Wigan Warriors 36 Saints 2 WITH internal problems long being a cause for concern, sad sorry Saints ensured that on-field matters remained likewise with this appalling performance at the Vetch Field, Swansea.

This sixth successive drubbing by the Super League leaders in a little over a year, as the 'On the Road' series reached its finale, means Saints now cling precariously to fifth place.

Which leads one to wonder what happened to the intense rivalry once a feature of Saints-Wigan games.

I watched Saints train under coach Shaun McRae at the Vetch Field on Saturday, when all manner of sophisticated moves were rehearsed yet 24 hours later Saints' challenge degenerated into one of five drives and a kick, endless handling errors, colander-like defence, and lack of coherent kicking game.

Such shortcomings stood out like a beacon in face of a top quality Wigan performance.

So do Saints 'freeze' when tackling the old enemy? I do not pretend to have the answer to that one, but what I do know is that Sunday's lack of the essential ingredients of overall pride, passion and commitment was singularly lacking.

In layman's language such lack of application to the task in hand by well-paid players is simply not good enough, and is both a dis-service to a once-great club and the handful of supporters who made the 500-mile round trip, and whose enjoyment of a brilliant day in Swansea was marred by the happenings between 6.45 and 8.30pm.

But I have to say that, in my view Tommy Martyn, Sean Long, Keiron Cunningham and Apollo Perelini escape censure, while Chris Joynt and Paul Sculthorpe tackled tirelessly. And my heart bled too for wingers Anthony Sullivan and Chris Smith, who did not receive a decent pass.

Whether the downpour was an omen of stormy times ahead is pure conjecture, but Saints found themselves trailing within five minutes when Farrell chipped ahead for man-of-the-match Kris Radlinski to score, with the Wigan captain landing the first of his six goals.

The Warriors enjoyed most of the early pressure, but Paul Newlove raised the seige with a 40-yard break which found Wigan offside and Bobbie Goulding notched Saints' only points with a penalty goal.

Radlinski then saved Wigan's bacon with a miraculous try-saving tackle on Perelini, as did Paul Atcheson on Gary Connolly at the other end of the field, only for Wigan to forge further ahead with 20 minutes on the clock.

And it was that man Radlinski who prevailed again as Saints failed to cover the full-back's chip-through.

Farrell missed the conversion, but he was immediately on target when Perelini was penalised at the play-the-ball, and Wigan then proceeded to wrap the issue up before half-time when Connolly swept over from 30 yards range .

The sin-binning of Keiron Cunningham along with Wigan's Simon Haughton saw Saints re-jig their ranks, with Goulding at hooker, Martyn at scrum-half and Karle Hammond at centre for Damien Smith, who replaced Atcheson in the second half.

On the restart Saints displayed a little more urgency without really threatening to open their try account. Instead it was Wigan who added to their credit balance when Farrell crossed between the uprights. And Wigan added two further tries through Tony Smith.

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