St Helens lay down marker with truly impressive performance against St George

St Helens showed what they can do ahead of the World Club Challenge as they looked very good against St George Illawarra Dragons.

Granted the Dragons were playing with some rookies in their side and the likes of Ben Hunt didn’t feature.

But the Saints still impressed giving Penrith a bit of a warning of what they can expect next week.

St Helens started the quicker with plenty of speed catching the Dragons off guard. If there were any doubts over whether or not Lewis Dodd would return with the same class as he had before his injury he has blown those concerns away.

After scoring against Widnes Vikings in his return fixture he was on hand to scoop up a lovely James Roby kick and score to give the Super League Champions an early lead.

Saints doubled their money shortly after as they seemingly laid down a real marker. After forcing a scrum, Dodd found some space, read the defence perfectly feeding the ball over the top to Tommy Makinson. He looked certain to score but defence swarmed around him. However, the England winger offloaded to Jack Welsby to score.

Very much in control, Saints would invite pressure with errors and as Konrad Hurrell shot out to end this pressure, the defence opened up for former Salford Red Devils and Warrington Wolves forward Ben Murdoch-Masila tore through before finding Zak Lomax to score to make it 10-6.

The Dragons then led as rookie fullback Treigh Stewart jinked and weaved his way through the Saints’ defence and paired with Lomax’s conversion the Dragons led 12-10.

After scoring that brilliant try, Stewart had to scramble brilliantly to stop Welsby as he tore through after hitting a superb line.

However, he gave away a penalty and the Saints levelled matters at 12-all.

They would then take the lead again five minutes before the break as Jonny Lomax fed Curtis Sironen out the back who teed up Makinson to score in the corner to make it 16-12 despite a bit of a knock.

After plenty of fun over on the right, it was St Helens’ left winger who crossed as a kick was fumbled and tapped by Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook to Will Hopoate who started on the left ahead of Jon Bennison and Tee Ritson.

However the try was then chalked off as a knock on by Sione Mata’utia was spotted leaving the halftime score at 16-12.

St Helens started the second half strong with Jon Bennison and James Roby going close. However, with four points in it the Dragons broke through Moses Mybe and a tackle later the Saints needed a superb tackle from Sione Mata’utia to stop the Dragons from scoring.

Eventually the Saints found their way over the tryline after mounting pressure. After an error from Stewart, Joey Lussick burrowed over for a quintessential hooker’s try.

Saints then wrapped up the win with a lovely moment for new recruit Tee Ritson. As Curtis Sironen and Konrad Hurrell combined, Ritson raced down the wing before producting an acrobatic finish to make it 26-12.

Ben Davies converted as both sides changed their sides frequently but the inexperienced Saints still impressed.

But it was a rookie Dragon who scored next as 18 year old former rugby union junior international Savelio Tamale powered over.

That made it 28-18 and a last minute penalty wrapped up a 30-18 triumph.