SAINTS and Wigan renewed hostilities - with this friendly clash at Langtree Park again serving up an incident-packed game from the off.

The first tackle of the game saw a flare up resulting in Dom Crosby being placed on report for his challenge on Alex Walmsley.

The first half was littered with largely Wigan niggle, with Saints cashing in on the visitors' Ill-discipline to take control.

It looked as though Saints had got off to a flyer when Mark Percival showed his centre class to slip his marker on the outside before getting over the whitewash - but being unable to ground the ball.

Saints were, however, stayed on top for long periods and a steeping kick from Jon Wilkin rattled off the uprights and was knocked on by NRL-bound Joe Burgess.

And they made Wigan pay when Travis Burns engineered the gap for big Joe Greenwood to gallop over.

Tommy Makinson slotted the extras.

Saints' pack were well fired up and refused to be intimidated by the niggle that was thrown their way and the big men laid a good platform.

They went close to adding to their tally when Mose Masoe was held on his back and then Wilkin's grubber went a shade too deep into the corner.

But after Wigan were awarded two penalties they looked as though they had made it tell when Josh Charnley went in at the corner.

That was chalked off and then Saints were rewarded for their alertness when Jordan Turner snaffled an interception, popping it for Adam Swift who showed a clean pair of heels to fly in at the corner.

Tommy Makinson looked as though he had pulled off his tight corner speciality, but the ref saw it differently.

But twolate tries sent Saints bouncing in at half time. The first of those saw Swift fly down the left, before the ball came back inside where a Wigan hand knocked it on.

That paralysed the visitors defence, with the ball scooped up and passed to new boy Atelea Vea who was rewarded for a fine game with a try.

And with their tails up courtesy of a Travis Burns 40/20, Saints had one last crack at the Wigan line which they duly took with Makinson scorching in.

The winger arrowed the ball between the aitches to make it 22-0 at the break.

Saints replaced Jonny Lomax with Paul Wellens after the young full back to a bang to his back.

Some strong words from Wigan boss Shaun Wane saw a more determined Wigan come out after the break, and the visitors dominated possession.

They scored the half's opener when an enterprising kick wide broke the line and eventually saw the ball turned back for John Bateman to score on 47 minutes.

It was all Wigan for the next 20 minutes, with saints withstanding a mountain of pressure on the line.

That it cracked only once more - to a soft try to Connor Farrell - was a credit to them.

But Matty Smith's conversion made it 'game on' going into the last quarter and did well to deny Farrell again on the line.

Saints held their nerve tackled,tackled and tackled and eventually made the resurgent Warriors blink when a big shot on Larne Patrick saw the ball come loose.

A strong run from Mose Masoe earned a penalty, and from there they clinically forced a drop out.

It was a positive sign to see this trait - a side that can hang on and then ruthlessly make their turn in the opposing half count at the key part of the game.

And so they did, with the ball worked from left to right, where Greenwood strode over for the match clincher with nine minutes to play.

Makinson improved it and Saints should have had more, but took the wrong option in floating the ball wide instead of finding the supporting Paul Wellens on the inside.

Although it is only a friendly - on the whole Saints can be pleased with that performance which shows encouraging signs for the year ahead, not least the displays of new boys Vea and Burns.

it was also encouraging to see a lot of slick handling in there too, with the ball being moved fluently from the platform the pack had created.