SAINTS boss Keiron Cunningham paid tribute to his side for hanging in and coming up with the killer play to beat Wigan when he spoke with the Star’s Mike Critchley.

MC: Wigan came out strongly and put some real venom in the tackle – the lads who started did well to hold them?

KC: They did well, when you consider Andre Savelio had had a chest infection the week before and had hardly trained but went out and did 20 minutes straight.

I needed him to do a period of time because I only had Mose to roll with him.

All credit to Mose, he will be the first to admit that his form was not as good as it had been so he got sat down for couple of weeks and had a bit of a pre-season where he did a bit of conditioning work.

He just looked brilliant when he came on and did 21 minutes straight, putting himself everywhere, diving on loose balls, and he looked like a different person.

All credit too the boys, the performance was good. You can’t give them that will and want. You know when there is a loose ball on the floor and its your players diving on it, you know the will and want is there. We had a lot of that and I was proud of the players.

MC: To defend wave after wave of repeat sets without it burning the team at the back end takes some doing?

KC: We gave the ball away too cheaply in the first half, putting Wigan in really bad spots and then letting them out. In contrast Wigan put us in bad spots but kept us there for periods.

That is a sign of a good side. Like a good boxer, you withstand all that pressure and then counter and score a try.

That is what we did. Wigan had plenty of chances to win that game, but we just did not allow them too.

MC: Mose Masoe brought that bit of grunt and devil in a game that had some needle?

KC: He was always going to come back for Wigan and Warrington because he always plays well against those teams. It is that rivalry. If you recall he broke the game at Warrington with that lovely carry under the posts for the try.

I am pleased for Mose because he has done it tough the last couple of weeks. He wants to leave with a bang, now he feels more complete and that he can offer something special for the team.

MC: It would have been a travesty had the game been settled by that penalty?

KC: There were two or three stiff calls. The Swift forward pass was never a forward. I have never seen anyone throw a left handed pass round the corner and it be given forward. That was game changing.

Before that Lee Mossop dropped the ball and they got a penalty.

MC: Twice this year against Wigan, the opposition have exploited the man on the floor at the ruck to win a penalty. Does this rule need changing?

KC: I spoke to Steve Ganson about it and said players can’t make themselves disappear.

Louie knows if he makes a deliberate effort to get involved then it is a penalty.

Sean O’Loughlin just hits him on the head with a ball, after he had been left on the floor after Wigan have been allowed to play the ball quickly.

O’Loughlin is a smart player who plays to the rules, but common sense should tell you that we are not in Harry Potter and he can’t put on an invisible coat and disappear. This is going to happen, if people win collisions, players are going to be left on the floor.

MC: Jon Wilkin’s kick for the match winning play was perfect.

KC: It was brilliant. He had done one earlier but not quite in the 50/50 area. That play showed the resilience of the team.

I always see to staff and players in every big game if it is close you will get a chance to win it. We got ours and took it – but Wigan didn’t give us many. We took it and deserved to win and worked hard. We stopped them from scoring that is what hard work does.