Long hails St Helens’ spirit in upsetting the odds
SEAN Long hailed his St Helens side after they upset the odds with a 26-22 win against Super League highfliers Castleford Tigers, their first victory since icon Kieron Cunningham’s departure last week.
Following on from their Friday defeat at Wigan Warriors, the Saints were heavy favourites to lose again to the league leaders – but an outstanding first half saw that notion dismissed.
Matty Fleming, Luke Douglas and Mark Percival all scored but it was winger Regan Grace’s tr y in the second period which thrilled Long – who has taken temporary charge along with former New Zealand international Jamahl Lolesi and Derek Traynor.
“The boys turned up and it was a short turnaround following the Friday game against Wigan. We found a way to win and Cas are a class team and to beat them is pleasing,” said Long.
“I thought we could have closed this game out a bit easier but I can’t fault the boys’ effort, it was unreal.
“Regan [Grace was good. He’s been working really hard and has pace to burn but has a lot to learn. He’s taking his chance very well and he wants to work – and that’s a sign of a good player.
“Every young kid thinks he’s ready and we’ve given Regan a chance – and he’s taken it.”
Castleford’s defeat opened the door for other leading sides to close the gap, and Leeds Rhinos took full advantage with their 42-22 win against Widnes Vikings – but head coach Brian McDermott was far from satisfied at the final whistle.
Leeds were strolling against the Super League’s bottom team, with Kallum Watkins, Matt Parcell and former Brisbane Broncos star Joel Moon all scoring two tries each.
But their 30-6 half-time lead suddenly became rather precarious when Widnes came out in the second period with a different mentality and scored through Tim Gilmore, Chris Houston and Corey Thompson, before Leeds pulled clear late on.
‘Showed some maturity’
However, McDermott insists he will not linger on their careless second half and focus on another fine win which puts them level on points at the top.
“There were a couple of things involved in the second half, not least Widnes’ desire to get back into the game. But we were running at 40% in the second half and the last thing we needed to do was give them an invite back into the game,” he said.
“Credit toWidnes – they made it a contest but had we done things differently they never would have been able to make it a contest.
“We found ourselves in a situation where we were fighting for the game and credit to our players – they showed some maturity and when they got the chance they got over to score a try.
“I won’t get on the players’ backs about the second half – it made it interesting and entertaining – but the most pleasing thing is that we were very good and very clinical in the first half.”
Another side expected to be challenging at the top is Hull FC but a two-game losing streak had left them floundering a little before Monday’s welcome 24-10 win at struggling Leigh Centurions.
Carlos Tuimavave scored twice while Albert Kelly also crossed, easing the pressure on head coach Lee Radford.
“I was really pleased with how we performed,” said Radford.
“My confidence as a coach has not been dented one bit in the last few weeks but as a team we looked like we were enjoying defending again.”