SAINTS scrum half Matty Smith’s orchestration of their win over Warrington showed signs of the shape of things to come.

It also highlighted just what a disruptive effect having the star signing suffering a broken leg in his first friendly back in the red vee had had on the team.

All the plans that had been worked on pre-season had to be tweaked and changed, with personnel shuffling around too – and that clearly affected performance with stuttering Saints losing three out of their first four Super League games.

Smith’s return for the Wolves fixture illustrated clearly what the strategy is going to be going forward and expects, with time together, that to start ticking over like a well-oiled piece of machinery.

He said: “It was going so well in pre-season and I didn’t play for England in the Four Nations so I got a good pre-season under my belt and got to know the lads and was in a really good place.

“The first 38 mins of that Widnes friendly game it looked and felt good, but obviously the leg happened.

“We are just getting the combinations going together again.

“We were doing that in pre-season but when I broke my leg we probably had to change the way we play a little bit again, which was not ideal.

“Now I am back in the squad we are back to playing the way we trained in pre-season.

“It is about getting those little combinations back, whether it is with me and Theo. Or the middles and me, or the centres linking with the full back.

“There are little things we need to fix up, but everyone is going in the right direction and confidence is high off two wins.”

With Saints having endured previous scrum half Luke Walsh breaking his leg in 2014, there must have been fears of deja vu when his successor hobbled off.

But Smith’s fracture was nowhere near as serious an injury – and with the treatment he has received an initial timescale of up to 16 weeks was virtually halved.

And in coming back he has felt no ill effects.

“Although I have broken my arm and dislocated my elbow early on in my career, at this stage, being 29, breaking a leg is the hardest injury to come back from,” Smith said.

“The care you get from the medical team here is second to none.

“The surgeon said the leg has gone back together well and in terms of rehab and training I have responded well to everything.

“To get back now as quickly as I can – credit has to go to physios Millsy (Nathan Mill) and Adz (Adam Rowland), plus the surgeon.

“They have done all the hard work and I have just followed what they told me to do and they have got me back in eight to nine weeks which is amazing really as the surgeon initially said 12-16.

“To come back in that time is good and the leg held up well and feels good, so I have been lucky.

“Apart from my medium top going to a large and me struggling a little bit towards the back end, when it felt like I was running in quick sand, I felt really good.”

Smith’s job on the pitch is pretty clear - and that was demonstrated on Friday and it appears that he will operate as a dominant seven, in the manner of Sean Long under Daniel Anderson, with Theo Fages playing off him.

Smith explained: “I am the talker and I am on the ball – playing both sides of the pitch and Theo is playing off me, whether right or left.

“As long as the talk is good I think it is a great way of playing and recall that is how we played when Longy and Leon were here from 2006.

“We have gone back to doing that, rather than the halves being locked in – and it works if you get it right. It is more unpredictable.”

Smith’s return also has a positive effect on skipper Jon Wilkin, who has returned to his traditional loose forward role “It helps Jon to play his normal game. His push in support and his hands are fantastic.

“He plays really square at the line which makes my job easier.

“Getting him and others back in their right positions will help the team.

“Theo is going well and stood up when I was injured.

“With me being back he can play off the back and play his normal game,” Smith said.