St Helens coach’s classy words to Salford Red Devils following Round 1 demolition job

St Helens boss Paul Wellens insists neither he or his squad wanted to face off against the Salford Red Devils side they demolished in Round 1, admitting there was disappointment in having to do so.

Saints set a new Super League record for the competition’s biggest-ever winning margin on Saturday night at the Totally Wicked Stadium as they swept what was essentially a Red Devils reserve side away.

15 tries were run in by the hosts, with Mark Percival also kicking 11 conversions to see a scoreline of 82-0.

It only became apparent that the Red V would be taking on such a youthful Salford side when the 21-man squads for the Round 1 clash were released on Thursday afternoon, with the Greater Manchester outfit still under strict salary cap limitations.

St Helens coach’s classy words to Salford Red Devils following Round 1 demolition job

Paul Rowley has operated with a reduced squad throughout pre-season, and even managed to beat Saints in a friendly just a few weeks ago, but the depletion of their squad has not been anywhere near the extent seen on Saturday.

Just three senior men were named in a matchday squad of 16, with the interchange bench left a man short and no 18th man available.

Post-match, Saints chief Wellens said: “We’ve won the game comfortably and handsomely, but everyone probably expected that.

“Earlier on in the week, we’re preparing for a different game and obviously circumstances change.

“The players were shocked and a little bit disappointed (when the Salford squad came out).

“Everyone wanted to play, but to my players credit, they don’t want that game. They wanted a tougher game and a proper game, I think that’s what the game wants as well.

“I’m not going to get caught up in the why’s and why not’s, obviously I’m sure there’ll be a fair amount of people who have got a bit to say and I don’t need to add to that.”

‘They’re up against far superior players, seasoned professionals and internationals’

Saints were virtually at full strength, with near enough every player in their 17 having more senior career appearances on their CV individually than the equivalent sum of Salford’s starting 13 combined.

To highlight the extent to which the Red Devils were weakened, seven senior debuts were dished out.

One of those players in the shape of Jimmy Shields had actually bought a ticket to stand in the away end at the Totally Wicked Stadium prior to being called upon to don a shirt.

Wellens continued: “One of the strong messages from both Eamon (O’Caroll) and Lee (Briers) to the team was about building the game.

“They did that really well, the players, by putting a lot of work into the players early on.

“When you’re coming up against stronger and more experienced opposition, that takes a lot longer to do – tonight we got the fruits of our labour a lot quicker.

“They can sometimes be very difficult games to play in for the position that we were in, and they’re obviously very difficult games for Salford because they’re up against far superior players, seasoned professionals and internationals.

“From a mentality perspective, for us to stay on task as we did tonight was really impressive.”