RUGBY League's £.5million man, Paul Newlove, would do well to keep one eye over his shoulder at Knowsley Road these days.

Not only is his title as Britain's number one centre up for contention but his position as Saints number one is also up for grabs.

Not that Newlove has lost any of the form that saw him race away to the top of the tryscoring charts and help Saints to an historic double last season, but Allan Hunte's scintillating start to the season is the talk of the terraces at Knowsley Road.

Hunte, preferred as a wingman in recent seasons, just can't stop scoring from anywhere on the field.

His latest hat-trick in Saints' 32-12 victory over Sheffield Eagles at a sun-drenched Knowsley Road on Monday sent Saints scorching to the top of the Super League without ever really breaking sweat.

Infact, despite Hunte's incredible tryscoring feats, the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for the end of the game - not the final whistle - but the announcement of the final score at Wilderspool where near neighbours, Warrington and Wigan, were contesting their annual Easter derby.

There was always going to be a hangover from the Good Friday win and although Sheffield battled hard with an impressive display from stand off, Nick Pinkney, the result was never really in doubt from the moment Hunte opened his account on 10 minutes.

He skipped through the visitors' defence after Newlove and Joynt had both gone close for a try converted by Lee Briers on what could be his last match for some time for Saints. Captain Bobbie Goulding is back for this week's trip to Paris St. Germain after serving his six match ban for a high tackle on Wigan's Neil Cowie.

Ten mintes later, a promising Saints attack looked to have fallen down before the ball again came out to Hunte who, from a standing start, side-stepped his way past two Sheffield defenders and darted under the posts for his and Saints' second.

Further tries from Hammond and powerful effort from Newlove along with two Briers conversions stretched Saints lead before Pinkney hit back for the visitors with a fine solo effort from the scrum. Scrum half, Mark Aston, converted to take the score at the break to 22-6.

Saints looked sluggish in the sun in the second half with supporters keener on events at Warrington than a second 40 minutes in which the home side hardly stepped out of second gear.

Saints boss Shaun McRae took advantage of the comfortable lead to take off Perelini, Hammond, O'Neill and Cunningham and gave substitute, Simon Booth, his first action of the season.

Sheffield threatened to spoil the laid back post Good Friday party atmosphere with a 49th minute try from prop, Paul Broadbent, converted by Aston but this only served to sting Saints back into action.

They made the game safe with late tries from Arnold and Hunte who capped a fine man of the match display.

Team: Prescott, Arnold, Hunte, Newlove, Sullivan, Hammond, Briers, Perelini, Cunningham, Pickavance, O'Neill, Morley, Joynt. Subs: Anderson, Northey, Matautia, Booth.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.