Lack of World Club Challenge hangover pleases Saints boss Kristian Woolf
St Helens head coach Kristian Woolf expressed his delight after seeing his side shrug off any potential World Club Challenge hangover with a commanding victory over Toronto.
The Saints bounced back from last week’s 20-12 defeat to the NRL Premiers with a five-try victory over the Canadian side.
Jonny Lomax led the way with an inspiring two-try display, while there were further scores for James Bentley, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Aaron Smith.
Saints were already 26-0 ahead by the time Bodene Thompson was dismissed 13 minutes from time at the home of former club Warrington for contact with the head of Matty Lees.
“It wasn’t easy coming off the back of such a big game last week when we threw so much energy into it and to get over the disappointment of not getting the result,” Woolf said.
“It wasn’t quite the same big occasion or the same atmosphere so the group deserve a lot of credit. I thought they did a good job.
“I was particularly happy with the way we defended both halves. They are a team that challenge you and I thought we handled them really well.
“We stuck to our attack in the first half, we got a bit sloppy in the second half but our defence made up for it and overall I think we handled the conditions pretty well.”
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