Saints 58

Warrington Wolves 18 BACK on track in some style! That was 10-try second-placed Saints at skid-pan Knowsley Road on Sunday night.

As in politics, a week can be a long time in Rugby League. The point was amply demonstrated by Saints in shaking off the Wakefield trauma with virtually the same side that under-achieved at Belle Vue.

Hard lessons had obviously been learned. For gone was the handling uncertainty that had hamstrung Saints seven days earlier, in particular in the second half when the previously hungry Wolves were swept aside by a point-a-minute tidal wave.

Sweet music in deed for home supporters, and compensation for a scrappy, penalty punctuated, opening 40 minutes when an Alan Langer-inspired Wolves competed well in a full-blooded clash.

And here also was a game not lacking in 'incident,' but for the wrong reasons, with four sin-binnings after niggling offences at the play-the-ball causing referee Connolly to read the Riot Act, while Warrington's Lee Penny was put on report following a tackle on Chris Joynt.

Reborn Saints' performance went some way to redeeming them with their fans, while a Warrington side unbeaten in three outings endured the ignominy of another 50-point thrashing at Knowsley Road as they sought a first-ever Super League victory over Saints. Saints' coach Ian Millward, who was celebrating his 40th birthday, was happy with his team's display, but less than impressed with Warrington's over-enthusiastic approach, some of which he said 'had him fearing for the safety of his players.'

The charge was vehemently denied by Wolve's counterpart Darryl Van De Velde in exclaiming 'give us a break!' with the Wolves' coaching adding that losing too much ball was the main reason for Warrington's slump.

Stand-off superb Tommy Martyn earned Saints' man-of-the-match award with a three-try show and promptly donated his Tissot watch to Millward, while it was also a night to remember for nine-goal Sean Long, who passed the1,000 point milestone with the club.

I thought Saints' front row of Apollo Perelini, Keiron Cunningham and Julian O'Neill was simply awesome, Vila Matautia and Paul Sculthorpe lacked nothing in effort, and it was good to see Paul Wellens back after being under the weather.

A sudden cloudburst made conditions treacherous underfoot from the kick-off, and Saints took a second-minute lead when Perelini sent Martyn over, but Warrington levelled matters when Langer crossed for ex-Saint Lee Briers to convert. Martyn beat Mark Hilton to race through a bemused Warrington defence; Iro had a try refused as one-time Saint Alan Hunte was sin-binned, but there was no doubting the homester's third touchdown 'made' by Sculthorpe and scored by Sullivan, with Long having his sole failure with the boot

Leading 16-6 at half-time, Saints were rocked back on their heels when Hunte intercepted Long's pass to hurtle over from half-way with Briers goaling, but just when it appeared Wolves were poised to pounce Saints took complete command.

Although O'Neill was in the 'bin' Saints proceeded to score four tries in eight minutes, with Martyn completing his hat-trick; Long and Matautia sent in Wellens; Cunningham and Sculthorpe did likewise for Iro, as did Vila and Joynt for Keiron.

Andrew Gee was the next Warrington player to sample the yellow card before Dwayne West intercepted Jerome Guisset's pass to romp over from 50 yard and, now trailing 46-12, damage limitation was paramount for the ravaged Wolves.

The visitors had slight consolation when former Knowsley Road star Dean Busby scored under the posts after Briers chipped ahead. But it proved a mere bagatelle as - with Tawera Nikau the third Warrington player to be sin-binned - John Stankevitch and Sculthorpe scored late tries for Saints.