SAINTS' seven-game winning run came to a shuddering halt in inglorious fashion at the hands of rivals Wigan

To make matters worse, Wigan were no great shakes but we're just a touch more clinical and had a better offload game which saw them do enough to make Saints pay for a succession of handling errors.

Any review of this game should have a rating with more xs than an early 80s video nasty, such was the horrific nature of Saints' handling.

Once the errors mounted, and they found themselves chasing the game, composure - or lack of it - began to play its part.

There was of course mitigation.

Saints had lost three on-song players from their already thin squad through injury and suspension.

And with plenty being made of the banning of the two Lukes, Walsh and Thompson, the excuses were already stacked up in advance should the players have needed them.

That said, it was not a lack of effort in the derby game, rather a lack of application.

And although much will be made of the absence of Walsh's clinical organisational skills and Mark Percival's cutting edge out wide, if the ball is hitting the deck half way through every other set there is nothing that can be done.

Wigan gained revenge for the 23-4 rout four weeks earlier which had the fans bouncing on the east stand and propelled the team into a good start in the Super 8s.

But tonight the schedule - in which they have tackled top four teams in the last four outings - and the absenteed looked like it had caught up with them.

It was an irritating loss, particularly as three of the four Wigan tries were handed to them via cheap turnovers, penalties or, in the case of Anthony Gelling's hat-trick, an interception.

Saints will just be thankful that Matty Smith missed one conversion or else we would have been looking at a repeat of the most appalling scoreline in the club's history - from Wembley 1989.

Saints missed suspended playmaker Walsh, and that was clear when they did have a spell on the Wigan line in the first half.

with half.

Although Theo Fages tried, he ran out of gas in the second half during his first appearance since June 11 following his leg injury.

Saints handed Gelling the opportunity to sneak over for his first when Adam Swift lost the ball in a three-man tackle on his own 20-metre area and in the next set the Wigan centre just about sneaked over before his knee hit the touchline.

Smith's conversion made it 6-0 but for the next 20 minutes Saints enjoyed a good spell in the Wigan half, but repeat sets from Fages' grubbers were as good as it got.

Saints had a lucky escape when Dan Sarginson had a try chalked off for a forward pass.

But there was no disputing the clinical execution of the next chance when second rower John Bateman's short pass put Gelling through a hole, even managing to take the Micky before planting the ball down without a Saints hand touching him.

Smith extended his side's lead to 12-0 but the Warriors too were guilty of handing the ball over in what seemed like a game of hot potato.

Maybe it was a sign of the lack of composure, but when Saints won a penalty 20 seconds before the half time hooter, they tapped it and then grubbered it rather than taking a shot for two points which would have given a toe-hold.

Saints had chances in the second half, with James Roby was held up on the line.

Smith gave his side a three-score lead on 58 minutes when he chipped over a drop goal.

And with Saints still chasing the game, looking for the try that would get the ball rolling, Jordan Turner's pass was plucked out of the air by Gelling who sprinted 90 metres for his hat-trick.

Although Smith missed the conversion, he kicked a penalty moments later.

Wigan turned the shoreline into a hammering just before the end when powerful substitute forward Taulima Tautai, who tormented Saints, offloaded for George Williams to back up and score Wigan's fourth try of the night.

A bitterly disappointing night, but not the end of the world given that Walsh will be back to pull the strings in the last three Super 8s games.

In the meantime Fages will be better for his first blast out in eight weeks.

But more than anything Saints surely cannot drop this much ball again this season?