Justin Holbrook: Danny Richardson was outstanding

St Helens coach Justin Holbrook hasn’t come across a player who is as good as Danny Richardson at his age before.

The Saints edged past Warrington Wolves 14-12 at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Thursday night.

And Richardson, 21 snatched the two points with a splendid 55-metre penalty goal which was the last kick of the game.

Holbrook admitted that he has been blown away by Richardson this season.

He said: “For a young kid to step up at the end and take that was fantastic. It was just outstanding.

“He had a lot of confidence in him. Tommy [Makinson] can kick the ball a long way so I was saying ‘we should get Tommy to kick it!’ but Longy [Sean Long] said to me ‘no, Danny will kick this’ and what a great kick it was – fantastic.

“He is everything you want in a young player. You want them to back themselves and he gets the job done. It is great to see that young players can step up and have the confidence to win games. It’s good for the competition and it is good for our game.

“You always come across young confident halves, but the way he has delivered for us and won games for us has been outstanding.  I haven’t seen someone like him before.”

Saints were 8-0 down at the break but Holbrook was pleased with the spirit they showed to get back into the game in the second half.

He added: “Full credit to our players, to hang in there and find a way to win that game was fantastic.

“Warrington are a good side, we knew that. They are well-organised and came up with a certain style of play that was allowed for the whole game which was hard to watch.

“In the last 10 minutes of the first half, I thought we worked out how the game was going to play out but Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook was outstanding, he turned the game.

“Theo Fages came on and was great in his little stint and Jonny [Lomax] was fantastic again. Theo came on and added a real spark around the ruck, so he is an important part of our team and did a great job.”

St Helens will turn their attention on the Challenge Cup next week when they face Catalans Dragons in the semi-finals at the Macron Stadium, Bolton.