holbrook has done in transforming the fortunes of a club languishing in mid-table on his arrival last May.
Warrington made them work hard for this victory but there is a sneaking suspicion there are still several more gears in this St Helens side. The game was finely poised with 15 minutes left before the Saints were thankful for the skill of two outstanding English prospects to secure victory.
With St Helens only two points ahead Mark Percival scored his second try before the young half-back, Danny Richardson, produced a superb moment of skill, stepping through a gap before kicking on expertly for Percival to secure his hat-trick and the Saints’ fifth successive victory.
It is to Holbrook and St Helens’ credit that they have afforded Richardson the chance to impress from the start of this new season . “He’s doing some good things for us and he’s working hard on his game,” Holbrook said of the 21-year-old Richardson.
Richardson’s fine inside pass had freed Percival for his first try, with the half-back adding two goals to put the visitors 8-6 ahead at half-time. Tries by Toby King and Harvey Livett either side of the break had kept Warrington within touching distance but St Helens always appeared in control.
James Roby’s try 45 seconds into the second half underlined this before Percival – and indeed Richardson with his own late try – emphasised the pre-season billing of St Helens as the title favourites this year.
In the night’s other game Huddersfield recorded only their second victory of the season with a 26-12 victory over 12-man Widnes, who had the forward, Wellington Albert, dismissed with 20 minutes remaining.
Warrington Ratchford; M Brown, Atkins, T King, Lineham; K Brown, Roberts; Hill, Clark, Cooper, Murdoch-Masila, Hughes, Westwood. Interchange G King, Crosby, Philbin, Livett.
Tries T King, Livett. Goals Ratchford 2.
St Helens Barba; Swift, Makinson, Percival, Grace; Lomax, Richardson; Amor, Roby, Thompson, Taia, Peyroux, McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Interchange Fages, Walmsley, Lees, Douglas. Tries Percival 3, Roby, Richardson. Goals Richardson 5. Referee J Child. Attendance 12,268.
