St Helens were served a timely reminder on Thursday night of the work they still have to do, says head coach Paul Wellens.
The Saints were soundly beaten at the Totally Wicked Stadium, losing 16-4 to a Leigh Leopards side who have now beaten Wigan Warriors, Hull KR and Saints in consecutive games and sit a point behind the top two pace.
Gareth O’Brien kicked Leigh into a four point lead before the break and Joe Ofahengaue scored two second half tries to hammer home Leigh’s advantage in the game. Saints huffed and puffed without being able to trouble their visitors too much in Merseyside before eventually getting over the line late through Harry Robertson.
Wellens had no complaints about the result on the night with the Saints boss admitting the Leopards were the better side and deserved the two points. However, the head coach was clear that his side can learn some valuable lessons from the contest and the manner of their defeat.
“I thought on the balance of play Leigh deserved their victory,” Wellens admitted when speaking to Sky Sports. “We’ve lost a number of games this year but the way we lost today wasn’t due to a lack of effort or application.
“It was probably a timely reminder for us as we approach the back end of the year that we’ve got work to do on both sides of the ball.
“I ask a lot of them week on week and they continue to turn up. Morgan Knowles, Matty Lees really set the benchmark in terms of the effort and it’s disappointing for them guys and everybody that we couldn’t get the result we wanted today but it’s really important that we learn some valuable lessons. We’ve come up against a really good team and not quite nailed a few moments which has hurt us.
“We conceded two tries today that we’ll look back on and know that we can fix, particularly the one through the middle, that is disappointing and it’s not our standard. We’ll work hard to rectify that. We’re going to need to if we’re going to climb the table first and foremost and if we’re going to be in the big games at the back end of the year.”
Asked if he felt Leigh Leopards had what it took to go all the way in this year’s Super League, the St Helens boss added: “It probably doesn’t matter what I think. I think they believe they can and that’s all that matters. I’ve been in teams that have played in big games and teams that have been successful. If you believe you can, you go a long way to making that happen.”
