Super League

Proud Kristian Woolf thinks Huddersfield Giants win makes St Helens “hard to beat” in the play-offs

by
Cam Pattison
July 16, 2022

If anyone doubted St Helens’ title credentials as they chase down a fourth consecutive title, last night epitomised why they are still the team to beat.

Against the team third in the league considered by many as the dark horses for Super League glory, St Helens utterly dominated keeping Huddersfield at arm’s length for the entire game despite being down to 12 men for the majority of the game.

After the match, coach Kristian Woolf spoke about his pride as his side produced possibly a season best performance to win despite being down to 12 men.

“I was extremely proud of the effort,” Woolf said on Saints TV, “I thought we were outstanding. I knew we were ready to play in the first 10 minutes.

“We had a few things go against us, we were defending our line for the first 10 minutes and you could see we were working really hard for each other, we had great energy.

“When we had that red card we found another gear and we had to. We’re playing a good footy side there. I couldn’t be prouder of the effort. Your effort always shows through your defence and that’s what we showed tonight.”

He also said he felt that yesterday’s win was perfect preparation for play-off rugby at the end of the year: “When you’ve got 12 men for most of the game and 11 to finish the game, it has to be that. That’s what we did. We made sure they didn’t find points and when they got on the outside of us we scrambled really well. We stood up for each other.

“We can take some real confidence in the back end of the year that we can do that with 12 men against a really good team and 11 in the last 10 minutes and make ourselves really hard to beat at the back end of the year.”