Paul Wellens believes game management was the key difference between Hull KR and St Helens on Friday night. The Saints were beaten 20-10 on home soil by the Robins, who turned up the intensity to claim the result and move one point clear at the top of the Super League table.
St Helens fell behind in the first half after a sustained period of KR dominance with Mikey Lewis touching down. The home side hit back through Curtis Sironen but they were powerless to prevent Rovers from stretching their legs and building up an ultimately unassailable lead with tries coming either side of the break.
Tom Davies scored acrobatically just before the interval before Oliver Gildart bagged a second half brace during a period that blew the Saints away. St Helens did find a response through Jack Welsby and applied pressure late in the game, but it wasn’t enough as they fell to their first defeat of the new season.
“I can’t fault the team in terms of their applications and efforts,” Wellens told Sky Sports. “I thought they were outstanding in that respect, particularly in the first 25 minutes when we absorbed a lot of pressure.
“I just thought that throughout the course of the game their game management was slightly better than ours and I think that told on the night. I’m extremely proud of their efforts and I think there was some really valuable lessons from this.
“We had a number of interchanges up our sleeve in the second half that we went on to use. When you do defend your own goal line for long periods it obviously has an impact. I thought to our guys credit they really stuck at the task.
“I think we can manage certain moments in the game a little bit better but I really do believe a game of that intensity does set it up for us. I’m delighted we got that type of game but disappointed we were on the wrong side of the result.”
