KEIRON Cunningham was disappointed with the way his senior squad started the first 20 minutes against Widnes, but was full of praise for the younger members of the squad who finished Saints first friendly of the 2015 season.

The new boss was speaking after seeing Saints lose the Karalius Cup warm up game 20-16 - and despite the result, drew plenty of positives from the clash.

Cunningham said: "It was our first friendly game and we ran with 26 players.

"It was never going to be our strongest team for a period of time. I'm not concerned with the result, not at all, more the structures and shapes.

"But I am disappointed with our first 20 minutes and our start. We looked like a team who was into its first friendly and Widnes probably had the jump on us as a result."

He singled out some of the young players for their endeavour - and in particular highlighted the input of Joe Greenwood who scored Saints' first and was still running strong and tackling well in the closing minutes.

Cunningham said: "What was pleasing as well was the kids' performance in the second half. I thought some of them were sensational and Joe Greenwood was probably the best player on the field.

"He's jumped over three or four people for me now for a spot in the team. Big pressure was on him at the start of pre-season to do the right things.

"His will to win is second to none and you get what you deserve in rugby. If he continues like that he will be looking to deserve a starting spot."

There was praise too for teenage centre Jack Ashworth, who produced a stunning second half break in his debut match and a trimmed down Andre Savelio.

"Jack Ashworth played well too, off the back of a knee reconstruction, and Andre Savelio was brilliant. He's had his best pre-season for a good few seasons and is in a good frame of mind. He's dropped around 13 kilos too and is definitely going to be a threat for us this season."

 "Next week we'll run with a smaller squad and look to get more game time into the big men,"he said.