IT was not pretty at times but a performance built on resilience, team unity and defensive resolve saw Saints open their Super League campaign with a 6-4 win over Leeds.

Although there was clear evidence of rustiness with the ball, there were plenty of positives for Saints to pick out.

Not least of those was the determined way in which they kept their line intact in the face of a constant, prolonged Leeds assault that came through a combination of a lop-sided penalty count and some sloppy ball control.

In the absence of sidelined Matty Smith the fledgling half back pairing of Theo Fages and debutant Danny Richardson showed some nice touches, supported through the middle by skipper Jon Wilkin.

Any fears that 20-year-old Widnesian Richardson would be out of his depth stepping up from the academy were swiftly dispelled.

His kicking and passing game was sound, he probed and supported well and was no weak link in the defensive chain.

It was his pass that created the first chance of the match, only for Dominique Peyroux to be foiled on the line by one of many fine tackles from Leeds full back Ashton Golding.

Fages, who was in an out of the team last year, rose to the challenge of having extra responsibility heaped upon his shoulders.

The Frenchman not only showed good touches with the ball, but defensively he was also sound after encountering plenty of Leeds traffic coming his way.

Saints did little but defend for a good chunk of the first half and the line inevitably cracked when Joel Moon crossed in the corner – and they did well to keep it to the one score.

It was not all they had to contend with – and they had to shuffle the backline around after Jonny Lomax was withdrawn with concussion.

Having weathered the storm, the introduction of James Roby, who had surprisingly started off the bench, and Alex Walmsley and the energetic Luke Thompson began to have an impact.

Roby replaced the industrious campaigner Tommy Lee and immediately gave a sharper prong to the attack from dummy half.

He was assisted in his mission by the strong running of big man Walmsley, who tore through the Rhinos defence like an indestructible leviathan to help tip the pendulum Saints’ way.

Saints were held up for a second time when Makinson was foiled by Golding after taking Fages’ neat inside ball.

Play swiftly moved up to the other end and after Makinson had had the ball stripped, Leeds waged one more attack, crucially opting to run a kickable penalty with a minute on the clock but getting nothing from it.

It was probably a let off for Saints.

The second half was barely two minutes old when Fages dummied and darted way over shortly after Walmsley had been held up over the line after having a crack from dummy half.

That play had been preceded by a probe from Richardson on the right before the ball was shipped across for Fages.

Mark Percival's conversion put Saints in front, but a pivotal moment came on 47 minutes when Leeds' England centre Kallum Watkins skinned the Saints right edge before putting what could have been the winning score on a plate for Liam Sutcliffe only for makeshift full back Makinson to bundle him into touch yards from the line.

The rest of the half remained scoreless, but once Saints got their noses in front they managed the game with an excellent kick chase game.

All three kickers boomed the ball on the last, and it was always backed by some energetic chases to ensure that the Rhinos started their sets under pressure.

Leeds still had their chances nevertheless, and Saints were always only one defensive lapse away from defeat.

But even when Leeds threw caution to the wind and had a real crack two minutes from time, with the ball whipped left, right and centre, the Saints defence held firm.

Saints: Lomax; Makinson, Morgan, Percival, Swift; Fages, Richardson; Amor, Lee, Douglas, Greenwood, Peyroux, Wilkin. Subs: Walmsley, Roby, Thompson, Knowles.

Leeds: Golding; Briscoe, Watkins, Moon, Hall; Sutcliffe, Burow; Garbutt,, Parcell, Cuthbertson, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Singleton. Subs: Ward, Keinhorst, Mullally, Baldwinson.