Kristian Woolf happy with performance despite defeat

St Helens Head Coach Kristian Woolf said he was happy with his side’s performance despite their defeat by Catalans.

It was a close game between last year’s Grand Finalists in the south of France. Both scored four tries, but it was one extra kick from the boot of Sam Tomkins that was the difference. Saints also had two different kickers during the game- Tommy Makinson and Ben Davies.

Makinson was also forced off in the first half with a hamstring injury. Although Woolf is hopeful it’s not a serious injury.

Saints had gone into an eight-nil lead early on, thanks to tries from Sione Mata’utia, who had just returned from suspension, and Makinson. But tries from Mathieu Laguerre and Josh Drinkwater turned the game around just before the break and had the Dragons ahead.

Davies scored a try to put Saints back in front, but tries from Samisoni Langi and Dean Whare took the game away from Saints. Jack Welsby pulled one back, but they fell just short.

Despite the defeat, Woolf was happy with the attitude of his players. But added that the difference was that they didn’t take their chances.

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Woolf enjoyed “good game”

“I thought it was a good game of footy,” Woolf said. “I thought we played well. I was really happy with our attitude and our effort.

“We turned up to play and probably the difference was that we didn’t quite take our chances.”

Woolf expects to have Konrad Hurrell and Will Hopoate back for the Magic Weekend clash with Wigan and will check on the fitness of Makinson.

“His hamstring tightened up so we had to get him off but I don’t think it’s a tear or anything bad,” he said.

Catalans 20-18 St Helens: Dragons win Grand Final repeat