FORMER Saints skipper Paul Sculthorpe brings his latest column, in conjunction with Super League sponsors Betfred.

WELL it is no exaggeration to say the Saints are marching on!

Four points clear of the pack at the top of the Betfred Super League, with most points scored and the best defence. The stats don’t lie.

And what a fantastic Easter period, beating our great rivals second-placed Wigan on in the traditional Good Friday fixture, followed by a clinical win against Widnes.

We are certainly playing with a lot of confidence, and are more ruthless with the ball....but also providing some superb entertaining rugby.

Many teams in Super League these days play very one dimensional, structured rugby...but Saints are certainly not one of them.

Our fans have always enjoyed the ‘Saints flair’ …and that’s what we have gone back to playing.

The forwards provide the platform for the backs to shine – and Luke Thompson and Kyle Amor deserve special mentions. For me, Thompson at 22 is establishing himself as one of, if not the top, prop in Super League at the moment, while Amor was outstanding against Vikings.

Another player deserving of a mention for a tough performance at the Halton Stadium, both in attack and defence was Jon Wilkin.

Tommy Makinson reached his personal milestone of 100 tries for Saints with a brace of trieson Monday. He has been outstanding this season and was pushing for M.O.M against Wigan with a great performance. Long may it continue.

As for Ben Barba – man of the match again against Widnes – he’s simply world class.

Top players always look like they have all the time in the world....putting defenders where they want them, either playing fast or slow...before putting them to the sword! One player making the most of playing outside of him is Mark Percival, himself in great form.

The usual suspects are up there in the top four, obviously Saints, followed by Wigan, Warrington and Leeds who all won on Easter Monday.

Warrington are certainly growing in confidence with some big wins under their belt, and not many bigger than away at Castleford...in what can only be described as a quagmire. How that game got the go-ahead I will never know.

Next up for Saints is Hull FC, who can be brilliant one week and awful the next. But you can be assured Justin Holbrook will be preparing his team for the best Hull FC this Friday. FC come to the TWS on the back of a 27-26 dramatic win over WakefieldTrinity, with a Mark Sneyd special – a 52m last minute drop-goal taking the points.

Regular readers will know I’m on something of a roll with my predictions ...so this week I’m going for a Saints win over the Black and Whites by ten (11/10 at Betfred).

And finally, can I applaud Widnes Vikings for their great initiative supporting the NHS with Beat The Scrum.

This is to raise the awareness of how NHS care should be best used, and make people aware of not wasting this amazing world class service we are so lucky to have. I am fully behind this campaign and urge everyone to support. Many thanks.