WALMSLEY LIGHTS ASHES FIRE

St Helens

confidence from that. He’s had his ups and downs here. His carries are some of the best not just in Super League, but in the world.”

Lam also had another influential performance from back-rower Liam Farrell in front of watching England coach Shaun Wane, and was pleased with the continuing development of his side’s defence.

He added: “That’s four weeks in a row now that we’ve only conceded two tries – and they weren’t systematic, they were a bit against the run of play.

“Part of Wigan’s success of the last 20 years has been off the back of defence, and there’s a good vibe and rhythm there as a group.”

Hull had been fully in the game at half-time, although their only try came from a long-range Josh Griffin intercept that was finished by Adam Swift. Before that 12

Sydney Roosters

20

ALEX WALMSLEY says St Helens’ World Club Challenge anticlimax will fuel his fire for another crack at the Aussies in the autumn.

The England prop (left) was superb as the Super League champions opened the scoring through Luke Thompson, and also touched down himself in the closing the quick-fire Bevan French had danced over for the home side, who led 10-8 at the break due to a controversial Zak Hardaker penalty that resulted in Farrell and Griffin being sin binned.

With both sides still down to 12 men, French’s smart pass put Manfredi over, before a close-range Jackson Hastings effort and Willie Isa try assured Wigan’s win.

Griffin completed the scoring directly from a scrum, but after a promising opening two wins the Black and Whites have now fallen to successive defeats.

Coach Lee Radford said: “Our attack looks painful at times. We needed a bit more from everybody – we slowly got ground down by a team with a lot of possession.

“Griffin was our best player, but there was a lot of OK performances around him.” stages – but Sydney Roosters showed a superior cutting edge.

Now Walmsley hopes to stand toe-to-toe with Australia in the Ashes series later this year under new England coach Shaun Wane.

He said: “It does whet the appetite – you want to play internationally and we might be coming up against a few of these Roosters at the end of the year.“