Holbrook happy as Saints go sixth

Justin Holbrook was a happy man after seeing St Helens record a 26-10 victory over Widnes on Friday.

Saints went into the game on the back of a narrow defeat at Castleford last weekend and Holbrook was quick to praise his players for bouncing back against the Vikings.

“I was really happy with that performance – I thought the majority of it was very good,” he said. “The first 25 minutes tested us. We were playing a dangerous side in Widnes and we put ourselves under pressure but we turned them away.

“We did well not be down by a fair bit in the first half though.

“I was really disappointed last week in what we didn’t do against Castleford and this week we really improved and that’s what really pleases me as a coach as we’ve worked on a few things this past week.

“We have a good squad here and everyone needs to know they need to play well to keep the jersey.

“I was really happy with our attack. We executed really well. A lot of that was Jonny Lomax coming into it but our middle was excellent. Matty Smith organised the team very well. It was a real combination of everyone coming together.

“Regan (Grace) and Percy (Mark Percival) are putting a real combination together and it was great to see. The two turned the opportunities we had into points.”