SAINTS boss Kristian Woolf was happy with everything he got from his men in the 26-2 win against Wigan Warriors.

The convincing victory in a bruising derby at the DW Stadium put to bed the previous week's home defeat to Castleford Tigers.

"It was exactly the response we wanted," said the Saints head coach.

"We obviously weren't happy with last week. We didn't play to our standards and we had a bit of a poor discipline about us. We weren't great last week with or without the ball.

"I was really happy and really proud with how we turned up tonight.

"Right from the kick-off you could just tell the intensity, and in the whole game.

> READ: Look back at how the game unfolded as it happened

"It was a very high quality very intense game but I thought we started with a terrific intensity. I thought we had a really good discipline about us and I thought we really went after the game.

"And we showed that in our defence, but we played some footy and backed ourselves a bit as well. They're a very good defensive side and to come up with 26 points we had to play some footy and I was very happy with what we did with both sides of the ball."

Four yellow cards were brandished by referee Chris Kendall and another incident was placed on report.

Saints' James Bentley was sent to the sin bin after a fracas with Wigan's John Bateman, who was told to cool off for a second time later in the game and upon his return his teammate Willie Isa was ordered off.

But as the game threatened to boil over on several occasions, Woolf was happy with how his players responded.

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“It’s tough in those situations," he said.

“It was a really tough, really physical encounter.

“Rugby league has an element of aggression in it. You have to be aggressive to play our game.

“You have to like contact, with and without the ball.

“It’s always on a bit of a fine line, I suppose, particularly when the atmosphere is outstanding and there’s a lot on the line and a real atmosphere that creates that bit of tension at times as well.

“I just thought our blokes handled themselves really well. We certainly stood up to everything but at the same time we didn’t fall into any ill-discipline and I thought they handled themselves really well.”

Scrum-half Lewis Dodd was a stand-out performer on his first derby at Wigan in front of a 16,000 crowd.

He was certainly not fazed by the occasion and produced a try from nothing when he stole the ball off Wigan prop Ollie Partington five metres from the Wigan line to cross unopposed.

"He's getting better and better every week," said Woolf.

"We all know what ability he's got, we all know he's got a terrific running game and we all know he can kick the footy.

"He's getting better and better in terms of how he manages the game, how he puts kicks where they need to be.

"And what I think is the most impressive for a young man is they way he's handling himself defensively and competing.

"It's quite obvious at times that teams are going to try and get big men at him and he's handling it really well.

"When you've got that in a half, he's going to learn the other things so I'm really happy with how he is developing."