Saints win as London thrash Warrington

James Gordon

St Helens bounced back from consecutive defeats to Warrington and Wakefield with an eight-try victory over lowly Castleford.

It was an important win for Mike Rush’s side as they look to secure third place in the Super League table, and in truth, they were never troubled by the Tigers.

The first score of the game went to Anthony Laffranchi, who just managed to touch down Jonny Lomax‘s grubber kick before crashing in to the advertising hoardings behind the posts.

Paul Wellens added a second Saints try on 20 minutes, but Castleford remained competitive and managed a score of their own when Paul Jackson barged his way over five minutes later.

Tries from Tommy Makinson and Chris Flannery before half-time put St Helens in control, and the game breaker came 10 minutes in to the second half, when Makinson snaffled Richard Owen‘s poor kick before racing 90 metres for a fine solo try, to awake the home support.

Two tries in three minutes around the hour mark from Gary Wheeler and Adam Swift added gloss to the scoreline, and Lomax got his name on the score sheet too.

Steve Snitch had the final say for the visitors, who stuck to their task for the main part, despite the absence of 10 players through injury and otherwise.

But the Tigers are now looking over their shoulder at a possible wooden spoon finish, particularly after London’s win over Warrington.

In Friday night’s other match, London Broncos thrashed Warrington 62-18, as the Wolves proved to have more than just one eye on next week’s Challenge Cup final against Leeds.

Tries from homegrown products Kieran Dixon and Will Lovell inside the first six minutes gave the Broncos confidence early on, and they went in 24-18 up at the break.

But they cut loose in the second half, keeping last season’s League Leaders scoreless, and adding six further tries, including four for Luke Dorn, who followed up a similar four star showing in last weekend’s win over Castleford.