SAINTS boss Kristian Woolf was pleased after seeing his see off the Huddersfield Giants with a 54-6 win to make a mockery of the disruption they have encountered this week.
Although Huddersfield had their own injury worries and were missing some key men, merciless Saints were in no mood for mercy nor their own self-pity.
They shook off their own injuries, including the late pull-out of Theo Fages, and then overcome a further blow when stand-in Lewis Dodd was denied a debut due to the need to self-isolate after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid.
And to compound all that, an accident on the M62 meant the journey was prolonged and the team bus late.
But they were well and truly off the bus when they ripped in early on, with Aaron Smith snapping and sniping from dummy half of the back of a strong display by the big men.
And behind the pack Jonny Lomax rolled back the years to his number seven days by taking charge of getting the team around the pitch, aided and abetted by the rest of the spine.
No wonder coach Kristian Woolf was a happy man after the game.
He said: “We had a lot of distractions this week; a lot of little things through the week, backing up from the week before.
“We had a disrupted couple of weeks, like a lot of teams have, and we turned up quite late tonight because of the traffic on the M62.
“I thought it was a really strong, professional effort from our blokes. They didn’t let that distract them.
“They came out with a really good attitude and kept that the whole game.”
The victory, their fifth in a row since the resumption, moved Saints to the top of the Super League pile for the first time since last season.
And it was an energetic, aggressive and industrious display after something of an ugly win the week previously.
“I know a lot of blokes were disappointed with themselves last week, they felt they started well and dropped off and allowed it to become scrappy.
“I thought our middles were not quite where they needed to be last week, they adjusted really well and came with a great attitude and defensively were really strong.
“Outside of our mistakes and penalties, Huddersfield didn’t really get to kick anywhere near half way. That was a great sign of what we were doing defensively,” he said.
Woolf was pleased with the way Lomax adjusted to his role as scrum half – taking on the onus of organising the team.
But he had fine support through that spine.
“Jonny was really good, and played a bit more like a seven. Normally at six he doesn’t have the responsibility of organising the whole team he just gets to play footy.
“Tonight, he had more responsibility in getting our team around and organising our sets and general play. He did a really good job.
“I thought our 9, 6. 7 and 1 as a whole did a great job. He was the leader in there and Cootey does a great job for us every week.”
On the injury front he expects Theo Fages and Zeb Taia to return next week, with Mark Percival also having a chance.
He gave an update on Kevin Naiqama, who came off after taking a bang on the leg.
“Kevin copped a knock just above his knee.
“He said it was affecting him running so at that stage of the game it was really smart to bring him off and make sure we look after him a bit.
“I hope he is right for next week. I don’t think it is anything that should put him in too much doubt, b but corks (dead legs) can be a little bit tricky at times, so hopefully he is right,” Woolf said.
Pictures: Swpix.com
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