Ade bags four as young Saints cruise to victory (From Warrington Guardian)

Ade bags four as young Saints cruise to victory

Barrow 20 Saints 38 (By Mike Critchley at Craven Park)

IN a friendly arranged as part of the deal that brought him to Saints, Ade Gardner rose to the occasion with a blistering four-try display on his old stamping ground.

This promises to be a big season for the young Cumbrian three-quarter - and with Tony Stewart now on a 12-month loan to Salford - the way is open for Gardner to nail down a regular spot after two years of waiting in the wings.

His main competition for the wing spot will come in the massive shape of new Samoan recruit Dominic Feaunati, who began taking his first tentative steps up the steep rugby league learning curve alongside with compatriot Maurie Fa'asavula on Sunday.

The debuts of the rugby union World Cup converts enticed a fair smattering of intrigued Saints fans to make the trek down the world's biggest cul-de-sac and brave the biting cold wind.

The duo - guided by the impressive young, old heads Jon Wilkin and Mike Bennett in Saints' experimental youthful line up - displayed some promising touches.

The pair showed an expected touch of naivety in some areas - laying the ball back in the tackle union style and not knowing how to hunt for work with the ball.

But they both put in some fearsome hits and clearly have the raw material to turn into players who can make an impact, if not an immediate one, on Super League IX.

In weeks to come Saints will be hoping opposing tacklers have as much difficulty getting to grips with the Samoans legs as Sunday's PA announcer had in pronouncing their names.

Making a less publicised but no less impressive debut was former Wigan front rower Ricky Bibey, who added a little bit of bite to Saints' game in the middle of the park.

He marked his first appearance by opening the scoring with a close range try, converted by Carl Forber.

But it was not just the big fellas who dominated the proceedings - showing those classic half back touches behind the scrum was the diminutive figure of young Phil Anderton.

He capped off a super display with a length of the field solo try.

After retrieving the ball from the scrum Anderton's dummy took him away from the first wave of defenders and with 95 metres to the line he simply threw his head back and went for it.

That 15th minute try followed ones by Mark Edmondson and the first of Gardner's four to make it 22-0 and it looked likely to become a one-sided mismatch.

Margin

But changes in the visitors' line-up and some dogged rugby from the south Cumbrians saw the game become more competitive with Mike Whitehead crossing for Barrow's opener.

Saints' Academy winger Gaz Langley nipped over in the corner to restore the margin only for Barrow's Craig Bower to polish off a fine move to have the last word before the interval.

For the record Gardner waltzed in for three more tries, with Nicky Beech and Jamie Smith getting over the whitewash for the homesters.

On the whole this was a useful workout, with youngsters like the industrious Liam Bostock relishing the opportunity to work at the heels of the more established pros.

The versatile Wilkin also displayed maturity and composure with the ball - again showing the sort of qualities which may have him hammering Ian Millward's door down for a more significant and extended part in the first choice 17 this term.

Barrow: Bower; Washington, P. Jones, McClure, Wilson; Atkinson, Holt; Dancer, Archer, King, Leigh, Whitehead, Pugh. Subs: Smith, Ruddy, Luxon, W. Jones, Wilcock, Beech, Williamson.

Saints: Hardman; Langley, Feaunati, Gardner, M. Roby; Forber, Anderton; Bibey, Bostock, Edmondson, Fa'asavula, Bennett, Wilkin. Subs: Mason, Graham, J. Roby, Bracek, Littler, Kilshaw, Kenney, Leyland.

Attendance: 1,647.