St Helens thrash rivals Wigan 46-12
Friday, 18 Jul 2008 22:16
Sean Long man-of-the-match in his 300th appearance for St Helens
A rampant St Helens side have demolished the 12 men of Wigan 46-12 at the JJB Stadium this evening.
The Saints ran in eight tries, but the game was a no-contest from the fifth minute when Wigan forward Michael McIlorum was sent-off for a high tackle on Ade Gardner.
St Helens took the lead with less than two minutes on the clock. Wigan knocked-on and gave away a penalty which gave the Saints a good attacking position. Sean Long drove to the line and then gave a short pass to Lee Gilmour who crossed the try-line. Long converted a tough kick to add the extras.
Any hopes Wigan had of winning all but went when McIlorum was rightly sent-off for an awful high tackle on Gardner.
More Wigan indiscipline allowed St Helens to extend their lead. The Warriors gave away another penalty and the Saints kicked to the corner. James Graham bulldozed his way towards the Wigan try-line, before Kieron Cunningham muscled his way over the try-line. Long added the extras.
Saints should have been 18-0 clear when they broke from their own line and Leon Pryce beat the full-back and off-loaded to Francis Meli who had a clear run to the try-line, but the winger dropped the ball with the try-line at his mercy.
Wigan made Meli pay for his mistake as they scored a try moments later. This time it was St Helens who gave away the penalty and Wigan kicked to the corner. They worked the ball the Gareth Hock, who withstood the tackles of three Saints players to off-load to Thomas Leuluai to score the try. Cameron Phelps added the extra two points.
The rain was lashing down at Wigan which made conditions very difficult and mistakes were at a plenty. The Warriors knocked-on but instead of giving away a scrum, dissent from George Carmont gave Saints a tap-penalty. Graham again forced his way to the try-line before James Roby crossed over. Long was again successful with his kick to make it 18-6.
Gardener grabbed his 22 try of the season, as Saints made the extra man count as they ran the ball from one end of the pitch to the other, and eventually found acres of space on the right wing and an unselfish Matt Gidley passed to Gardner when he could have scored the try himself.
The Warriors really needed to score the first try of the second-half if they were to have any hopes of staging a comeback.
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But when Stuart Fielden dropped the ball in the wet conditions and John Wilkin kicked the ball through to slide to the try-line to score for St Helens, the game was well and truly over.
St Helens scored further tries through Gidley, Gardener, and Long while Mickey Higham grabbed a consolation for the Warriors.