Paul Wellens opens up on going from Penrith to Castleford

This week will have been a very different experience for St Helens.

They have gone from contesting the World Club Challenge in Australia against Penrith Panthers to trying to end their winless run at Castleford at a traditional stadium in the cold of the British winter.

Paul Wellens reflected on this reality check before the game. He said:

“It depends on which way you look at it. We look at it as a historic rugby league ground in which we go and get the opportunity to go and play in.

“Look it’s certainly different and a different experience than the one we faced last week but again one that we look forward to.

“Every time that you get the opportunity to put on a Saints jersey and go and play it’s a great opportunity to go and show what we’re about as a team, and probably the lads will approach it in that fashion this week.”

Speaking on how to keep his side motivated after the win, Wellens said:

“Already the players have talked about getting back into Super League and performing week in week out. They love playing with each other, they share a common goal in terms of winning titles and achieving success.

“When you are successful it makes you want more, particularly when you consider a lot of the players in our group and how motivated they are. They look at someone like James Roby as their leader who year on year for 20 years have strove for success, so they have great role models. We’ll continue on that journey and try to be as successful as we have been in the past.”

If the presence of players like Roby stops others getting ahead of themselves: “I don’t sit here for one second thinking that any of this playing group are going to get ahead of their selves, but having players like James and like Jonny and the other more experienced players in the group who drive a certain standard.

“There’s no real worry or a sense that we will get ahead of ourselves as a playing group. We’re super proud of what we’ve achieved on the weekend but we also know that going to Castleford on Sunday, that it counts for nothing. We have to go out and we have to perform again but performing is what this team love to do and we hope you see more of that on the weekend.”