REIGNING champs Saints continued their Super League surge thanks to a 56-18 rout of Salford.

But leaders Bradford Bulls remain two points clear of Wigan following their ultimately emphatic 52-28 victory at Halifax.

St Helens coach Ian Millward warned that the third placed world club champions are now back to their best, a boast supported by Halifax boss Steve Linnane.

"Saints are the best team in the competition, I've no doubt about that," said Linnane, who witnessed at first hand the power of the Challenge Cup winners in last week's 46-22 home defeat.

Saints made it a baptism of fire for new Salford coach Steve McCormack at the Willows, where Great Britain star Paul Sculthorpe was again the key man with 20 points through a try and eight goals while Paul Wellens put the icing on the cake with a hat-trick of tries.

Millward now believes his side is beginning to fire on all cylinders and reproduce the standard of play which saw them beat Australian champions Brisbane Broncos at the start of the year.

He said: "We are playing some great attacking rugby league and we're going up to the level that we attained last season."

It was, however, a miserable start to McCormack's career as head coach.

The 28-year-old took over from Australian John Harvey after the Reds had conceded 176 points in three matches but watched in agony as Saints ran in 10 tries.

He said: "Saints are a quality side and played some great stuff but a lot of our tackling was too high. We showed more pride and passion in the second half and I want to see more of that in the weeks to come."