Saints throw it away

LOSING to Wigan has become something of a habit for Saints - with five out of the past six encounters going the Warriors' way - but Friday's defeat was definitely one that got away.

Saints tossed away a 20 point lead to gift their fierce rivals an unlikely victory - and worryingly the champions now occupy a place outside the top six for the first time in Super League.

Ironically helping to turn the tide against a team containing many of his boyhood heroes was St Helens teenager Kevin Brown, who grabbed two tries for the Warriors.

But at one stage Saints were on fire, showing shades of the form that blitzed Bradford and Castleford in those heady early spring days.

Martin Gleeson was first on the scoresheet after 50 seconds after Saints had regathered from the kick off.

Then Chris Joynt combined well with Ade Gardner, who sent Paul Wellens hurtling over.

Wellens, restored to the full back slot after starting last week on the bench, had a fine game and his last-gasp defence rescued Saints on a number of occasions throughout the 80 minutes.

A Paul Sculthorpe penalty stretched the lead to 14 points and at that stage they had the game under control.

It is hard to put your finger on the precise moment it began to fall apart. But there were a couple of things that helped breathe life and self-belief into the Warriors.

The substitution of four members of the pack that had helped create the early platform did not help matters - and Saints lost quite a bit of their shape once Keith Mason, Keiron Cunningham, Darren Britt and Darren Smith left the park around the quarter mark.

But Saints soon made it 20-0 with a try from substitute forward Barry Ward who rumbled his way over, but the jitters were beginning to set in.

A penalty, which should have been punched deep into the Wigan half to settle those nerves and help Saints kill the game, failed to find touch and four minutes later the Warriors were celebrating their first try of the night.

It was a scrappy one which started the Wigan points whirlwind with substitute Luke Robinson smuggling the ball out of the tackle, Brown picked up and flicked it out to David Hodgson who crossed in space as Saints players stopped waiting for a knock on decision.

After a temporary break in play while Danny Sculthorpe and Stuart Jones were sin-binned for fighting, Wigan pegged another six points back when Terry Newton sent Robinson over for the first of his hat-trick.

Three minutes after the restart Brown picked up a pass from off his boots to nip in for his first try and then Wigan went ahead when Robinson touched down from second rower Nick Graham's angled grubber.

At this stage the Wigan pack were well on top - effortlessly marching upfield to give Adrian Lam acres of space in which to work his magic.

Brown grabbed his second after a long ball from Lam and then the influential Papua New Guinean skipper hoofed an inch perfect 40/20 to create the perfect platform for Robinson to go over from the scrum.

With a quarter of the game to go Gardner grabbed a score to start the Saints comeback.

But despite two tries by Darren Smith, a Farrell penalty in between rendered Sculthorpe's late missed conversion insignificant.

To compound Saints' misery Paul Newlove, who was told last week he would not be having his contract renewed, went off with a dislocated thumb.

Afterwards coach Ian Millward said: "We were playing outstandingly at 20-0 but then they came up with a couple of tries.

"Just after half time we had no ball and what he had we were poor with.

"Our completion rate was good in the first half, but poor in the second and where they were able to keep their intensity, we were not.

"With that lead we should have won. We have got to turn these periods in which we play well into 80 minutes.

"We can't afford too many more losses and certainly can't afford to give up leads like that."

St Helens: Wellens; Stewart, Gleeson, Newlove, Gardner; P. Sculthorpe, Long; Britt, Cunningham, Mason, Bennett, Joynt, D. Smith.

Subs: Hooper, Ward, Higham, Jones

Tries: Gleeson, Wellens, Ward, D. Smith (2), Gardner. Goals: Sculthorpe (5)

Wigan : Briscoe; Johnson, Aspinwall, Brown, Hodgson; O'Loughlin, Lam; C. Smith, Newton, O'Connor, Cassidy, Graham, Farrell.

Subs: D. Sculthorpe, M. Smith, Robinson, Hock.

Tries: Hodgson, Robinson (3), Brown (2). Goals: Farrell (7)

Half-time Saints 20 Wigan 12

Attendance: 12, 827

Referee: R. Smith (Castleford)

Penalty count: Saints 8 Wigan 7

Sin-bins: O'Loughlin (professional foul), Jones and D. Sculthorpe (fighting)