THAT truly was something special.

For two seasons, it has been nothing but pain against the neighbours – fine margins, questionable refereeing calls, humilitating collapses, Warrington Wolves have been on the wrong end of it all against both St Helens and Wigan Warriors of late.

Now, finally, it was Wire’s turn to dish out some punishment – and boy did they dish it out.

Saints have been a champion side for many a year and will remain so despite what happened in this game, but it is a struggle to remember them being so comprehensively outplayed on their own turf as they were by this inspired Warrington side.

In just his ninth game as a top-flight head coach, Sam Burgess cooked up quite a masterclass of a game plan that was as well-executed as it was brave.

There was always a suspicion that, despite their defence being as imperious as ever, St Helens could be got at on the edges by the pace and incision Wire possess in that area but in order to do that, they would have to earn the right up front.

With the increasingly influential Ben Currie joining Paul Vaughan and Zane Musgrove on the sidelines, that would be no easy task but with boundless aggression and fierce line speed, they were able to beat Saints at their own game. The immovable object was being bludgeoned out of the way.

As such, they could unleash their speedsters and with George Williams expertly directing traffic, they split their hosts open on both flanks almost at will.

Once Matty Ashton had produced some gravity-defying acrobatics to put Wire back into the lead, they never looked back and flexed their muscles late on to spark a primrose and blue party in the away end.

If anything, the margin of victory – Wire’s most convincing against St Helens since 2015 – could have been even greater. A try-saving intervention from Waqa Blake stopped Josh Thewlis from opening the scoring earlier than he did while they were on the wrong end of two marginal video referee calls to disallow tries after the break.

And the fact Burgess revealed there was disappointment about that despite what they had just pulled off speaks to the theory that the mentality of the dressing room really is changing.

Yes, they will celebrate this victory and rightly so, but they are always chasing improvement and if that kind of mindset can endure, it will take them places.

This is without doubt a new high for the Sam Burgess era and will be remembered for a while, but now the task is to make sure it is not the top of their mountain.