St Helens v Wakefield Trinity: Five takeaways as hosts win game ‘defined by big moments’ to climb back up the table

Following St Helens’ 18-12 win over Wakefield Trinity at the BrewDog Stadium, here are our five key takeaways from the round nine clash.

The top line

This game was a mouth-watering proposition before kick-off, and it proved just that.

An early flurry from St Helens saw them race into a 16-0 lead come the half-time break, with Jake Davies, Kyle Feldt and Tristan Sailor crossing the whitewash alongside two Jackson Hastings conversions.

For all of their dominance in the first-half, St Helens had to weather a storm in the second as Wakefield came back into it via scores from Tyson Smoothy and Caius Faatili. However, a Hastings penalty goal sandwiched those efforts to take his side’s tally to 18 points for the evening.

With the clock winding down, Wakefield looked to grab a decisive equalising score, but it proved unsuccessful as St Helens held onto the spoils.

Ramifications

This win for St Helens sees Paul Rowley’s side once again go joint-top of Super League, tied with Leeds Rhinos on 14 points. The two teams also sit two points above Warrington Wolves and Wakefield Trinity in third and fourth, respectively, and four points above the likes of Hull KR, Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons as well.

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For Wakefield, though, they miss the chance to replicate St Helens’ breathing room at the summit, and are pulled back into that melee for spots once more. However, they are still very much in touching distance.

Moments matter

With both sides very much aiming for honours this season and among the early pace-setters, this was always going to be a game defined by big moments.

Right across the game, there were nuanced shifts in momentum. St Helens scored twice in six minutes to go 12-0 up in the first-half. A disallowed try for St Helens just moments before Wakefield’s opening try, or the St Helens knock-on leading to Wakefield’s second. A Wakefield knock-on just as they were gearing up for their third. The game was littered with huge individual moments.

These moments kept the game on a knife-edge across the game, with neither team fully able to settle into it. It made for brilliant watching for neutrals, and likely nervy watching for supporters of either side.

Never write off the Saints

It’s a saying that gets thrown around a lot whenever St Helens win, but it’s one that is especially prevalent at the moment.

St Helens have endured a major injury plague in the early stages of this season, with a number of their out-and-out starters sidelined, but yet they continue to pick up results.

Since their 52-10 thrashing at the hands of Hull KR, St Helens have toppled arch-rivals Wigan Warriors, Catalans Dragons, Hull FC and now Wakefield Trinity too to move joint-top of the league. That also comes after five successive wins prior to that night at Craven Park, too.

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It’s still very early days in the season, but St Helens have already laid themselves a strong foundation to build off for the rest of the season. When they get those bodies back, they could be a real force to be reckoned with.

Frustrustrations

Wakefield will head back to West Yorkshire with a huge feeling of ‘what if’, and that will sting.

Despite coming back from 16-0 down to make it a proper dogfight at the end, they shouldn’t have had to wait until those waning moments to come good.

The Trin were looking really sharp ball-in-hand, particularly in broken field, but then they seemed to freeze when they got into the red zone.

Neither Jake Trueman nor Jack Sinfield managed to find the right formula to fully unpick the Saints’ attack close to the line, and more often than not, they resulted in a hopeful grubber in-behind the Saints’ defence, which rolled out of play.

In games like this, between two top sides and two teams gunning for silverware, you need to take those chances. Wakefield will be rueing their inability to do so.

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